Help! Very fussy eater DGSs staying

When stuck I’d go for spaghetti hoops with toast, fish finger sandwiches with a ketchup dip. Beans and toast. A cheesy toasted sandwich. Eggy bread. Sausage finger roll. One loved just mashed potatoes with gravy.
Also baked beans mixed into the mash shaped into a mountain with a well at the top for a little butter, their very own volcano.

Coolgran65 thank you but every single one of your very sensible suggestions have been refused by one or the other boy in the past. They really are very awkward. I don't know why they are so difficult to feed. My own children just ate what they were given.
Maybe my DD is trying to compensate for being brought up like that by letting her own boys eat whatever they like.

How about hotdogs? Mine always ate those. Finger rolls, sausages and ketchup.

Don’t stress over it. Have a variety of stuff in the fridge that won’t go to waste and you’ll use up yourself if they don’t. My 2 youngest GC age 7 and 6 love nothing more than what they call a snack plate. A selection of ham, cheese, raisins, strawberries etc with a wrap on the side which they enjoy filling. Then a yoghurt to finish off.

Hope you enjoy your weekend.

Why do you feel the need to add anything else?

They will be fine with that food for the weekend.

Grannynannywanny you're describing a nutritionally balanced meal with all food groups covered ?
My own granddaughter (4) would add hummous, red peppers and twiglets.

As for my own children, the older two would eat what they wanted off their plate of a "proper" meal.
I'd then swap their plates over and they'd each finish what the other had left ?

The youngest would eat nothing but marmalade sandwiches for breakfast and lunch for several years, and even once asked me what time of day it was as he didn't know what meal it was ?
I'd binged on marmalade sandwiches when I had pregnancy hunger pangs while expecting him. He won't touch it now!

My son was a fussy eater. Dh and I left him and dds with the grandparents whilst we went on a weekend holiday I won. He was 3 and mil was convinced she could do what I couldn’t and get him to eat different things. She failed miserably! Are you sure you aren’t wanting to do a similar thing to score one over your dd?

The one food my 4 GC (2 different households) haven’t taken to is potatoes. My Irish Mum would be baffled if she was still with us. As a child we had potatoes with every dinner. Even when we had newfangled meals like spaghetti bolognese arriving on the scene in the 70s. My lovely Mum would still cook a pot of spuds and insist we had one on the side!

My 4 GC enjoy roast beef, stew, roast chicken etc but they have it with rice or pasta instead of potatoes.

Aveline

Gagajo yes I think I might be quite tough. If they're hungry enough they'll eat. I've got all sorts of things ready. If the worst comes to the worst they won't starve in two days.

My DGS would rather go to bed with no food than eat something he doesn't like. His choice. Doesn't keep him awake, either!

Peanut butter has protein and carbs, Nutella the same with some iron and sugars , they won’t starve , just let the children have a fun weekend and don’t stress over their diet

I certainly hope to have a fun weekend. Today is my last chance to shop. Looking back to the last time eldest DGS stayed, he suddenly loved spring rolls of all things. We were having some and he asked to try one. He ate the lot!
I'm sure the weekend will go well and the boys definitely won't starve.

My grandson was the pickiest eater on the planet from about the age of two. He almost lived on a diet of plain pasta, carrot and cucumber sticks and cheese (as long as you didn’t put it on the pasta!). No potatoes, butter on bread, pizzas or sauces of any kind. Now, at fourteen, he will eat anything and likes to cook. Give them what you know they will eat and don’t spend time worrying about it?.

Home made chicken dippers and chips, I used mini chicken fillets, dipped in flour, egg, then breadcrumbs. Meatballs with pasta, homemade pizza, let them choose the toppings.
These were favourites with my two grandchildren and still are even though they are 16 and 13 ☺️

My BFF is a dietician whose research specialises in picky eating. Her advice is - don’t worry. Picky eating in western children has no negative impact on their health or diet as older children and teens. Her own son lived off white bread PBJs for years.
Have a lovely time with your grandkids!

