Share your tips for feeding a family with different dietary requirements with Flora

[AbbiCMumsnet]

Cooking a meal for the family can be hard at the best of times, so having family members with different dietary requirements can throw an extra spanner in the works. Whether it’s because of allergies and intolerances, or due to environmental, ethical or health concerns, we know that a lot of households have to think and prepare carefully to make sure their mealtimes cater to everyone around the table.

Because we think mealtimes can be tricky when you have to cater to different dietary requirements for family members, Flora would like to hear about your experiences and how you navigate through this.

Here’s what Flora has to say: “Health and wellbeing has never been so important to consumers, people care more about what goes into the products they are feeding themselves and their families, but they are not prepared to compromise on taste – and they shouldn’t have to. With a great new recipe making FLORA more delicious than ever, our new 100% Plant Goodness range can be enjoyed by the whole family.”

How does your family cater for those who have different dietary requirements when it comes to mealtimes? How can your family make sure everyone’s requirements are met without spending too much extra time, money, or effort on preparation? Has your family adapted well to managing emerging dietary requirements, or have there been any hiccups on the way?

Whatever your tips and tricks are on making these mealtimes a success, post them on the thread below and everyone who does will be entered into a prize draw where 1 MNer will win a £300 voucher of their choice (from a list).

Thanks and good luck!

MNHQ

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I have a very fussy husband , a vegetarian daughter , a son that doesnt like veg and myself and youngest daughter that will eat most things . Usually i end up cooking at least 3 different meals at each sitting which can be stressful . i dont have any tips but here to read others

I can't stand cooking different meals so if there are any special dietary requirements we will all eat the same. My Mum is vegan so when she's here we have vegan meals, when my coeliac friend visits we all have gluten free options. Job done!

We keep things simple, mostly I cook something that everyone can eat, otherwise I'll cook a base or a mix of veggies that everyone can have and add in different ingredients at the end.

We make items in bulk and then add items to suit everyones diet.

I like to make popular sauces such as a tomato based sauce, making sure that the ingredients I use are suitable for the whole family and freeze it in single portion batches.

It's then really easy to just add things such as meat, vegetables and cheese for whoever I'm cooking for in the family...

Our son has a nut allergy therefore nuts and any products containing traces of nuts are banned from our house. I have 3 children and all meals I cook are the same but nut free for everyone, the kids don't know anything different so just accept this.

I am vegetarian and none of my children are, two will eat anything, one is fussy. I try and cook something that everyone likes and add extras eg meat, certain vegetables. I also make sure they regularly try things again as tastes change constantly.

We are lucky that we don't have any specific dietary requirements in our family. We do have very "fussy" children though and we make all sorts of efforts to get them to be brave and try new things and not dismiss them out of hand before they've even had a taste.

Plan Plan Plan

It was hard work on slimming world for me as not only was it low syn/no syn food but i couldnt eat too much gluten or i would be in agony with stomach ache. The man only likes meat and veg, and our son wants pasta all the time... but if you plan ahead you can do one meal with "tweaks" so its less work. Batch cook and freeze what you can - so for some meals its just a heat it up in the oven after defrosting jobby along with what you put in for everyone else!

We always cook the same meals for everyone, they learn to like it.

I find basing the main meal around salad/potato/rice/spag is the way to go. It is easy then to add fish or pulses or meat.

I have one veggie in the family so no real issues. Everyone eats lots of fruit and breakfast is porridge in winter and toast spread with healthy Flora in summer. Heart health is my main concern for the family.

Make meals that veryone can eat as it saves time and easier.

We try to find meals that everyone can eat . It sometimes makes it hard work but we get there in the end and find something they will all eat.

research and invest in good food alternatives that taste similar or the same and ensure that all the family is happy with alternatives

We have a vegan (the eldest), vegetarians, meat eaters and a relative with coeliac. I try to make things that everyone can eat and then add the vegan protein, vegetarian protein and meat protein separately. We all eat vegetarian and vegan some times. We make our own pizzas which easily adapt to vegan (vegan cheese not the best!), veggies and carnivores. When I'm really fed up it's baked beans and baked potatoes!

I always plan a week in advance and have a list of recipes that all of us will eat. I find that although my son is extremely fussy there are certain meals that I can cook where I can ‘hide’ the foodstuffs he doesn’t usually eat! So meals like Bolognese, soups.
I don’t eat meat so when cooking I make a sauce and add the meat separately for my husband.

I always meal plan for the week ahead and do the food shopping based on that. My middle daughter is pretty fussy so I try to do things that she will also eat but with something else e.g we'll have salmon and rice with veg but she'll have chicken dippers and rice with veg!

We don't have any specific dietary requirements but I do try to cook healthy things and from scratch when I can but with all the kids clubs etc this can be harder. I try to make up for this in the holidays when there is a bit more time.

We try to only have meat once or twice a week and like to experiment with different veggie meals with varying degrees of success!

by providing extra homework when my child was poorly

We generally make separate meals

My daughter doesn't eat red me so we have homemade turkey burgers which are still juicy and tasty. We also make turkey meatballs and batches if chicken stew and pastas for the week.

spend a day cooking and batch freezing that way you can make as many different meals as needed but with little prep or time

I'm vegetarian and we also have a Coeliac in our house, i tend to cook meals around a main ingredient and adjust for individual members, I'e a shepherds pie and I'd make a meat one and a veggie one with gluten free ingredients.

Meal planning is key - even with different meals being prepared in the kitchen it is a lot easier when I have planned the ingredients beforehand

Our dietary requirements aren’t too difficult - 2 vegetarians and 2 meat eaters. I cook vegetarian meals and then we have meat that can be added if wanted. For example, tomato pasta I will do a vegetable sauce but also some chicken if OH wants it, to add.

Try and make meals with alternatives. Most of alternatives these days taste the same!