Picky 6 year old and meal planning

[HelpPleaseNow]

Hi guys, need some help please.

I have a very picky 6 year old DD. It is also just me and her at home. I don't know how to meal plan. We end up throwing a lot of food away.

I will cook a meal, but we don't really eat it quickly enough, and then it just ends up in the bin because it has gone off.

Also, DD won't eat sandwiches at lunch. She will only eat noodles so I pack her a thermos with hot noodles in but I am worried this is becoming repetitive.

Those of you who are single parents with one picky eater, how do you meal plan to avoid food waste?

Thanks!

Not a single parent but I do most of the food planning and have a somewhat picky 6yo too. It's hit and miss, but for me the following bits have helped:

• always offering a "safe" food as part of the meal (I.e plain pasta or cheese) so even if she doesn't eat the rest I know she's had something.
• When offering something new or in sauce I tend to serve her a really small amount in a ramakin on her plate (the tiny size like you'd get with a dipping sauce in a restaurant) and with only about a tablespoon of the new thing in it. That way she's more inclined to try it as it's not touching her other food and the portion is small and seems less threatening. This is how we've introduced her to spaghetti bolognese as she can now remember that she's enjoyed it before and last week we had our first success of her actually eating the spaghetti and the sauce together 😅
• involving her in meal planning and prep. Doesn't always mean she gets what she wants every time, but means there's at least one meal a week where we all know she'll enjoy the meal. Involving her with making the dinner sometimes means she's more motivated to sample the ramakin offering (but not always).
• Limiting her snacks between meals so that she's actually hungry by dinner time. This was a vicious cycle for us as I was often letting her have more fruit/snacks between meals as I was scared of her not eating come dinner time. But actually think this wasn't helping as then she wasn't hungry so her motivation to try food wasn't there

Best of luck, I know how demoralising it feels. 😅 X

Just to add re: planning I tend to plan a few days out in advance and shop for these, I personally like to have a different carb base on different days, so like potato on a Monday, rice on Tuesday, pasta on Wednesday etc. I'm trying to get better at batch cooking and freezing (got some great silicone trays from Amazon that are like the blocked shape that Stocked use, so that really limits food waste and means on days when I don't have the energy I've got something ready to go.

From my experience what doesn't work well is if I try something new that's entirely mixed together in a sauce, e.g. casserole or biryani as then if she doesn't like it there's no way to separate out the different bits. So even then I'll break it down and give her some plain rice alongside.

Cook less food?

after half an hour pop it in the fridge to save for when people are hungry ?

unless you child has development problems - ie alarming people with her lack of energy and lack of growth - please stop panicking about how little food she eats

What’s wrong with repetitive lunches ? Plain noodles is odd I admit - please tell me it’s not UPF flavoured noodles ?

What is "picky" - sometimes picky is only eats 4 kinds of vegetables and doesn't like things in a sauce, other times it is cries hysterically if you try to give them a different brand of chicken nuggets to their one "safe" food full blown ARFID.

https://leedscommunityhealthcare.nhs.uk/our-services-a-z/nutrition-and-dietetics-child/fussy-and-restrictive-eating/

I will cook a meal, but we don't really eat it quickly enough, and then it just ends up in the bin because it has gone off.

As in you try and batch cook but don't eat it? I personally hate leftovers, I need variety, so any additional portions that i've cooked get portioned up as I'm serving dinner and then straight in the freezer.

Also, DD won't eat sandwiches at lunch. She will only eat noodles so I pack her a thermos with hot noodles in but I am worried this is becoming repetitive.

My DD has only just started liking sandwiches but prior to that we've give basic similar ingredients, so breadsticks, cheese chunks or ham or chicken with veggies & fruit all separated. Why automatically noodles?

My dd doesn’t like sandwiches so took lunch in a flask every day.

I bought these frozen rice and vegetable pouches.
I froze chicken in small portions.
I made wagamamas teriyaki sauce because it’s cheaper than shop sauce and although it’s full of salt and sugar, at least I knew what was in it. You can keep it in a jar forever…because of all the salt!

Then in the morning I made a tiny stir fry and put it in her flask.

Thank you all, some very good suggestions. I will try to just portion up straightaway and put in freezer. Also like the idea of dissecting a sandwich into its ingredients and doing a platter style lunch.

Picky eaters - what do you guys do for breakfast?

Whatever she wants

try not to have notions of “breakfast food”

if she wants cheese and mash for breakfast let her have it