I am out of dinner ideas for me + 3 picky kids. Help!

[Anonymous]

OP here. Thanks for the good ideas. I agree; it is pressure from my STBX that is making the situation hard on me. If he were removed from the situation, I could serve them mac & cheese, broccoli + dip and a glass of Carnation Instant Breakfast 7 days a week and not bat an eye about it.

What also stirs things up is that the youngest is so unreasonable, so if I'm not up to the battle, I'll go ahead and make him a special order and that prompts my middle child to whine about having to eat the regular dinner too. And then I'm down to making a full scale dinner from scratch (which *I* want to eat) for two, which is a ridiculous waste of food and time.

It's so hard to accept the narrow range of choices my 4 y/o has. I want him to try new things, but maybe that is just too ambitious. He will usually eat one of these things: Spagettios with meatballs (somehow he can overlook the sauce for those O's), two boiled eggs, peanut butter on toast, peanut butter on a banana, chunky chicken noodle soup, or Ramen with two eggs broken into it like egg drop soup. Not bad choices, but irritating to always have to offer instead of him falling in line with the program, kwim? If they could all agree, we could be eating some deluxe meals that I wouldn't mind preparing...

[Anonymous]

OP you wrote have written my family dinner story here. I have 4 and my oldest (12) and youngest (2) are my best adventurous eaters. My 9 yo is better, and my 6 yo is very limited as to what he eats. Meals have become so stressful for me-- I like cooking and have gotten more into making dinners, but then I hear "I don't like..." from the middle 2 and it sets me over` the edge and I want to quit cooking for any of them! I have tried making lists with the kids of meal ideas, and having one of them at a time in charge of cooking/helping a meal, but it is really hard! I grew up in a house with full dinners and no flexibility- you ate what there was, and I too thought I'd have great family dinners with my kids like the expectant mom wrote about. But all my kids went through a picky phase at 2 ish, until about 6. I am hoping the 6 yo is moving out of it soon, and that the 2 yo just is not given the chance to limit her options.
Some meals that work for us are:
Trader Joes Pot Roast (in the refrig. meat section) cooked in the crockpot (falls apart)
Spagetti and meatballs (different combos of pasta, sauce or plain, and meatballs separate or in with pasta according to whose bowl it is)
black bean burritos with chicken or ground beef option
burgers (meat and veggie options)
salmon and pasta (the 6 yo won't eat the salmon)
chicken tenders (I make them or if they are to accomodate the picky ones when we have a more adventurous meal, I get healthy (?) frozen ones)
veggie chili and rice (picky kid gets rice and cheese)
I will make some cheese tortellini for the ones who dont like whet I am making if I know they wont like it. I wish I did not have to, but I cant make them eat indian food or something like that and just choose my battles.
chicken or and tofu teriyaki stir fry
Good Luck!