[Daimere]

You really don't want to raise someone like my brother. He will not cook for himself and lives on a diet of french fries and chips. Sometimes he won't even walk to Wendy's when he's hungry.

[evillynn33]

You may want to try asking dh to clean up dinner so you arent tempted to eat the left overs thats what I do.

[Redflame]

I think it was Robin on Dr Phils show that talked about left overs on plates and the moms who picked here and there. She had a gal scrape the plates into a zip lock bag for two days, then they could visualize how quickly the chicken nugget, and toast, and the mac and cheese added up. Then they went a step further and took it to a lab to measure the caloric value.........it was something like 1200 calories! I remember it was just one lunch less than my normal intake!

[TamTam]

Since you have so many people to cook for, go to wal mart down the isle with the dishes and buy yourself a few salad plates. They are not expensive about 1.00-1.50 each, and eat your meals on that plate, also, eat a salad before you start your main meal, you will get full faster. God BLess.

[Lyn2007]

I have five kids and (sometimes) a husband. Cooking's been an issue for me as well, since they all like different things.

I agree that a big batch of oatmeal makes a nice breakfast. You can do steel cut oats in the crock pot overnight (with or without apples) or just a pot of rolled oats on the stove.

Dinners everyone loves and I can eat:
Tacos made with very lean beef OR ground turkey... I just make mine into a taco salad (lots of salad, a bit of meat/beans/salsa) and the kids like the nonfat refried beans on their tacos, too.
Waffles for dinner with fresh sliced (or frozen thawed) strawberries or blueberries on top. I let them put aerosol whipped cream on it too. With OJ and turkey bacon or turkey sausage it makes a nice meal. (Waffles made from a whole grain mix OR low fat Bisquick).
Spaghetti made with Barilla Plus or whole wheat pasta and a healthy sauce, with italian turkey sausages. I make spaghetti squash or a bunch of steamed zucchini and I eat a ton of that with sauce and meat but very little pasta.
Sloppy joes with lean beef or ground turkey with pintobeans stirred in. The kids eat them on buns with carrot sticks. I eat the sloppy joe meat over a salad.
Scrambled eggs and toast makes an easy meal for breakfast or dinner. Sometimes I add chopped ham. I use whole wheat toast and serve fruit with it. I make scrambed Egg Beaters for myself in a separate pan and scramble in some spinach.

[cfmama]

I don't feel my family of five (plus 2-3 daycare babies/kids) ANY DIFFERENTLY than I feed myself. I feed an organic, whole foods, HEALTHFUL diet. I always have fed my family this way so it was not a change for them at all.

I always eat breakfast. I get the kids ready (usually cereal with yogurt and fruit) and then mine (toast/pb/banana or cereal/milk/banana). I pack their lunches and feed the home kids soup/fruit/crackers or sandwich/fruit/veggies/cheese/nuts etc. I do buy a few special things for me... like salmon fillets and I make those a staple of my lunches.

Snacks are fruit/nuts/cheese for them and fruit/protein/fat for me...

Dinner we all eat together and I just make sure it's something I can portion out properly or have a calorie count for the whole recipe.

My kids don't really even realize HOW I'm losing weight because they never saw me eat poorly (it was always done at night after they went to bed.)

Hope this helps!

[Steelslady]

My husband and son eat 2-3 plates of food for supper. My oldest daughter and I are cutting back and eat much less than before. She has about 20 pounds to lose, though she doesn't look it.

My tough problem is that my youngest can't have any whole wheat products (once in a very blue moon she can, so long as she has her medicine nearby just in case) and has to be very careful not eating too much white flour products, which is also wheat, because she has IBS.

That wouldn't be a problem, only my husband, son, and oldest daughter all love wheat foods.............so, in essence, sometimes I am cooking several things for dinner at a time to appease the masses. Luckily, my son and youngest daughter are not picky eaters and will try everything once, and I serve lots of beans and other veggies. My oldest daughter doesn't like legumes, so I end up making her some other veggies like green beans- I make extra so everyone else can have some, too. They all love raw veggies, too. I'm lucky that way, BUT I never had junk in the house when they were all young and they always ate fruits and vegetables. I need to cut that stuff out just like I did before, as we were all thinner when I was stricter about what we ate back when they were little.

It can be a pain in the neck some nights, but in order to make sure they all eat properly, I have to do this. It isn't easy, though, and I can't imagine feeding four boys- oh boy! My son could eat ten men under the table if I didn't stop him! He takes after my husband, who's appetite has never decreased since he was young- so much for age cutting down your food consumption, lol.

[MugCanDoIt]

Trying to please everyone in my house is like pulling teeth. It just cant be done. So Ive stopped worrying about it so much, and told my son he can start eating what I cook , or starve. He is 17. But it makes me so mad, I make a dinner, then because he doesnt like it , he is in the kitchen 10 minutes after we get done eating, fixing him a bowl of cereal. It makes me want to scream sometimes!