Husband only cooks what he likes and turns our kids against new foods
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Anonymous
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I am about to lose it. My husband cooks dinner most nights mainly because I work until 7pm. It makes sense for him to cook.
However: Any time I suggest a deviation from our rotation, he balks. For instance, meatless Monday. Nope, not a "mea;" without meat. Seared fish. Nope. Basically it's a seasoned chicken, pork, or beef dish every night with mushy broccoli or sweet potatoes (the only veggies he likes). I will grocery shop and try to buy other things and they rot in the fridge b/c he won't cook with them. I will suggest recipes and he'll find reasons why he can't make it. Or he'll just grimace. Finally I decided I'd just cook dinner ahead of time and freeze it. I made a few items. He critiqued each thing or else said why it was gross (cream sauce! cheese! olives...on and on). Then announces it at the table so our little kids also say "Ewwww". WWYD!?!?!?! I am so beyond annoyed here. |
Anonymous
| This is a marriage problem not a dinner problem. He had no respect for your choices/requests. Having said that, if you want to do meatless Monday prepare something on Sunday that just needs heating up on Monday. I would also say you want to have a dinner rule that no one is allowed to be disrespectful about the food cooked for them. I probably only cook things I like if I think about it. But I’m not a jerk about it. |
Anonymous
| Have you talked to him about it? I have a picky husband too and he has the same reactions to lots of foods (“Gross” is his preferred adjective *eyeroll*”. But I’ve had words with him and my 5 year old has no idea just how many foods DH can’t eat “vomiting everywhere.” |
Anonymous
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Is it hard for him to eat at restaurants or other people's houses? Does his pickiness have any negatives in his adult life?
I have a few random pickiness issues wrt food and as a parent I have very consciously sought to expose my kids to those foods and to encourage them to eat them with their dad (and will also eat them in front of them even though I don't like them and will make sure not to show that I don't like them, though this is hard for me) because it's a pain to be a picky eater. And I'm not even that picky! Like I can order at restaurants and traveling is not stressful for me because I eat a broad enough variety of foods to be fine most places. But maybe if you can talk to him about how his pickiness makes certain things difficult as an adult (like his marriage, for instance) he will see that he doesn't want to force his kids into the same issues. It's so, so good for kids to develop a willingness to eat broad range of foods. It's good for their health but also their social and professional lives, frankly. |
Anonymous
| Why don’t you cook and just have late dinner? |
Anonymous
She comes home at 7. She has kids. |
Anonymous
| Get a different job or cook on the weekend so that all he has to do is reheat stuff you made. |
Anonymous
So what is she complaining about? If a DH were complaining that he didn't like what his DW cooked for dinner every night, he wouldn't get much sympathy. Why should OP get sympathy? If she doesn't like her DH's cooking, then she should cook some or all of the dinners. |
Anonymous
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Are you home for dinner? Like are the kids eating at 7? Or are you expecting him to offer them food he doesn’t like at 5:30 without you?
If you are home, I think it’s fair to ask that your preferences be included in family dinners sometimes too. If the latter, then I think you need to just do your own thing for dinner if you need variety and let him do as he likes for weekday dinners. Either way, I think you should cook meals you like on weekends to expose the kids to more variety and I would ABSOLUTELY have words about his attitude. It is completely rude and disrespectful to make a big production about unfamiliar food. He is an adult and doesn’t have to eat it, but it’s NOT okay to be an a$$hole about it. If you are all eating together, my suggestion would be to plan on having one dish each night to your preference. So if you want Meatless Mondays, you make veggie lasagna on the weekend, he makes whatever he would normally make, you have lasagna and a token amount of sweet potato and meat and whatever, he has his meal and a token amount of lasagna (doesn’t have to eat it, just put a spoonful in a ramekin next to his plate), and the kids get a bit of everything. Nobody talks about the food at dinner; just eat what you like, leave what you don’t. |
Anonymous
That seems really unfair, especially since his reaction when someone else cooks is "ew". |
Anonymous
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Don’t criticize the cook!
It isn’t nice for him to be rude about what you’ve prepared, and vice versa. |
Anonymous
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You cook on weekends or one night a week your family does a late dinner. You cannot expect to buy food and make someone else cook it.
But, do talk to him about making comments about what you cook. Explain the kids pick up on it and they will be happier if they enjoy a variety of foods. |
Anonymous
She’s complaining about “Ew” and the fact that DH’s attitude (and lack of variety re dinner) is affecting their child’s eating. |
Anonymous
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Criticizing the cook is not cool. But cooking is a chore. It gets done amidst childcare responsibilities. That would be good enough for me.
In my house whoever gets home first makes dinner and it usually isn’t me. I can’t imagine dictating what my wife chooses to make for dinner or demanding that she make something she hates. If I want it I can make it on the weekends. |
Anonymous
| He cooks what he wants M-F while you are working late, you cook what you want on Sat and Sun |