Why Cook? Nobody Seems to Want to Eat it Anyway?

[cschin4]

Frankly, I am just getting tired of cooking. The lords and ladies of my house seem to sniff their nose at it and not eat it anyway. So, I am tired ot all the bother. Think I will just feed them PopTarts instead.

[simpleyme]

boy do i know this one ,when my family does that for too many days in a row i give my self a break and make them eat sandwiches

everyone is smart enough not to say anything negative ,but it ticks me off to watch them pick at the food especially when it is really good food,I am not feeding them gruel for goodness sakes

[Ima saver]

I think that is why I eat out so much. I have cooked supper for almost every night for 41 years and I am sick of it!! I like going out and letting someone else clean up!

[PrincessPerky]

Make them do it, nothing cures ho hum attitudes faster than being in charge, especially being in charge of a supposedly favirite meal and ruining it..let em walk in your shoes for a bit.....

Though I will say I aim for a couple favs a week, just to remind the family I am not always a bad cook (hard to ruin mac n cheese, tacos, and cheesy teriakki rice)

Before you throw up your hands look at alternate reasons..do they act the same around pizza? or is it an anti family meal problem? snacking to close to dinner? or taste buds ruined on white refined sugar? do you like the meal? do your taste buds run similar at all? would they like it better with hot sauce? or less hot sauce?

If you do decide to not cook, please avoid the poptarts, nothing useful in them whatsoever.

[cschin4]

Actually, my kids wanted me to make "Tuna Noodle Casserole". They all said they liked this at daycare. So, I got the recipie and made it. But, it didn't look "the same" and they took one bite and walked away, etc. I am sure they probably snack too close to supper, etc. I do try to monitor this, but with the 3 of them I am not always sure who has had what when, etc. And, they were at their Grams earlier so I am sure she stuffed them full of food.
But, it seems to be a constant battle. I try to prepare food they like, but I also like to prepare food that DH and I like as well. And, with kids playing sports and dad coaching, they have to leave pretty early for practice and don't want to eat heavy prior to that so we are eating alot of sandwiches now.
I have tried making them eat, having them just "take one bite", or just putting it on their plate and ignoring it. But, it doesn't seem to make any difference.
Actually, they are not all that wild about pizza as they seem to get it everywhere they go.

[PrincessPerky]

pizza was meant as a metaphore

Sounds like you know the cause, snacking/funky schedules/'different' (I make it a point these days never to cook other peoples food, I will let them, but I wont do it, cause I have discovered it will be 'different'!)

Now for the cure....sounds like that mini meal before practice and such is perfect, not hte traditional thing to do, but who says you have to be traditional?

As for reducing the snackage, one idea I hear alot is to try reducing the availiblity of junk snacks, then you will at least know if they ruined their dinner they did it on fruit and veggies....For gmas house it is a bit harder, but try getting gma to buy their favorite fruit/veggie and not buy it at your house, that way gma is still the spoiler, but it is guaranteed healthy..most of the time

Another is to assume they will not be eating much, lowered expectations = lowered chance of dissapointment, and so long as they join the family who cares if they eat the tradittional meal, so long as the intake is healthy, the kid will be healthy....And that is what the whole worry over eating is about right? healthy kids...

[cschin4]

My latest FLOP:
I dared to make homemade Mac N Cheese with real chedder cheese, etc rather than the boxed stuff. It was "OK". I followed the recipie on the back of the macaroni box. DH and I ate it but the kids told me it looked disgusting and they tried it but didn't like it. I will probably be throwing most of it away because I made a whole box! Argh!

[PrincessPerky]

I have never in my life succeeded at 'real' macncheese!

I wont even eat it if I try to 'make it' but I do eat plain noodles with shredded chedder on them..some times you fail, guaranteed..but the more we try the more we succeed, and get tried and true recipies under our belt...

I want to ask whoever said thanksgiving coes with 'real' macncheese including I think condensed milk? I really want to know how that works, but I keep forgetting to ask...

[tinapbeana]

i live in the south, so for us 'real mac n cheese' involves baking it in the oven and is typically called macaroni pie/casserole. yum! 1 box macaroni, regular milk (2 cups i think?), and in my house about 6 cups of shredded cheese... i heat up the milk on the stove while cooking the mac. add a cup or 2 of the cheese to the milk to melt it down. drain noodles, stir liquid into noodles, then add most of the rest of the shredded cheese and fold in. pour into a casserole, top w/ more cheese, bake at 350 till the cheese on top browns.

evil good! have no oven now, so i'm going to have to try this on my grill...

[Broken Arrow]

Ooh ooh! Send it to me! I'll eat it!

[Homebody]

Throw in a couple of eggs and top with bread crumbs, yum!

[PrincessPerky]

Thats what happns when you are raised on the box kind...none of that will result in anything like the box stuff! prolly better for you, prolly tastes better to a non deformed mouth.. but there you have it, I am deformed I never aquired a taste for coffee either....

[threebeansalad]

I concur with Simplyme-- sometimes you just need a break. I cook ALOT but sometimes I just don't have the energy-- especially if I feel like all my toiling is going unappreciated. Rarely are my meals total flops-- but the picking and lack of enthusiam gets to you when you've spent an hour + in the kitchen. It's very annoying! When this happens we have leftovers or sandwiches. If you want a hot meal-- make it yourself!

[jriessel]

I have a 3 year old that will hardly eat anything I cook. I refuse to be one of those parents that makes a different meal for each person (unless I am cooking something spicy or something I know they will not like - then I cook my kids something else). I try to have at least one thing (either a side or the main dish) that I know she will eat or at least try.

If they are hungry - they will eat.

[cschin4]

Actually. I tried to not give them anything else, etc. My oldest son would just make a meal on bread. My younger son would just sit and stare at his plate. Last night, we got him something he likes which is an Arby sandwich. He ate 1/2 and that's it. Then ate nothing the rest of the evening and "was not hungry" this morning. He is not gaining weight appropriately and is being worked up for GI problems. So, at this point, I pretty much let him eat what he wants as long as he is eating something until we figure out the problem.

[cschin4]

I got some lab tests back on my younger son. Turns out he has a GI problem and I will be taking him to a pediatric GI doctor for a workup. He may have some celiac disease and/or stomach issues. Now I feel bad for trying to get him to eat when he really couldn't.

[Ima saver]

My mother forced me to eat when I was a child. To this day, I will not eat any fruit, vegetable, seafood, lamb, veal, . I will eat beef, chicken, pototoes and junk food, that is all!

[PRICEPLUS]

As a child I ate what was put in front of me or I got it the nxt day for breakfast, lunch, etc...until it was gone. Mom and Pop had no tolerance for us being picky!

[Ima saver]

So, did I paul and that is why I am such a picky eater today. I was forced to eat and given the food again and again.Finally, after I threw up the stewed tomatoe at the table, my mother finally gave up. I have never had a tomato again. (or even ketchup)

[lgslgs]

Originally Posted by cschin4

My latest FLOP:
homemade Mac N Cheese

I will probably be throwing most of it away because I made a whole box! Argh!

You could always make it into a soup.

Lynda