As always, it’s your kitchen, your rules, so we encourage you to take the above recipes and customize them to fit your family’s tastes. And we hope you’ll come back and share your successes, like the home cooks quoted above have.
We know every family has their own tactics for dealing with their picky eater. One of our favorites is to try to turn pickiness into a learning opportunity. If your picky eater has a go-to meal, why not use the preparation of that meal as an opportunity to introduce them to cooking? It can be simple, just pick an age-appropriate task, like asking a little kid to help pull ingredients out of the pantry, an older child might be able to grate cheese, etc. Engaging kids in the preparation of a meal not only helps them develop some basic knowledge about cooking, it offers an opportunity to build positive associations with food and cooking, which may be even more important for kids who struggle at meal times and experience tension at the table. Of course we know that not all picky eaters are children, but who’s to say that helping out in the kitchen can’t benefit adult picky eaters too?
Do you have tactics or recipes for picky eaters? Share your suggestions below.