Meal planning with the Duggars. I fixed it for you

[Coconut Flan]

One of my kids is of the fresh cilantro tastes like soap clan, but the seeds are fine with her. She also doesn't eat papaya or guava. I think guava may be getting acceptable.

I can't eat a papaya if I've peeled it. The peel smells latexy to me and then I continue on to taste it.

[Miggy]

someone mentioned their kid would eat only white food - have you ever heard about supertasters? http://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Supertaster

i learned about that just a few days ago and i think it is very interesting.

That was my little treasure. It never really bothered me that he was picky about food. I was fussy myself and I remember Mum being really patient with me. I just took the same approach with him. We kept a food diary and filled in the gaps with supplements. (He would eat potatoes but rejected all other fruit & veges so we couldn't balance his diet without supplements. He wouldn't touch meat for a long time but would eat some nuts such as macadamias so we managed protein ok.) He is sixteen now, still very limited diet but it is balanced without supplements. To me, it would be very repetitive and boring to eat what he eats but he is happy.

It is interesting to read that others are the same. Thankyou for the link. I will do some more reading on this.

[Miggy]

God, isn't that always the way? I make the lunches in the house for everybody, and I spend months juggling who likes peanut butter and jelly and who likes cream cheese, or which one prefers mustard with her turkey and which one prefers mayo, or who wants egg and who wants tuna fish. And just when I finally get into a groove, they come to me and say that the one who liked peanut butter, eggs, and mustard now likes cream cheese, tuna, and anchovies, and the other one likes peanut butter, sardines, and mustard, and neither of them likes mayo OR eggs, and I have a whole tub of mayo in the fridge and another in the pantry and I COULD SCREAM. Just yesterday they told me they'd been routinely dumping their pastrami, for the past six months, and here I thought they LOVED pastrami because they never brought it home! But they couldn't just tell me?

And my sister won't eat bread if she has a choice. Sigh.

You might like to try my solution (passed on through other parents at playgroup): we have a chart pinned to the fridge with each name and five spaces underneath it, labelled with each day of the week. Everyone is required to nominate what they want to for morning tea, lunch and afternoon tea by Saturday so that I can shop for the ingrediants. While they were in primary school I would then make what they had listed on the chart. Now they are in high school they make their own but I have made sure the ingrediants are there. When we have foster kids, their names are added to the chart and I make whatever they request. (No way I could remember all this.) Some items are limited because of cost and fruit is limited to what is in season but otherwise they can have anything they like. The tribe are happy because they have what they want and I am happy because I don't have to think about what to prepare.

On the not eating bread thing; I try to encourage my kids to mix up sandwiches, soup or salad for lunch. Child 3 isn't really into bread so she usually choose soup during winter and salads during summer.

[Kitty]

I live in the Deep South..aka "heart of Dixie. I can see your point and I pretty much agree. I actually made friends with a co-worker because we enjoyed different types of food and most people only ever wanted to eat faux-Mexican, meat and three, burgers, or BBQ. We ended up being lunch buddies just because everyone else was so picky and limited as to where they would eat.

I ate more varied foods in college than I did before. Like really, I made a point to try EVERYTHING the dining hall had to offer. And there was more in little shops on campus and off for pretty cheap. Growing up I had more variety at home than anywhere else, and being away from home for such a long time meant I couldn't rely on burgers and BBQ forever. I love Southern food, but I just could not eat it every damn day. Maybe that's why I had so many problems with food in high school-- I wasn't picky at all, but had zero appetite and I just didn't *want* anything, but there was absolutely no variety to speak of.

[Palimpsest]

I have to ask - what is your stance about cinnamon? my dad maintains a 10-ft safety distance from both cilantro and cinnamon, and I think he has the same reaction to fennel or anything annisee. I love cilantro and cinnamon, can't stand fennel.

Another food on which people can be divided on is guava - some people hate it, other people love it, others love the taste but not the smell, and vice versa.

I just saw this, sorry. I like cinnamon but tend to go easy on nutmeg in recipes and love fennel and anything anise. Guava and papaya = yummy. On tropical fruits: has anyone ever heard of "turpentine" mangos? That just may be a family specific term. We had a mango tree in the back garden in one of our houses where the fruit had a slightly bitter turpentiny smell and taste that our family thought delicious but others hated.

