I am sick of constantly cooking

[WinkyWinkola]

and then when I put the food in front of them, it's to a chorus of yucks, urghs and "I'm not eating THAT!"

We are talking chicken stew and rice, roast chicken, spag bol, Lancashire hotpot, sausages and mash.

Even the 2 year old sneers at the food I make. I follow recipes religiously and dh days it tastes good.

They can live on fish fingers, pizza and tinned ravioli from now on. They can get obese for all I care. I'm sick of making the effort for nothing.

In fact, I'm trying new things every week in a vain attempt to get them to eat some decent home cooked food. Not any more.

When I have the sick of bloody cooking thing (which I do at the moment - it seems to go in waves) I get round it by double or triple cooking everything. I have a supply of the standards which I know they definitely will eat - in our case chicken curry, some bolognese etc in the freezer and then when I just cannot be arsed I don't have to be arsed.

The hitch in my plan is that you still have to cook the stuff to have enough of it to freeze - but it does pay off eventually.

And it isn't effort for nothing. You know that really. It's a blip, that's all. Stick to what's safe for a while and then go crazy with a hotpot again.

Unfortunately it's not a blip. Unless it's pizza or fish fingers, they turn up their noses. Had enough.

Have you tried the getting them to help you cook thing?
If you never buy pizzas and fishfingers again they won't starve.

I hear you. My dc are exactly like this. They would rather eat fishfingers etc than any of the nice, home cooked meals make. I swing between making them at least try what I make (always against their will and with little success) to just making them what I know they'll eat. I don't know the answer.

Oh it's completely infuriating.

I am sick of trying to introduce fish and vegetables into the DCs diets. Fish pie last week. Took ages over the blessed thing. You would have thought I was trying to feed them ground glass.

One thing that does help to improve things, is to engage them in a bit of cooking. Say they want pizza, which I personally don't think is great nutritionally, but still. They want pizza. Get them to make it. Get them to make the dough and watch it rise (which is fun, actually) then get them to put the toppings of their choice on. Is not much more painful than cooking stuff yourself and then at least they don't complain.

I agree with getting them to help, especially making pizzas and things.

Tell them fish fingers, shop pizza etc are a once a week only thing (saturday night tea perhaps?) and that otherwise you will cook one meal a night and thats the only option (unless its something you know they really don't like)

Apparently the trick is to get them to eat a bite of something you want them to eat - as the first bite of the meal every day for 7-10 days.

You're supposed to do it for breakfast, but I'm not organised enough so I did it for dinner. My 2 y.o. now eats 2 things which he previously refused. I need to get organised enough to try something else. I can't promise it works for others, but it might be worth a try.

Mine have moaned at every meal this week!

On Monday we had roast chicken but we had roasted new potatoes instead of peeled ones = moan

Tuesday we had lemon Quorn steaks which sound yuk but are delicious and they thought it was chicken but = moan

Wednesday I made carrot and coriander soup with fresh baguettes = moan

Thursday I made jacket potatoes with cheese and beans = moan at the cheese.

I HAVE HAD ENOUGH!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Eton mess

I cannot tell you the problems that that particular pudding created

I did it once and the DCs refused to touch it

The second time, I threatened them with removal of playstation if they didn't at least try it. Just one mouthful

They loved it

Drives you mad

Me too OP.

Me too.

I don't think I will cook another meal for either of them past the age if 18yrs.

This may sound very harsh and I may get slated for this but my daughter refused to eat a meal once (I don't mind if they try and don't like but won't put up with "I'm not eating that") , she was probably about 3 and half at the time. I made her sit at the table with her dinner until she tried it, she didn't and sat there for 2 hours before going for bath and bed. Next day when she came home from nursery I gave her the same for lunch, she still refused but eventually around 3 in the afternoon she gave in to hunger and ate it. She has never not tried anything again.

