What do you feed your families?

I like to let my kids help plan the meals with me, from making the shopping list (even before they could spell they would draw pictures of what we needed or sound out the words, they love making shopping lists) to going grocery shopping together, picking out nice produce and learning how to tell which item is cheaper by the ounce or what cut of meat is a better value, to putting the food away, helping keep the pantry/freezers organized so that we can tell what we already have and what we will need on our next shopping trip, helping with our garden and picking stuff from it for our meals, and helping out in the kitchen at mealtime/clean up. I want them to a) know that it is a valuable thing we do for our family, providing for their nutritional needs, and giving them nice, delicious meals, as well as good memories at the table together and b)know how to care for their family in this area when they become adults. When I was first out on my own I didn't know the first thing about managing my kitchen and it took a lot of trial and error to learn about it. My poor son had to sit through a lot of poorly made or burned meals while I learned how to cook! lol! He also had to eat too much top ramen and beans and rice at the end of the month years ago before I learned to properly grocery shop on a budget. I don't want my kids to have those problems as adults-at least not for the same reasons (just not knowing how to manage in this area). Hopefully they will know the basics of feeding themselves and their families healthfully on a budget by the time they move out, because they helped feed ours as they were growing up. I make sure to let them know it is a privilege for us to be able to budget, plan out, buy and prepare a good variety of healthy foods for our family-some people don't have enough to eat, and we are very lucky to have a food budget (even if it is fairly small for our 7 person family) to work with.

ETA: I'm one of those people who shows love to my family by making them a delicious, attractive looking meal. I guess you could say my "love language" is food. :laugh:

so you do pretty much what I do. some things everyone eats and some things only 1 person eats. So mainly I want to hear from the people who make their kids eat when they've cooked. Do they cook things they don't like and then eat them?

I think I've already answered this - yes, I do cook things that aren't my favorites and, yes, I eat them. I haven't run across a food item yet that anyone in my family finds truly revolting, so that hasn't been an issue.

My husband or I make one meal for the entire family with some slight variations (which take into account dietary needs or preferences). For example, on a night that we are making tacos for the family, I will make tacos and a side salad or vegetable for the kids, but will make a taco salad for me. One meal - slight variation. The other night I made a chick-pea and spinach curry for the family. Our 5 year old can handle a bit of heat, but the 2 year old isn't quite ready for that. In the final stages of cooking, I pulled out a small portion for the kids and then kicked up the heat in ours. I am gluten-free, so I served mine with rice and salad. For the kids, I had naan and a cooked veggie.

I have found it much easier to make one meal and then make slight variations, rather than cook two separate meals. When planning my meals, I try to take into account their taste preferences, the healthiness of the meal and then plan accordingly. On the nights that I am not home, my husband often makes meals for the kids that are things that I would not normally eat (such as pasta).

In terms of junk - there is some in the house, but not a lot. The kids are allowed small amounts from time to time - about the same amount that I myself would eat. For me, that is not a diet. It's a choice ot lead a healthy lifestyle and a chance for me to instill this in my kids at a young age. Our rule is that you don't have to ask if you'd like to have fruit, vegetables or water at any time of the day...everything else they have to ask.

so you do pretty much what I do. some things everyone eats and some things only 1 person eats. So mainly I want to hear from the people who make their kids eat when they've cooked. Do they cook things they don't like and then eat them?

I think I've already answered this - yes, I do cook things that aren't my favorites and, yes, I eat them. I haven't run across a food item yet that anyone in my family finds truly revolting, so that hasn't been an issue.

You must not have a hypertaster in the family. We do. It forces you to make accomodations. There are a lot of recipes that just will not work for our family because of it, including many soups, casseroles, and crockpot dishes. It's a pain sometimes.

You must not have a hypertaster in the family. We do. It forces you to make accomodations. There are a lot of recipes that just will not work for our family because of it, including many soups, casseroles, and crockpot dishes. It's a pain sometimes.

I guess we don't. It really hasn't been that big of an issue for us. Both my husband and I love to cook and the kids have just been raised with a meal being placed on the table. Not sure how we would have handled a hypertaster, but I'm sure we would have managed something. Our main thing is that dinner is family time. The focus is the members of the family coming together to share a meal and re-connect. I always try to make the food delicious - and from the comments I get back from husband and kids - it seems I am successful far more often than not. I've heard both of my boys brag to friends about the types of foods they are served for dinner.

We all eat the same thing. We have changed it up a little, but mostly we still eat what we ate before me dieting.

Yup, same here. I just make sure that I eat less than I did before and measure my portions.

In my house is myself husband our 8yr old daughter and 1yr old son. I do most of the cooking I'm a sahm. I try to get everyone to eat healthy and sometimes even sneak in some spinage and other veggies. But there are days that they want fried chicken that I'll make it for them and a salad for me. My 8yr old is picky but she will at least try anything before she says no.

i cook the same foods for myself, my hubby and our three boys, 13,9 and 4. I let them all help me prepare and cook and they will eat everything and when asked what they want give a long list of veggies followed by pasta! About once a week i give them pizza/chips/burger night while my hubby and i have something more grown up, normally on our date night when we eat later than the boys. I find if you want your kids to eat healthier foods if you all eat together and they see you eating it, they will. hope it helps.

Everyone eats the same thing at meals. But I do take into account their likes and dislikes, ex My kids dont like sweet potatoes, so when I bake sweet potatoes I bake regular potatoes for the kids. For snacks I still buy alot of things they like i buy them drumsticks or ice cream sandwiches and buy me skinny cow ice cream sandwiches, I also buy them things that they like but arent my favorites, ex I dont like mint so I buy them mint chocolate chip cookies or ice cream, also things like poptarts are easy for me to turn down I also buy yogurt, fruit, celery with peanut butter , mini rice cakes things like that that everyone can eat.

We all eat the same thing. Every night. I have a list of "mom's meal ideas" in a three ring binder, and we all choose what we would like for the week. I always serve a fruit and vegetable, and we have at least one meatless meal a week. Kids and husband seem to like it.