What do you feed your families?

dmpizza

My son has major "medical" issues so getting him to eat "healthy" is almost impossible (please don't suggest that better food will help him, it won't).
My wife has a good palette, but she chooses to limit her food to small bland quantities, except on weekends and vacations.
I eat just about anything so either my wife cooks just for me(bless her), or I make something.

kaetmarie

I didn't read everyone's response, but skinnytaste.com has a LOT of classic dishes (i.e. mac & cheese, chicken nuggets, etc.) that are lightened up. I don't have kids yet, but I make a lot of my husband's favorite dishes from this site and he NEVER knows that it's good for him :laugh:

pixelish

Healthy and tasty aren't opposites - you don't need to choose between the two. One meal is offered for dinner and we all (for the most part) enjoy it.

angelew

Just a general word of advice for those of you with young children...prepare one healthy evening meal for the family and they will eat it. If they choose not to, then they will just be hungry. Kids get with the program very quickly when there are no other options! Do this for your kids' good health...and your sanity!

hummus40

i feed my kids whatever they want...but its funny...because now that i have been eating healthy (since nov) now they do too!! we are a vegetarian family (primarily) so it is easier to prepare the same thing alot more than it used to be. I use proteins like tofu and get very creative with that as well as seafood (that is more of a task since they dont like all of those) and alot of times we will do pizza night and make our own using pesto instead of pizza sauce...also soups in crock pots and salads with nuts inside ...stuff like that to make sure they get the protein they need...

same with snacks too! we used to buy all those "snack" foods (doritos, frozen motz sticks, etc) but now i dont even go down those isles in the store... we make fruit, cheeses, fresh bread (the kind u slice on your own) and occasionally i will buy ice cream with "all the toppings" so they can "make their own" sundaes.

My kids are 17, 15 and 9 so they are willing to try new things at this level...used not to be that way but i am sure glad they are as it opens up a whole new "healthy" world!!

jenbusick

I cook one meal most nights (and make one thing for lunch most days). They do eat things I can't eat -- for example, mashed potatoes. So when I fix a meal with mashed potatoes, I will also make something I can have, like a green salad or a steamed vegetable, and I skip the potatoes.

We do have a few meals where I or another family member chooses to eat something different -- for example, on "Pizza Night" I buy the natives a pizza, and I make my own flatbread pizza for me. In part, I started doing that because it saved me calories, but also, my kids are big enough now that one pizza wasn't feeding all four of us anyway, so I needed another pizza from somewhere. On "Cheesesteak night," when my husband and I eat homemade cheesesteak sandwiches (which my kids *hate* for some reason, but the hubs & I love 'em -- I use serious portion control for mine, food scale and all), one kid eats PB&J and the other eats a pepperoni sub (homemade, just pepperoni and cheese on the sub rolls I use for the cheesesteaks). I have one kid who refuses to eat spaghetti sauce; I just serve her spaghetti noodles and she puts butter and parmesan cheese on them and eats them that way. On nights when my husband isn't home, maybe once or twice a month, I'll make the girls their favorite junk food -- fish sticks for the one, those *awful* frozen chicken strips for the other, with Kraft mac-n-cheese, and usually peas and applesauce to round it out (they like peas). But I don't do that as a family meal (Yuck. I usually make myself some stirfry or a taco salad or something on those nights; I'm not touching that crap they like! *shudder*).

But for the most part, I make one meal, and use portion control to keep mine where I need it.

ishallnotwant

Healthy and tasty aren't opposites - you don't need to choose between the two. One meal is offered for dinner and we all (for the most part) enjoy it.

I agree, my family enjoys what I make for dinner and I love planning out what we will eat each day. Cooking is something I really enjoy, and making tasty and healthy dishes is so fun! We also have our higher cal nights too and that's ok...it all balances out in the end.

mmsilvia

I make one meal for my family. Somedays it's a totally 'diet' friendly meal and other days it's a lighten version of a good ole fashioned comfort food dish.

I eat smaller protions then hubby. My one year old son eats everything we give him. We are lucky to not have hit the picky eating phase (yet). I started him young with a variety of foods. Even when he was on 'baby food' I would puree and make a baby version of what our dinner was.

I suggest you do what works for your family. If it means making two seperate meals then so be. But, if you would like to eventually only make one maybe start slow & gradually lighten up the dishes and add salads/fruits/veggies/broth soups to the meals. You might find your family enjoys eating heathlier (without even knowing it) they may just feel better & you might see an improvement in their moods.

fajitatx

Don't have kids. But my wife and I had two very different childhoods when it came to food.

