Need suggestions for a picky eater

So I'm cooking for my 85-yo dad who has severe mobility problems, a tiny appetite, and a vicious seafood allergy.

I can't rely on figuring out what my mom used to cook, because I found our he didn't like half of what she made. Breakfast is a pastry, and lunch is sourp or PB&J. So they're covered. Dinner is the chore, especially since I'm only cooking for two (three at the max when my SO shows up)

Here's what's out:
- Seafood (allergic)
- Steak
- Pasta ("except spaghetti and meatballs" <--?)
- anything spicy
- anything "exotic"
- Buffalo burgers (I know, I know - counts as exotic - but I like them and it was worth a try)

And we can only have chicken once a week

Here's what's already on the menu that I'm getting really sick of:
- hot roast beef sandwiches
- hamburgers
- spaghetti and meatballs
- meatball sandwiches
- hot ham and cheese sandwiches
- stuffed pork chops with gravy (every few weeks)

Moms out there - what do you make for your small-appetite picky eaters? We're both basically dealing with the same creature!

She was in advanced Alzheimer's and simply was NOT eating anything, at least not in any quantity. On one of the visits, I stopped on the way and picked up the ingredients for a BLT made with the Morning Star Farms breakfast strips. They are quick in the microwave (just don't over cook them), not greasy, and flat so they make the sandwich easier to eat. I also put on fresh sliced mushrooms and a slice of cheese and got some fresh strawberries. She sat and ate the ENTIRE SANDWICH! It was probably the most food she had consumed in the past week cumulatively.

Just a thought for "something different" that's easy to make.

And one of my favorite foods, and I think my Dad will be persuaded!

Will add B, L and T to the shopping list! Thanks!

There's no mess and you can just nuke 2 strips for one sandwich (in about 45 seconds). The taste is close enough in the context of the sandwich. Health benefits aside, the convenience and simplicity are the REAL reason to try them (at least in your case).

but I'm willing to try Facon (fake bacon?) especially because cleanup is such a pain when real bacon is cooked conventionally.

There's no meat in it. It just has the basic taste of bacon, gets crispy (for a BLT), and is quick, easy, and not messy.

and yes, go ahead and cheat on the pie crusts. You could even by a cooked rotisserie chicken at the store. Then it's just making a flavorful gravy, and cutting up some potatoes and carrots, and a bag of frozen peas.

For nights I'm not available - it's easy for him to fix for himself.

A great suggestion though, because it fits perfectly with his tastes - for a while, when my mom was sick, he was up to eating them 4-5 times/week.

store ready chicken wings and she loves them. She gets the kind with no hot sauce on them. She has them twice a week.

How about tacos?

I love them - my SO & I have them every so often (sometime we'll declare it "tacos and margueritas night"

But my dad looks with horror on my lunch-time enchiladas and tamales, so we'll give that a pass.

The un-spicy wings might be appealing, though

Sheperd's Pie or similar casseroles made with some sort of ground meat, veggie mix, and mashed potatoes or noodles with either a cheese or tomato sauce. Casseroles tend to be comfort food, and that seems to be what he's looking for.
Try something similar to a tuna fish casserole (tuna, peas, sautee'd onions "cream of mushroom soup",and either a noodle or potato base - we used to love tater tots growing up!) but use turkey chunks instead. Try ground turkey, lamb, or ground pork as alternatives for other casseroles.
For my picky kidlet, I make a "southwestern" style casserole with cornbread, ground beef, cheese and chili beans (basically pinto and kidney beans, if you want mild instead of spicy chili).
She also loves my meat loaf, which is slightly savory -
I use ground lamb, pork, and beef, equal parts (about 1/2 lb each), mixed with one egg, 4 dashes of worschester sauce, and about a cup of bread crumbs (sourdough or italian seasoned)
Season with salt, pepper, paprika, sage, rosemary, thyme, garlic powder, cumin, and for liquids seasonings, mustard and horseradish - all to taste. (averages around 1 tablespoon of each spice and herb - a bit more on the sage and cumin, and a quarter to 1/3rd cup of mustard and horseradish)
I "beef up" the loaf with 2 cloves minced garlic, and about a cup each of minced onions, celery, carrots, and mushrooms. I'll occasionally mix in a small can of black olives.
Mix all together, flatten out loaf on a tray or cutting board to "roll", sprinkle top of meat with real grated parmisan and asiago or romano cheese, then roll the meat loaf and plop in a greased bread pan. Sprinkle more cheese on top. Cover with foil, bake for 2 hours in a 350 - 375 oven (take foil off for last 20 minutes), and let cool for 15 minutes afterwards.
Not "too" exotic, but savory and filling, and can be used several different ways in subsequent meals or lunches.

