Fit and family: What do you prepare for the whole family?

trilogyhr

I'm a mother of 3 and working. How do you balance cooking healthy and picky children? Do you cook two meals or have you found recipes that work for the whole family? I typically just cut out some of the carbs from my plate, but any other suggestions?

crushingitdaily12345

I just really stick to my diet however I can. We have 4 kids, VERY picky eaters, so I can relate. We just make separate meals, and prep stuff, so quick meals, and food is ready. Like yesterday, I grilled up an entire package of pork chops, and I cubed it, so I could put it in salads, and stir fries throughout the week.

trilogyhr

meberle53959 wrote: »

I just really stick to my diet however I can. We have 4 kids, VERY picky eaters, so I can relate. We just make separate meals, and prep stuff, so quick meals, and food is ready. Like yesterday, I grilled up an entire package of pork chops, and I cubed it, so I could put it in salads, and stir fries throughout the week.

Thank goodness I'm not the only one that does the same. I toss mine into a salad most days. A stir fry in a good way put together things I may not eat on their own.

Chadxx

It depends, I don't have young kids but I do have picky adults. Most of the time, I simply fix healthy meals we all like but often, I will cook separate sides and sometimes I will just cook separate meals. Last night, I made pizza for everyone else and for me, beef with asparagus, mushrooms, Italian seasonings, reduced fat mozzarella, and a little parmesan. Tonight was tacos with ground turkey for everyone.

lsardoff

I make a lot of ground turkey meat. Then I used it differently for each person. Some have it with taco seasoning as tacos, Asian seasoning as lettuce wraps or plain - over a sweet potato, on top of a salad

gearhead426hemi

I have two kids and when my wife and I are eating healthy then the kids eat what we are having. We have our kids help us cook which seems to peak their interest and gets them involved. We pick new recipes every couple weeks and as a family we vote if we like it or not. If we like it we have a family cook book we add the recipe to. After about a year you will have TONS of recipes that you know the kids like and that are healthy.

abbynormalartist

My husband is the pickiest eater out of our bunch and through our whole 10 year marriage, we've never really shared meals- we eat together but not the same food. He fends of himself and we're both happy that way. The kids are at the mercy of what I make. It's a pain because my daughter is starting to go through her own picky phase but we're still sort of making it work. As long as she eats her veggies and at least tries a few bites of everything, I give her a pass if there's one thing she doesn't care for. BUT I'm not making her something else to replace it. I figure if she's really still hungry she'll eat what what's on her plate.

VioletRojo

I'm not a short order cook. I cook one meal and that's what everyone eats. If someone decides they don't like what I've made, they can make a peanut butter sandwich. That said, I do try to take everyone's preferences into consideration when I'm planning meals.

suzievv

We are a busy household of six. I work too. We sit down to dinner every night. DH & the children always eat what I prepare. We eat everything from good home cooking to pizza or Stouffers. Every day I try to decide ahead of time what will be for dinner, and I go ahead and plan that into my calories. There have been a few rare occasions where I've almost eaten all my calories for the day before dinner. In those cases, I still sit down with everyone, but I just eat a very very small amount, slowly.

einalem504

I can TOTALLY relate, and my boyfriends daughter is also a type 1 diabetic so meals are pretty much always an ordeal. I don't know if anyone has suggested, but I do mashed cauliflowers the same way I would make mashed potatoes. They're not an EXACT swap, but they're good enough that it keeps the villagers happy. I also tried to make my own chicken nuggets once with a food processor, ground chicken, egg, almond flour and seasoning. The villagers were so-so on the attempt. I didn't have to make anyone a second dinner but they weren't begging for more. I'm determined to perfect them though, I'll keep you posted!

Adc7225

For some reason, I healthy or not just pretty much cooked two meals for as long as I can remember - my baby will be 26 on 6/20

Even now, for my office husband, I cook two meals most of the time. I just tend to be more concerned with what I am eating and don't really want to hear any comments - like how many days in a row can you eat chicken & green beans. I think your children will be able to move into eating better seeing you eat healthy when they are ready. A little trickery in the mean time if necessary is okay but for the most part I thing separate meals are okay.

cwolfman13

There are a lot of things my wife and I enjoy that at 5 & 7 the kids don't quite yet have the pallet for. Most of the week our kids eat separately from us as they get home from school/camp around 4PM and are pretty well starving by 5 PM...I'm not even usually home until after 6 and sometimes 7, so we eat later when the kids have gone to bed.

We do family meals on weekends and we usually stick to basic familiar things like grilling some chicken or grilling burgers, etc. My kids aren't big on veggies so much, but they do like their fruit.

kms234

VioletRojo wrote: »

That said, I do try to take everyone's preferences into consideration when I'm planning meals.

This. My kids aren't traditionally picky but they do have their favorites and are always leery of new things. I try to balance our menus for the week to include 2-3 days of things everyone likes, 2-3 days of things I *think* they will like, and then a day or two where i make whatever I want without regard or it's FFY (fend for yourself).

I commented in another post that I have the most success with "build your own" meals....tacos, wraps, sandwiches, etc. I can load mine up with veggies and the kids can have a boring taco with only meat and cheese Sides are almost always raw veggies (or guac on mexican nights) and fruit.

ShinyFuture

I grew up with 6 siblings and parents with full time jobs. Dinner was dinner, we had basically an "eat it or don't" rule, unless it was something that one of us truly couldn't eat in which case we'd get a peanut butter sandwich. Other than that there were no different meals. If we didn't like part of the meal we didn't have to eat it, if we didn't want to eat any of it we did without.

With my own family, 5 kids with some meat eaters and some vegetarians, I pretty much follow the same rule. I try to be respectful of personal likes/dislikes but I do not make special meals for anyone. The only firm rule is that people have to try it, and not with a microscopic bite but a real taste. If they don't like they don't have to eat it, but dinner is dinner. If they don't like what is planned they are free to offer to cook a different meal, for all of us.

It's worked well for us, and a bonus is that all my kids are pretty adventurous about trying new things and all are pretty darn good cooks.

RachelElser

No kids myself, but when I was a kid and my mom went on various diets we ate what she ate. Period. And my brother is a pretty picky eater but he knew that if he didn't like it he took a small amount and had a sandwich later.

hesn92

I'm a mean mom and make 1 meal and my kids can eat it or starve!! Lol. Not really with my toddler. Sometimes I will just give him some turkey or ham deli meat, cheese, crackers and a banana or something like that. But that's mostly because some meals that I make are hard for him to eat, like soup... Or because he's starving when he gets home and can't wait for me to cook dinner.With my 9 year old, he eats what I make period.

However- my diet never really changes. When I'm losing weight I just eat less of the meals that I would normally make.

Francl27

When we cook, it's a protein with veggies and sometimes pasta/potatoes, and they're expected to eat that. Some nights it's leftovers and 'what's left in the fridge' and they get to pick from what we have.

I very rarely make them something different - the only examples that come to mind really is when I make chicken couscous, because they don't like the spices, or curry or something... then I give them a pass and they can have pasta or chicken nuggets or something.

Lizakabibbis

I cook for my family and myself. We have the same protein and green veggie but if we are having pasta or rice I'll usually make zucchini noodles or cauliflower rice for myself.