I'm struggling, and hoping for some ideas.
I've been vegan for 22 years. My kids were brought up veggie, but chose to eat meat. I'm not with their dad and he cooks meat well, so they get that at his. They also get free school meals and choose what they wish.
Like most mothers I've been prioritising the kids nutritional needs/fussiness over my own and it's not done me any good. I just ended up living on salad (no cooking!), lost loads of weight and got ill with severe depression.
I need to start looking after myself but I'm struggling to work out how to do this and get a compromise with the kids. I don't have a dishwasher etc so can't do multiple meals. My kids refuse to eat tofu/lentils/chickpeas/veggie sausages/beans/jacket potatoes/rice/cooked vegetables/anything in sauce....the list goes on. But even though I currently cook what they 'like' often it is barely touched, and I end up throwing most of it away, and I've had nothing. I'm not a bad cook, so it's not that.
I've always maintained that it can't be possible to actively dislike so many things! I'm kind of tempted to just make vegan meals that can be made vegetarian, serve with bread and salad/veg and dig my heels in (then get it in the ear from my ex).
I have major misgivings about cooking and serving meat at home. I'm always worried about giving them food poisoning or cancer and it causes me a lot of stress. But then again I find it difficult to eat when I have 3 people having a strop about rice/lentils/meat substitutes etc. With being depressed, often it's easier to just accommodate them, but I don't think it's helping me in the long run.
Aaaaaarrrrrghh!!!! Any advice?
TIA