can anyone help me turn my kids into home food lovers

[Russian Doll]

...i need to start providing home cooked food for the kids....with four of them they all have different tastes so i really need recipies that could be adapted to make one meal but in different styles....can anyone suggest anything

[Milims]

Can't you just starve them into submission?

[Bonniegirl]

Can't you just starve them into submission?

Absolutely!!

Good luck with the retraining, no choices in this house, you get eat whats been prepared or tough luck!

I have a few friends and family members that prepare different meals for their kids, never understood it myself. What a lot of work.

Be tough tea690, show 'em who's boss.............ah yep and get some ear plugs then you won't hear them moaning!

[Meredith]

I think Milims' idea is the best one. It they are hungry they will eat anything.

I've got four kids, grown up now, and I've always worked on the basis that the meal that's on offer is the only choice there is. If anyone has a real aversion to something then I wouldn't force them to eat it, but other than that, take it or leave it. It never stopped them moaning though.

I believe that it's only in the realm of ready meals where everyone gets what their little heart desires, and then it's not worth eating.

[Annpan]

I'd suggest that you try to get them to all try different things... it would be a nightmare to cook 4 seperate meals, when cooking for a large group I usually do a single dish meal - Lasagne, Cottage Pie, Stew. How about you let them each choose a meal once a week and they all have to eat it, mind you my brother would have chosen sardines all the time ... so that might not work

Failing that... home made pizza is pretty easy once you know how

Base :
250g Plain flour
1 Tsp Salt
1 Tsp easy yeast
1/2 cup warm water
4 tbsp+ olive oil
Black pepper
oregano
Basil

Topping :
1 tin of tomatoes (just the tomatoes... save the juice for something else)
Some cheese
Any number of weird toppings the kids come up with - simple red onion is enough for me sometimes

Sieve the flour and salt into a bowl making a well in the middle where you pour in the yeast and warm water, now add a few glugs of olive oil, some black pepper a little basil, oregano, or dried mixed herbs. Use the wrong end of a wooden spoon to mix it together a little, then smother your hands in the olive oil and get kneading (good for the skin too ) You might need to add more flour or olive oil to get a good consistency. When it is all nice and springy put it aside in a bowl, in a warm place for 1 hour. Roll the dough out onto a well oiled pizza tray (or a baking tray) and add your tomatoes (squished inbetween fingers), cheese (grated) and chosen toppings.

Bake in a pre heated oven 180oC for 45 minutes (or so)


I used to make this pizza all the time when I was v poor, the only real expense is the olive oil, I used to by the smart price everything else and it was always scrummy (I now buy all organic, but it doesn't taste that much better TBH) And as I say, once you know how, this is a really simple meal to make.

Good Luck.

[Russian Doll]

Can't you just starve them into submission?

lol..i like that idea...

i have fallen in the trap of cooking differnt meals for everone and at the mo im cooking all the time or so it seems....the oldest will eat most things...amy my 5 year old will live on pasta..alex just doesnt eat anythhing..and zachy whos 8 months will try most things but were having probs getting him to eat lumps....both zachy and amy have to avoid milk products...and alex suffers from terrible constaption...he can provide a log that my oh would be proud of....im at my wits end

[possum]

I would definitely take no prisoners in this, be firm. Obviously the lactose intollerant two shouldn't be forced into eating anything to make them ill (have they been diagnosed or is this just one of their fads?)
If the little chap with the constipation won't eat anything, then that is most likely the cause of it, he needs to eat his greens, fruit, wholemeal bread etc.
If you are cooking from scratch, then it is easy to have a diet for everyone without milk - is it just milk, they are intollerant to or cheese as well? Many lactose intollerant people can't have milk but are fine with cheese. The biggest problem as you probably know is ready prepared foods, where they seem to want to slip milk powder into everything, however cooking from scratch it is easy to avoid it, just using perhaps soy milk.

My suggestion would be cater for the two lactose intollerant ones, so that they main body of your meals they can always eat - ie don't cook macaroni cheese and then cook a separate mains course for them, but do perhaps have sausages, vegtables, potatoes and maybe a side serving of cauliflower cheese, they won't be missing out much on not being able to have a side dish.

Alternatively, try the occassional buffet style meal, you could make it fun by getting the kids to stick stars on the dishes you know they can't eat, so that they can avoid them, rather than being told off for picking them.

