family dinner ideas

[another plea for]

We are a family of 4 with quite different taste buds and food preferences.  In the past, I have been making dinner using the lowest common denominator and can just about manage to rotate the menu every 10 days without having to repeat.

BUT, I am getting soooo BORED with the same old things and am looking for suggestions on new (easy-to-make) menu ideas. 

I would also like to learn other people's strategies on how to deal with satisfying a family's different taste buds WITHOUT turning the kitchen and home into a restaurant!

any ideas?

[More info?]

What are your family members' different taste bud preferences?

What 10 meals are currently on rotation?

[op]

Here are the 10 dishes that are on rotation now.  The numbers reflect how many of us will eat each dish.

Spaghetti - 4
Pork Chops - 3
Chicken Parmesan 4
Roast Chicken - 4
Pan-grilled Salmon 3
Sole with Lemon Butter sauce 4
Lasagna 4
Chicken Fajita 4
Beef Stroganoff - 3
Chicken Enchilada 4

My husband is a real "steaks and potatoes" person and hates vegetables and anything "ethnic" or spicy.  He also does not like pasta but will tolerate fish but no shell fish.  My oldest is a relatively picky eater but loves beef, but does not like fish.  My youngest is a bit more flexible and enjoys ethnic (Indian, Thai, Chinese) dishes.  No one except me can handle spicy foods. 

I am quite flexible but do try to be health conscious, so prefer to stay away from red meat (hence there's a lot of chicken dishes above).

help....

[How about]

Cottage pie using lean mince?

[More Info?]

That looks like a pretty good basic list, but you've got a difficult crowd there, OP!

Cottage pie is a great idea. Will they eat a honey baked ham? Ham and cabbage? Meat loaf? Beef stew?

Can you get away with a soup/salad/sandwich night?

[Eaters]

I don't know how to handle the picky husband but what it comes to the children, I would not give them options.  In our house our kids have to eat what ever is being served.  They are 9 and 11 now and are both good eaters, pretty much anything goes.  If not, then they can be hungry until the next meal.

[a few ideas]

Hi, I can sympathise - my family all have different tastes too, but we normally manage to compromise on things.  A couple of family favourites are:

Chicken parmegania - I used onion, tomato, capsicum and garlic for the sauce.  You can substitute rice or noodles if you prefer, instead of pasta.

Spare ribs - I get some lovely pork ribs from a wholesale meat place (won't mention the name in case this is deleted, but it consists of 2 letters). My family love this done with BBQ sauce and done in the oven or on the BBQ.  Great with sauteed potatoes (okay not that healthy, but tasty!)

Chicken kebabs - you could do a soy and honey marinade

Cottage pit - I boil up a load of carrots and puree them before adding them to the meat.  It thickens it and gives a lovely flavour without the kids complaining about having veg.

Hope this helps

[Instead of chicken]

you could google turkey recipes.

[dish of the day]

you could google turkey recipes.

The only thing is, you don't seem to get much turkey here.  The only time I ever see it is Thanksgiving and Christmas and then it's a whole bird rather than different cuts.



It is tricky OP and I sympathise too.  One of our children is vegetarian so I end up cooking separate things because of that, but I'm happy to try to accommodate this as I don't think it's a bad thing at all.


For the rest of us, we like chili (and you can make it fairly tame if the others prefer and spice your own portion up if you like).  We also have chicken korma sometimes which is very mild - I prefer hotter curries so sometimes I make two and they freeze in portions well enough.

There's a dish we like where you flatten chicken breasts out and spread passata on them, salt and pepper and a few basil leaves then roll up, secure with a cocktail stick and bake in the oven.  Then you slice them so everyone gets these spiral pieces on their plate - it's quite a nice recipe.

we also have salad a few times each week and sometimes I get different cuts of meat and a bowl of olives, some nice bread etc and have it all on the table so everyone just gets what they like (a bit like a buffet)

Another thing we like is pizza and you can keep that fairly healthy by having a couple of pieces and salad.

you could also buy a chicken and roast it and have roast chicken one night then use the rest for either a pie or soup or something (sandwiches for school too maybe).

