• Skip to primary navigation
  • Skip to main content
  • Skip to footer

Lealou Cooks

Easy Meal Plans for Busy Families

  • Home
  • About Me
    • Contact Me
  • Work With Me
  • Free Guide: Make Cooking at Home Easier
  • Cooking Classes + Events
  • Lifestyle
  • Recipes
  • Shop
  • Cart

How I Got My Kids to Eat Dinner Without Complaining (for Two Weeks Straight)

by Stephanie

How I Got My Kids to Eat Dinner Without Complaining (for Two Weeks Straight)

Ya, you read that right. I got my kids to eat dinner without whining, crying or complaining for two weeks.

Now if you know me, you know that I have been struggling with one picky eater since he was 7 months old. It’s been one of the most frustrating parts of parenthood (if not the most frustrating). Nothing drives me more nuts than sitting down to a nice meal and having the kids say one of the following:

“BUT I DON’T LIKE THAT!”
“WAAAAAAAH I DON’T WANT CHILI!!!”
“THIS LOOKS LIKE CAT FOOD!!!” (A personal favourite.)

So two weeks ago on a beautiful and sunny Sunday morning I said to Leo: “Leo I’m making my meal plan for this week; what do you want to eat? You get to choose what we eat this week.”

He looked at me like I’d fallen off my rocker, but quickly started listing off things that he wanted to eat:

  • Pasta (duh)
  • Burgers (that one surprised me because I make bean veggie burgers that aren’t always popular)
  • Tacos (we came up with that one together)
  • Chicken fingers and fries (You want it? Ok I’ll make it!)
  • Pizza (duh)

And then he picked fajitas for our Sunday dinner.



To be honest, I thought the whole week would be pizza and pasta, but I was pleasantly surprised.

Here’s the thing. I don’t follow the I-don’t-care-what-they-eat-as-long-as-they-eat-something! philosophy which is probably why my life has been a bit hellish for the past 4.5 years where dinner is concerned. But if they’re going to be picky, I want them to eat something that is good for them. It has to have nutrients. But I do realize that it has to be fun too (it only took me 4.5 years to figure it out). So I took a stab at this let them choose thing, but then I made the food the way I wanted to make it.

So here was my version of what he picked:

  • Portobello mushroom ‘steak’ fajitas from Oh She Glows cookbook
  • Pasta with Kale/basil pesto
  • White bean burgers on sprouted buns
  • Tacos with walnut ‘meat’ (honestly they only eat tacos with cheese and yogurt anyway, but I want them to see all the fixin’s that we eat)
  • I made a special trip to a meat market for free-range chicken to make chicken fingers and made roasted potatoes for the fries
  • Gluten-free pizza crust with the kale pesto and whatever I had left in the fridge

And that was it. That’s all it took. If they did start to say something I’d say “That’s what you picked!”  And then they’d keep eating. Aside from the chicken fingers, these meals are pretty much what I make on a regular basis, but because I gave them a choice of what to eat they bought into it.

It was heaven. We laughed at dinner. We told stories. Mark and I talked about our day without much interruption. It was craziness! 

So the following week I told Mila that she got to pick. She picked a few of the same things, and then Leo helped with some meals until we got another full week that they chose. And again it was another full week of bliss.

We’ll see how week three goes!

Instagram
Facebook
Twitter
Follow Me
RSS

Filed Under: Lifestyle Tagged With: kids, kids recipes, picky eating

Before Footer

Follow me on Instagram • @lealoulemonade

I'm so excited to be joining Monika Meulman once a I'm so excited to be joining Monika Meulman once again for our Energy of Food series this September! 

We'll be hosting at Mukti Studio in Etobicoke and we'll be sharing beautiful information about how eating whole foods can provide us with energy and keep us healthy to get us through the winter months. 

We'll be cooking a little and eating of course. 👩🏻‍🍳

Join us for a beautiful night of food and energy discussion.

Time: 6-8pm
Date: September 14, 2022 
Location: Mukti Studio - 3301 Lakeshore Blvd West

Registration link in bio 👉🏻@lealoucooks
A little tour of our cottage garden! Lots of plant A little tour of our cottage garden! Lots of plants for the bees and birds. #bancroftontario #cottagegarden
LUNCH IS SERVED. Keep food simple this summer wit LUNCH IS SERVED.

Keep food simple this summer with a lunch board (or dinner). You can add all things you want your kids to eat but might not… and the food you know they’ll eat. 

Easy peasy.
Walk around ‘the block’ this morning. Summer Walk around ‘the block’ this morning.

Summer is in full swing! I’m grateful for this beauty.

Footer

About Stephanie

Photo of a white woman with brown hair

Hey! I'm Stephanie. I'm a Writer, Culinary Nutrition Expert and Cooking Instructor helping families cook nourishing meals. Read more about me {here}.

Popular Posts

  • Eat what you love.
  • The Best Pots and Pans to Use for Healthy Cooking
  • Etsy Gift Guide 2021
  • Easy Turkey Soup Recipe
  • Roasted Eggplant + Red Peppers with Hummus & Feta

etsy kitchen utensils and linen napkins

Copyright © 2022 · Wellness Pro on Genesis Framework · WordPress · Log in

Before you go...

You might be interested in these posts:

Recipes

The Best Kid-Friendly Meal (That is Also Nutritious!)