We always had vegetables at dinner (something green or orange) and most of the time a salad (lettuce, carrots, tomato, bell pepper, sometimes mushrooms). Lunches if prepared at home usually had some sort of vegetable. And we always had fruit around (bananas, oranges, apples).

I don't want to speak for my wife, but I get the impression that fresh fruit was rarely in the house, the salads were usually iceberg with tomato and that celery for instance was only in existence to hold peanut butter (i actually like celery all by itself, peanut butter is nice, but not required). She said that most of their meals was some sort of meat and potatoes (and being Italian, meat and pasta).

I don't think she was raised wrong, just different.

My penchant for vegetables and fruit has rubbed off on my wife and she often says 'I eat more vegetables now at a meal then I ever did before', whereas I feel that I probably should eat more, given that my father (who grew up on a farm) was always trying to get me to eat lots of different vegetables.

jsjaclark

We all eat the same. I try to make most everything as healthy as possible. My son (18 yr old) would actually prefer to snack on carrots and eat a salad than to eat chips and candy. My daughter is getting better about it as well. I try not to buy chips or soda unless we are going to a social gathering and we need to grab something to take quickly.

TKHappy

I am a short order cook LOL. I hated being forced to eat things as a kid, I threw up everytime I was forced to eat frozen corn and to this day I still won't. I am not opposed to trying something once, more than once, cooked different ways, ect....so my kids do have to have at least a bite of what we make, I think at about the 30th time my 10yr old finally liked asparagus. I have 4 picky eaters other than myself in my house, we just don't buy junk food for the house, we always have two veggie sides, and we experiment a lot. A typical night for us is something like this:

My husband-diabetic: Steak, wild rice, brussel sprouts and mashed cauliflower

Step-Son-will pretty much eat everything (15): Steak, brussell sprouts, bread

Daughter-does not like cooked veggies and will only eat chicken when it comes to meat (10): Salad w/ ranch dressing, veggies and garbonzo beans and cauliflower

Son-Autistic and VERY picky eater (9): Turkey sandwich on wheat bread, black olives, goldfish crackers and celery

Me-vegetarian: Chickpea salad w/ a orange and baked kale chips


We all sit and eat as a family...I know though that there will never be a meal that we will all eat exactly the same thing.

jenbusick

We all eat the same thing but that's not always lettuce and kale. We eat normal food, just prepared without lots of butter and oil and whatever and we watch portion sizes.

Yes, this. If/when I make my recipes "healthier" (a process I've been working on for years, tweaking this and that), I don't tell them. I just serve it. If they notice, I take a step back and try something different.

leeann0517

Just a general word of advice for those of you with young children...prepare one healthy evening meal for the family and they will eat it. If they choose not to, then they will just be hungry. Kids get with the program very quickly when there are no other options! Do this for your kids' good health...and your sanity!

do you cook foods that you don't like but your kids do? why do kids not get any choices? I don't eat mushrooms but my kids do. I'm certainly not going to force myself to eat them. I like brussel sprouts, they don't. Why should they be forced to eat something they don't like. I fail to see how making a pb&j for a kid that doesn't like the meal takes so much effort.

MamaSonyaP

They all eat what I serve. I am not a short order cook, and I don't have any tolerance for picky eaters. You don't like it? You starve, kitchen is CLOSED.
Grilled chicken, sweet potatoes and veg always works. Homemade mac/cheese for the kids, added with pureed butternut squash, low sodium/low fat soups, homemade fish/chips with low cal coleslaw (I might just skip the breading on my fish!).

For the most part, kids will eat what they get. Be firm and don't give in, they'll get used to it.
My husband DOES have a junk food habit, but he is only allowed to have it away from me. I don't drink pop (soda) anyway, so his mountain of pop in the garage doesn't have effect on me. I will enjoy 'snacking' at night with him, but just with baked chips, carrots, fruits or cottage cheese.

Don't stress yourself; that's A LOT of cooking and grocery shopping...and really, who wants to be grocery shopping and cooking more than they have to?!

bitesizeMelly

I love having my kids help out in the kitchen, less work for me and they have fun too!

