Practical Tips From Parents of Picky Eaters

Try making "build your own" meals. Put out a bunch of components and let each person pick and choose what they want. You're only making one meal, but it's customized for each person. We do build your own salads (greens and veggies, beans, chicken, cheese, croutons) or rice bowls (protein, rice, cheese, salsa, avocado, beans, mango) and these go over really well with my kids and their different food preferences. Picky eaters can enjoy their dinner "deconstructed" if they don't want their food touching.

I never had an extreme picky eater, but when I feel like my kids are going through a picky phase or I know that they're going to turn their nose up at most of what I'm making for dinner, I'll set out a raw veggie assortment with dip while I'm preparing dinner. As they're getting hungry, they'll come into the kitchen to snack on it, and I feel good that they got some nutrition in even if they're not going to do a great job on dinner.

We have their favorite brand of chicken nuggets and fish sticks on hand for whenever they refuse to eat what the rest of the family is eating.

Keep offering new foods (or foods your picky eater has turned down before), because they might decide to try them eventually. Sometimes it takes several times trying something before they develop a taste for it. Food preferences also change over time, but I have found that this goes both ways! Sometimes my kids will decide that they don't like something they've always liked in the past. Either way, keep offering new and different foods in a no-pressure way and you might be surprised by what they end up liking.

There are a handful of meals that our picky eaters will eat pretty consistently, so we always plan to make 2-3 of those in a week, so we know they will eat something. Making enough to have leftovers is helpful, too (if your picky eater will eat leftovers!), so they have another option when they inevitably refuse to eat some of our other meals.