Good luck. Picky eaters are tough.

Haele

He has actually requested meatloaf, and I've (conveniently) forgotten, because I never liked my mother's dry over-cooked meatloaf. Even though he's anti-spice, things like garlic, worchester, onions, and paprika are OK. It's really only the hot pepper "spice" he doesn't like.

I found a recipe somewhere for cutting hamberger meat with shreadded portabello mushrooms, and boy has it made my burgers better!

Sadly, he used to like Shepherd's Pie, but the Nursing Home/Rehab Center served it regularly, and he now associates it with "prison food"!

1 - covering the meatloaf for the first 3/4 of cooking time, and cooking at a medium temp instead of a medium high temp.
2 - using egg, some liquid ingredients (like the worschester and the mustard) and adding "moisture-heavy" veggies (mushrooms and onions - or you can also add a cup of diced tomatos, if he likes tomatos) and especially breadcrumbs (which collect the grease from the meat) You'll know you have enough moisture in your meatloaf when you mix in the egg and the flavorings - your meat mixture should feel slightly slimey, like you had added too much moisture. The veggies alone should not add the moisture.

As for shepherd's pie - I tend to make mine "reverse" - more like a casserole, with the cornbread, crusting, or potatoes on the bottom - and I always add shredded cheese on the top, even if I'm topping with mashed potatos (or bacon).
The kidlet loves either home-gratined potatos or tater tots on the bottom of her potato based "pies"

Again, good luck. My grandfather got very picky the older he got, also - and since he was second-generation Scandahoovian, it could get a bit weird trying to get him what he craved from his childhood.

Haele

I'm assuming this is all about dinner and you're making the same thing he would eat. The meals that you've posted are not difficult to make. I would suggest pre-making a weeks worth of dinners for your dad so you just have to heat up and serve and then make what you would normally eat for dinner each night

I tend to over-cook at home, and then over-eat. Because my Dad eats so little, I've been cutting both of our portions, and not really suffering. So that works!

For my own meals, I'll add things he doesn't like, such as salad or pasta salad or other things he doesn't like.

he had a good appetite but didn't know how to cook. So she'd stock the fridge with hungrymans and other complete meals that he could heat up himself.

Macaroni and cheese, salisbury steak, all the orange-box comfort food items. I'm going to start traveling again for work, and going home on weekeds, so he can have something easy for those times.

I miss the Stouffer's Outlet they used to have in Berwyn.

I'll check the Hungrymans while I'm in the store tonight.

at this point let him eat what he enjoys!

It was like my old boss, who had typically agressive and terminal ovarian cancer.

Her daughter nagged her about smoking, and she used to reply "what do I care? That it might kill me?"

Sloppy Joes? Tacos,or are they too exotic? How about meatloaf?

Does he like salads? You can make some nice big salads or a salad bar thing.

excellent choice

if it is made right!

A truly picky eater. What cracks me up is when he says "I'm easy, I'll eat anything." And I laugh and start listing what he won't eat.

Meatloaf, however, has been on the Request List, and someone on this thread had some great ingredient suggestions, so I'll give that a go.

I'll try to think of something else.

omlets, pancakes, cubed steak,floured,pan fried with gravy, mild chili with meat, pinto beans with a little fatback (for flavor)- serve with collards and cornbread (can you tell I'm from the South?). Will he drink the new V-8 combo drinks (with fruit and veggies, but taste like fruit)?. How about Ensure, Boost, other supplements?

God bless you, dgibby - I knew DU would come through for me -- and I knew I was missing something! They are fast, easy, cheap, and he'll eat them!

And pancakes are already a weekend favorite.

Chili is out (even mild) as are Sloppy Joes (my SO's favorite). The Southern food would be considered "exotic", plus I'd be stumped on how to cook them (gravy? isn't that what comes in a can?). Also, food stores up here are often missing key ingredients - I went looking for okra once and forget it.

I make it without tomatoes, as I am allergic to them and they are too acid.
Just use regular meat loaf mix, eggs and bread crumbs and Worcestershire sauce.

how about their cheddar baked potatoes and their creamed chipped beef served over toast?

The cubed steak is easy to fix. Dredge it in flour, brown on both sides in a little oin in frying pan, drain, then use any prepared gravy (I use Heinz or Pepperage Farm Beef gravy), heat until gravy is hot. Serve with mashed potatoes. Oh, yes, if you haven't tried Sister Schubert's yeast rolls, you might want to give them a try, too. They're in the frozen bread section and are easy and fast to fix.

