Cooking for a family

Hi

Does anybody actually manage to cook one meal for the whole family? I feel like we all have such different needs that I am constantly cooking multiple meals.

I have 2 year old twins who are both pretty small for their age. They don't eat junk food by any means, but they need higher fat foods like pasta with cheesey sauces and creamy fish pies (and one is extremely fussy so I have to do lots of 'hidden' veggies)

My husband is very active, he's training for a triathalon, cycles and swims a lot as well as going to the gym - so he needs fairly high protein meals and I am trying to lose weight.

I am not a fan of pre-packaged or processed foods, so it feels like I am constantly cooking. Has anybody got any ideas for meals we could all eat?

Sure do!  My family (6 of us) isn't the easiest to cook for either but one thing I've found works well is tacos.  I use low carb tortillas for myself and hubby and the kids I don't really watch that on, just use whole-wheat.  But we don't use white flower.  I make the meat with a bean puree (vs the canned refried beans because of sodium)  I cook kidney beans and then puree in a blender, pretty sure canned ones would work fine also.  Brown the meat and then put the beans in with the seasoning/water.

I do a taco bar with do it yourself veggies and cheeses since my 4yr old is finicky about what goes in hers and if nothing else she's getting some with the beans so it's balanced.  I'd think if you diced tomato small enough you could hide it under the cheese. 

Also, what about doing lasagne or stuffed shells?  If you do low-fat ricotta and 2% mozzerella that would bring down the calories/fats.  Not sure if they make whole wheat pasta in the shells or lasagne (I make mine) but that's a healthier option.  I stuff spinach or diced veggies in my cheese filling with my kids and they've yet to really notice.

Hope this helps!

You could do things like make one main dish (say pasta bake with meat and hidden chopped up veggies, or whatever) and then have bread on the table and salad - you can have a small portion of the main dish with salad to bulk out your plate, your husband can have bread and salad as well as he needs the energy, and you can be happy that the kids will eat the veggies in the main dish, and can eat bread and salad as well if they are hungry.

I think cooking one staple dish that you all like is a good way forward, and then having easy additions for you each to add depending on your needs.

I've been trying to have salmon at least once a week and my three kids aren't that fond of it (ages 5, 3, & 2) so I'll cook up the salmon for myself and my husband and throw some fish sticks in the oven for the kids - they think they're chicken fingers so they eat them.  We all eat whatever else I'm serving with the salmon, be it rice or pasta with veggies.  My kids don't usually like the rice, I don't know why, I think it's delicious.  I used to mix the veggies in with the rice but because they don't like the rice they wouldn't eat the veggies either so now I don't mix them anymore.  They will usually eat the veggies and if I'm lucky, they'll take a few bites of the rice.

Also, my kids love salad, strange, I know, but it's a great thing.  Sometimes, we'll have make your own salad night and I'll put all the fixin's on the table and they love it.  Lettuce, tomatoes, cucumbers, cheese, grilled chicken strips, chopped ham or turkey, etc.  They love it and it's healthy too.

Haven't done it lately but my kids also like wraps so we'll do the same sort of thing with wraps and salad with chicken or tuna.

Mostly I cook for my fiance and myself (2 grown-ups) but when I cook at my Mom's, I cook for myself, my fiance, my vegetarian mom, her picky meat-and-potatoes husband, and my youngest siblings, ages 5 and 7.

I cook one meal, but it has many small components, as others have said they do. We usually do a meat dish, a grain dish / bread, and two vegetable dishes.  That way everyone can pick and choose what and how much they would like of different things. Example - a roast chicken, separate tray of oven roasted veggies, a grain and bean salad (like cilantro, peppers, quinoa, couscous and / or black beans with olive oil and lemon), and corn on the cob (both kids love corn on the cob - but not off the cob.) Voila! I basically go through the veggie drawer to look for what needs to be used up, and that determines the sides.

Thanks everyone - some good ideas and I'll definitely try them. Still tricky though as the boys are really quite tiny, so need lots of extra fat. So I tend to put extra cream in potato and sauces which is not so good for the waistline!