Fed up living in a restaurant!

xMandyDx

Determination is Key
Ok so for the past 4 weeks, I've been having one meal and everyone else is having another.
Our deep fat fryer broke during the week (blessing in disguise, methinks) and I've decided that from now on, we all eat the same food.

While that's great and simple in principle, it's not so easy to instigate.
Tonight, I tried to give the kids the same meal as me. I made a packet of savoury rice, and fried up some frozen Asian Stir-fry veg, sprinkled it with herbs, curry powder and an oxo.

My eleven year old sat at the breakfast bar for almost an hour, spreading it around on her plate, picking at it with her fingers, asking "what's this green/black/yellow/red stuff", and generally being a moanbag.

She said she hated it, and didn't want to eat it. After almost an hour she'd eaten maybe half of it and I let her off the hook with a warning of "nothing else is being made here, tonight".

Is it too much for me to expect everyone else to eat the foods I'm eating? Or should I continue to run a bloomin' cafeteria?!
 
i try to make the same meals for me and kids what i know they like so if i have chicken, chips, salad they will have the same but no salad and curry sauce or bbq sauce, the only thing mine wont eat is fish so they get chicken nuggets/pizza etc when i have fish. jacket potatoes i like prawns or tuna mayo with mine they will beans and cheese just adapt meals slightly to cater for them as well
 
See I already make different meals for the baby... I guess I just thought the older kids would eat what I eat. Hubby would eat anything that was in front of him, and lick the pattern off the plate lol

Actually, now that I think of it... I was stood over the cooker, making the baby her fishfingers, and eating my stir-fry, and of course for every mouthful I had, baby had to have one too. She actually ate more of it than the kids did :p
 
I don't usually do completely different meals, but I will omit sauces and spices for him if I know he won't like them or small substitutions, like bread for potatoes (he won't touch them unless in chip form) because there's food that I won't touch too, so I know what it's like :)
 
To be honest I would give the baby the same too, if she's onto solids which with the fish fingers I assume she is, the stir fry (without the stock cube and curry powder) will be fine for her, do hers in a little saucepan separately then use kitchen scissors to cut it up. Maybe do her some of those noodles you just plonk in hot water instead of the rice (I'm thinking of the salt issue).
I'm far too lazy to cook everything separately!

Maybe post a few meals you all ate pre SW and we can adapt them for you?
 
I understand completely, my Husband is so fussy and will not eat SW chips or fish or loads of stuff, last night I cooked Fish, SW Chips and Mushy Peas for me, for him, Proper Chips, Pie and Beans.

I told him off last night as I got a bit too hot in the kitchen and my body and skin condition does not deal with heat well.

He is lovely really though so I will carry on, it also works in my favour sometimes as I can have what I think are loads nicer things.
 
My hubby and son are quite fussy but LOVE pizza topped chicken so much they ask for it.
Cottage pie is much the same as it was before only with less cheese on my bit (I section it off with carrot batons lol), Spag Bol is virtually the same minus the bottle of Red wine (I used to batch cook four family sized portions.)
My son (nearly 15) loves roasted new potatoes and wedges covered in BBQ seasoning.
 
I don't think you should cook different meals anymore..
Maybe they didn't like that type of dish or some ingredients rather than never liking anything you make that is SW friendly?
Maybe agree on what ingredients they dont like..and make substitutes with extras..

I've a 10 months old baby who eats what we all eat (no purees here, baby led weaning method)... the only difference is that I add extra virgin olive oil, or unsalted butter if necessary in the baby's food just before serving. No added salt when cooking, use baby stock which is very very low in salt and just season our own portions at the end of cooking.

Slimming world has been amazingly easy with my baby as most foods are healthy and "normal"..
I don't know how much time or skill you have when it comes to cooking.. but SW magazines and books are filled with lovely recipes that im sure at least SOME of them will impress your kids..

Also be persistent..dont give in and make a different meal..they won't starve and will eat what they're given if hungry enough/eventually.
 
I ahve two children, one of which is vegetarian, and the other is a meat and 2 veg girl. One want's chickpeas and spice, the other wants to suck the marrow out of the lamb bone. It is rare for me not to do different meals. I eat whatevers there's the most of
 
BuzzyBee said:
wow.. a veggie and a meat eater.. thats tough! you have to cook a complete veggie meal then maybe cook meat separately...omg

I would have to double batch and freeze portions of those meals, so say a veggie curry, make twice as much and freeze one, when curry night comes again reheat the veggie curry and double cook the meat one, then next curry night double cook the veggie, and serve the frozen meat obe so really you only need to double cook the first one, and in effect only cooking one meal each time.

Meant to add I do this with curry already as son only eats Korma which is tasteless baby food to me! That way I get to concentrate on the one in hand!
 
Thanks all for the replies. Lots of great ideas there!
 
