Feeding Fussy Kids

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4macmonkies, Mar 20, 1:00am
Does anyone have any idea's that might help me.I have 4 kids - 1 is really fussy!
She doesnt like to eat anything cooked with a sauce e.g "pot of mince" or casseroles.My husband and I are so sick of eating the same things. Any idea's would be really appreciated

4macmonkies, Mar 20, 1:02am
Some of the things we are eating are. Home made burgers, tortilla's, Macaroni Cheese, Risotto, Stirfry.

cgvl, Mar 20, 1:11am
make what you want and if it is casserole or mince then surely they can either pick the meat out of the gravy or go hungry. Sorry if that sounds harsh but dont allow them to be so "fussy", they will get used to it eventually BUT dont offer any alternative. Dish it up and they will either eat it or not, the child/ren will not starve themselves but its also really really important not to give them anything else instead of.
My niece doesn't like onion so she picks it out of her mince/casserole dishes if she see's it there. To be honest most of the time she doesn't even notice unless its big pieces, same with gravy, I'm not fussy on that so when I do a casserole I do rice with it which soaks up most of the sauce and I also tend to put less sauce on my plate. .

4macmonkies, Mar 20, 1:27am
If anyone has any tried and true/quick and easy recipe's. I would be grateful:)

karenz, Mar 20, 1:39am
He/she won't starve will just have to pick their way around food that doesn't appeal, are you sure it isn't just a way of getting noticed and having control.

whitehead., Mar 20, 2:54am
24 hours between meal with mostly fix a fussy kid just cook what you and the other wont to eat and if she does not wont to eat it take the food away and apart from fruit and bread and butter jam and cheese she goes with out hunger is a great sauce she will not go hungry for long .my kids apart from tripe and liver never turned their noses up at food because there was mostly nothing more to eat .we still had icecream and puddings just not a lot of them

4macmonkies, Mar 20, 3:47am
thanks elliehen :)

kinna54, Mar 20, 4:57am
It is often easier said than done. My kids and grand kids eat most anything, except if it has onion. With the mince definitely try making meatballs: they can have theirs with no sauce. Wraps, tacos, are good, as they can have reasonably drier mince in. Will she eat sausages, or fish? Omelettes? Bacon and egg pie?
Maybe to get them used to sauce try giving them something with a dipping sauce on the side rather than already cooked in

lx4000, Mar 20, 7:10am
I'm veggie, my sis wouldn't eat veggies besides spuds and mum can not have dairy food. I often went without as I didn'teat meat. That was my choice! My sis often went with out because she didn't eat veggies, her choice! Mum was always different because her body couldn't have it.

4macmonkies, Mar 20, 9:29pm
Thanks guys, she really does try to make an effort, but i just find it hard to come up with new idea's.Its also nice to get some new idea's from others as to what they are eating :)

lissy73, Mar 20, 9:33pm
Nachos/wraps/burgers etc are good as she can choose what she wants to have in her meal. I have a daughter the same, who has issues with food all 'mixed together'. It is a bit harder with the weather getting colder.

elliehen, Mar 20, 9:59pm
I think it's good to respect the wishes of a child who 'has issues with food all mixed together'.Young children have sharper taste buds than adults.They will often enjoy those same mixed foods, if you serve them individually.

fifie, Mar 20, 10:26pm
Have a fussy grandee comes to visit won't eat vegs, Mince, casseroles, grain breads, list goes on and on . I make up a pot of chicken soup with vegs in all pureed with the blender to hide when she's not around lol, along with few noodles for the freezer,she loves that as a after school snack, steak, crumbed snitzel, chops, wraps where she can chose fillings goes down well, snacks she likes raw carrots, apples, cheese. Find shes getting better with age is 10 now and loves to bake, i encourage her she chooses what to make see's whats in it, and often goes home with a new food idea, she likes for mum to cook. Hard when your busy, she'll grow out of it.

purplegoanna, Mar 20, 10:30pm
i find it so odd these days with all these kids that wont eat certain foods....i was brought up that if i didnt eat what was on my plate then my brother quickly helped himself, we neva had luxurys so everything was eaten. Mrpg's grandaughter refuse to eat anything that has tomato in it but will happily pour tomato sauce over everything and my stepson whos in his 20's wont eat anything spicy, onion, tomato or curried, then to top it all off i met his friend who is the pickest ive come across so far..his problem is he dosnt like how certain foods FEEL in his mouth!

