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I was an extremely picky eater as a child. So was my husband. I largely existed on buttered noodles. My husband wouldn’t touch a vegetable.
By the time we were adults, we’d both outgrown a lot of our food fears. But I was determined to break the cycle with our kids.
The first place I started: making just one meal for everyone. No special-order chicken nuggets or PBJs waiting in the wings. As someone who regularly got alternate dinners (see: buttered noodles), I knew that it would likely perpetuate the same pickiness I had as a kid.
If this sounds like too much tough love, rest assured that there are ways to accomplish this without stress, tears, and dinner table stand-offs. So whether it’s your child or your spouse who’s the picky eater, here are three strategies that will make “just one meal” go down a lot easier.
Strategy #1: The Dinner Bar
A lot of picky eaters are more receptive to food when it’s separated out into individual parts rather than piled on a plate together. That’s why so many young kids prefer divided plates.
With this strategy, you’re making just one meal and presenting it in a way where everyone can build their own. Taking the foods and portions they want will give your family a feeling of ownership in the meal.
Some ideas:
- The Taco Bar: Meat, chicken, beans, shredded cheese, salsa, lettuce, tomatoes, and guacamole.
- The Salad Bar: Leafy greens, chopped veggies, seeds, fruit, croutons, cheese, hard-boiled egg, nuts, and different bottled dressings
- The Pasta Bar: Plain cooked pasta, red sauce, pesto, grilled chicken, cheese, and roasted veggies.
- The Pizza Bar: Individual pizza crusts (or any flat bread like pita or naan) with sauce, veggies, cheeses, meat, and spices.
Strategy #2: The Deconstructed Dinner
This is a close cousin to the Dinner Bar, but you make the meal as usual for everyone, covertly setting aside some plain components just in case.
For instance, you bake and serve your lasagna recipe. But if someone protests and doesn’t want it, you can nonchalantly point out that there are a few leftover plain noodles and some sauce and cheese, would they like those in a bowl instead?
You can do the same for soup (reserve a bit of plain broth and noodles, for instance), casseroles, or any recipe.
With this strategy, you’re still just making one meal. There’s no extra work except the smidge of time to put aside some plain components while you’re assembling it.
Strategy #3: The Dinner Table Safe Food
Sometimes there’s a dinner you love, but you’re 99.9 percent sure your picky eater won’t like it. Go ahead and serve it–you deserve to have dinners you love, too! When deconstructing that dish isn’t a viable option, you can still show compassion and understanding without being a short-order cook. Just make sure there’s something on the table, available to everyone, that your picky eater reliably likes.
That might just be bread. Or fruit. Or rice. Whatever it is, if your picky child doesn’t like the main dish, (calmly) remind them that there are other choices on the table.
And you never know: Your picky eater may just come around to liking that meal after all. I’m living proof of that.
