If you have young children and all eat together for dinner….

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what do you eat? Thanks (my two are 4 and 6)

Everything really.

Various iterations of,

Pasta dishes
Curry
Pizza and salad
Sausages and mash with roasted veg
Shephards/cottage pie
Moussaka
Pie
Roast dinners
Jerk/season chicken and veg
Fish dishes
Fajitas
Chilli
Noodles
Stir fry
Jacket potato

Almost everything is served with a side dish of brocolli as DD2 loves it and is more picky about veg.

I've made more of an effort in the past couple of years to all eat together (kids are 7 and 4). There is usually some compromise- I forgot that most people eat spicy chilli con carne recently! Usually I serve up the kids portions first so they can cool down a bit and add extra spices, herbs, sauce or things the kids won't like after. Typical week would be stir fry with rice or noodles (no sauce for kids!), mild fish curry with rice, pasta with creamy or tomatoey sauce, meat and two veg type meal, fried rice with chorizo and left over roast chicken. Often they prefer raw veg so if I'm doing a tray back type thing I leave some veg raw then we have it cooked and they have it raw.
We use a lot more smoked paprika than I used to!

Basically all the things we ate before kids unless it's really very spicy.

For example:
Red lentil dhal with chapati
Five bean chilli and rice
Lentil cottage pie
Veggie lasagne
Spaghetti and (veggie) meatballs
Mushroom risotto
Sweet potato stew
Sausages and mash
Pizza
Various pasta dishes
Cauliflower and potato curry
Sweet and sour tofu
Buddha bowl type meal
Roast tomato orzo
Pie and chips
Baked potato
Soup and bread
Katsu curry
Chow mein style noodles
Roast veg and potatoes with hummus
Fajitas
Veggie burger and potato wedges
Homemade vegetable sushi
Gnocchi with pesto

Mine are 3 and 6. I’ve just planned next week meals and it’s ended up very pasta heavy this week which is unusual.

Chilli and rice with avocado salsa
creamy courgette lasagna and salad
Beef/veggie burger in buns with salad
Cottage pie with mix veg
Cauliflower and broccoli cheese with hazelnut crumb and baked potatos
Pizza chicken tray bake
pasta with salmon, peas

I hate meal planning so I will be checking out everyone’s replies.

We all eat the same, always have done. When they were younger food would be chopped up, or finger food or puréed depending on the age!

They are 18 and 15 now and have preferences but we still all eat the same 😊

Mine are 3 and 9 and just eat whatever we are having too.
There isnt much they dont like really.
9yo hates peas and gags when he tries to eat them so thats the only thing I rule out for him.
Other than that they eat anything. They love the spicy food aswell.

Thanks everyone. We all eat together too but it is meaning that either I make a lot of “sides” so there is always something for someone to eat. And the meals have become increasingly narrow and boring. I’m at the point where I can’t take it anymore!

It’s complicated as DH doesn’t eat meat, my eldest is autistic and has sensory difficulties around smells and can’t cope with mixed foods (eg bolognese) or foods touching and my 4 year old is fussy and well, 4. Probably ND too.

I’ve tried to do the right things like all eating together and serving from the middle of the table but there’s no progress. I make fish once a week and not once have either tried it. Well actually the 4 year old tried it once. But that’s it.

I don’t want dinner to be stressful and my autistic child likes dinner and I don’t want to ruin that but equally I’ve had enough of eating the same few meals over and over. And even with those my 4 year old is a pain.

I’m thinking of making stuff I used to eat eg risotto, veg chilli and doing bread and butter on the side etc but I feel bad for the kids then.

My two are 4 and 6. They eat what we do. If for some reason it's not suitable they have a variation e.g. if I do spicy fajitas for me and DH the kids will have wraps but ill do some veg and chicken without spices for them.
Most meals are Sunday lunch, pasta bake, fish n chips etc

Spaghetti meatballs
lasagne
carbonara
sausage, mash and veg
salmon, new potatoes and veg
stir fry
halloumi burgers and sweet potato fries
curries (a variety)
chilli
enchiladas
tacos
home made soup
mussels and crusty bread
gyros, Greek salad and tzatziki
braised chicken with lentils and peas
risotto
Moroccan stew and couscous
dahl

@xnyl are you me except my children are about 1 year older? 🤣

They had what we were having (unless anything was really spicy and their portions couldn’t be take out before - in which case left over spag bol or whatever was in the freezer

Ugh. Hate all the faux 'I'm not sure what you mean' posts. It was quite a clear question and from the variety of responses it seems many cook two meals or reduce their repertoire to account for fussy children

I'm in a similar rut OP and miss the days of Thai, Indian, Chinese cooking that I can't seem to get my DC to eat (albeit they're younger). I'm so fed up of meat and veg or pasta 😩

We don't eat with our 2 year old in the evening as he has dinner at 5/5.30 and my husband isn't home by then. Even if he was, I couldn't eat that early! What time are you all eating to eat together?