purplegoanna, Mar 20, 10:32pm
how old is she? is it worth letting her look through recipe books etc and pick out things she likes the look of, then she can read through the ingredients lists to see if she likes/dislikes any of the ingredients.

elliehen, Mar 20, 10:40pm
purplegoanna, they get this fussiness nowadays from their elders.Look at the obsesssive discussion about food on the messageboards!When you were a child, people probably just got on with it...certainly judging by the old magazines and cookery books they enjoyed collecting recipes, but were more concerned with putting a well-balanced, nutritious meal on the table than endlessly discussing diets or the aesthetics of 'plating' a meal.

ant_sonja, Mar 20, 10:40pm
My son has never really been a fussy eater but there have always been a couple of things he claimed to 'hate' from a young age so he didn't have to have those those foods very often but still had to try them again every other month or so. Initially it was broccoli - he now loves it after we made sure he kept trying it from time to time - then it was mushrooms, asparagus and also eggs, all of which he now eats in most forms after trying them cooked/raw and in different meals over a bit of time and I made sure the things he disliked were never hidden in other things as I find that quite wrong in itself. He literally eats everything now which is great for him and us :-) I always explained to him that we can't only eat our favorite foods everyday and that we all eat things we may not necessarily love but that we need a wide variety of foods to nourish our bodies and that that is the most important thing when it comes to food. Oh and he would simply go without if he really refused to eat what was on offer as I'm not a restaurant and don't offer alternatives ;-) hasn't happened often. At 8 he thinks he's quite the little nutritionist now and enjoys reading food labels etc pointing out sugar content etc.. We all like a bit of control over what we put in our mouths and kids especially, as a lot of tastes/textures are new to them when still young so take a little time to adjust to. Just keep offering the stuff they don't like from time to time and ensure they make the effort to at least try it - good luck!

elliehen, Mar 20, 10:54pm
Great advice.

4macmonkies, Mar 21, 1:00am
Does anyone have any idea's that might help me.I have 4 kids - 1 is really fussy!
She doesnt like to eat anything cooked with a sauce e.g "pot of mince" or casseroles.My husband and I are so sick of eating the same things. Any idea's would be really appreciated

4macmonkies, Mar 21, 1:02am
Some of the things we are eating are. Home made burgers, tortilla's, Macaroni Cheese, Risotto, Stirfry.

cgvl, Mar 21, 1:11am
make what you want and if it is casserole or mince then surely they can either pick the meat out of the gravy or go hungry. Sorry if that sounds harsh but dont allow them to be so "fussy", they will get used to it eventually BUT dont offer any alternative. Dish it up and they will either eat it or not, the child/ren will not starve themselves but its also really really important not to give them anything else instead of.
My niece doesn't like onion so she picks it out of her mince/casserole dishes if she see's it there. To be honest most of the time she doesn't even notice unless its big pieces, same with gravy, I'm not fussy on that so when I do a casserole I do rice with it which soaks up most of the sauce and I also tend to put less sauce on my plate. .

4macmonkies, Mar 21, 1:27am
If anyone has any tried and true/quick and easy recipe's. I would be grateful:)

karenz, Mar 21, 1:39am
He/she won't starve will just have to pick their way around food that doesn't appeal, are you sure it isn't just a way of getting noticed and having control.

carter19, Mar 21, 4:04am
My husband does not like vegetables or fruit. COnsequently my son (9) has many aversions to what I consider normal food. He will only eat corn or lettuceand for fruit apples bananas mandarins apricots grapes. Brownie is the only biscuit/cake he will eat. He will not eat any meats with flavouring whatsoever, no rice only plain noodles (spaghetti not 2min) and the list goes on. I have ranted and raved and he would rather starve than eat something he doesn't like. We however eat what I like and choose to cook and he goes without if I can't do something easily for him.

duckmoon, Mar 21, 4:18am
I have started to line up ingredients (for burritos, or hamburger or the like) and say "you need to have four out of six" - but they get to choose...

So, the control stays with them, but they still have a balance diet.