When your kids don't want chicken every night!

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Replies

  • RobD520
    RobD520 Posts: 420 Member
    Proteins we have prepared for dinner within the past three months (prepared a number of ways) include: salmon, swordfish, tilapia, whitefish, shrimp, calamari, mahi-mahi, crab cakes, lobster tail, king crab, cod, sirloin steak, NY strip, sirloin tip, ribeye, chuck roast, beef tenderloin, 85/15 ground beef, ground sirloin, 80/20 ground chuck, pork loin, pork shoulder, pork country ribs, pork tenderloin, Italian sausage, turkey breast, roast turkey, and, of course, chicken.

    My step-sons are 13 and 18.

    I have been able to keep my dinner under 600 calories with all of the above! All it takes is portion control and creatively matching sides.
  • ClosetBayesian
    ClosetBayesian Posts: 836 Member
    Hamburgers. Pizza. Beans and rice. Tacos. Enchiladas. Lentils. Curry.
  • mom23mangos
    mom23mangos Posts: 3,069 Member
    My kids are getting pretty mad at me home cooking all the time now. LOL What? No fast food? Mooooommmm! I try to change it up with steak, brisket, fish, shrimp, chicken, etc. Some of the things I make are a hit, some a miss. Gumbo is one of my kids favorites.
  • robot_potato
    robot_potato Posts: 1,535 Member
    There is so much more to life than just chicken. Have an adventure with your food. This is about a sustainable lifestyle change, so unless you plan on eating chicken and quinoa every night for the rest of your life, you'll need a lot of ideas.

    Pinterest is a great resource, you can find a recipe for anything there. I do look for healthier options, but mostly I just portion out what fits my calories and have a salad or more veggies on this side.

    Last week we had
    Sloppy Joes and salad
    Ham, scalloped potatoes and veg
    Split pea soup (with the leftover ham) twice cause it was so darn good
    Tomato soup and grilled cheese
    Hamburgers
    Pancakes, bacon and eggs

    We do get more adventurous, I make curries, jambalaya, chili& cornbread, pizza, pasta (try making it by hand, so much better than from a box!) For things like pea soup and chili we make big batches and freeze it in dinner size portions for easy weeknight dinners.

    There is nothing wrong with eating chicken either. My kids' favourites are butter chicken (w/ peas and rice), hemp crusted chicken strips, pineapple chicken skewers, sweet and sour chicken. So many different ways to make it.

    I've lost 51 pounds so far eating all these things, don't be afraid to eat. Food is your friend, it's OK to love it, just learn to love it in sensible portions.

    Quinoa tastes like cat butt, don't torture yourself.
  • RobD520
    RobD520 Posts: 420 Member
    pbprincess wrote: »
    There is so much more to life than just chicken. Have an adventure with your food. This is about a sustainable lifestyle change, so unless you plan on eating chicken and quinoa every night for the rest of your life, you'll need a lot of ideas.

    Pinterest is a great resource, you can find a recipe for anything there. I do look for healthier options, but mostly I just portion out what fits my calories and have a salad or more veggies on this side.

    Last week we had
    Sloppy Joes and salad
    Ham, scalloped potatoes and veg
    Split pea soup (with the leftover ham) twice cause it was so darn good
    Tomato soup and grilled cheese
    Hamburgers
    Pancakes, bacon and eggs

    We do get more adventurous, I make curries, jambalaya, chili& cornbread, pizza, pasta (try making it by hand, so much better than from a box!) For things like pea soup and chili we make big batches and freeze it in dinner size portions for easy weeknight dinners.

    There is nothing wrong with eating chicken either. My kids' favourites are butter chicken (w/ peas and rice), hemp crusted chicken strips, pineapple chicken skewers, sweet and sour chicken. So many different ways to make it.

    I've lost 51 pounds so far eating all these things, don't be afraid to eat. Food is your friend, it's OK to love it, just learn to love it in sensible portions.

    Quinoa tastes like cat butt, don't torture yourself.

    Quinoa is bitter if you don't rinse it well before cooking. It's actually pretty popular in my house. But I wouldn't eat it if I didn't like it; there are plenty of alternatives....
  • lemurcat12
    lemurcat12 Posts: 30,886 Member
    I like quinoa fine, but for some reason there's this idea among some that it's far more nutritious than the alternatives, which is not true, and I don't think it's a great idea to eat the same thing every day anyway. Getting a variety of foods makes it more likely you will get in a greater variety of nutrients.
  • Francl27
    Francl27 Posts: 26,371 Member
    Our menu the last couple weeks

    - steak with salad and butternut squash
    - corned beef with potatoes, cabbage, and carrots
    - ham with lentils
    - Asian chicken meatballs and veggies
    - sweet and sour chicken with rice
    - roasted chicken legs with mashed cauliflower and carrots
    - cod with sauteed potatoes and veggies
    - whole grain pasta with meat sauce
    - chicken sausage with zucchini pancakes and butternut squash
    - smoked sausage and white beans in tomato sauce
    - ground turkey tacos

    I mean yes, there's some chicken in there, but never cooked the same way so the kids don't get bored.

