We’ve hit a bump in the road of “bonus” parenting.
My stepson, The Boy, does not like home cooked food.
Admittedly, neither does his father. His father is one of the more picky eaters I’ve EVER met, and not even because he’s a food snob; no, it’s more that his upbringing was based around two food groups: FRIED and MEAT. Well, maybe three groups. There is fried meat, after all.
When we first started dating, we ate out a lot. I think Bryan made chicken parmesan for me once, but that was a trial for him as well. For the most part, we ate Thai food, Chinese take-out, and Italian. Always out. After all, I don’t cook. Never have. That’s WOMEN’S work.
And we’re partly to blame for his aversion to home-cooked meals; typically, when it’s a weekend with him, we tend to eat out a lot. We’re usually on the go with sporting events or family outtings, so eating out is just more efficient. BUT, times are not what they were. So we’re having some growing pains.
Really and truly, I know it’s hard. He grew up with his momma’s cookin’, and everyone thinks their momma’s cookin’ is the best EVAR. So no matter what I serve up, it’s gonna be against that standard. Strike one. Also, we eat pretty healthy in our house: lots of veggies, everything from scratch, baked and not fried. Strike two. And we’ve also taking to eating at the dinner table, versus the tv. Strike two and a half.
We had chicken parmesan alfredo over angel hair pasta with herbs and oil on Saturday night. Nope, no thanks. Had a few bites, but decided he just wasn’t hungry. Sunday night, we had grilled italian sausage hoagies with sauteed zucchini and squash. He had a bite of each but declared the meal “too italian”. He didn’t like the fresh sausage we had with our pancakes one morning. Even the PB&J I made for him on Friday night post-football game wasn’t up to standard; he said the white bread “tastes like wheat”.
Readers, help moi. I need failsafe meal options to make at home that a picky eight year old (and thirty-something-year-old) will like. Thoughts?
(Tonight, we’re having slow-cooked pulled pork bbq. And I made a KICK-ASS pumpkin pie yesterday.)
This is hard! Tell us what he would order if you took him out (not drive thru) and maybe I (we) have something you can try? I have an amazing roasted tomato soup that we eat grilled cheese with but it coldnt taste less like campbells. Man, I am so sorry! I fell like no help at all.
Christina’s last blog post..Rambler
God Bless the Fried and Meat Groups… they are part of the Nutritional “Triangle” that I have created to challenge the traditional “pyramid” after all those were made by slaves, and slaves are BAD! I digress, back to the triangle Meat sits at the top , the bottom two are Fried and pizza respectivly, contained in the middle of the triangle is the Alcohol group…. Tell of my greatness!
Sota’s last blog post..The one about the 2nd Amendment….
It can take a few tries before a children will warm up to new foods. Because The Boy is active and healthy, I say go ahead and coat his veggies with the bad stuff if he’ll eat it. You can give him options like carrots with organic ranch or blue cheese to dip. (Also, green beans cooked in brown sugar and butter). Corn with butter and salt is usually a winner. Or challenging him to eat bell pepper might work. Also, involving him in preparing the food will make him curious, and he’ll want to taste it.
You can do a spaghetti and meatballs night. You can stick spinach in the meatballs and onions and tomatoes in the spaghetti, he’ll never know. Ideally, it would be with whole grain pasta, but if he’s picky about his bread, you may want to introduce that slowly.
Apples and organic PB are great, and its apple season. (If you think he’ll freak about the organic PB, Skippy Natural is a great compromise. No hydrogenated oils or high fructose corn syrup, but it does have added sugar). Also, Aunt Annie’s makes a great box mac-n-cheese (you’ll need to season it though) and its much better than the Kraft. Try stirring in some peas as well.
Just remember not to go into it with a negative mind set. Children are very intuitive. Keep trying, and eventually he’ll give in.
What about “make your own taco” night, but with chicken or ground turkey? If he doesn’t like it, it’s his own fault since HE made it, right?
I second having him help in the food prep. Also, if he still doesn’t like it, I’ll gladly eat his portion as all you’ve cooked sounds AWESOME and am now starving as I type this!
You are not a short order cook. He won’t starve to death in a weekend.
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THANK YOU AARDVARK. He is not going to starve, and if you are serving up that kind of food and he DOES starve then that is just Darwinism… No really, Matthew is a picky eater too. He can hold out for days waiting on a trip through the drive through for some nuggets and fries, but oh well. If I make it, then he should eat it- the end. Apparently that is why he is a skinny midget…MOTHER OF THE YEAR.
I’m totally with Ra. He needs to learn he isn’t the center of the culinary universe. You’re doing the right things. If he chooses not to it, that’s his choice. Don’t take it personally.
BTW–I made the calzone recipe in this month’s Real Simple last night. It was fun to work with the dough, and everyone enjoyed them. Maybe if you included him in the food preparation, he’d be more inclined to try something new?
Keep cooking like you are and just call me to pick up the leftovers. Ever have a finicky dog or cat? When they get hungry enough…they’ll eat. In the meantime, I’ll pick up the slack!
With 5 kids I have been through this a time or two. Letting him help prepare the meal is a great way to get him to also eat it. You also have to get creative. One trick I had was making corn muffins and putting veggies in the muffins, then put out a big container of the fat free cream cheese and let him frost it. I have had some of the pickiest eaters gobble down these veggie cupcakes. Also you can get great whole wheat already made individual pizza crusts at some of the stores, have a make your own pizza night. We did this with my sons birthday party one year and the kids were eating all kinds of veggies on their pizzas and loving it because they made it, and the competition for who could put the most stuff and the most unusual combos on their pizza helped too. Good luck.
Christina’s last blog post..A little whining…
[...] of all, thanks so much for the GREAT ideas on the last post, where I admitted that I had lost all hope of my family ever being happy with the same dish. I [...]