Do your children actually eat what you cook?

[cloudy23]

I feel like I spend ages planning meals, only to hear "I don't like that" before they've even tried it.
Do you make one family meal and everyone eats it, or do you end up cooking different things?
Always looking for ideas that don't end in a battle at the dinner table!

I cook one thing, but there are always components of it that everyone will eat. For example, I have one who doesn’t really like mash, but she will eat sausages or salmon and veg and salad, so refusing to eat is not an option. I don’t make separate meals, except on rare occasions like Dh and I want a spicy meal that no one else will like, but no one has to eat everything either. If they don’t like it and won’t eat, well, tough titty, there isn’t anything else.

Mine are 18 months and 3 and we all eat the same meal and they always eat at least some of it. I’ll offer leftovers or something like toast later in the night if they’re hungry but never an alternative meal.

We do have a bunch of fairly easy but healthy favourites we rotate a lot though with something new thrown in a couple of nights a week usually.

Same here. Mine say "i don't like that....ok I'll try it" with an eye roll now, before I even have to say anything 😆 . I have said it so many times that I'm expecting them to try it but if they don't like it that's ok, eat what they like and leave the rest.

Generally, as long as cheese or ketchup is available they'll eat it.

Exactly this. Eat it or go hungry. Food is extortionate. If he moans, he is told to leave the table. He’s 5 and a very good eater.

They each had a couple of things that they really hated and didn't have to have, but otherwise, it was a case of 'This is what there is, there are no alternatives, eat it or starve.'

They ate it. They've all grown up into adults who will eat pretty much anything.

I have a 6 yo 3 yo and 1 yo. They all eat whatever I make because I’m a strict mum! Eldest went through a beige patch 2-3 yo but came out of it and eats every vegetable and ever food offered.
toddler is fussier but again will eat prettty healthily but has more ‘no foods’ eg about 15 things won’t eat.
baby eats everything. I refuse to bow down to their demands! They don’t even realise they are good eaters because it wasn’t an option to be fussy

I just couldn’t be arsed quite frankly.

No.. not whatever they want.

But what they like.

Like mineoves macaroni cheese, Bolognese, sausage pasta,tuna sandwich, roasts, pizza, noodles etc

So I just make stuff that's easy and nutritious.... No need for loads of effort and planning.

No point planning a complicated weekly meal plan when we can get enough good food in with simpler meals we know will get eaten 🤷

I am not comfortable with feeding them pasta everyday and I am not cooking different meals for the kids.

I know we all need carbs, but what's wrong with fresh vegetables and simple meat or fish?

Yes, it was a slog to get them to that point though. There was no way I was going to cook four different dinners so we had a lot of extras served with meals to ensure there was something everyone would eat.
It was worth persevering though.

Just to add one of the few rules at the table is that nobody has to eat anything they don’t like but they don’t need to make a fuss about it. If you don’t like it just leave it.

Yes they eat what i cook, but i do tend to cook what they eat. We're not very adventurous though, chicken stir fry, Fajitas, roast, pie, Bolognese, chilli, carbonara, curry, sausages, Meatballs, chicken burgers, lamb kebabs, on rotation 😏

Mine eat what I serve or they can have toast/cereal (that they make themselves once old enough). Now I have teens, the “make it yourself” alternatives include omelette and pasta too.

I do serve things a bit flexibly. Two kids really don’t like peas, so I always serve them separately. Some kids prefer creamy sauce on pasta and some prefer tomato, so a pasta night will be plain pasta, jugs of sauce, bowls of toppings and they can build there own.

I don’t “plate” anything. It is all on the table and they decide what to serve themselves.

I read part of the book “French Children Don’t Throw Food” when struggling with fussy toddlers and it described a devision of responsibility; it is my responsibility to serve healthy food and it is their responsibility to eat. They have little say in what I serve, and I have little say in what they eat.

I have four kids age 5 to 15 and none of them has starved to death. They eat something eventually, even if it is cereal some nights.

This. I cook one meal. Ds eats it.

To be fair, I don't make anything very spicy while he is around.

Yes, I have never, even when weaning, offered alternative meals. If they refused it, that was that. So the option just isn't there. I wasn't being mean, it just didn't occur to me. Obviously I am lucky my children don't have SEN or something else medical going on, but there is something to be said about boundaries.

I don't offer alternatives, but I also make sure that there's something they will eat.

So Monday one of my boys ate only sweetcorn for dinner and grapes for dessert. His brother merrily scoffed the rest of his dinner. Tuesday I did a corma. My eldest scraped all the sauce of the chicken, the boy that ate well on Monday wouldnt touch it (he's autistic, sauces are generally an issue) but he loves brown rice so i gave him extra, and he ate a tonne of brocolli. My youngest wouldn't touch any of it, i let her have a yoghurt if she put some in her mouth to try it (but i did give her a little bowl to spit it into if she wanted). My husband was very pleased at all the leftover food! Plenty of fruit for dessert. Wednesday is macaroni cheese night - it always is as all the kids like it.

So, no, i don't do alternatives. But I usally include at least one thing they like and I don't insist they have everything. Two are picky, one frustrstingly so. Most people think the autistic one isnt picky because he eats all fruit/veg, but give a stew or something with an opaque sauce and he'd rather go hungry.

My eldest saw a dietician when she was 2 as she was severely underweight following some tonsil/adenoid issues that affected her ability to taste/swallow and we took a long time to get her able to tolerate solid food. The dietician told me as long as they are getting enough calories and fibre each day and a multivit, you can look at what they eat over the course of a week and not worry about any individual day. Just make sure they are reasonably hungry (not starving!) At mealtimes and keep offering a range of foods. Not many adults are picky eaters unless there is a deeper cause.

We do the same. You take what you want and can have more of you want

I never make alternatives and no cereal/toast later to make up for shoddy eating at dinner