Cooking for visiting family awkward

[Anonymous]

I love everything about my extended family visiting, except meal time. I make family friendly meals: shrimp stew, linguine with olive oil, whole grain bread, pulled pork, steak tenderloin, salmon, chicken, and always something green. Nothing spicy, no unusual ingredients and my 7 yr old DS eats it all. However, our guest's children rarely eat my food and I sometimes wonder if I should ignore our family's meal culture and accommodate their habits of chicken nuggets, Mac & Cheese, hot dogs, pizza, etc. This past visit, when the parents asked what they could bring, I told them what I was serving and said, "if your kiddies won't eat that, bring whatever you like for them." So, they brought their own boxed Kraft Mac & Cheese and that's what the five kids ate, except for my son, because I'd had a private conversation with him saying, "you eat what we serve." It was an all around awkward situation. How would you handle this situation?

[Anonymous]

I wouldn't serve seafood or anything spicy or exotic but I would serve chicken, veggies, normal pasta, rice etc and expect them to eat enough to keep from starving. If they were toddlers I might try and have a few things I would know they would eat. I wouldn't make chicken nuggets and mac and cheese every meal.

[Anonymous]

You are me and your relatives are my sister and her kids.

Once during every trip, they go get an army's supply of Krispy kremes while I'm showering, so I can't protest. Because that's what they're used to eating every day. Every meal out of the home needs to be at either taco bell, subway or burger king.

[Anonymous]

No matter how hard I try I can only get my kid to eat certain foods. I continue to try to offer new things at every meal but at some point it is easier to feed them what they want if it is not outrageous and ok healthy to avoid the cranky, hungry kid.

[Anonymous]

I do think you should accommodate your smaller guests the same way you accommodate the larger ones. A few nights of boxed Mac and cheese is not going to ruin your family's "meal culture." Unclench.

[Anonymous]

I think a kind and gracious hostess does her best to accommodate her guests and make them feel comfortable.

For the younger children, especially, it is more important to help them to have a fun and memorable visit, even if it means serving-gasp-boxed mac n cheese & chicken nuggets.

[Anonymous]

Would they eat a regular mac and cheese? Make proper one with some grilled chicken or a roast for the grow ups to have protein. Also, even though we don't eat them, just have a bag of frozen chicken nuggets in the freezer. If they're not eating anything, just have one thing they will eat and make a tray. It's not your job to change their eating habits.

[Anonymous]

I don't get what the awkward part was. The kids didn't eat your food one year. So the next year you told your family to bring food for them. They did, and everyone was happy. Did I miss something?

[Anonymous]

People like you are the reason I don't agree to stay with anyone ever. I have a picky eating husband and daughter. After years and years of baby steps, my daughter is worlds ahead of my husband in terms of what she will eat. She has been offered new foods literally thousands of times and still rejects them. She will eat shrimp cocktail, grilled shrimp, and tempura shrimp, but if she was served shrimp stew I doubt she would eat it. I find it easier to feed her what I know she will eat rather than have her reject someone else's home cooked meal. I don't judge my friends or family on their parenting weaknesses and I always appreciate people who don't judge me for mine.

[Anonymous]

Agree with PPs. We also try to be reasonable eaters and I know what MY DS will eat but if I have relatives with picky kids I will try to accomodate. really like the suggestion of a "grown up" mac and cheese and try making a breaded chicken recipe for grown-ups that kids might eat.

[Anonymous]

I always order pizza and wings. If people don't like what's served, they can go to a restaurant. MY MIL does the same.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I don't get what the awkward part was. The kids didn't eat your food one year. So the next year you told your family to bring food for them. They did, and everyone was happy. Did I miss something?

+1

It's not really awkward. If you want to ask what the kids will eat and then make that, you can. Sometimes the fluorescent orange Mac and cheese is easy enough to make alongside the real food you cook. Leftover m&c can be lunch or dinner again.

[Anonymous]

My kids are the eat everything, adventurous foodie type, and I must say that is a very complicated menu for kids.

Most kids are very simple in their tastes. They like what they like, and don't want to eat many different foods.

It is really not your job to teach your family lessons on what to eat, especially when they are guests in your home.

I assume these are your inlaws...

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Agree with PPs. We also try to be reasonable eaters and I know what MY DS will eat but if I have relatives with picky kids I will try to accomodate. really like the suggestion of a "grown up" mac and cheese and try making a breaded chicken recipe for grown-ups that kids might eat.

Nice idea, but mine will not eat homemade mac and cheese. Tried many many times.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I don't get what the awkward part was. The kids didn't eat your food one year. So the next year you told your family to bring food for them. They did, and everyone was happy. Did I miss something?

Yeah, as far as I can tell, this is a pretty ideal situation.