  • cwolfman13
    cwolfman13 Posts: 41,865 Member
    You can have variety...a lot of variety, and your meals can be very healthy...your food can even taste good too.
  • 4leighbee
    4leighbee Posts: 1,275 Member
    ... just stopped in to share that my daughter and my ex-husband had a bet going while she was with him last weekend. Katie bet that our Sunday night family dinner would have something to do with chicken. She won. :neutral:
  • ForeverSunshine09
    ForeverSunshine09 Posts: 966 Member
    I eat almost every meal that we had before just maybe less of them. When I first started mfp I input all our regular recipes to see how I could fit them in. Heck in the last week I have had cubed steaks with mashed potatoes, Italian sausages, tacos, crockpot chicken pasta. I will be having spaghetti bake and crockpot pork chops with mashed potatoes in the next couple of days.
  • WholeFoods4Lyfe
    WholeFoods4Lyfe Posts: 1,518 Member
    Personally, I'm not a short order cook so I make one meal and everyone eats it. Of course, I try to tailor each plate for the individual. Like, my daughter doesn't particularly like meat, so she gets less mess and more carbs and veggies, my son doesn't really like carbs, so he gets more meat and veggies. My H pretty much eats anything. I follow a LCHF diet so I generally leave the carb off of my plate.

    I do a meal plan at the beginning of the week. Some easy meals that work for the whole family: tacos, beef stew, grilled chicken, beef roast, pork roast, pulled chicken. I always keep staples like canned/frozen veggies, potatoes, instant rice, etc on hand, so once I choose a main course, I'll just pick the sides from there. Bonus is a lot of meats can be cooked in the crockpot, so for a working mom like myself that is a lifesaver and makes it so much easier to get healthy meals on the table every night of the week.

    Honestly, we only eat chicken maybe one night a week, there are so many other good options out there that can fit into pretty much any diet, it is all about portion control.
  • CrabNebula
    CrabNebula Posts: 1,119 Member
    If we are having something she doesn't like, I just make her a bowl of whole wheat penne with tomato sauce and cheese. Quick, easy, and not the most unhealthy thing. I only have one kid though, so there's that.
  • DanSTL82
    DanSTL82 Posts: 156 Member
    You don't have to eat the same stuff they do. Make them their thing and then you eat your own thing.
  • socajam
    socajam Posts: 2,530 Member
    Are they working?
  • mpat81
    mpat81 Posts: 351 Member
    RobD520 wrote: »
    Proteins we have prepared for dinner within the past three months (prepared a number of ways) include: salmon, swordfish, tilapia, whitefish, shrimp, calamari, mahi-mahi, crab cakes, lobster tail, king crab, cod, sirloin steak, NY strip, sirloin tip, ribeye, chuck roast, beef tenderloin, 85/15 ground beef, ground sirloin, 80/20 ground chuck, pork loin, pork shoulder, pork country ribs, pork tenderloin, Italian sausage, turkey breast, roast turkey, and, of course, chicken.

    My step-sons are 13 and 18.

    I have been able to keep my dinner under 600 calories with all of the above! All it takes is portion control and creatively matching sides.

    This is basically what I was going to say. Lots of proteins to choose from, some even have fewer calories than chicken. My kids actually love salmon, shrimp, steak and pork tenderloin. Mix up a couple different spice rubs, barbecue or jerk for example, and store them in your pantry. Sprinkle it on your meat or fish and throw it on the grill with some veggies. Kabobs are great, most kids love food on a stick!
  • WinoGelato
    WinoGelato Posts: 13,454 Member
    I think everyone has covered the advice I had:
    1. don't eat chicken and quinoa every night
    2. make what the family will eat and take a smaller portion or add a salad or something for yourself.
    3. Skinnytaste.com

    If you let people know how old your kids are (may influence suggestions about getting them to help/cook for themselves) and what kinds of things your family likes they may be able to make more specific suggestions.

    My kids are 4 and 7 and somewhat picky but they just don't eat a lot of anything, and they don't like a lot of things mixed together. When I make a stir fry, I cook the meat and vegetables first, set some aside for the kids along with plain white rice and then add the sauce. I give them a little bit of the combined dish to try but they usually prefer the separate components. They eat fruit and can have string cheese and a peanut butter sandwich it they really don't like what I'm serving.

    Last week our meals included:
    Chicken, Andouille and Crawfish Jambalaya (kids ate plain rice with chicken)
    Breakfast for Dinner
    Grilled Pork Tenderloin, Mashed Potatoes and Squash/Zucchini
    Turkey meatball sandwiches w/ sweet potato fries

    Now I'm just here for other meal ideas...

  • fishshark
    fishshark Posts: 1,886 Member
    we eat chicken probably 5 out of seven nights. We dont get sick of it because i do a lot different things with it. A usual week of recipies would be... Oven baked breaded chicken with risotto and a veg, chicken tacos with beans or chicken taco salad if i dont have the calories, lettuce wraps with sweet chili or spicy peanut sauce, fajitas, bbq chicken sandwhiches ect. Chicken is a blank canvas and should be used as such.
  • Cynsonya
    Cynsonya Posts: 668 Member
    RodaRose wrote: »
    Black bean tacos:
    http://www.thegardengrazer.com/2014/12/50-awesome-vegan-black-bean-recipes.html

    Crustless pizza (cuts down a little on the calories):
    http://cooklikeyourgrandmother.com/how-to-make-crustless-pizza/

    Oven "Fried" Chicken Strips:
    https://blog.myfitnesspal.com/oven-fried-chicken-strips-video/

    I'm soooo making those black bean tacos!
    Thanks :#
  • Cynsonya
    Cynsonya Posts: 668 Member
    cwolfman13 wrote: »
    You can have variety...a lot of variety, and your meals can be very healthy...your food can even taste good too.

    Are you sure??? I thought we were supposed to be "dieting" here? ;)

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