What did your kids eat for dinner this week

[Anonymous]

Here's our for the week:

Sunday, take out pizza coming home from something. I made a spinach smoothie for one teen to go with it.
Monday -- veggie tacos, with soyrizo, scrambled eggs, black beans, cheese, and one teen added tomatos. (I added avocado to mine, but they wouldn't).
Tuesday -- pasta with sausage. One teen added tomatos, the other didn't. I also added arugula to mine
Wednesday -- grilled salmon with orzo and peas.
Tonight is chicken wings and carrot sticks and whatever starch I can figure out (maybe I can get the teens to pick up bread for garlic bread?)
Friday is lentil enchiladas, assuming I can get home from work in time to make that. (I use the precooked TJ lentils, so it's usually an under-30-min dinner.)

We basically live on pasta and tortillas in my house. Basically all these meals take 15-30 minutes. I just got an induction stove that boils water in just a couple minutes, so that's really helpful on the pasta front.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Chipotle. Bonus he picked it up himself and now has enough for lunch the next day. Two meals in one.

Yours has leftovers? How does he not finish everything in the first sitting, or is he getting two different orders? #teenboyseat

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Our children have always eaten the same meals that are prepared for the adults? I don't understand this American custom of making separate meals for children?

I am not American but my eldest will not eat the food we prepare. She will try but she is freaked out by foods with strong smells or flavors, foods with combined ingredients, and most meat. We try not to prepare her separate meals but it is not at all uncommon for her to only eat, for instance, rice and one vegetable side out of everything served. We will often supplement with greek yogurt or a simple bean paste so she gets some protein, but she will not eat most of what we eat.

I think some children are just picky. My husband was reportedly the same way, and I will admit that as a kid there were many dinners where I just picked at the edges of my food and didn't eat much. I would fill up on breakfast and lunch which tended to have fewer heavy, savory items. Those are precisely the foods my own kid avoids now too.

I am not saying this to judge, but have you considered therapy for sensory sensitivity or ARFID for your kid? My oldest is also like this, and I kept putting off doing anything about it, becuase I was also picky as a kid and was doing all the suggested things about bridge foods and gradually expanding palate, etc. But she's in college now and it is really challenging--I know she wishes she could eat more and is trying, but she has less time now to do actualy therapy.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I appreciate this thread. My husband made a delicious stew on Monday night, which he and I have been enjoying all week. But my kids won't eat stew, so they have eaten: greek yogurt, peas (at least one or two actual peas, I saw the peas go into their mouths, the rest were left on plates), PB&J, cheerios, strawberries, French fries, bagel with cream cheese, rice and beans.

I am currently trying to plan tonights dinner and come up with a dish that they will actually eat. It's so hard. I might do tacos, which they will eat if we crumble the shells and call it nachos but use the same ingredients. Sigh.

Who wants to eat the same thing for dinner 3 nights in a row though??

I try not to make meals I know my kids will absolutely refuse. However if they really don't like something, it's up to them to figure it out. For my one kid that usually means cheese and crackers and the other one will really eat whatever we eat.

I mean, they wouldn't eat it on the first night either. The reason we ate it three nights in a row is because they refused it the two nights we had scheduled to eat it, so we had too much and DH and I finished it off on the third night.

Our kids are ultra picky. We used to try and accommodate this by making meals they were unlikely to refuse, but that turned out to be a fools errand (I'd put effort into making something I thought they'd like, and then they'd refuse to eat it, and I'd be extra frustrated because I'd put extra effort into making it palatable). So now we make a broad variety of foods, they are always welcome to eat it, and if they don't want it, the rules is: one protein + one veg (or fruit) + one grain. We'll help them figure out how to put it together but we don't cook them separate meals, which is why they wind up eating a weird variety of items on nights where they won't touch the actual dinner.

[Anonymous]

Your 13 yr old is not eating enough food. Everything she ate could have been one meal.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Our children have always eaten the same meals that are prepared for the adults? I don't understand this American custom of making separate meals for children?

I am not American but my eldest will not eat the food we prepare. She will try but she is freaked out by foods with strong smells or flavors, foods with combined ingredients, and most meat. We try not to prepare her separate meals but it is not at all uncommon for her to only eat, for instance, rice and one vegetable side out of everything served. We will often supplement with greek yogurt or a simple bean paste so she gets some protein, but she will not eat most of what we eat.

I think some children are just picky. My husband was reportedly the same way, and I will admit that as a kid there were many dinners where I just picked at the edges of my food and didn't eat much. I would fill up on breakfast and lunch which tended to have fewer heavy, savory items. Those are precisely the foods my own kid avoids now too.

I am not saying this to judge, but have you considered therapy for sensory sensitivity or ARFID for your kid? My oldest is also like this, and I kept putting off doing anything about it, becuase I was also picky as a kid and was doing all the suggested things about bridge foods and gradually expanding palate, etc. But she's in college now and it is really challenging--I know she wishes she could eat more and is trying, but she has less time now to do actualy therapy.

