Picky eaters

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treehopper1987
treehopper1987 Posts: 505 Member
in Food and Nutrition
I cook most of the meals in my household. However, I have a very picker eater to try to cook for. How do you deal with these picky eaters? I want to eat healthy fruits and veggies, but I hate having to cook multiple meals to please the household, do to the amount of waste it creates. Most of the time I feel like I'm stuck always fixing for them and not being able to enjoy the things that I like or want to try. What to do?

Replies

  • lyttlewon
    lyttlewon Posts: 1,118 Member
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    Can they just pick it out?
  • Rhia55
    Rhia55 Posts: 247
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    This may sound harsh but I'd make them cook their own meals. If you want to eat healthy and they don't, that shouldn't stop you. I went through this too when I was married and now I wish I'd made them eat what I made.. maybe THEY would be healthier now.
  • victorious27
    victorious27 Posts: 250 Member
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    Compromise. Switch back and forth between which days you make extra food, and what days you all eat healthy.

    I.E. Mon, Wed, Fri cook healthy food that you enjoy. Tues, Thurs, Sat cook both healthy food and the foods they enjoy. Sunday is a "free for all" where you take a vote...or something.

    Good luck. :)
  • treehopper1987
    treehopper1987 Posts: 505 Member
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    Sometimes they can. But sometimes I like to cook dishes like pineapple chunks,etc in acorn squash (they'll eat the pineapple chunks and the rest of the acorn squash it trashed). This is just one example but the list could go on and on...


    Also, if they were to cook they would tempt me too much. They like all the "man foods" plus other "junk".
  • samf36
    samf36 Posts: 369 Member
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    You eat what is place before you or you don't eat.
  • keem88
    keem88 Posts: 1,689 Member
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    do what my mom did, if you don't like it then don't eat it, there is always bread and butter. i guess i am picky in the sense that i do not eat meat, but if it is not meat then i will eat it. better than starving for the night.
  • lyttlewon
    lyttlewon Posts: 1,118 Member
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    I don't cook a separate meal for each person, I would go bonkers. But I try to make components that are easily changeable. Like for example Brussels Sprouts make my son barf, so he will usually have hummus and carrots instead. I was horribly picky as a kid and we mostly picked it out. I remember my brother hating beef and barley soup and to this day whenever I eat it I think of him pouting at the dinner table. I think he was offered a sandwich instead.
  • AmandaInGA
    AmandaInGA Posts: 122 Member
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    I cook most of the meals in my household. However, I have a very picker eater to try to cook for. How do you deal with these picky eaters? I want to eat healthy fruits and veggies, but I hate having to cook multiple meals to please the household, do to the amount of waste it creates. Most of the time I feel like I'm stuck always fixing for them and not being able to enjoy the things that I like or want to try. What to do?

    Do what my mom did at meal time, you either ate what she made or you didn't eat at all. And now I do the same thing with my son, only once has he ever just not eaten a meal because he didn't like what I made. He ate the food the next time I made it. Guess his empty stomach over-ruled him LOL
  • treehopper1987
    treehopper1987 Posts: 505 Member
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    do what my mom did, if you don't like it then don't eat it, there is always bread and butter. i guess i am picky in the sense that i do not eat meat, but if it is not meat then i will eat it. better than starving for the night.

    I feel this philosophy is good for children... but I'm talking about my husband.
  • elijhasmomma
    elijhasmomma Posts: 270 Member
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    You eat what is place before you or you don't eat.

    This. Even more so if you don't work. Don't work-don't eat. Beggars can't be choosers and that goes for kids old enough to fend for themselves and significant others. I am lucky enough the guy in my life works oil for land rigs and is gone quite often. I make the exception to cook him whatever the hell he wants when he is home and make my own stuff on the side cuz hey..I'm the one who doesn't work and stays home with our son.
  • ingalynn
    ingalynn Posts: 136 Member
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    This is what I am making. If you don't like it, you make something for yourself.
  • apocalypsepwnie
    apocalypsepwnie Posts: 373
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    I have step kids who are 7, 6 and nearly 5. They can't cook their own but I do try my best to make a main dish that everyone can eat and then make sides my partner and I will eat and they can just have more of the main.
    If it contains things they don't like, I'll serve theirs and pick out as much as I can of the offending item (mushrooms for example) and just put them on my plate as they wont be wasted. Any little bits they find they can pick and leave to the side. I do cut them large to make them easier to find.
    With anything else I'll just add whatever is to our plates and not theirs like spaghetti, I love olives in mine but they wont touch them. Or a salad, one doesn't like tomatoes, one doesn't eat raw muchrooms and the other is freaked out by cucumber. Easy.

