No-one likes anything i cook anymore

I actually make 2 meals. Actually, last night we had rigatoni with turkey meat sauce. It was good but I didn't have the meat with mine. Some days, I'll make their dinner and I'll just have a salad. It doesn't bother me to make 2 meals, just as long as my family eats.

try adding more herbs & spices 2 the meals. also i use a no salt sodium free salt "made by original's" so i can add more salt without the worry of adding sodium. there r also salt free spices out there as well.

i've done that & it's helped tremendously. i find that i don't need as much salt anymore as well so that could b what's actually affectin the taste of the food. whereas every1 else is use 2 saltin their foods a lot.

hope this helps :flowerforyou:

ps: besides if they complain i ask them what do they think can b done 2 improve the taste. it's pretty much just tweeking it once u've cooked it.

Don't get discouraged. Do what is ultimately right for all of you. let them make their own food if they are too ungrateful to eat yours without complaining.

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I somewhat have that problem. I started buying whole wheat everything, and they got mad. Now I buy a nice healthy bread for me, and a whole-wheat white bread for them. Or I buy Hillbilly bread. I buy 1 percent milk for me, and 2 percent milk for them. They don't like whole wheat pancakes. So I make regular buttermilk pancakes, and watch my portions. I make most of the same dinners I did before, but use wholeweat pasta in place of regular. I kept trying different brands until they stopped complaining. Looks like Aldis Fit and Active Whole Wheat pasta is a winner. When I make baked potatoes, I eat the smallest one, and make sure it is a good tasting potato(yellow or red) and use a small amount of reduced calorie margarine.

Say I make beef stroganoff. I use whole wheat noodles, make it how I normally would, but I don't add the sour cream to it. They don't like sour cream anyway, and if they did, they could add it to their own. I watch my portion on it, and eat lots of salad on the side. So, maybe you could go back to some of your old recipes, and just tweak them a bit, eat less of them, and eat lots of veggies with dinner to fill you up. Are you using less salt? They can salt their own dishes. Also, sea salt has more flavor, so you can use less of it.

I am easing in new healthy recipes. If I started a bunch of new recipes at once it would be disasterous. I try to only do one new recipe a week. If they don't like it, I don't make it again. Try the Cooking Light Magazine. It may have changed its name. It is made by Taste of Home. Always awesome recipes.

Taste test & season!!! I have a pantry full of spices, and they make all the difference. Plus, most of them are zero cal or very low cal. I keep the following on hand and use at the discretion of what I'm cooking - garlic powder, ground black pepper, sea salt or kosher salt, basil, oregano, sage, rosemary, ground white pepper, smoked paprika, cumin, chili powder, dill, celery salt, cinnamon, fennel seeds, bay leaf and a few others that I don't use as regularly. If you're unsure, add a little of something and simmer for a couple minutes. Taste, and if it seems bland add more. Just be sure you log those tastes (or get someone else in your family to do your taste testing) - and I know we're supposed to limit our sodium intake, but salt IS necessary to help bring out the flavors of some foods.

Good luck, and I hope this helps!

I agree with this and add to the list: Crushed red pepper, fresh garlic, fresh onion, sea salt adds great flavor and you use less so less sodium for more taste. I personally use different types of sea salt (different colors, textures, etc).........

Why is the food you cooking too bland? There are herbs & spices that you can use to seasoning it up. You can make your own healthy marinades using virgin olive oil as your base. Green, Red & Yellow Bell Peppers are excellent for seasoning also.

Try this:

Just last night I made extra lean turkey burgers mixed with precooked)Stove Top Stuffing Low Sodium Mix (chicken flavor), Mrs. Dash chicken seasoning and minced garlic topped it off with lettuce, tomato, thinnly sliced provolone cheese, teaspoon of ketchup and 1 slice of bacon. The family loved it...hubby, 18 yr old, 10 & 9 yr old all gave it raved reviews.

Burger Calories 133 for 4 oz (weighed before cooking)
Burger with Nature's Own Sandwich Thins Multi Grain and all the fixings 271 calories

I mixed the box of stuffing in 40oz of Turkey meat. Each burger weighed 4 oz before cooking. I have left over mixed turkey/stuffing for tonight...(turkey loaf maybe). Pan was sprayed with Pam.

Oh and do not use butter in the stuffing. Its not needed.

