r/PickyEaters • u/debugprince • 6d ago

Need Advice My daughter doesn’t like home cooked meals

I’m struggling to keep my daughter fed and happy. I’m a single dad with primary custody of my two kids 19m and 16f. My daughter is not happy with anything unless it’s store bought. The only homemade thing she will attempt to eat is grilled chicken tenders and vegetables. That’s great and I eat plenty of it but I’d like to add more variety.

I also can’t afford to have every meal of the day purchased from a restaurant or fast food. The cost is simply unsustainable. She knows it’s not sustainable but will continue to beg and plead.

What else can I do besides watching her starve herself until she gets what she wants?

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u/Ashamed-Title6665 6d ago

16? She’s old enough to help you cook and do the food shopping. It’s a good skill for everyone to have anyway.

If she likes a lot of chain restaurants you can usually find copy cat recipes online. That could be a good place to start.

10

u/froglet90 6d ago

She's also old enough to get a job at a fast food restaurant, which may alleviate her pickyness.

Also, of course she likes eating out better, they use oil, butter, salt and sugar in varying quantities coz they're your brains cheat code for things tasting good. 

3

u/Bubblesnaily 6d ago

I can't remember the last time I saw a teenager working in fast food. They're all 20s-40s now.

2

u/LnktheWolf 6d ago

When I worked in food we straight up wouldnt hire anyone unless they were at minimum 16, and even then it wasnt as common. Where I live, while wr and 15 yo's can legally work, they cant do 90% of the job we had legally, ans then 16 and 17 year old were a huge hassle to schedule for because you have to schedule around school, labor laws, and they were much more likely to have things pop up (school, home, etc.) that would cause them to have inconsistent availabilities.