Dinner ideas. Picky DH, DD is coming with future SIL (!?!)

↑ scintilla

Mon, May 22 2023, 10:40 am

amother OP wrote:

I love the suggestions thank you!!!

Added to the list, DD does not eat any “processed or ground meat” (or ground chicken/turkey or hot dogs/sausage of any type - turkey/chicken whatever. She might eat soy/impossible (but probably not) but DH definitely won’t.

DH does not eat things cooked with peppers or with wine or vinegar, if they are cooked in my house. (He will eat it chicken Marsala in a restaurant, or general Tao’s with peppers if we are getting take out. Those he can pick out, mine contaminate the food🤷‍♀️) if I make it it is not good and if I trick him I get told that a marriage is based on trust and he would never deceive me (ok he is not wrong, just difficult).

I think your best bet is to have two mains at some meals. You can make double & freeze the rest for another night after the couple leaves. Otherwise it sounds too stressful trying to meet so many criteria at each meal!!

Also, if you like a recipe with peppers, you can always make it plain, take out some & then add the peppers for those who like them, or sub another vegetable.

Hatzlacha!!

Bnei Berak 10 ↓

Mon, May 22 2023, 11:38 am

amother OP wrote:

B”H! DD is coming in to town with her intended so that we can meet him (and grandparents can meet him) before they get engaged. We are very excited and looking forward.
He will be staying 2 weeks as it is a shlep to come and we eat to get to know him and DD wants him to really see where she grew up.
I need nice dinner ideas for every night but things that don’t look like YT meals.
Picky eaters are my challenge. (DH is the worst, and no he can’t just be a grown up foe 2 weeks 🤷‍♀️)
DD (Kallah to be-Y”IH) doesn’t eat red meat.
DH doesn’t do light food (ie. dairy- I can get away with salmon 1x)
DH doesn’t care for cutlets unless they are fried. Other kids are wiggly in regard to chicken on the bone.(will eat under duress but will make faces and not eat well). DH also doesn’t do spicy (think tacos or anything with ginger or any other spice they didn’t use in the Alterheim). We can do takeout Chinese once.

Please give me your ideas. I want to be excited and enjoy the visit and not overwhelmed because of dinner.

I have very little to no patience with picky eaters. I feel for you OP.
DH and DD should kindly coordinate and plan the menue for those two weeks.

amother

↑ Darkblue ↓

Mon, May 22 2023, 11:44 am

Here's another idea: can you have milchigs 1-2 times a week, and then after SIL leaves (I assume he is not hanging around your house all night for two weeks...) give your DH some fleishig leftovers from another meal? Your husband can consider the milchigs an appetizer.

amother

↑ Darkblue

Mon, May 22 2023, 11:50 am

Bnei Berak 10 wrote:

OP, this is for your DH
Well seasoned food isn't spicy food.
Grown men are *expected* to expand their palate.

I agree in general, but meeting their future SIL is NOT the time to try to change DH's food preferences. They can leave that for after the engagement and I agree with OP's desire to keep everyone happy and fed.

↑ tichellady

Mon, May 22 2023, 11:51 am

I'm thinking of bar ideas where everyone can take what they like:

shawarma bar with pita and salads
sabich bar with some ground beef for your husband
taco bar with ground beef or turkey for your husband and beans or chicken strips for your daughter, salsa, guacamole etc ( you can make the beef with garlic and onion and no other spices and then put mexican spices into beans or chicken)
lentil soup, pasta with meatballs on the side or veggies in tomato sauce for your daughter
would your husband eat lasagna or eggplant parmesan or pizza with a filling soup like split pea, lentil, etc? hard for me to imagine how anyone can call that a lite dinner? or make that for dinner and then he can have some meat leftovers after if he's still hungry

amother

Pumpkin

Mon, May 22 2023, 12:01 pm

What do you usually make
I think your usual meals plus
a package of beyond burgers for your daughter and SIL to be
Or any simple to prepare protein she will eat
For example if she eats chicken legs you can 4-5 legs plus whatever your usual meal is
Keep it simple and homey
And I’m sure they’ll go out to eat as well
SOME days it could be sandwiches or wraps, hearty soup, and salad
SOME days it could be breakfast for dinner with some smoothies to make it more special
Think hash browns, eggs, bagels, cream cheese, pancakes, maybe a quiche

↑ Bnei Berak 10 ↓

Mon, May 22 2023, 12:56 pm

amother Darkblue wrote:

DH's food preferences should have been dealt with *years* ago. Preferably by his mother.

amother

↑ OP ↓

Mon, May 22 2023, 12:57 pm

Bnei Berak 10 wrote:

What's wrong with ground meat or chicken?

My teenage (at the time) sister taught my middle school age daughter about pink slime. Unless I get a chicken cutlet and grind it myself, she will never believe otherwise. Skin and fat does get ground in and she is having none-of-that.

amother

↑ OP ↓

Mon, May 22 2023, 12:59 pm

amother Darkblue wrote:

He is staying by us. She is sleeping by a neighbor. We thought it was more b’kavod. (My neighbor also has girls so he really can’t stay there)
Great idea but won’t work .

amother

↑ OP ↓

Mon, May 22 2023, 1:01 pm

Bnei Berak 10 wrote:

DH's food preferences should have been dealt with *years* ago. Preferably by his mother.

Thank you MIL? That doesn’t help now.

DH doesn’t eat beans/lentils (except chummus), eggplant, avocado, taco seasoning, salad, cooked fruit…..

B”H he really is a wonderful husband and father, but a pain to feed.

amother

Bronze

Mon, May 22 2023, 1:09 pm

Your best bet is doing your regular meals, with a small upgrade to make it more elegant.

That can be dipping sauce for fried chicken or a salad.

Or do fried chicken for dh every night, along with whatever else you are serving.

↑ Bnei Berak 10

Mon, May 22 2023, 1:18 pm

amother OP wrote:

Your daughter needs to do the grinding herself! You shouldn't have to deal with everyone's food requests.
Put down your foot. Let DH and DD work it out together. They are to be responsible to give you a reasonable menu.
You run a home, not a restaurant, right?

amother

Cerulean ↓

Mon, May 22 2023, 5:24 pm

Well that sounds very annoying op. I would be so stressed having to make a nice supper every night for 2 weeks. Based on what I think you said earlier, you're planning to do 1 night Chinese takeout, and 2 nights grilling. That leaves 7 suppers to figure out (Sunday-Thursday for two weeks). My dh is picky too (not like yours but still picky). So what I do is make a supper that I know the kids will eat, but serve my dh a different supper. If he's home the same time as the rest of us, I put a little divider across the table and put a separate tablecloth for his section of the table, so he can have fleishigs while everyone else has milchigs, or whatever. I make a big amount of something fleishig that he likes, and serve it 2-3 days for his supper. Could you do that?

amother

Topaz ↓

Mon, May 22 2023, 5:29 pm

amother OP wrote:

Sounds like my dh. I make a supper everyone will enjoy and make him something simple. Like chicken and potstoes in a pan....takes 2 min to prepare. I found that to be the easiest because nobody else wants to eat supper based on his restrictions all the time.

amother

Ruby ↓

Mon, May 22 2023, 6:05 pm

Your dh is exactly like mine
But he doesn’t need a different dish every meal. He’s happy eating the same type of roast every time.

So he will have hamburgers, sloppy joes, steak etc as a main and everyone else will have whatever is for supper.

Our extended family knows about it and jokes about it. It’s not a big deal.

Dh literally heats up his own food in the microwave.

What do you normally do about supper?