My BF is a picky eater! Help!

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I have a hard time planning meals as my BF is so picky when it comes to food. He is a meat and potato guy but.. will only eat cube steak or round steak once in a great while.. right now he is burnt out on pork and says he is burnt out on all the meals i make. I am ready to pull my hair out. Planning the weekly meal and grocery shopping used to be so enjoyable for me but lately.. I just don't even want to bother. He is tired of potatoes as I was making that all the time (because that is all he wanted) until he told me he is burnt out on that too.. doesn't want rice or stuffing, etc.. I do ask him what he wants for dinner for the week when making a grocery list and all he says is.. I don't know. Sigh!! Is anyone else experiencing a picky eater in thier family and what do u do to solve it??? Any suggestions would be really appreciated!!! Thanks!!!
 
Mr Half Baked eats whatever is set infront of him as long as it's not moving.

If he told me he's tired of my food, I'd hand him a skillet.:-p
 
Yea, I'd have to agree with everyone else about this. Time to eat like a "big boy". I'd bet if he was as half as open minded as he claims to be he'd find a LOT of new foods to eat. Whenever I'm burnt out on any specific food it's usually my body's way of telling me I din't need any more of the nutrients this food is giving me. That's when I make a hard left and cook some stir fry for a few days. Go out and buy a bunch of different veggies and some skirt steak and some rice. Marinade the steak in something different every time you cook. Perhaps some shrimp are in order.

Cravings are your body's way of telling you that you need the nutrients found in the foods you crave.

Try taking him to the grocery store with you. I know there are a lot of times I simply don't know what to cook for dinner because I have no cravings. I take wifey with me and it really helps a lot. Although, she isn't really picky at all.
 
I have a little different take on this.

We have two BILs, each of which is very, very picky.

One clearly outdoes the other however.

Has eaten the same thing for breakfast for, oh, forty years or so.

Pizza, sure, just make sure it is cheese only, not extra cheese, or with any other topping, just pizza.

For dinner he eats meat, usually beef, and taters.

Don't make anything with more than one or two ingredients. Add some onion to a dish and it will be shunned.

The other one is a bit more open minded regarding food, but not by much.

Neither of these guys will eat anything they had not been served by their moms.

And one is in his sixties, the other in his fifties.

They are not about to change now.

The one thing these guys do, however, is let you know what they will and will not eat, their menus do not change.

Aries, sorry, have no suggestions. Know how frustrating it must be for you.

Good luck and take care.
 
I'd recommend a brief conversation on the topic. Either sit down with me and plan a menu for the week or shut up and eat whatever I put in front of you.

Really, in less harsh terms you're asking him to participate in the process. If he doesn't want to participate, he loses the right to complain.

If he refuses, and continues to complain but offer no suggestions, he's acting in a passive agressive way towards you.
 
Robo410 said:
Time for someone to grow up and eat what is plated is front of him.



And there it is! I agree 100%.

OR make yourself dinner, whatever you want, and eat. Tell him he can make himself something if he pleases, or he can have what you prepared. IF none of those are apeasing, tough cookies buddie!
 
I think you've been handed some excellent advice. I always said if I'd born a child who was a picky eater it would have starved! This might be the tip of the ice-berg though....my warning lights would be blinking!
 
My advice: Listen to everybody, especially Lindatooo.... I married a guy who doesn't like anything.... and I mean anything! After getting tired of having every meal frowned on, I told him that the next time it happened, he was going to do his own cooking. Well, guess what? Next night, meal is served and I get a big frown..... that was it. Next night he asked when dinner was and I told him it was anytime he made it because I wasn't cooking. This went on for a week and finally he was begging for a meal, any meal. He's better about eating anything now, but still not great.

My own little bit of advice: It is NO FUN being married to a guy who is a picky eater. It will eventually take ALL the fun out of cooking.
 
lindatooo said:
... I always said if I'd born a child who was a picky eater it would have starved...
Well, the you'll go to jail, and other mommies will beat you up very badly for hurting a baby.
Seriously, some how I doubt that, I have 5 kids all ecept one are good eaters. The 4 year old daughter is slowly exluding more and more things from her menu. she is not starving i cook for her specially, there is no other chice, she is not my BF, she is my child.
 
OK - you've been given lots of advice - somehow I don't think you're going to make him do without or cook for himself! ;-)

Could you tell us what things he does like? Maybe we can come up with some ideas.

I work with a few other women/young ladies. Two are both a bit younger than me. The thing about them is, they are the pickiest eaters I have ever known. When we bring stuff in for birthday parties or whatever, I like to provide things that most people will like - especially if it's their birthday. The one girl likes the following:
Bread (which includes some bagels, chocolate chip muffins, etc.)
Cheese - pretty much any kind
Bacon & Ham are the only meats
Pasta w/Alfredo sauce only
Plain cheese pizza (or white pizza w/bacon)
French Fries
Chocolate

That's about it. The other one likes the same things, along with chicken! They ain't easy to cook for, lemme tell ya!
 
You and your boyfriend are just like my dad and my mom. Tell him to cook something for himself if he doesn't like what you make.
 
rice krispies would be my answer.
or asking him to take you to dinner instead.
 
AriesGirl71 said:
what do u do to solve it??? Any suggestions would be really appreciated!!! Thanks!!!
If he doesn't eat then your next lunch is already made. If that happens often, scale back the quantities and set the table for one. You should [highlight]definitely not[/highlight] be "tearing you hair out" over whether or not a grown man eats his dinner.
 
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Thanks for the advice everyone, but easier said than done. It is a sticky situation in a way.. his theory is.. he buys the groceries, etc.. and supports me soo....

As for things he does like...
he loves ribeyes, tbones, porksteak, beef roasts, pork roasts, and ribs.. sometimes i will use dishes with hamburger.
he loves green beans, carrots, corn and peas. Has started eating cauliflower but only if it is in a salad. hates potato, macaroni and pasta salad.

I think alot of his problem stems from what all his mom fed him when he was growing up.. he hates meatloaf, baked potatoes and casseroles of any kind mainly cause that is all his mom fed him growin up. He resents his mom alot for the way she treated him ,etc.. and that he always had a babysitter making his meals.. I feel that could be part of it. It is not just me he has been like this with. His grandmother cooked his meals for awhile when he was in his 20s and he did the same thing to her. She always told him.. he could go to mcdonalds if he didn't like what was for dinner.. lol.. hmmm.. sounds great actually.. i could eat what I WANT for once.. lol.
Thanks again
 
This is a red flag. My soon to be ex son in law felt this way also.

"It is a sticky situation in a way.. his theory is.. he buys the groceries, etc.. and supports me soo.... "


His money may buy the groceries but it didn't buy you.
 
Yea, I have a suggestion for you. Find yourself a new boyfriend. :) just kidding. Maybe you could let him do the cooking from now on.
 
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