Love the pizza chicken idea. Also, what about a good old spag bol. I thought everyone liked that.

Surely if she's eleven she can be helping in the kitchen if she wants something different. Great chance for her to star learning how to look after herself.

Good luck x

PS I got told a great tip in a course at work last week and have used it non-stop since (I teach in a SEN school, working with age 14-18). They said it's easier for people to go along with things if they are offered a choice, but the choice should always be what you mean. Eg. If you say "what do you want for tea?" and she says "chips" then you refuse it, you're going back on the choice you offered. If you say "Right, you can choose from X and Y for dinner, or you can come to the kitchen and cook your own and I'll help you out if you need me to", she doesn't feel like you're dictating, but knows what the acceptable moves on her part are. I raised my eyebrows at the time, but it really works.
 
Lucky7 said:
Love the pizza chicken idea. Also, what about a good old spag bol. I thought everyone liked that.

Surely if she's eleven she can be helping in the kitchen if she wants something different. Great chance for her to star learning how to look after herself.

Good luck x

PS I got told a great tip in a course at work last week and have used it non-stop since (I teach in a SEN school, working with age 14-18). They said it's easier for people to go along with things if they are offered a choice, but the choice should always be what you mean. Eg. If you say "what do you want for tea?" and she says "chips" then you refuse it, you're going back on the choice you offered. If you say "Right, you can choose from X and Y for dinner, or you can come to the kitchen and cook your own and I'll help you out if you need me to", she doesn't feel like you're dictating, but knows what the acceptable moves on her part are. I raised my eyebrows at the time, but it really works.

That's a good idea.

Re the getting her to cook her own, with my two once they reached 12 they had to choose a dish they wanted to cook, I would teach them and they would cook for the family once a fortnight (I tried for once a week without much success!)
After a few weeks they asked to cook something else. It's fallen by the wayside now as son (nearly 15) has to cook for himself at least once a week.
My Dort chose curry as her first dinner and my son Pizza (proper home made but with base mix or bought bases).
When son does cooking at school all the boys want him with them as he's the only one who can produce edible food!
At 12 I was cooking for my family 3 times a week and I believe it's a life lesson parents SHOULD teach their kids.
 
Shirleen is correct. I cooked all our meals during the week from the age of 11 with no supervision & i loved it :)The only meal my dad cooked was sunday lunch (takeaway on saturday night).My little sister did not do any cooking (cos i did it all) & is frankly lost without an instruction manual & a deep fat fryer as an adult.
 
kingleds said:
Shirleen is correct. I cooked all our meals during the week from the age of 11 with no supervision & i loved it :)The only meal my dad cooked was sunday lunch (takeaway on saturday night).My little sister did not do any cooking (cos i did it all) & is frankly lost without an instruction manual & a deep fat fryer as an adult.

I'll be frank I'm quite militant on this issue, we teach our kids to walk/talk/use the loo/dress themselves/brush their teeth, yet a basic survival skill is ignored!
If we want our children to grow up to be healthy adults we need to teach them how to cook proper balanced meals from scratch and if we don't know how then we need to learn ourselves!

*steps down off soapbox* ;)
 
I think they should eat what you cook on SW. I guess I just think you are doing your family a massive favour for their futures. So many people seem to do a healthy diet and then give their kids high fat processed food like McDonalds and pizza etc. This seems so unfair for the kids. Start early and they hopefully will never have weight problems and food issues.

My mum was permanently on a diet and its done me no favours!!

Sure your family will get used to the new healthy way you live and will flourish in time! xx

PS I wasnt suggesting you feed bad food to your family - def not!
 
lol Sally, I actually get the kids a take away or a McDonalds very rarely. They take fruit, yogurt and sandwiches to school, and after dinner they do the cleaning in the kitchen. If they are hungry they can have fruit/cereal.
I've been very good about giving the kids such healthy food, and habits - they only have sweets as a proper treat (popcorn watching a movie at the weekend, etc.) and in fact think fruit salad with a bit of cream from a can is a fab dessert lol

I decided when I had my first child (I was only 16 at the time, so I do give myself a clap on the back for being so mature), that I would not allow them to develop the dismal eating habits that my mother allowed us all to develop when we were kids. I was always fat. Always. I remember the harsh words and cruel jibes from the other kids, and swore mine would never go through it.

As for teaching her to cook... I have taught her a couple of simple things. She and the baby share a room, and she actually gets up in the morning when baby wakes, as it's time for school anyway, sits baby in the highchair, gets her a warm bottle of milk and a slice of toast, and then helps me make the lunches.
She can use the toaster for waffles, and the deep fat fryer, but I haven't taught her anything with the oven, or the hob yet. Maybe I will this week. It'll be a way to bring us closer too. I've been feeling like she's some sort of alien I don't understand anymore since puberty hit haha
 
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