Smell and taste are very closely linked, and texture is very important too. I dislike both the smell and texture of bananas and don't eat them raw, but I love banana bread. I peel peaches because I don't like the fuzzy skin so I usually buy nectarines. My headship apparently used to skin peas when he was a child, I can't imagine how, because he hated the texture but liked the taste! Can you imagine a little pile of pea skins on the side of a child's plate. ;)

[thetabmeister]

It seems out of place to me that Michelle makes a point to insert in the second paragraph that they eat a lot of vegetables. It doesn't really fit with the family favorites/not gonna try new tastes theme and actually seems like a contradictory statement. I wonder if she's just trying to combat the criticism they've received over their not-so-nutritious regular family recipes (read: TTC). As a child, I was served TTC on occasion by my mother and vowed to never ever serve it to my own children. I am happy to say that to my knowledge, they've never tasted a tator tot, unless they had some at their grandmother's house. :?

[Kitty]

It seems out of place to me that Michelle makes a point to insert in the second paragraph that they eat a lot of vegetables. It doesn't really fit with the family favorites/not gonna try new tastes theme and actually seems like a contradictory statement. I wonder if she's just trying to combat the criticism they've received over their not-so-nutritious regular family recipes (read: TTC). As a child, I was served TTC on occasion by my mother and vowed to never ever serve it to my own children. I am happy to say that to my knowledge, they've never tasted a tator tot, unless they had some at their grandmother's house. :?

Well, green beans, corn, mashed potatoes, and steamed carrots do count as veggies dontcha know :roll:

Add that to the tomatoes, broccoli, and celery that come with veggie trays, that's a lot of veggies for a Southern-fried fundy to keep up with.

[DarkAnts]

I ate more varied foods in college than I did before. Like really, I made a point to try EVERYTHING the dining hall had to offer. And there was more in little shops on campus and off for pretty cheap. Growing up I had more variety at home than anywhere else, and being away from home for such a long time meant I couldn't rely on burgers and BBQ forever. I love Southern food, but I just could not eat it every damn day. Maybe that's why I had so many problems with food in high school-- I wasn't picky at all, but had zero appetite and I just didn't *want* anything, but there was absolutely no variety to speak of.

This is how I ended up trying lutefisk and haggis. I may try haggis again but not lutefisk. Just say no to the lutefisk!

[BravaAmica]

At the risk of sounding a tad regionalist: are Southerners the pickiest eaters ever, or is it me? I've lived in the South for 15 years and while I at least try whatever is put in front of me, this apparently makes me very unique. But the Duggars, like other Southerners I know, constantly reject food that isn't Southern or 'murrrikan enough. They make such a big deal of eating foreign cuisine, and I bet if you made then eat a plain, raw veggie they'd turn up their noses and call it rabbit food.

In my experience, that isn't just a Southern pehnomenon. It's all over the US and it's mainly the more uh, small townish, for want of a better term, that turns its collective nose up at "ferrin food" or vegetable (unless they're fried) or fruit (unless it's in a pie). And the "foreign cuisine" is probably tacos with El Paso Stand & Stuff shells- which is fine, I make those a lot, but I don't kid myself that it's "foreign." It's Americanized tacos, lol.

Could be that they're in a town too small to have anything more exotic than a Taco Bell, which is true for where I live too. But their attitudes toward food just seem so incredibly stereotypically Southern to me.

It's probably a small town coupled with a xenophobic attitude.

[BravaAmica]

wow that is interesting! i did not know that about papaya! maybe she has heightened/sensitive taste buds and things are stronger to her than to most of us.

Your oldest could be a super taster. That's really cool- he/she could be a somillier!

[BlondeAgent007]

You have to introduce a food to a child several times before it is recognized as "safe" by them. Average they say is 5-10 times. Some kids need exposure 15-20 times! The key is to keep putting it on their plates, don't force them to eat it, and BE A GOOD EXAMPLE. Medical/sensory issues aside, kids learn eating habits from their parents. If mom and dad chow into the meat and macaroni and ignore their veggies, why would their kids want to eat them? They're reading nonverbal cues that it is a food to be avoided.