You take whatever leftover veggies you have and heat them up in a cast iron, or other non-stick pan that can go in the oven. Or saute up an small onion with some mushrooms and a red pepper.

Beat up 3-4 eggs with a little milk, pour over the hot veggies, then top with a couple handfuls of cheese. Bake in a hot oven a few minutes, 'til puffed, golden, and cheese is melted. Serve with fruit, and/or toast. This is also a good way to stretch/use up leftover meat, lunch meat, etc, and will give your Dad some protein. Cold, it's decent for breakfast, on a roll or just plain.

you could do the burgers more often and make a little smorgasbord sort of tray for the toppings/condiments so that at least you could increase the variety there - different cheeses, green chilis, chili, spaghetti sauce and mushrooms, bacon, etc,

rice? will he do a simple fried rice with scrambled egg, bit of onion and a meat? (or is that too exotic?) the usual carrot/pea mixture can be added for a lot of people or you can add snow peas, green beans, mushrooms etc You can spice up your plate and leave his mild, pretty easily with that.

On that vein lots of "ethnic" dishes can be made very bland in the pot and served on rice but then spiced up on the individual plate with more dry seasonings or things like salsa or soy sauce.

What about salads? basic greens with tomato and cuke can be individually varied with types of dressings - and again small dishes of "additions" such as nuts, onions, grilled meats (he might like that too), cheeses etc. This kind of "buffet" eating allows for individual differences while still sharing the main basic dish.

He would eat them every night if I made them. So we mix it up with cheese and mushrooms, and I put soy sauce or avacado/guacamole on mine.

My SO makes pretty good stew, and we did have those on the few days he wasn't in the hospital/nursing home this winter.

The rice with "stuff" won't work, but he has developed a taste for Jasmine rice, so we have that with chicken some nights.

At 85, he has just shut his mind to anything he perceives as "ethnic" or "exotic" food, and that includes Asian, Texas/Mexican, Louisiana, Indian - basically anything not offered by Stouffers in its "red box" line of frozen dinners!

But hey - he not only voted but talked up black guy who ran in the last presidential election in spite of "pro-abortion" and pro-stem-cell views, and in the face of constant and nasty anti-Obama propaganda from all his friends and from his parish priest, so he's at least that flexible!

and have very little variety (or flavor!) in their diet so it doesn't hurt HIM to eat a burger every meal (as long as he gets an apple or something too - heh heh) and if he is less active/mobile than when he was younger he doesn't even need the calories.

My experience with the older folks is you can make up calories pretty easy with deserts but getting enough protein was the problem. Will he drink Ensure? It really can help if they will take that every now and then.

I understand about sharing the meal but you know, I don't see why a few days a week he can have his stouffer's and you can have sushi (or whatever - that is exotic to me!)

Brown hamburger with onions. Mix with cooked white rice and a can of cream of mushroom soup. Bake until heated through. Serve with soy sauce. It's really rib-sticking. Can you tell I'm from Minnesota?

Edit to add: Throw in a small can of mushrooms as well.

I can tell you're somebody who has cooked (and probably consumed) their share of hotdish in their lifetime.

(and can you believe my web browser's spell checker is choking on "hotdish"?)

:thumbsup:

:rofl:

Yep, you betcha. I've had this plenty of times. I haven't made it in years but it's a keeper. That and the tuna noodle hotdish and the elbow macaroni, hamburger, tomato sauce "goulash".

beef ribs?

Mac/cheese?

Is freshwater fish like catfish out as well as seafood? I didn't see chicken mentioned. Fried chicken, roasted chicken or turkey, grilled chicken? Chicken nuggets?

My SO eats them, and throws them on the grill (my dad doesn't have a grill).

He does enjoy mac-and-cheese - we've had it as a side dish to ham steak

All fish is out, and chicken is limited to once a week, because the hospital and nursing home overdid it on chicken, and he now associates chicken (as well as shepherd's pie) with "prison food"

With the pork you just have to be sure it's cooked all the way.

You can brush them with barbecue sauce or marinate them in Mojo or some other marinade.

and then put them in the oven on broil with the barbecue sauce.

Something different for a snack is a flour tortilla with grated cheese on top and toasted. I always heard it called a cheese crisp.

Beef chunks, onion chunks, tomatoes, mushrooms, maybe a bit of green pepper. On a skewer. Either grilled or indoors.

It's a 1960's house, with a conventional stovetop, and no outdoor grill (although SO and I intend to bring over our grill this summer)

Also, he doesn't like tomatoes, onions or peppers (sauteed onions are okay snuck in as a minor ingredient!)

and never made it on the grill.