PP here and yes, we've considered it. It's not as easy as it sounds though. She doesn't qualify for an ARFID diagnosis according to our pediatrician (she eats too many foods and is not malnourished). Most therapists aren't really qualified to address this sort of issue and the ones that are have long waitlists, and it's harder to get in when you don't have a diagnosis. We are considering neuropsych testing to see if we can diagnose the sensory issues which might open up other options for therapy.

But my broader point is just that some children clearly have food issues that are not the fault of parents. We have always served our daughter the same foods we eat, we have family dinner, we incorporate her in preparing meals and deciding what to eat, and she is still very picky. I bristle a bit at the assumption that a very picky eater is the result of bad parenting.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Here's our for the week:

Sunday, take out pizza coming home from something. I made a spinach smoothie for one teen to go with it.
Monday -- veggie tacos, with soyrizo, scrambled eggs, black beans, cheese, and one teen added tomatos. (I added avocado to mine, but they wouldn't).
Tuesday -- pasta with sausage. One teen added tomatos, the other didn't. I also added arugula to mine
Wednesday -- grilled salmon with orzo and peas.
Tonight is chicken wings and carrot sticks and whatever starch I can figure out (maybe I can get the teens to pick up bread for garlic bread?)
Friday is lentil enchiladas, assuming I can get home from work in time to make that. (I use the precooked TJ lentils, so it's usually an under-30-min dinner.)

We basically live on pasta and tortillas in my house. Basically all these meals take 15-30 minutes. I just got an induction stove that boils water in just a couple minutes, so that's really helpful on the pasta front.

Do you have a recipe for those lentil enchiladas? I've been looking for more recipes incorporating lentils.

[Anonymous]

They eat what we eat.

Sweet potato and black bean burrito bowls
middle eastern bowl with farro
Fish or vegetarian fish tacos with fruit
Nut loaf with green beans and frozen French fries
Etc

[Anonymous]

Kids - 9,6,2

Sunday - Take Out Chinese Kids ate the plain chicken from sweet and Sour Chicken, rice Wonton Soup and Sesame chicken
Monday- Pork, apple sauce, noodles, green beans. At least a couple bits of everything but mostly noodles
Tuesday- Chicken Crock Pot Meal - It had only ingredients they "like" And still complained but they ate it. (Chicken, Cheese, Broccoli, tator Tots - how could they complain?!)
Wednesday- Spaghetti and Meatballs
Thursday- Another Pasta with Chicken and veggies which they will begrudgingly eat
Friday - Pizza

Crowd Favorites -
Rotisserie Chicken
Tacos
Ham Steaks
Steak
Green Beans
Broccoli
Frozen Mixed Veggies
Tortellini w Chicken and Vodka Sauce
Costco Meatloaf


A fairly Small rotation but we try to vary things at least a little bit each week

[Anonymous]

Menu for this week:
Sun- Ribs mac and cheese kale apple salad
Mon- kids: spaghetti adults: andouille sausage chopped into a vegetable barley soup
Tues: Tacos
Wed: meat and veggie meatloaf roasted potatoes and zucchini
Thurs: Burgers on pretzel buns, sweet potato fries, any fruit that is starting to turn from shopping this weekend
Fri: chicken potato and spinach in a lemon dijon cream sauce (one pan)
Sat: eat out/leftovers
Sun: roast chicken sweet potato mash asparagus
next week will be some type of chili, some type of chicken dish in crockpot or one pan, steaks, lamb pitas, pasta for kid and the sausage in soup for adults again

[Anonymous]

Who wants to eat the same thing for dinner 3 nights in a row though??

I do. I would call myself a chicketarian and can eat chicken for each meal, though I vary the preparation. But yes, I could absolutely eat it prepared the same way for dinner five nights a week. I probably HAVE done that and not even realized.

[Anonymous]

Monday - Lobster Bisque Pasta cooked with homegrown tomatoes, shrimp and salad on the side.

Tuesday - Thai Basil chicken served over Jasmine rice, side of cucumbers seasoned with Chilli Lime seasoning (Trader's Joe).

Wednesday - Chicken Quesadillas served with Guac and Sour Cream.

Scheduled for Thursday - Chicken Pulao (not Biryani) with plain yogurt and rice.

Scheduled for tomorrow - Gyros with homemade pita bread and chickpea salad.

Ever since school started I have been trying to stick to meal planning and home cooking, hope I can stay on the right track.

[Anonymous]

*with plain yogurt and salad, not rice..ughh

[Anonymous]

Last night:
Jimmy Johns sandwich (at dance class break)
Came home and had 2 corndogs, cantaloupe.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Last night:
Jimmy Johns sandwich (at dance class break)
Came home and had 2 corndogs, cantaloupe.

Wow, super unhealthy. Is this a regular thing or just once a week or special occasions?