Fussy 7 yr old only wants pasta

[theloneysock]

He is slim, very active and gets hangry easily. At the moment, the only thing he will eat heartily is pasta with sauce and cheese (can hide veg in this).

He will also have:

1. Spag bol
2. Sausages and a bit of rice
3. Baked beans and a little bit of mash
4. Chicken stews with rice

Will eat anything saucy. The only solid vegetables he eats are carrots and broccoli.

He doesn't like solid fruit (the skin), potatos, chips, oven potato shapes, jacket potato. He will drink smoothies.

He eats a good breakfast but mealtimes are getting hard for me.

Keep rotating the above 4 meals?

I wouldn't worry and just rotate those meals. They seem fairly ok, and he won't stay in this phase forever.

Those sound like some good nutritional meals.

Would he tolerate having sausages with the beans and mash or the stews with some mash, that'd mix it up a little more too for him.

If he likes saucy foods would he eat a chicken stir fry as it'd be similar to the stew, or sausage and beef stew.

Yes I think the way forward is to mix up those combinations as well. Thank you.

His twin is the opposite and doesn't like saucy or wet things. He likes lots of fruit and veg, rice, pasta and potato.

They seem like pretty good meals tbh. Just try to mix them up a bit. Different shaped pasta. Different sauces.

If he doesn't like fruit because of the skin then try canned fruit. I barely eat fresh fruit in winter because I like summer fruits, but I like canned fruit cocktail.

If you wanted to mix thing up a little, what about meatballs rather than spaghetti bolangase? Then you could move to turkey meatballs maybe?
Sausage casserole? Chicken (without the casserole) with mash or rice?

The tinned fruit is a good idea to try.

That really sounds pretty ok. Perhaps boring from your point of view but actually a few decent choices and nutritionally not bad. My DS with ARFID eats a far far more restricted list and I worry constantly.

Maybe liquidise a wider variety of vegetables and pulses, and mix them in with the stronger flavoured and coloured sauces?

Red/green/yellow peppers, peas/chickpeas/runner beans, broccoli/spinach/cabbage/sprouts, onion/garlic,
sweetcorn/beetroot/carrots

Do while he's at school, freeze in small containers (ice cube trays), throw into the sauces to melt and stir in

Cakes can be made with carrots, parsnips, courgettes, beetroot

Then write a book on Secret Veggies!

How is he at school?

He has school dinners. He likes about 70% of them. If I try to re-create something at home though, it's 'not the same' 😩

His twin likes even less food at school but eats a wider variety of things at home.

Then I've got DH with a huge appetite.

Meal planning is tricky!

Great ideas here. Thanks :)

He can leave half his dinner then wants cereal and toast an hour later just before bed.

Told DH no jam on toast!