    Mostly I just chop things up really small or puree them so they can't be seen. And at the end of the day if I know they eat it (liking it or not has no bearing in my house) they'll eat it or go hungry. No arguments, it's up to them. I wasted more food arguing and trying to make different meals. In the end they knew I was catering for their needs so they wouldn't eat what I gave them anyway.
    Every so often I will make separate dishes for us and the kids but they aren't told about it and don't get a choice of what they have. It's just served up.
  • apocalypsepwnie
    apocalypsepwnie Posts: 373
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    do what my mom did, if you don't like it then don't eat it, there is always bread and butter. i guess i am picky in the sense that i do not eat meat, but if it is not meat then i will eat it. better than starving for the night.

    I feel this philosophy is good for children... but I'm talking about my husband.

    He can cook for himself then. Either before or after you are done with the family meal. He is capable and can clean up his own mess. He's an adult and can control what he eats that being said though if he isn't adult enough just to try and get over it then not your problem. My x was a picky eater and would complain if onions weren't cut the way he liked them and sit there flicking things around on the plate with a stupid look on his face like he was 4. I learnt to ignore it and just eat my food, not my problem he was an idiot. Needless to say we didn't last long.
  • maryjay52
    maryjay52 Posts: 557 Member
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    hey i always made a meal..if someone didnt like what i made then too bad ..make your own or do without
  • changing_4_me
    changing_4_me Posts: 9 Member
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    My finance works in the oil field as well and if also gone a lot. When he is home I cook what he wants but I don't make anything separate for me. I just portion out my serving.
  • Isatryli
    Isatryli Posts: 76 Member
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    I have step kids who are 7, 6 and nearly 5. They can't cook their own but I do try my best to make a main dish that everyone can eat and then make sides my partner and I will eat and they can just have more of the main.
    If it contains things they don't like, I'll serve theirs and pick out as much as I can of the offending item (mushrooms for example) and just put them on my plate as they wont be wasted. Any little bits they find they can pick and leave to the side. I do cut them large to make them easier to find.
    With anything else I'll just add whatever is to our plates and not theirs like spaghetti, I love olives in mine but they wont touch them. Or a salad, one doesn't like tomatoes, one doesn't eat raw muchrooms and the other is freaked out by cucumber. Easy.

    Mostly I just chop things up really small or puree them so they can't be seen. And at the end of the day if I know they eat it (liking it or not has no bearing in my house) they'll eat it or go hungry. No arguments, it's up to them. I wasted more food arguing and trying to make different meals. In the end they knew I was catering for their needs so they wouldn't eat what I gave them anyway.
    Every so often I will make separate dishes for us and the kids but they aren't told about it and don't get a choice of what they have. It's just served up.

    My solution is really close. I'm doing a main meal with a lot of diffect way to eat it : salad, fresh veggies cooked clean, brown rice and white rice... It could seems a lot to do but I'm freezing lot of things so I just have to take what I need when I need.

    I'm cooking for several meals. I have only the time to add a little thing that could be enjoyable for my kids and husband. After few months I saw them interested in my food too! With time I don't need as often to add junk or bad foods. Especially on dinner!

    Hoe it helps.

    Isa
  • treehopper1987
    treehopper1987 Posts: 505 Member
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    do what my mom did, if you don't like it then don't eat it, there is always bread and butter. i guess i am picky in the sense that i do not eat meat, but if it is not meat then i will eat it. better than starving for the night.

    I feel this philosophy is good for children... but I'm talking about my husband.

    He can cook for himself then. Either before or after you are done with the family meal. He is capable and can clean up his own mess. He's an adult and can control what he eats that being said though if he isn't adult enough just to try and get over it then not your problem. My x was a picky eater and would complain if onions weren't cut the way he liked them and sit there flicking things around on the plate with a stupid look on his face like he was 4. I learnt to ignore it and just eat my food, not my problem he was an idiot. Needless to say we didn't last long.


    This is the main problem between us... I am a neat freak and clean up pretty much as I make a mess... he on the other hand can leave messes for weeks before he deems it a problem. So it's just easier if I do all the cooking, so I don't have to clean up after both of our messes...

    Maybe I will just have to suck it up and cook what he likes more... and leave my taste buds to yearn for what they want....
  • Aurorakitty
    Aurorakitty Posts: 57
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    "shut up and eat it" :D OR have them suggest things they want to eat that are modestly healthy and make them have vegetable and fruit with meals. You shouldn't have to cook multiple meals to please other people.
  • alanlmarshall
    alanlmarshall Posts: 587 Member
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    "Eat what's in front of you or go hungry or make it yourself" is harsh, mean, bad for a relationship with a child or a spouse. It is unlikely to lead to healthy eating and is more likely to lead to resentment and strife. Better to be kind, understanding, and to work out a solution.

    Try not thinking in terms of meals, but make more of a continual smorgasbord. Have a lot of different kinds of food around all the time. If your husband eats something you don't want, have 5 alternatives handy. When you cook, make large amounts so there is plenty left over.

    If you don't want tempting foods around, work it out with your husband ahead of time. Don't just announce that you're doing it your way and he gets no say. And you can't just tell others in your household that they have to wholly adopt your new dietary habits. That's just not reasonable, no matter their age or relationship to you.

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