Does he like eggs? Eggs are good for supper too. You can make omelets or scrambled eggs on toast, lots of egg dishes out there.

He was delighted by the idea.

And meatloaf on Sunday.

What's hard is that he is put off by anything he perceives as "too much food" - for example, if I serve him half a split breast, he's happy, but if I give him a full one, he complains (instead of eating half and saving half or giving it to the dog, who is deeply grateful).

So that enters into it too, and that's what makes omelets perfect - it's never "too much food".

Tomatoes, potatoes and peppers are in the deadly nightshade family.

I cannot eat tomatoes or bell peppers of any kind. If I eat pizza, I feel horrible the next day and have to stay in bed.

I love onions if they are sauteed in butter. I cannot eat raw onions.

I got yelled at a lot as a kid for being a picky eater. Some foods just don't agree with me at all. Food allergies are real.

I'm also allergic to shellfish.

loved watermelon . The Dr told mom to let her eat all of it she wanted

He's more of a main-course-only kind of guy, but I'll ask him about topped baked potatoes....

Hamburger gravy's a big hit at our house. Brown some hamburger, pour in some gravy. Mix it up. Spoon it over mashed potatoes, and voila -- dinner! We make some other vegetables to go with it. "Hamburger gravy" is also good with ground turkey. We're typically eating this when it's cold outside, and we want some comfort food.

Your dad also seems to like sandwiches. Maybe he'd like barbecue sandwiches, huh? Here's an easy recipe: A pound of stew meat. One bottle of BBQ sauce. Dump the BBQ sauce over the stew meat, cook in crock pot on low for 8-10 hours. Put the meat in a bun, and serve!

I'll keep thinking about other options. I know that Campbell's used to have a "soup cookbook" that might go over big with your dad.

Thinking of you. :hug:

So long as he doesn't think it's Sloppy Joes. I don't know why someone who likes sphaghetti, likes ground meat, and likes sloppy sandwiches (hot roast beef) has taken up against Sloppy Joes, but he has.

Plus, it's really easy. We typically have it on days when I have a few minutes to think ahead ;-), and it's five minutes to dump stew meat and barbecue sauce in the crock pot.

The longer it cooks on "low", the more tender the meat. We also make spaghetti in the crock pot; it tastes like baked spaghetti. Delicious!

:woohoo:

My loving husband hates Sloppy Joes, too. I do not get it.

he'll eat

peanut butter and fluff (every day for lunch)

burritos or tacos

grilled cheese

eggs (only the whites) & bacon sometimes if he's in the mood

macaroni & cheese only if it is straight macaroni

chicken only if it is strips

toast (dry)

cheese pizza

a few snacks like yogurt and some fruits/vegetables

That's about it. My twins will eat everything and anything (they are 20 months younger than my oldest). The doctors say that he will grow out of this. Thank you for this thread as these are helpful ideas for me as well. Good luck with your dad.

except the burritos and tacos - and I think that's just because he grew up during the 20s and 30s, when people from outside Philadelphia didn't know from Mexican food.

What's also funny is that I used to be an appalling picky eater and thin as a rail (people thought I was anorexic - I just didn't like food). But then one day in my early 20s I was out with colleagues from work, and we all went to a hip restaurant (cafeteria style) where I didn't recognize a single thing on the menu - no grilled cheese, no plain ham or plain chicken - so to avoid embarrassment, I randomly picked up some dishes and tried them. I can remember two of them to this day - curried chicken salad and cold spicy orzo salad. Changed my life (and waistline). Didn't know food could be that good.

So now I eat anything (except feta) and my dad, who spent years trying to fatten me up, will only eat kid's food!

He does try things. He just doesn't like most things. He isn't trying to be difficult, he is a very easy going kid. I don't know if it is a texture thing or what. I know my cousin was the same way until he got into his early 20's. My son is healthy and happy, so I try not to worry about it. Thank you for your story - it does give me hope that some day my son will find food appealing. :)

What about french toast for your dad? and are quesadillas too exotic for him?

It's easy to make in a crock pot.

Wrap chicken breasts with bacon. Place in baking dish. Cover with 50/50 mixture of low-fat sour cream and condensed cream of chicken soup. Cover tightly with dish lid or foil. Cook in slow (300 degree) oven for about an hour. Serve with rice or noodles. The chicken will be unbelievably tender and juicy.

I once asked a friend why this is called "Baptist Chicken" - as opposed to Methodist, say, or Lutheran chicken. The answer? It's totally immersed!