My guess is that the duggars eat food the Duggars like. With a brood their size, introducing new foods would waste a ton of money. It's plain laziness and tightwad syndrome.

[freealljs]

I think what happened to the Duggar diet is this: the J'slaves were very young girls when they were forced to take over the duties that Mother Mullet didn't want or care to do, like cooking, cleaning, and raising their siblings. So, with cooking, they made foods that they "discovered" their younger siblings would eat with whatever Mother Mullet would stock in the fridge. They also made dishes that would not take a lot of time and were somewhat edible. Hence, tater tot casserole and other "delights".

Also, in the pic accompanying the article, I see NO tomatoes or fresh veggies anywhere in sight. I see two J'slaves preparing TTC, with Jinger having her hair tied back, and Jessa whose hair is "hanging free." I shudder to think how much hair made it into that TTC. LOL

[Miggy]

That makes sense, freealljs.

Those girls were all cooking family meals by 10-11-12. I don't know about other people but I couldn't cook many meals at that age. Any enthusiasm they might have had for experimenting would have been crushed by the workload of producing meals for so many people all the time. Little siblings turning their noses up at new foods wouldn't help either.

[Kitty]

In my experience, that isn't just a Southern pehnomenon. It's all over the US and it's mainly the more uh, small townish, for want of a better term, that turns its collective nose up at "ferrin food" or vegetable (unless they're fried) or fruit (unless it's in a pie). And the "foreign cuisine" is probably tacos with El Paso Stand & Stuff shells- which is fine, I make those a lot, but I don't kid myself that it's "foreign." It's Americanized tacos, lol.

It's probably a small town coupled with a xenophobic attitude.

Granted, I did spend a few years in London before moving to some godawful small town in NC, so you're probably right.

But even that godawful town had a sushi bar and a Mexican restaurant, and all the Duggars would eat when they went to Japan was the freaking rice and fast food. So I guess even Hometown is less xenophobic than the Duggars. Both of those restaurants are quite popular there.

[Miggy]

But even that godawful town had a sushi bar and a Mexican restaurant, and all the Duggars would eat when they went to Japan was the freaking rice and fast food. So I guess even Hometown is less xenophobic than the Duggars. Both of those restaurants are quite popular there.

Are you suggesting the Duggars eat rice? I have never seen any evidence of this. Surely it is too foreign for them. :roll: :lol:

[mpheels]

That makes sense, freealljs.

Those girls were all cooking family meals by 10-11-12. I don't know about other people but I couldn't cook many meals at that age. Any enthusiasm they might have had for experimenting would have been crushed by the workload of producing meals for so many people all the time. Little siblings turning their noses up at new foods wouldn't help either.

I was cooking dinner for the family once a week by age 10, but... I enjoyed cooking, and offered to cook in place of other chores I didn't like. I didn't get out of every distasteful chore, but I did avoid most yard work. I also was living in a very different household - youngest child of a single mother at first, then the youngest child in a blended family with four teens/tweens. By the time I was in highschool, I was cooking most dinners and very involved in the meal planning/shopping process, but was then the only child still at home. I really looked forward to grocery shopping with my mom each week.

[DarkAnts]

You have to introduce a food to a child several times before it is recognized as "safe" by them. Average they say is 5-10 times. Some kids need exposure 15-20 times! The key is to keep putting it on their plates, don't force them to eat it, and BE A GOOD EXAMPLE. Medical/sensory issues aside, kids learn eating habits from their parents. If mom and dad chow into the meat and macaroni and ignore their veggies, why would their kids want to eat them? They're reading nonverbal cues that it is a food to be avoided.

My guess is that the duggars eat food the Duggars like. With a brood their size, introducing new foods would waste a ton of money. It's plain laziness and tightwad syndrome.

My sister put a small spoon of each food for dinner on my nieces plates. They had to try each one before they can choose their favorites from the dinner choices to eat. It introduced the kids to the food without making them eat a whole lot.

[thekate]

My sister put a small spoon of each food for dinner on my nieces plates. They had to try each one before they can choose their favorites from the dinner choices to eat. It introduced the kids to the food without making them eat a whole lot.

When we were little, we had "yes please" size portions and "no thank you" size portions.