My husband and 11 yr old son can’t even put dinner in the oven in a timely way. I made a casserole the morning before work and left it in the fridge. When I got home at 7:45, they hadn’t even put it in the oven and our kid was complaining he was starving. UGH!!

DH WFH all day and our son came straight home from school. No activities tonight. How hard can it be? I am on the verge of going on strike.

My DD went on strike when her DH began to criticize her cooking. She is a chef. He doesn't do that anymore.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I have never even heard of a restaurant that doesn't have vegetarian options. I am GF so I am aware of how restaurants can be tough, but unless you are vegan, difficulty at restaurants is just not a thing.

Difficulty at restaurants stems from being a picky vegetarian/pescatarian. Not lack of options! For instance, if you only eat one kind of fish and that fish isn’t on the menu…etc. etc.

That sounds extremely annoying. Can you look at menus outside the restaurants (they're usually posted on the window)? This is what my family did when I was growing up because we have a very annoying combination of allergies (one extremely strict/bad dairy allergy and ones fish/tree nuts) so it sometimes took a couple of tries before we could find a restaurant everyone could find something they could eat at.

When my kids were around that age I went on a strike. Then we implemented a schedule. Everyone had to cook one meal a week. Meals had to have a protein and a vegetable, and could not be a frozen meal.

Sunday - 15 year old made brunch every week. Usually pancakes, eggs, and a breakfast meat

Monday - 17 year old would cook. He varied his meals the most

Tuesday - I would cook

Wednesday - 13 year old (pescatarian) would cook. We usually had a salad of some sort with a faux steak or blackbean burgers. Other times a rice dish, as the rice cooker was easy for her to use

Thursday - leftovers

Friday - we ordered pizza/sushi or tacos

Saturday - my husband would usually grill

That was the general schedule. It may have moved a little, but it worked around practices and jobs, and gave me a break. It also taught the kids a ton.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I have never even heard of a restaurant that doesn't have vegetarian options. I am GF so I am aware of how restaurants can be tough, but unless you are vegan, difficulty at restaurants is just not a thing.

Difficulty at restaurants stems from being a picky vegetarian/pescatarian. Not lack of options! For instance, if you only eat one kind of fish and that fish isn’t on the menu…etc. etc.

Gotcha. I have never tolerated pickiness and it has resulted in no restaurant or friends' house issues. Prob one of my best parenting decisions among many that I have doubted over time...

Curious what this looks like in your house. I am a mom whose kids have become less picky over time, but it was a long hard process. I also thought that I wouldn't tolerate pickiness (before I had kids) but it wasn't black and white. It took a lot of effort over the years.

Honestly, just by approaching food as something they would like and not turning it into a battle. Not always giving a kid option, but doing so when easy. Going to restaurants a lot when they were young and not just ones with chicken fingers on a kids' menu and never asking for a special plate from the kitchen. I always told them if they were at a friend's they just had to make do--no special requests. I also made eating a variety of foods about manners--not an option to get out of it. They are grateful as teens now. They never worry about any food/restaurant/travel scenario. They can always find something and they have zero anxiety about it.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I have never even heard of a restaurant that doesn't have vegetarian options. I am GF so I am aware of how restaurants can be tough, but unless you are vegan, difficulty at restaurants is just not a thing.

Difficulty at restaurants stems from being a picky vegetarian/pescatarian. Not lack of options! For instance, if you only eat one kind of fish and that fish isn’t on the menu…etc. etc.

Gotcha. I have never tolerated pickiness and it has resulted in no restaurant or friends' house issues. Prob one of my best parenting decisions among many that I have doubted over time...

Curious what this looks like in your house. I am a mom whose kids have become less picky over time, but it was a long hard process. I also thought that I wouldn't tolerate pickiness (before I had kids) but it wasn't black and white. It took a lot of effort over the years.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I have never even heard of a restaurant that doesn't have vegetarian options. I am GF so I am aware of how restaurants can be tough, but unless you are vegan, difficulty at restaurants is just not a thing.