We eat together except Friday night when generally DH and I will eat later just the two of us.

I make from scratch:
Mild chicken curry (actually really easy)
Cottage or shepherd's pie
Spag bol
Pasta bakes - tuna/sausage/veggie
Sweet sausage casserole - full of veggies and apple (netmums cookbook receipe)
Roast dinner
Fajitas - kids love this
Chilli con carne - either with rice of jacket potatoes

Store bought (always with veg - potatoes, broccoli, green beans, carrots etc etc)
Breaded haddock
Fish cakes
Sainsbury's beef hash - family size
Breaded chicken - we had a Sainsbury's lemon herb one tonight

Generally our shopping involves - sausages, chicken, mince - veg and then a couple of whack it in the oven and it's done type dishes.

Saturday night we might have pizza but store bought rather than take-away.

my main struggle is lunch on a weekend - I never know what to make.

@Isledelaray i know it seems crazy! We eat at 5 which seems perfectly normal to me now! It’s just me and the kids when DH is in work but he wfh quite a lot.

@CraneBoysMysteries i think that’s true and it is. But reassuring. I think my issues started when life was crazy when they were 1 and 3 and it was covid and I had to make the quickest easiest meals I could. That then meant the kids got used to that routine and it’s hard to change especially with ND children.

Normally quite boring stuff but they like:
Cottage pie
Spag Bol
Chilli
Jacket potatoes
Creamy Chicken potato top pie
Chicken souvlaki (skewers)
Chicken curry
Sweet and sour chicken
Steak or other BBQ meet with veg / pots
Sausage and mash / Yorkshire pudding
Roast chicken / beef / pork
Salmon, rice and veg
Chicken nuggets, waffles, beans
Pizza
Beans on toast
Soup and sandwich
Lasagne
Beef Stew
Chicken / sausage Casserole

Think that's about it.

I have 4 between the ages of 7 and 14. I have always just served the same meal to us all - with so many there will always be someone delighted with the menu and someone else less fussed, but each week I rotate meals so they all get their favourite at some stage.

Some of them would prefer not to have some of the choices, but I always put it on their plate regardless and it's surprising how often they'll actually eat something they would say they don't particularly like.

I'm very fortunate that none of them have allergies or sensory issues around food, I realise these can be very challenging.

General meals would be along the lines of roast chicken, chilli, chicken stir fry, salmon tray bake, baked potatoes, beef stew, homemade pizza, lasagne, beef stroganoff, soup and crusty bread, Mexican chicken wraps, fish pie, mango chicken etc.

We eat at 6pm. My youngest is 2yrs.

We adjusted pretty quickly to the earlier dinner.

Honestly, I wouldn't have believed it but we prefer it now. When we were eating later it felt like constant cooking, way more washing up, and our evening didn't start till almost 9pm, when we'd finished our dinner, cleared away and sat down.

Now we've had dinner by 6.45pm - one of us is clearing away while the other does bath time and by 7.30pm we're done. Gives us much more time in the evening. Even if DH is back late - I just make something that's easily reheated - e.g spag bol, so he only has to whack it in the microwave and he come sit on the sofa with me to eat.

Because of work patterns / time getting home we didn't eat together during the week. Dts had our Monday dinner for dinner Tuesday etc we didn't cook separate things if that makes sense.

I'm wondering the same question about what time you all eat when eating dinner together.

We go round in circles cooking different stuff for us and the kids. Fussiness galore.

We eat and have eaten a wide range of stuff including curry (korma) and chilli (mild), fish, mince, tofu, all sorts of veg, rice, noodles.

If I want something spicy I have to cook something different for my son, he's 6 and can't tolerate spice. He also has ketchup instead of gravy, and won't eat anything like soup or stew.

Other than that we all eat the same. Mostly pasta or meat and two veg type dinners.

I have one who eats/tries anything and one who is less adventurous. We do most of the meals listed on this thread, and serve in the middle of the table for everyone to choose, but if it doesn’t already include a wide enough stuff my less adventurous one will eat I add a bowl of grated cheese, or a couple of hard boiled eggs, or some broccoli (all reliable and quick protein/veg substitutes for that child), again in the middle of the table so it’s Seen as part of a range of options rather than something special for one person

I agree with the eye rolls about the faux misunderstanding “I don’t know what you mean”, and the smugness about them not being fussy because you just serve one meal. It’s the opposite way round - you only serve one meal because they do reliably eat it.

i feel very inadequate - we only really eat together at the weekend, the week is too rushed and either me / DP are not back until after 7.30pk so clashes with the youngest bedtime.