Cooking Healthful Joyful Meals with a Picky Family

Cooking Healthful(ˈhelTHfəl) Joyful(ˈjoifəl) Meals(mēl) with a Picky(ˈpikē) Family

By Leo Babauta

Shifting(ˈSHiftiNG) from a convenient(kənˈvēnyənt) but unhealthy(ˌənˈhelTHē) diet(ˈdī-it) to one of healthful, delicious joy can be a challenge when you’re living alone — but there’s a whole new level of challenge if you are part of a family.

The problem: while you might want to change to a new style of eating, picky eaters (kids, but also spouses(spous)) can disagree with the change.

Who wants to eat kale(kāl) when fried(frīd) chicken and pizza(ˈpētsə) are go-to staples(ˈstāpəl)? Who wants to eat oats(ōt) and fruit(fro͞ot) when Poptarts(tärt) and sausages(ˈsôsij) are the usual(ˈyo͞oZHo͞oəl) breakfast(ˈbrekfəst) foods?

Well, me. And maybe you. But how do we deal with a family full of picky eaters?

I’ll share what has worked for us:

We try to find things that the whole family likes that are healthy and tasty(ˈtāstē). That might mean veggie(ˈvejē) tacos(ˈtäkō), veggie spaghetti(spəˈɡedē) (with whole wheat((h)wēt) noodles if we can get away with it), sushi(ˈso͞oSHē) bowls(bōlz), anything they might all like.

Other times, we cook something less healthy that they would like, and either join them or cook our own meals (which we might make to last for a few days).

We often make a lot of food for the family dinner(ˈdinər) and then have leftovers for lunch, and possibly(ˈpäsəblē) another dinner or two (like a big pot(pät) of soup(so͞op) or chili(ˈCHilē)). If your husband doesn’t like the same dinner twice in a row, he might be open to having it again in a few days.

We talk to the kids and try to get them to explore(ikˈsplôr) foods they don’t always like. This doesn’t always work, though. But it’s worth an ongoing conversation(ˌkänvərˈsāSHən). You might try this with your husband as well. It helps to cook the vegetables(ˈvejtəb(ə)l, ˈvəjədəb(ə)l) in different ways that make them tastier(ˈtāstē), just to get them to open up to it. For example, if they don’t like kale(kāl), they might enjoy kale chips (baked(bākt) with olive(ˈäləv) oil(oil) to a crisp(krisp), with seasonings(ˈsēzəniNG)).

Sometimes we cook a dish that has something one of the kids doesn’t like (mushrooms(-ˌro͝om,ˈməSHˌro͞om), for example), but we cook the mushrooms on the side, and allow them to leave off the mushrooms. This can get complicated(ˈkämpləˌkātid) but sometimes it’s not too hard.

If someone doesn’t like the dinner, they can just have a little of it and then make themselves a PB&J sandwich or grilled(ɡril) cheese(CHēz) or something. Our kids can cook simple things for themselves.

Finally, we get everyone involved in the meal planning. Everyone looks for meal ideas online. Vote(vōt) on what to eat. Take one meal a week to cook themselves. If they cook it, they’re likely to eat it!

You don’t have to do all of these, but there might be a couple ideas here that work for you.

In the end, embrace(emˈbrās) the Zen(zen) Habits philosophy(fəˈläsəfē) of small, gradual(ˈgrajo͞oəl) change. You don’t have to do all of this overnight. But there’s also the Zen Habits philosophy of loving the change you’re creating — how can you show them that this is a joyful change to delicious(dəˈliSHəs) nutritiousness(n(y)o͞oˈtriSHəs)?

https://zenhabits.net/picky/