dinner ideas for picky children

morahmommy

Wed, Jan 06 2010, 12:18 pm

I know this is never going to happen, but it's worth a try. My children are as picky as they come. To make it even more difficult, there is only one food that they ALL like for dinner. And, I am not crazy about their favorite foods (mac and cheese, pancakes). Does anyone have any ideas aside from the typical "child favorites" that are somewhat nutritious that is liked by both kids and adults? PLEASE?

ra_mom

Wed, Jan 06 2010, 12:22 pm

I don't know if this will help you, but these are some of the things my picky daughter likes. (Most times anyway.)
burgers
meatballs and spaghetti
farfel
pasta
pizza
chicken nuggets
french fries
split pea flanken soup
fish sticks
chicken bottoms cooked up in a pot with water, salt, garlic and rice
avocado
vegetable sticks with a side of mayo for dipping
cut up fruit

e1234

Wed, Jan 06 2010, 12:35 pm

morahmommy - I could have written your post

the only thing everyone eats is mac & cheese.
every other supper I have at least one kid that won't touch it - it's very frustrating.

the other kid friendly ones that most kids will eat is -
hot dogs (but I don't like to serve them too much anymore)
sometimes french toast if I make it good.
sometimes pancakes (but I have 1 kid that won't touch it)
sometimes chicken and potatoes but not if it's lefovers from shabbos...
schnitzel and french fries.

anyone else?

MiracleMama

Wed, Jan 06 2010, 12:42 pm

You mention your kids like pancakes. Have you tried making savory pancakes for dinner? You can hide all sorts of things in a pancake. I make my kids pancakes made mostly of chumus for dinner sometimes. Lots of protein, they gobble them up. If I'm to tired to make something else for DH and myself, we eat them too with a big salad or soup.

Can you tell us specifically what your kids absolutely hate; then maybe I can make other suggestions. I have moderately picky kids and I have gotten pretty good at hiding things in food/ disguising foods when I need to.

saw50st8

Fri, Jan 08 2010, 2:09 pm

1) Learn how to hide food. If they like mac n cheese, add purees of other veggies to the sauce without changing the color much

2) Get them involved in cooking. Kids eat more if THEY cooked it.

3) They will eat if they are hungry. If they don't want dinner, they can wait until breakfast.

Ilovechoumous

Sat, Jan 09 2010, 1:34 pm

my kids are extremely picky, I usually end up preparing food according to their requests, or else they wont eat. I know its not good, but I have to. there are very few things that they eat together:

pasta (only with Parmesan or oldest kid wont touch it)
pizza
french toast with sugar
pancakes (homemade, nutritionist said its very healthy-- flour eggs and milk.)

chicken soup (one kid likes chicken soup, another the noodles, another the chicken (which has to be eaten cut up in a pita with chips)

BeershevaBubby

Sat, Jan 09 2010, 1:37 pm

I've become a fan of 'sneaky chef' cooking.

I keep in the freezer baggies with pureed steamed cauliflower and zucchini and pureed baked sweet potatoes.

When I make mac and cheese, I add the 'white' puree. When I make pizza or pasta sauce, I add the 'red/orange' puree.

The last time I made meatballs, I added white puree to the ground meat and the sauce was actually more sweet potato than tomato. Same with the pizza sauce...

Raisin

Sat, Jan 09 2010, 2:50 pm

keep offering a variety of foods. eventually maybe they will eat it. Meanwhile, if they don't like what is offer that night, offer a pb sandwich or toasted cheese or cereal and milk instead.

I've notcied my kids eat the foods we eat regularly on shabbos (chummous, chicken, chicken soup) so when something is offered often enough they might eat it.

I don;t think there is single food that ALL my kids will eat!

amother

Sat, Jan 09 2010, 4:10 pm

I can say that my son was [probably] the worst eater there ever was.

Foods that he now accepts eating without too much fuss are:
chicken soup (very little salt so easy to eat)
french toast (with sugar)
chips (extra well done)
chocoalte spread on bread

food he can tolerate, but still hard:
mini latkes
plain boiled white rice
sweet kugel
shnitzel.

I found the best tip: Make the food as bland as possible so that it's not strong and easier for them to swallow.

I don't know how old your kids are. My son did not eat any normal foods (incl the first group of foods listed here) from age 1-5+.