[op]

Hi, I can sympathise - my family all have different tastes too, but we normally manage to compromise on things.  A couple of family favourites are:

Chicken parmegania - I used onion, tomato, capsicum and garlic for the sauce.  You can substitute rice or noodles if you prefer, instead of pasta.

Spare ribs - I get some lovely pork ribs from a wholesale meat place (won't mention the name in case this is deleted, but it consists of 2 letters). My family love this done with BBQ sauce and done in the oven or on the BBQ.  Great with sauteed potatoes (okay not that healthy, but tasty!)

Chicken kebabs - you could do a soy and honey marinade

Cottage pie - I boil up a load of carrots and puree them before adding them to the meat.  It thickens it and gives a lovely flavour without the kids complaining about having veg.

Hope this helps

Thanks all for your great ideas.  Will definitely try chicken kababs and the not-so-healthy spare ribs.    Chili might work as my family seems ok with Mexican flavors.  As for cottage pie, I DID try it and I DID put pureed carrots in to make it more healthy but my picky eater tasted it and REFUSED to touch it ever since!       

Chicken Parmesan and Roast Chicken are already on my rotation list of 10, but thanks anyways.

I usually reserve salad/soup/sandwiches and home made pizzas for the weekends. 

To pp: 

What is chicken korma? and what is "passata"? care to share your recipes?

Thanks again!

This is really helpful! Keep those tips coming.  

[Tacos]

Tacos served with chicken and meat and a selection of vegetables for every taste.

Fried rice.

Omelette.

Sesame chicken:  roll stirps of chicken meat in sesame seeds (flavoured with salt and curry), fry in hot oil until crispy and well done.  Serve with honey-mustard sauce (mix honey and mustard).

[dish of the day]

Chicken Parmesan and Roast Chicken are already on my rotation list of 10, but thanks anyways.

sorry about that, I thought I'd read it properly but missed the roast chicken.


Passata is just a tomato sauce which is smooth and there are no lumps; The recipe I suggested uses it because they just want the flavour and a bit of colour without the bits. You can usually get it from most supermarkets.  Hunts do a kind of passata but they just call it tomato sauce - it comes in a can.

Chicken korma is a creamy mild curry.  I buy Pataks curry paste in a jar from Mustafas for it as I've tried making it from scratch using various recipes but our children prefer the shop bought version (you can get Pataks in Cold Storage but it's more expensive - I buy in bulk when I go to Mustafa).  One jar of paste will do about 4 meals so it's quite economical really and I use coconut milk in it instead of cream as it's cheaper (you can use either).

[cooker]

 Pizzas or quesadillas may be the ticket. Put all the various fillings in bowls and let everyone make their own!

[Standby]

There's always good old mac and cheese - I bake it as a side dish with ham and stewed tomatoes.

[SAE]

OP, I know exactly how you feel with both the picky eaters and being bored with what you are cooking. 
a few of my family favourites are :
steak casserole and roast potatoes - made with chuck tenderloin so pretty cheap
lamb casserole
spag bol / lasagna
fried rice - the kids love this with bacon bits and lots of egg
generally fried rice is served with a stirfry of either chicken or pork fillet
mac and cheese with tuna - one of mine likes the tuna mixed in and the other likes it seperate (told you they were picky!ha ha)
chicken Korma - the Patak paste recommended by PP is great and more tasty than spicy! we add chopped fresh tomaotoe and onion, pompadoms, pickles and chutney as side dishes
roasts - beef, lamb, chicken, pork with veggies and roast potatoes - kids especially love pork crackleing (scuse spelling) the lamb is a special treat due to how much it costs
chicken / pork schnitzel - one of mine wont eat cheese so parmasan isnt included
fish and chips -sometimes I use breadrumbs other times I use seasoned flour
pork loin and chips with creamy pepper sauce
chicken tacos with loads of fresh ingrediants - one of mine doesnt lke spicy so I stir fry a seperate dish of non spicy chicken for her
sweet potatoes wedges go down well.
home made beefburgers

I try and include veggies in every meal.  I grew up on mince and tatties and frozen veg so boiled potatoes and mashed are definatly not included in our meals.