We have a similar problem with a recently adopted GC who has been in foster care living in fried chicken nuggets and other easy cook food. She likes her food crispy and automatically rejects anything else. Fortunately she also seems to have been given noodles and accepts pasta - though not anything with sauce. We use Garofalo pasta which comes in shapes such as stars and crescents, or toys. The pieces are a good size and a nice texture. We serve them with grated cheese and little bits of colour such as sliced cherry tomatoes sweetcorn and cheese. Well browned pizza works too.

They will be there now, have a happy weekend. We used to worry about what to provide for meals as our dgc is the same. We tried cooking together and asking mum about current favourite foods but nothing worked. Now we have lots of choice when we eat together so we all, including gc, can pick and we decided to never question that choice or comment on how much is eaten. We also play a game like ‘I spy’ ?‍♀️ while we’re eating. As you say they won’t starve while they’re at your house. Now it’s not an issue GC has relaxed and eats a good quantity.

When my two youngest GC were tiny fussy eaters I tried a trick that seemed to work; I cooked a variety of vegetables, and put a few spoons of each into some very small ramekin type dishes, put the dishes onto their dinner plates with the main item, and asked them to try each thing and tell me what they thought. Remarkably they did - I solemnly wrote down their findings on a notepad, and they seemed to like the novelty of carrots in one dish, peas in another, and for a good while after this they clamoured for a 'special' dinner so that they could be food critics! They eat well now, and are still quite young, so I do hope you have a happy time with the GC, and try not to worry - it's just not worth it as so many posts on here have demonstrated. x

Laurmurf

My BFF is a dietician whose research specialises in picky eating. Her advice is - don’t worry. Picky eating in western children has no negative impact on their health or diet as older children and teens. Her own son lived off white bread PBJs for years.
Have a lovely time with your grandkids!

She'd have had a shock if she met my DD at the height of her pickyness. Doctor warned her, when she was 4, that if she lost half a pound by her next weigh in she was being admitted to hospital as her weight loss was drastic and she was in danger of her organs being affected. With much chocolate and cake and persuasion we avoided that particular nightmare but she was borderline for many years. I'm pretty sure her height was restricted, she is almost a foot shorter than her brother and is shorter than me and my husband.

Just wanted to add I have 4 children, two were fussy eaters, one was what I would call a normal eater and one would eat anything and everything and seemed impossible to fill but was always really skinny. Dinner time was fun in our house.

Maybe stuffed potato skins and they can help mixing in maybe cheese and ham with the hollowed out potato and stuffing it all back into the skin again to put in the oven to crisp up a little. You could add a dollop of beans to the side.

TBH I suspect that they wouldn't starve to death even if there was nothing other than bread/nutella/peanut butter to eat!

When I took in foster children and also when child minding I just cooked normal evening meals and sandwich lunches. Fresh meat/fish and veg etc. Just put dinner on the table and let them eat what they like. Really fussy children will eat when they are hungry. Always check for allergy though.

When I last had my DGS I gave him a cheese and ham toastie which he wolfed down. When DD arrived to pick him up she asked what he had eaten, when I told her she said he wouldn't eat it for her!! With DGD I'm not so lucky!! but I do like the idea of a 'snacky treaty' plate!

If they like sausage and mash if you cook some carrotts or brocalli mash it in with the gravy with a hand mixer, our cook at our nursery would do that and the children didn’t know about the veg and it all got eaten.

My children were not excessively fussy but I remember taking them to Legoland in Denmark for a holiday when they were 2 and 4. Wherever we went children's meals were either 'chicken and chips' (chicken on the bone) or 'sausage in bread'. They always chose the hot dog. In the end I just let them have what they wanted - a hot dog - for every meal. I put vitamin drops in their drinks and decided when we got home we'd remedy any nutritional deficit! They both eat pretty much everything now and my son eats all vegetables, including things I prefer to avoid, despite only really liking 2 or 3 different ones when young. Two weeks of hot dogs didn't do any harm so I'm sure a weekend of peaanut butter and nutella sandwiches won't either!