Try and get the family into Indian food, there is very little dairy products used in that at all, as long as it is not horrendously spicy then even your little one can eat it. Remember also that indian food is not just the vindaloo that you order after 6 pints down at the pub, I have a wonderful Indian vegetarian cook book and some of the recipes you wouldn't think where Indian, I have even served them up to some people who claim to hate indian cooking and they haven't even realised that they are Indian dishes.

As all the food experts say, get the kids involved in the kitchen, if they have helped make it they are much more likely to eat it.
Try and have fun in the kitchen say if you want to get spinach into the kids, get them to help you make halloween green slime potato cakes (spinach and mashed potato mixd up and fried), of get them to help you chop up "brain" cabbage (savoy cabbage). To this day I call marrowfat peas crocodile peas as they would be swimming around the mashed potato castle in the gravy.

[Russian Doll]

thanx all....the two who cant eat milk seem okay with cheese....alex does eat fruuit...seems like its all he eats lol.....ill try the pinach one though that sounds like fun especially with halloween round the corner

[Thomzo]

I agree with everything that's been posted. I don't have kids so can't really advise but when I was young if I didn't eat what was put in front of me then I went hungry.

Do bear in mind that all food is an "acquired taste". When you try something for the first time it will taste a bit odd. If a child is prone to spitting it out and saying "yuk" then there is a temptation to not serve it again. I heard a theory the other day that says if you eat a particular food 7 times you will at least learn to tolerate it.

Make a pact with them. If they eat it on 7 separate occasions and still hate it then you won't serve it to them again.

The other thing (if they are old enough) is to encourage them to put a little bit of the food they don't like on their fork and then a little bit of something they do like to mask the flavour. Get them to experiment with different flavour combinations to see what tastes nice and what tastes horrid. Get them to roll it around in their mouths to see if it tastes different on different parts of the tongue (the different flavour receptors are located in different places). Ask them to describe the flavour and the texture as they are eating it. Talk to them about the health benefits of different foods as they eat it. If you can get them to really appreciate the food, rather than just woolfing it down, you may win half the battle.

Finally - pasta is great. Serve a dish of pasta with a couple of different sauces separately. When they are old enough you could get a pasta machine and get them to make it.

Good luck and don't be slave

Zoe

[Russian Doll]

woooooooooooohooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo i made a spaghetti bolognaise...i added ten veg to the sauce..albeit purreed in so they wouldnt notice and they all ate it...even zachy liked it i am soooooooooooooooo happy....for the first time in ever i have only cooked one meal cause me and daren are eating the rest this evening

[Thomzo]

Well done tea. You can do it!

Zoe

[Annpan]

well done you

[Russian Doll]

thanks guys i am so chuffed with myself...am attempting a shepherds pie tom...with loads of disguised veg

[blathanna]

Congratulations, you have made the first move in liberating yourself from a life of being nailed to the cooker. I suffered a little bit of that when my kids were growing up. When they got married there was'nt a peep out of them. They ate all that was put in front of them.
Keep at it and don't give in.

[mrsflibble]

quiche? only pastry made with non dairy spread?
and if amy's still off eggs I've got an egg free milk free quiche recipe too.


or there's always that wonderful carrot tart thing oooo I just know they'd be salivating for that one.


sorry, to let everyone else in on this: I try wierd recipes. I was trying marguerite patten's mock apricot flan. I tried feeding it to tea's darlings. they hated it, we both had a go trying to tell them to eat it... then we both tasted it. I'm sorry to say that to appologise to the kiddies we went down the chip shop because the flan was soooo disgusting.

"Mock apricot flan

Line a large 9-inch pie plate or flan dish with shortcrust pastry, oatmeal pastry or potato. Bake blind in a hot oven for 20-25 minutes.

Meanwhile, grate 1lb of young carrots. Put into a saucepan with a few drops of almond essence, 4 tbs of plum jam and only about 4 tbs of water. Cook gently until a thick pulp. Spoon into the cooked pastry. Spread with a little more plum jam if this can be spared.

Note: The carrots really do taste a little like apricots."

NO THEY FLIPPING DON'T!!!!! THEY TASTE LIKE CARROTS MIXED WITH JAM AND ALMOND ESSENCE!!!