Picky Eaters - Lewisburg,OH

I, too, think some kids are just picky. My 4 year old has a very limited diet but three year old little sister will try just about anything. I always serve 1 thing with dinner I know they will eat and don't worry if they don't eat the rest. Usually they just wake up really hungry for a good breakfast in the morning - which reinforces the idea that you should focus on nutrition for the kiddos through out the day because nighttime is likely to be a losing battle. If the rest of the day was good, I don't sweat it at all if they only at their apples or peas at dinner.

We do not cater to everyone's preferences each and every night. Sometimes we will fix a dinner that we know my son likes and will eat without a problem. However, most of the time, we will fix dinner and he has three options: eat it, try it (take a bite of everything) and if he doesn't like it he may have some yogurt or fruit (nothing that we have to fix for him), or he can go hungry (if he doesn't eat, he doesn't get any snacks). He knows his options and it's up to him to decide what he wants to do.

Also, we have a cookbook called "Quick Meals for Healthy Kids and Busy Parents". The recipes are very kid friendly. Maybe it could give you a few ideas.

HOUSE JOKE FOR PICKY EATERS - "Eat It Or WEAR It"!

Hi L.,

Your kids didn't get that picky without some help! First what is your grocery budget? Then start trying to fix balanced meals, meaning you probably can't go cold turkey on your junk food junkies, but try to add some salad and other fruits and vegetables to their diets. I would suggest eliminating popcorn chicken and replace them with homemade chicken tenders (more cost effective and better for your family.

Check out the net for menu ideas....you'll good stuff for your family and also best buys.

Blessings.....keep us posted.

Keep in mind......YOU RULE....if they are hungry, they will eat! You will need to get your husband on board, but start with the kids.

Look at the recipes on kraftfoods.com -they have a section for picky eaters. Also, something that we found out that helped, was if the child coudl help make the meals they were more interested in eating the meal. My husband is the "main" cook and he lets our five year olds help him almost nightly. Good luck.

I try to get my kids input to plan out the meals. They understand that we will NOT always have something that is their favorite but they will have to eat it. We do not eat any crazy meals but when we do have something unusual we usually have a second choice. Dad likes some gamey food once in a while and he is the only one who will eat it. Imagine the behavior towards food you want to teach to your kids now for the future. Letting them choose a meal a week and also you and your husband will make meal planning more a family thing and you will be teaching your kids long term skills.

I would have to disagree with L....some kids are just picky! That being said, in our house, if they tried everything they could then eat a yogurt if they were still hungry. No extra mess (I wouldn't even fix a separate sandwich!), no exceptions. Make balanced meals that fit your budget, keep up the variety, and they will be fine. Even your husband lol.

Nutrigrain bars, BTW, aren't as healthy as we would be led to believe.

As a teen, my daughter is semi vegetarian (she will eat chicken, turkey, and some fish, but would prefer not to). So, if I am making hamburgers, for example, I will do turkey burgers for her and beef for the boys. I make more sides with beans so she can skip the red meat. I Still don't make her a totally alternative meal. Good luck!

I check the grocery circulars to see what kinds of meat is on sale, then I figure out what I'm going to cook, at least for the next 3 days. I also go through the sale flyer and look at all the other things that are on sale, then go through my coupons to see if have any for the things on sale or things I need.

I have a couple picky eaters too. My rule is that they have to have at least one bite of the things they don't like. Hopefully, they get used to it, maybe even like it the more they are exposed. My kids tend to not like casseroles. (They don't like when different ingredients are all mixed together.)

What about roasting a chicken? Add some mashed potatoes, a veggie and a salad.
You could use the leftover chicken to make chicken a la king or chicken salad. You can make chicken noodle soup with leftover chicken. The Progresso Website has a good recipe for that. They have a lot of other good soup recipes too. The chicken and pastina soup is really good. I leave out the mustard greens.

http://www.progressobroth.com/broth-recipes.aspx

If you look in the right hand column where they have the picture of their recipe book, click on where it says check out these new recipes. The book will pop up you can turn the pages and look through it. That's where the chicken noodle soup recipe is.
You can also look on the Food Network's website. There are lots of recipes on the net.
http://www.foodnetwork.com/
Good luck. Hope it helps :)

You can do healthy alternatives of stuff they like - for example, I make 'chicken nuggets' with cut up tenderloins, a combination of wheat germ and whole wheat bread crumbs, and a quick-fry in olive oil, and then finish the cooking in the oven. You can sneak a lot of veggies in spaghetti sauce (for pizza or pasta) and put butternut squash in mac & cheese. I put EVERYTHING into pancakes - you'd be shocked!

There are some good cookbooks in bookstores/libraries. Sneaky Chef and Deceptively Delicious are 2 best sellers. Rachael Ray has some stuff in her cookbooks and magazines too.

Getting kids involved in the cooking and the shopping can be helpful too. Also, if you can grow some of your own vegetables this summer, that's a great incentive. Stuff that comes out of the ground fresh is better than what's in the stores anyway.

I agree about not making separate meals for everyone. And your husband has to get on board here!

There's some statistic about how kids have to try things about 8 or 10 times before they know for sure whether they like it or not. It has to do with hyper-sensitive taste buds. Don't give up.

You can also use a comprehensive dietary supplement like Reliv's Now for Kids to give them the DHA the need for brain development, and all the essential nutrition in one blended drink. Much better than instant breakfast shakes, and certainly better than those kiddie vitamins that carry warning labels and aren't absorbed - waste of money, say most doctors. Happy to give you more info on this - it's been used world-wide for many years and is improving children's health exponentially. We have a nutrition crisis in this country, with more and more kids getting "adult" diseases - and this is the first generation that will not live longer than their parents because of it. So it's a good time to take action.