Same here I can guarantee that anything I lovingly cook from scratch - bolognaise, fish pie, lasagne, chili etc DD (2) will barely touch but plonk a plate of chicken dippers, potato waffles and peas down and she'll scoff the lot!!

DS (4) is getting better but we still get the eurgh that's disgusting Mummy at home cooked stuff but never at the dippers and waffles

housework - i wish i could do that ith DS2.... he just doesnt sit still for more than 3 minutes (and lives on air)

Hah. I could have written this post many days myself. The days where they all eat their food are rare, but I am cracking it. Today ds1 (6) said, "What are we eating tonight?" Me: "Stew and rice". Cue, "Urghhhhhhh...why do you always cook things I HATE?". Half an hour later, he's eaten THREE helpings... . Boy, did I feel good and not a little smug.

Here's my top tips:

• One biscuit between lunch and evening meal. If they are really hungry they can have a carrot
• Cook a few 'favourites' which they know and love every other day, so Spag Bol (all veg in it, including tomatoes is pureed so they don't see it), fishfingers, pizza, roast chicken, Tuna fishcakes/ pasta, sausages (favourites) interspersed with more adventurous options like beef stew, chicken in white wine, chilli, Thai curry, fish pie etc. That way they eat at least every other day .

They get a 'great big clap' when they finish their food. They get pudding if they've made a good effort. They get nowt else if they won't eat it, often a second attempt before bed works.

Agree with the nothing-else-if-they-don't-eat-it approach!

I know this is incredibly difficult to do, but try not to be emotionally invested in your cooking. They sense it, which is one reason they criticise the food you've made yourself rather than the freezer-to-oven things. If you don't care that you've cooked/tried something new then they won't feel pressured and you're much less likely to get YUCK what's that! I'm quite sure you're not consciously pressuring them, but there's something they seem to pick up on when you 'care' about the fact that you've cooked for them. It's the only explanation I've got!

God yes, I did the fish finger rant at them only the other day (mine are 5 and 3)

And recently I did a secret whoop because DD (3) ate butternut squash in a casserole because she thought it was potato. Previously on the 'yuk' list...

I tried that no food until you've eaten thing last night. They both went to bed hungry and wailed about their hunger until ten pm. Then dh came home sympathised with my position but then we gave them a banana each to appease the hunger.

So I'm making a list of things they agree to eat (pasta, pizza, fish fingers - there, that didn't take long) and will think of ways to smuggle in nutrition without them noticing.

Home made fish fingers? Shove some peas in the fish mix?

I hoovered up everything as a kid apart from celery and marmite.

You can put pretty much anything on pizza and if it's got enough cheese on it you can get away with it.

Maybe not carrots.

I found a recipe the other day for a pizza base made from cauliflower. Haven't tried it myself yet but was going to. I thought if I could find a good hidden veg sauce recipe for the tomatoe sauce it would be a really good sneaky healthy meal.

everythingtasty.blogspot.com/

That cauliflower pizza base looks just the business

You may not want to listen to my advice as DS is hopelessly fussy, but recently I have discovered that you can buy shake on wholemeal breadcrumbs. DS will eat fish or chicken covered in egg and then this and it means that at least he is eating some healthy non processed protein.

Someone I know will wrap up whatever their children didn't eat and serve it up as their next meal. So leftover sandwich as afternoon snack, leftover breakfast for lunch etc. Going a bit far perhaps!

I think we give in because we can. Previous generations may not have had that luxury, you ate what was in front of you or went hungry, because there wasn't anything else.

I have a fussy eater but I had a eureka moment when I realised that he might not want to eat what I put in front of him, but I was bloody well NOT going to put up with any yuk comments.

You have cooked it. They might eat it or they might go hungry. But you have gone to all that effort for them, how DARE they make nasty comments about it?

I would unleash some righteous anger OP and talk about how you expect to be treated. That if you have been so kind as to cook them a delicious meal then any negative comments are unacceptable.