I hate cooking for dinner time

[Anonymous]

My kids do not like food that I cook,and I am so stressed with cooking for dinner. And, I normally cook Chinese stir fried meat/vegetable with rice/noodle, Japanese ramen/tempura, korean bbq with veggie wrap, vietnamese pho noodle... all asian dishes. All they want are pizza, fast food burger/fries, chicken nugget, grilled cheese or peanut butter jelly sandwich, butter & dinner roll and lunchable. They don't eat mac & cheese, pasta, taco, spaghetti with meatball which are the most common food kids eat here. DH and I loves asian food, but not our kids. I need to cook more non-asian food to figure out their palette taste.

What do you have for dinner time with kids? I don't have any american friend, so I don't know what people normally eat for dinner here.

[Anonymous]

Hang in there. Kids are generally picky eaters. They will probably come around as they get older. You have to keep trying to offer a wide variety of foods.
You can try to greatly reduce how often they eat pizzas and the like. That might help change their tastes.

An easy meal that my kids like is rice and ground beef(with a bit of salt-and nothing else added). We stir fry or steam vegetables on the side.
One of my kids would not eat vegetables, so she eats a lot of fruits: bananas, dates, oranges, apples etc. She is required to take a bite of vegetables at dinner but that's about all she has. She is required to eat steamed carrots or oranges at diinner since she would not eat any vegetables other than carrots.

[Anonymous]

There are a number of different strategies you can take, but I would highly recommend Ellyn Satter's books on this topic.

The gist of it is:

You decide when mealtime is, and you decide what to serve.

Your children decide what (if anything) they want to eat during those times.

Here are some additional "rules" of hers:

1) 3 meals + 2 snacks so that you don't worry if a child doesn't eat for one of the meals.
2) Have a simple carb available at every meal, plus milk.
3) You do not force or coax them to eat.
4) You do take their tastes into account occasionally.

The idea is that the child doesn't get catered to, but isn't totally excluded by choices that may be too complex for their palates.

So if you like cooking Asian-style meals, set aside some rice that they can manage plain. And you should also incorporate some meals that you know they like throughout the week as well.

[Anonymous]

Meat, carb side like mashed potatoes, rice, or spaghetti, and vegetable side like broccoli, green beans, or salad.

For meat, we do steak on grill, thin sliced chicken breast on grill, chicken tenderloin on grill. Sometimes hamburger, tacos, or sloppy Joe instead.

I sprinkle McCormick jerk seasoning on my chicken after little olive oil or, McCormick Perfect Pinch Lemon Pepp on DDs because not spicey. Has to be perfect pinch. McCormick has great steak seasoning too.

[Anonymous]

We have what I cook. Full stop. They have “kid dinner” maybe a few days a week if DH and I order take out. Otherwise, it’s family dinner at 6pm, take it or leave it.

Kids are 4, 5, and an infant.

[Anonymous]

I recommend you get cookbooks by Deb Perelman. She has excellent "American" recipes that are mostly kid friendly, and pretty simple.

[Anonymous]

We LOVE Chi Chi Margarita and garlic as a marinade for skinless chicken too. Then sprinkle little salt or adobo before grilling. Must be Chi chi, must be skinless.

[Anonymous]

Cook earlier in the day. I find a protein in the slow cooker is a really good solution.

[Anonymous]

oven-baked bbq chicken (using store bought bbq sauce)

salmon (my kids actually liked salmon)

oven-baked fish & chips (using cod)

tacos/burrito bowls/ quesadillas

sloppy joes

lots different pastas - spaghetti & meatballs, lemon spaghetti, tortellini in pesto sauce

paninis

chilis

chicken shwarma

flatbread pizzas -- I use naan bread as the "dough"

[Anonymous]

In addition to Asian food (which is their favorite), my kids like these dishes:

Enchiladas
Chili
Chicken Shawarma
Chicken Alfredo
Chicken Parmesan
Salmon
Pasta with ham
Quesadillas (with just cheese or a meat and bean filling)

[Anonymous]

My kids are picky too and I cook a variety of cuisines. I don't make separate meals, but I do deconstruct things. So one likes carrots but not the sauce in a stirfry so I cook the carrot separately. Another likes beans, but also not with the sauces I use for bean dishes or chili etc. So as long as it's a healthy food (like carrots or beans) I accommodate their preferences to encourage them to eat it.

We tried the "I decide what to cook, you decide what to eat" method and it was a disaster for us. Yes we were consistent and clear and offered a wide variety. So while deconstructing is annoying, they're getting a wider variety of food than if I used that method and they only ate bread.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:My kids are picky too and I cook a variety of cuisines. I don't make separate meals, but I do deconstruct things. So one likes carrots but not the sauce in a stirfry so I cook the carrot separately. Another likes beans, but also not with the sauces I use for bean dishes or chili etc. So as long as it's a healthy food (like carrots or beans) I accommodate their preferences to encourage them to eat it.

We tried the "I decide what to cook, you decide what to eat" method and it was a disaster for us. Yes we were consistent and clear and offered a wide variety. So while deconstructing is annoying, they're getting a wider variety of food than if I used that method and they only ate bread.

This.

I’m happy to sauté each piece of a stir-fry separately, then put it in a bowl and let everyone dish up for themselves. I do the same for tacos, pasta dishes, etc. The kids love to put their own choices into broth and call it soup.

[Anonymous]

What about baked chicken with baked potatoes and roasted veg?

[Anonymous]

My family is both Asian and white on both sides. We adults like all foods, but the adults who grew up in Asian families of origin went through long, vocal phases of not liking anything that wasn’t “american” as a way of exploring their identities and becoming more confident in their skin. I was keen to avoid that.

The posters above who mentioned Ellyn Slater are right. Read all of her stuff. And then avoid any Asian food vs. American food talk or comparisons. Call it all just food and serve dinners that include elements of more than one culture without making a fuss about it. Also remember that even people who grew up in the US and serve stereotypically the “American” food you list aren’t that common and they have kids who go through a phase of disliking home food. Regardless of what TV commercials and restaurant kids’ menus are telling you, pizza, chicken nuggets, and PB&J aren’t typical American dinners. They’re once-a-week takeout, packed lunch food, and stuff given to picky kids when parents are in a rush.

Keep feeding them the food you enjoy cooking. They will eventually come home from friends’ houses, restaurants, or the school cafeteria with new favorites and you will acquire new recipes that way. My kids also enjoy looking at magazine recipes or cook books from the library and often surprise me with things they’re willing to try.

[Anonymous]

DH and I are pretty basic Americans. DS is 8 and these are his favorite homemade meals. He doesn't like potatoes but likes rice. We tend to do a side of rice with meals that don't involve another carb (like tacos) and a side of veggies like broccoli, green beans, or peas (those are his 3 favorite)


-Bulgogi
-Tacos with avocado, slaw (really just a cabbage mix mixed with sour cream, lime juice, and cilantro), tomatoes and cheddar cheese
- Chicken katsu with rice
- parm. garlic chicken that we make in a skillet
- A white wine skillet chicken with green beans and crumbled bacon
- Chicken with a sun dried tomato sauce
- steak, medium rare
- Shrimp made in any form
- grouper, mahi mahi, sea bass in any form
- seared tuna


Having DS look at recipes online/in magazines/cookbooks really expanded his palate. He would look at things and say "huh that looks good. Can we try that?"