Problems finding meals both me and partner want to eat

Gwella

Silver Member
Hi everyone.
I'm having trouble 11 weeks into SW finding meals that will suit both me and my boyfriend. He's very supportive about the weight loss in general but when it comes to practicalities, it's harder.

I'm pescetarian and he's vegetarian, so I'm already not eating fish as much as I would like.
I go through the SW books and suggest lots of tasty hotpots, bean casseroles, chillis, different stirfries, 'creamy' pasta sauces and lasagnes made with quark/yoghurt, roast veg dishes, etc etc... But the majority he turns down because he doesn't much like pulses (if they're a main part of the meal), roast veg, root veg, potatoes, stirfries (unless with satay which is fatty). He says none of them have enough 'flavour'.
I try to be open to his suggestions instead as I know he doesn't want to be on a diet just because I am, but he prefers the dishes we made before SW - mostly Mediterranean/Mexican tomato-based dishes with tortillas or lots of cheese/cream for flavour which obviously I can't have. I get so sick of just eating tomatoes/peppers/courgette/aubergine. I feel like we're not eating enough protein too - just eggs sometimes and occasionally some beans if they're hidden. We both have vitamin deficiencies (him vit D, calcium and omega 3; me iron and vit D) and I feel like sorting those out requires more attention to a healthy diet, like SW offers.
He gets frustrated with me when I say I don't much fancy more of the tomato/pepper dishes he suggests or I point out that we're not getting enough protein, and makes me feel guilty for objecting because of the SW restrictions I'm asking for. But I feel like we actually have loads of options, he's just not open to them.

Neither of us seems to be enjoying cooking and eating together, and choosing food for the week is really tense. Also I'm worried because I know this has to be a long-term change for me, whereas he seems to think that as soon as I'm at target we can go back to what we used to eat...

Anyone got any suggestions? :(
 
Sorry don't know why this is in recipes - whether I put it here accidentally or it got moved. It's not necessarily a recipes query but about ideas for getting across to him!
 
I can't help much on the vegetarian front, but how about Quorn? Is he open to that? There's a lot you could do with it, especially Mexican type dishes.

I notice you said Satay, there's a recipe you could make your own Satay sauce for only 4 Syns a serving, using peanut butter, soy sauce, water and chilli.
There's loads of stuff you could do with pasta - especially passata if he's missing tomato-based dishes. Don't forget you can still have cheese as a HeA (not sure which plan you're doing), maybe if you compromise you could have a dish he really fancies on a Saturday if he'll stop being so fussy during the week, Wholemeal tortilla wraps are 8 Syns, so you could have a veggie fajita?. Salads are always a good option, because you can do it for both and then add different toppings, worse comes to worse, get him to cook different food, you can still eat together, but doesn't mean you have to eat the same thing.
XxX
 
Honestly if SW is important to you he needs to understand, you can easily be pescie or veggie on the plan because its not a diet its a lifestyle but you need to have his support. I dont want to suggest making different meals (or variants on the same meal) but it might be the way forward at least for now. You could always make more than you need and freeze portions? Sorry its not really much help but I think he's limiting you choice .x.x.
 
My Mr is quite a drama llama regarding food, but he's got a lot better, with my attitude of it's there eat it. He doesn't care for veg or pulses. I don't serve veg on a plate he hates, but he will eat veg 'in' things quiches, chillies, curries etc. he works 12 on 12 off. So it's a compromise here, a majority of evening meals are SW for both of us, some special ones he loves, chicken wrapped in bacon stuffed with laughing cow, chips salad. Best thing I bought is the Phillips airfryer, it means a lot of meals are chips and salad with xxx so like tonight I did him his 2 sausage, while I had fish. Some nights when he's working late I buy small pies to microwave when he comes in, and he can have some rice pudding etc. but he's lost over a stone eating just SW evening meals, I used to worry about him not being happy, but now I'm stern and say " it's for your heart/ health too! " we have a lot of salad. I do mainly green days, which I find easier and cheaper. I would stop asking him and just cook whatever! Then if he really hated it you would remember not to cook it again. I think there's only been two spicy dishes Mr couldn't eat. If they're hungry they'll eat.
 
My boyfriend is a big meat eater and will eat veg if its put in front of him. Unfortunately he can eat takeaway and rubbish for fun and never puts on weight. I am back on slimming world for the second time, first time lost 3 stone and then went back to eating like my bf which I just can't do. He puts up a little resistance at times and when I ask him about dishes he isn't always that positive so I have stopped asking and just cooking it, if he doesn't want to eat it he can starve haha. I often swap for quorn or soya mince (dried from the lentils section in Tesco) and he doesn't notice! Maybe you could try being a little tough for a couple weeks like me and see if his attitude changes, a lot of men don't realise how tasty slimming world recipes are. My favourite is 6 bean chilli from slimming eats and I replace the mince with soya mince that I have hydrated in stock or water.


x
 
We are hard women lol ;) also you can write down his favourite normal meals and recreate them SW way just hiding lots of veg in!
 
Thanks for the replies people. I'm still working on it. We always plan and cook all our meals together, so it's not like I could just force him to eat what I could or starve. I wanted to I could just say we'd cook separately but that's twice the mess, shopping, hassle, and not as bonding - but I am asking that we do this more often so that I can have fish and some other things. Trouble is then he eats pizza, puts on weight and I feel guilty! :rolleyes:

I think I'm going to go through my recipe books in the next week or so and build up a sort of master-list and then we can tick the ones we both enjoy and just go to the list every week rather than go through all the books all the time. Also I'm going to get him to write down all his favourite meals and see how we can adapt them, including the satay recipe above and I'm going to hunt down the wraps/pittas that count as hexB. (I'm secretly hoping he will see for himself that actually his preferred meal list is quite short and not as healthy as it should be!)
 
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I'm sure there's a million veg recipes that you could just fry/steam/microwave fish separate and add to your plate?

Try smash pizza, veg meatloaf, mixed bean chilli, Pete's chicken peanut curry ( I use sweet potato instead of chicken it's Devine and freezes)
Roast veg, SW BBQ sauce and rice/couscous/ pasta. Pasta bakes, pasta/rice salads. Macaroni cheese or mac n cheese gorgeous! Savoury rice stuffed roasted peppers with sweet potato wedges salad. SW chips, egg beans, risotto, sweet potato wedges, SW hummus with salad and Morrisons NuMe mango dressing. Katsu curry can be served on anything, veg, fish etc with rice. Batchelors pilau rice with onions frozen peas and curry powder sauté in frylite in separate pan, mixed together when rice cooked, Delish! I make all sorts up!
 
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