Difficulty at restaurants stems from being a picky vegetarian/pescatarian. Not lack of options! For instance, if you only eat one kind of fish and that fish isn’t on the menu…etc. etc.

Gotcha. I have never tolerated pickiness and it has resulted in no restaurant or friends' house issues. Prob one of my best parenting decisions among many that I have doubted over time...

I'm grateful that my kids aren't that picky. If they complained about what I made then they would be in charge of cooking one night a week. They would be required to plan the meal on the weekend and add all the ingredients to the shopping list. I would help them occasionally but have them figure it out. As it is, I would love for them to cook more, but everyone is so busy and I'm more likely to put a healthy meal on the table that everyone likes then they are, so for now it's mostly me, but I ask them for help chopping and peeling here and there.

I quit frequently. DH also complains about food but will make things too. My kids are also 12 and 15.

DH and I both work full time and the kids are in sports in the evening. They get home from school before us and we drive too much. Then they complain we have no food or they don’t like what we make, which means they just want take out. I just made a bunch of meals this weekend for the week. Before that, the last major cooking I did was late November. Both of mine are capable of cooking if they want to.

Anonymous wrote:My youngest is a HS junior and I am so sick of cooking. Kid is an athlete, very thin, and needs to eat after daily sports practice. So, I rush home from work, walk the dog and prepare dinner 4 days a week (get takeout one day). Mostly, I'm sick of the uneven burden vis-a-vis DH. I've announced I quit the moment this kid is out of the house. I'm then going to make what I want to eat and DH can fend for himself. But I may got the TJ's prepared food route to lighten my burden in the meantime.

OP here. I have a similar issue and when my teen announced she was a pescatarian, I announced that I’d be cooking mostly vegetarian/pescatarian and since DH eats a lot of meat and dislikes fish, he would now be on his own. It makes the Venn diagram a litany bit bigger and I don’t Reese t him as much.

Anonymous wrote:I have never even heard of a restaurant that doesn't have vegetarian options. I am GF so I am aware of how restaurants can be tough, but unless you are vegan, difficulty at restaurants is just not a thing.

Difficulty at restaurants stems from being a picky vegetarian/pescatarian. Not lack of options! For instance, if you only eat one kind of fish and that fish isn’t on the menu…etc. etc.

I have never even heard of a restaurant that doesn't have vegetarian options. I am GF so I am aware of how restaurants can be tough, but unless you are vegan, difficulty at restaurants is just not a thing.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:At those ages, especially the 15 year old, they can figure it out themselves a few nights a week. I would navigate their preferences a couple times a week and make enough for leftovers. That’s it.

To get ahead of attitude at a restaurant, I’d send the menu to the vegetarian ahead of time when possible and sat, this is where we are eating, you are welcome to come if you see something you like.

That’s a good middle ground. I can make a batch of fajita fixings for the week and they can eat those until fajitas come out of eyes.

Re the vegetarian (actually pescatarian) and restaurants. We were traveling last week and it’s impossible to anticipate if the restaurant will have either salmon or a Caesar salad. It’s so stressful to go out to eat with her.

Er... This whole situation sounds annoying and I hope it gets better, but your child is in no way "vegetarian".

My youngest is a HS junior and I am so sick of cooking. Kid is an athlete, very thin, and needs to eat after daily sports practice. So, I rush home from work, walk the dog and prepare dinner 4 days a week (get takeout one day). Mostly, I'm sick of the uneven burden vis-a-vis DH. I've announced I quit the moment this kid is out of the house. I'm then going to make what I want to eat and DH can fend for himself. But I may got the TJ's prepared food route to lighten my burden in the meantime.

My kids get on tiktok and figure out recipes and make them. They are old enough to learn to make foods they like. I shop for the ingredients once they have a plan for some meals.