DesireeLovesOrganic

I have always been picky about what my kids eat since they were born so they tend to like healthier things because they are already used to it. My daughter will go to the fridge and just grab a tomato and eat it like an apple. They regularly just grab something out of the fruit bowl and at dinner they will eat all their veggies no problem (granted there are a few things they don't like which I understand because I don't like some things either and will modify if I know they hate something.) I don't have anything in the house that has dye, hfcs, gmos, etc. We eat all organic and get CSA delivery of produce so that we always have a lot of choices for healthy snacks. Not for weight but I don't want to set them up for other diseases like cancer or other chronic disease, yk? If we make them eat healthy from when they are little, they will (hopefully) make better choices for the rest of their lives and we gave them the best start we could. Sometimes their school sends them home with garbage dye filled high fructose corn syrup candy and I have them trade me for some dark chocolate or a scoop of organic vanilla ice cream so they are still getting a treat, just not as bad of one, and then I throw that crap away. Haha

MissAmyB80

My girls eat what I eat - and that includes all the healthy stuff. I have a 2.5 yr old who is going through a phase where she refuses to eat. I simply offer her another glass of milk. End of story. If her tummy is growling then she can eat what I prepared - she won't starve to death. They also can't get second helping of the main dish or a carb (bread, potatoes, etc) until they eat a portion of the vegetable - usually at least half. These are rules of meals at our house that have been long established though.

That being said - I can see how it would be a huge challenge to just change streams in your house when you start a diet. If your whole family was eating mac & cheese..chicken nuggets....comfort food, etc - and you decided to "diet" and put a salad or grilled chicken in front of them - that may not seem fair at all. Kids definetely develop routines and habits - ones that we teach them. So try tricking them and talking it up. And work it in gradually. It will benefit everyone if you decide to start the whole family with more healthy meals. That processed - high fat/cal stuff isn't good for anyone - even if they aren't over weight. My 7 year old loves to talk about eating healthy and thinks it's awesome when we discuss nutrition, etc at our meals.

It will take time and adjusting.

thedurttybride

We always give our 14 month old most of the same things that we are eating, but there are nights when he gets Easy Mac as his main course. He's great about trying everything and I've been surprised by how much he likes veggies. I'm trying to expose him to as many flavors and foods as possible so when he hits the picky stage he might not be as picky.

jenbusick

Oh, and WRT junk food, I have reduced the amount keep in the house. One thing I've done is to only buy it "by request," although I have not told the natives that this is what I do. I didn't announce it, I just started doing it.

Before I leave for the grocery store, I'll ask "Anybody want anything specific?" So far, I've never had all three of them ask for something specific on a single trip (and I only go 1-2 times a month, so this isn't an every other day thing). My husband occasionally asks for Oreo Double-Stufs; if he asks for them, I buy them. My older daughter occasionally asks for soda; if she asks, I pick up a 12-pack of Sun Drop. My younger daughter has a thing for Little Debbie Cosmic Brownies, so she sometimes asks for those. Beyond that, I don't keep the stuff in the house. The only thing they have really complained about and missed are Pop-Tarts, but so far no one has thought to add those to my list when I say "It's grocery day, got any specific requests?" We haven't had Pop-Tarts in months.

I think the fact that I'll buy it if they ask for it has helped them to not feel put-upon or deprived, and they don't seem to have noticed that I have quit just keeping this stuff around.

MamaSonyaP

Just a general word of advice for those of you with young children...prepare one healthy evening meal for the family and they will eat it. If they choose not to, then they will just be hungry. Kids get with the program very quickly when there are no other options! Do this for your kids' good health...and your sanity!

do you cook foods that you don't like but your kids do? why do kids not get any choices? I don't eat mushrooms but my kids do. I'm certainly not going to force myself to eat them. I like brussel sprouts, they don't. Why should they be forced to eat something they don't like. I fail to see how making a pb&j for a kid that doesn't like the meal takes so much effort.

Because it's a waste of time, effort and money for you.
If they are given a choice of what you've made, or a pb&j sandwich every night then what nutrition and vitamins are they getting? What are you instilling in your child as far as respecting your parent, and being thankful of what is being made for them? You spent the time preparing a list, looking at flyers, working hard for the money to buy the food, spending time at the store, planning a meal, preparing and cleaning up...and you're OK with them saying, 'I don't like your food, I want another choice'?! Kids aren't programmed to allow themselves to starve. They'll eat around the brussel sprouts, or mushrooms. I have three (almost four) kids, and they all eat what they are served; Chicken curry, pizza, entree salads, asparagus, broccoli, steak, tomatoes...whatever!