Taste test & season!!! I have a pantry full of spices, and they make all the difference. Plus, most of them are zero cal or very low cal. I keep the following on hand and use at the discretion of what I'm cooking - garlic powder, ground black pepper, sea salt or kosher salt, basil, oregano, sage, rosemary, ground white pepper, smoked paprika, cumin, chili powder, dill, celery salt, cinnamon, fennel seeds, bay leaf and a few others that I don't use as regularly. If you're unsure, add a little of something and simmer for a couple minutes. Taste, and if it seems bland add more. Just be sure you log those tastes (or get someone else in your family to do your taste testing) - and I know we're supposed to limit our sodium intake, but salt IS necessary to help bring out the flavors of some foods.

Good luck, and I hope this helps!

I agree with this and add to the list: Crushed red pepper, fresh garlic, fresh onion, sea salt adds great flavor and you use less so less sodium for more taste. I personally use different types of sea salt (different colors, textures, etc).........

And to add to that, lemon juice, sliced black olives, sprinkles of cheese, onion, mushrooms, all can be added to dishes to increase their flavor. It takes a while for people to get used to what natural food tastes like, if they're used to eating processed, msg laden, salt and sugar drenched foods.

I feel you. I am a vegetarian so a lot of things I cook, I have to make sure I can make it non-vegetarian as well for my bf. So like for tacos, I will usually make one chicken/beef filling and one beans/vegan soy filling. That way its not entirely two separate meals.

Or, I cook a lot of indian food as well, which he doesn't mind eating, but it usually doesn't fill him up, so I'll use the curry and grill a piece of chicken along with the meal so he can eat that as well.

I know sometimes it can be tiring but I figure if I want to be healthy than I have to put in a little more effort. An easy way is just to prepare the base without adding extra ingredients, i.e. cheese, meat, etc and then setting some aside prior to adding anything that someone else might want in there.

Learn to substitute. Instead of mixing sour cream into enchilada filling, use greek yogurt, or fat free/light sour cream. Use the 98% fat free cream of chicken/mushroom instead of the full fat. Use butter substitute, and replace oil with applesauce in baked goods. I personally don't like my food super salty, even before my lifestyle change, so I usually taste test and make it to my my salt level liking, but always make sure to keep salt at the table for him. When buying cheese, get the 2% milk kind....start off with little changes like this that simply disguise the health factor in their meals. If you put a plate of plain pasta and steamed veggies in front of them, they may complain, but if they don't know the difference...everyone's happier (and healthier!).

In my household the OH either eats what he is given, goes hungry, or cooks himself

I do tend to give him sides like mash potato (I'll have new potatoes instead) and we'll have the same meat and veg?

Sometimes I will stick him a pie in the oven and make myself a stir-fry but for the most part he just eats what I do, but a much bigger portion and with a few extras (coleslaw or potato salad whereas I just have a green salad)

I've alway cooked pretty healhty food so our food isn't that different, I just used to eat way too much of it!

Herbs, spices and condiments are really useful, plain old chicken can be transformed with some lemon and chilli (or some basil and oregano, garlic and a little olive oil).

My meat sounds pretty bland (I cook mainly poultry - rarely red meat) but I love experimenting with herbs and spices!

You say you can't do anything now but YOU ARE doing something..living healthier and showing you can do this!! Don't get discouraged thinking you can't do anything now! It's not being selfish to do something for YOURSELF!! When you reach your goal body you can look back and say "wow, I CAN do something other than cook, I can take care of MYSELF and look GREAT! Please don't feel you can't do anything now or it will cause you to become depressed. You are worthy of this and it doesn't matter if they don't like the food, do it for YOU!

I also usually make 2 meals. Other times I just "modify" my meal..Last night family had taco salads (wtih taco salad shells). I made me a seperate burrito with turkey and homemade taco seasoning (lower sodium) so it wasn't to difficult. I try to find recipes that I can use the main parts they are eating..for example tonight they will have chicken legs but I will do me a breast seperate and have the same veggies they have.

What does your spice cabinet look like?

I took a lot of our old recipes and just changed them to make them healthier... chili gets made with ground turkey instead of beef and i add more beans. Taco Casserole gets made with low fat cheese and a combo of ground beef and turkey.

I try to eat low cal and clean during the day so that I can make one meal for dinner and eat the same thing my family does. That being said... every one has had to get used to a lower sodium, lower fat diet. I do not cook 2 meals and I do not buy many "special" things for them... what's good for me is good for them... perhaps I can keep my son from having weight issues.

I will occasionally make exceptions... if they order pizza, I'll make myself a pizza on a tortilla. If they want pasta - I'll make something else for me (It's not my favorite and not worth the calories for me).

Keep working at it and not only will you get better - but their tastes will change as well.