Hatzlocho!!!

SHMEIJEL

Sat, Jan 09 2010, 10:53 pm

mimsy7420- I sometimes bake shnitzel (chicken nuggets) instead of frying. I make it the same way and just put a lil' oil or spray on a pan and bake...

Other "picky eater" supper ideas:
Potato or cheese blintzes
Oatmeal (with cottage cheese)
Crackers and cheese

Sometimes it helps to make foods look more exciting!
some examples:

apple moons (thinly sliced)
avocado boats (a quarter of an avocado)
banana wheels
broccoli trees (steamed broccoli florets)
carrot sticks (cooked and thinly sliced)
cheese building blocks
egg canoes (hard- boiled egg wedges)
little O's (o-shaped cereal)

MiracleMama

Sat, Jan 09 2010, 11:11 pm

malky613 wrote:

MiracleMama, can you please post your chumus pancake recipe? Sounds great... Thanks!

I get nervous when anyone asks me a recipe cause I really don't measure anything. But I plop several spoon-fulls of chumus into a bowl add an egg (or two, depending on how much chumus... which depends on how many I'm making for) and mix together. Then I just season.... garlic, pepper, salt. Then just fry em up in a pan with a tiny bit of oil.

amother

Sat, Jan 09 2010, 11:20 pm

amother wrote:

I found the best tip: Make the food as bland as possible so that it's not strong and easier for them to swallow.

FYI, I know many kids eat very plainly, but many do not. Not one of my kids will tolerate bland food. I started to notice that when they refused meals, it's when I had separated their food out before seasoning for myself and my husband. They wanted what we were eating. They want their food to taste good too!

ra_mom

Sat, Jan 09 2010, 11:47 pm

FTR, many picky children prefer very tasty or even spicy foods. Something I noticed, which was confirmed by a speech pathologist/feeding therapist.

What I find most often gets eaten? Simple but tasty foods. Like plain chicken boiled with gresh garlic and then seasoned with coarse salt until tasty. Plain boiled white rice with salt. Plain vegetable sticks with mayo as a dipping sauce. Etc.

YALT

Sat, Jan 09 2010, 11:58 pm

DS is a majorly picky eater. That's why I came on.
His meals consist of
pasta with shredded cheese or ketchup - not both at once.
Gefen Noodle soups - with croutons
cereal & milk - lately he's been wanting only dry without milk
yogurt - vanilla or strawberry
rice - plain only
pb&j sandwich
hotdogs only or blankets alone - depending on mood

problem is he chooses his moods as well. one minute he'll insist only pasta will do for dinner, and then when it's cooked he'll change his mind. As soon as he sees a carrot that got left inside by mistake - he will not eat another bite.
he likes cheese latkes, but only if there is not a drop of brown on it. Not easy.
pizza is only if it's in a pizza shop. frozen is not the same. neither is homemade.
the PB they have in school is unacceptable. I just bought a jar of Skippy to send to school for him.

In school, his therapist worked on him that every day he needs to choose atleast 1 thing to eat. whether it be bread, pasta, or cukes. He will never dare to take 2 if not forced. We just told him on Thursday that he's now a big boy & needs to choose 2 foods by lunch every day. so he had bread (plain) and cukes.
Most mornings he won't eat at home, but I just found out that he tells his morah that he already ate at home, and so he doesn't need to eat again in school. so he goes hungry until lunch, at which point he eats ONE thing, and then he comes home and wants to eat nonstop from 3:15-8:30.

He doesn't sleep much. someone recently told me that when they lack certain vitamins from meat, they can't fall asleep. But I can't get him to eat meat. I managed to get him to eat ½ slice of turkey delimeat today.

ilovestrollers

Sun, Jan 10 2010, 12:13 am

My kids are very picky and mainly eat yogurt, macaroni and cheese, baked ziti, pizza (can be home made), hot dogs, or shnitzel and french fries.

Some foods my son will tolerate are chala and cream cheese or jelly, gefilte fish, roast beef with ketchup, BBQ sauce chicken, and shlishkes. My daughter will not eat those things but will eat tuna fish sandwich, french toast, sweet noodle kugel, potato salad, mashed potatoes and deli roll rolled up with ketchup. They both like fruit and some vegetables.