Making TF foods seem less 'healthy'

[knittinanny]

For a good long while my DP has told me over and over that I only make 'bland food' and that I only like 'bland things'. This is patently untrue - I'm the first one to pull out the hot sauce - so I've been baffled as to what he's meant. After an unsuccessful attempt at feeding him tempeh last night (not something that happens often...it was the last day before shopping day), I figured out that 'bland' is a code word for 'healthy non-processed food.'

So....how do I make decent food seem less healthy? I've asked what he wants, and he's come up with stuff we already eat regularly ('I want to eat butter! I want to eat meat! etc) alongside things that are slightly ridiculous ('I want to have sausages that are not smelly' ). But a main theme of the comments was 'I want hot dogs! I want sandwiches with sliced lunchmeat! I hate fermented things! I want food in the house, not just ingredients!'

Fair enough, I guess. So...help! I'm really good at cooking meals, but not at having non-processed snacks around, especially ones that don't seem 'healthy.' It's hard for us to find non-chemical-laden deli meat and hot dogs here. I don't usually make anything too weird - roast chicken, lots of Mexican, soups, sausages (smelly ones, apparently ), etc. What are some 'less healthy' seeming meals I can make? What are some things I can have around the house before there's mutiny?

[crunchy_mama]

US Wellness has bologna and hotdogs- grassfed and without that nasty stuff in it. I cook a lot of ethnic stuff- bland is certainly not something dh ever complains about- how do you spice up things? Adding hot sauce to foods doesn't do much for me- there are so many more flavors out there. How about more baked treats? Fried foods?

[Millie Ivy]

I am a strong believer in whole, unprocessed traditional foods. I look into the kitchen with 0 convenience foods and see 6 different meals that could get made.

My hubby generally is easy to please with the food stuff, and my kids are slightly more adventurous with food than normal kids. (lol) BUT they look into a kitchen with only ingredients and claim starvation.

I have decided that 90/10 is the way to go. I get 1-2 bags of (still very unprocessed) cracker/chips/pretzels, occasional lunchmeat (boars head and applegate farms is what I like to get, you may need to seek out what the best option is for you. But I firmly believe these aren't to be the mainstay of the diet. Just a compromise I can live with that makes my family very happy)

"Junk" food we keep around (not all of this all the time of course...)

All beef hot dogs
higher quality lunchmeat and sliced cheese
corn tortillas (quesadillas are crucial)
nuts and nut butters
crackers (we are gluten free and like mary's gone crackers, my kids love Nut thins and Glutino)
veeeeery rarely I will get potato chips like Kettle Brand
chocolate (bars, chips, powder for making creamy hot chocolate)

I would ask him what you make that he really likes. I do that occasionally with my family and try to give them a lot of those meals, interspersed with new ones, or less favorite ones.
HTH, good luck.

OH! The other thing that we do, is I don't buy anything I am really not wanting to feed people. If my husband wants to buy some lunchmeat/snackfood that I think is crap... well, he is a big boy and can go to the store himself. And he does. He is a grown up and I can't force him to always eat healthy, but I don't have to buy and make food for him that is crap.

[Ruthla]

How would he react if you made a large quantity of meat (turkey breast, roast beef, etc) and then had leftovers available all week for quick and easy sandwiches? What if you sliced it up before putting it away? Do you think that would satisfy him?

Also, you need to remember that he's an adult in the household too. If he wants to keep some "junk food" available, it's not unreasonable. Maybe buy some "bad for you" processed meats just for him to snack on or pack for lunch? It doesn't sound like he's complaining about what you make for mealtimes. because by then it's "food" and not "just ingredients." It sounds to me like he wants quick and easy snack foods, and maybe the occasional unhealthy weekend lunch.

[lynsage]

Assuming here that you do all of the cooking:

Beef stew made with bone broth is one of my 'stealth healthy" specialties...but my DP likes to eat healthy so I might not be much help there

I would ask him for specific dishes that he is craving and make those...or ask him what specifically is "bland" about your dishes. I keep an array of condiments- sea salt or pepper, butter, hot sauce, kim chee, nutritional yeast, hemp seeds, apple cider vinegar, etc available at the table for my partner and daughter to season food with just in case what we're having doesn't fit with what one or more of us has a taste for at the moment.

[greenmom4]

We have to have a lot of snack foods in the house because my kids rarely stay in one place long enough for a full meal. So. We have on hand:

Popcorn - I make a big batch once a week and then portion it out for them. I pop in coconut oil and then add a ton of butter, nutritional yeast and sea salt.

Raisins

Fruit leather. We've been making ours lately, but the fruitabu or stretch island is also good.

Beef/salmon/whatever jerky - we make this, too, but I'm sure there are good brands out there.

Crispy pumpkin seeds or nuts

Cheese - we always have a big block of cheese on hand. Good for quesadillas or just sliced with apples or grapes or whatever.

Cream cheese - my kids love cream cheese and celery or cream cheese with eggs or cream cheese with pretty much anything

Liverwurst - makes delicious sandwiches

Applegate Farms grassfed hot dogs. We bought a case of these thru our coop at a really good price.

Sprouted corn tortillas fried in coconut oil or lard - makes really good chips.

As far as dinner goes, we sometimes do homemade chicken nuggets/fish sticks or pizza. I do spaghetti with the tinkyada pasta and chicken legs have been a favorite lately, too.

I don't know, does that help at all? Honestly our meals and snacks don't look that much different than alot of conventional meals other than that we make everything from scratch and don't use processed. I do serve ferments, but just a tablespoon or two at a serving.

[Shazer]

I don't even bother trying to disguise TF foods for DH. He turns his nose at anything healthy. His diet remains pizza, fast food, gallons of diet soda, and no fresh fruits or veggies. And yes, he has health problems from his diet. I've tried to reform him, but it doesn't work. So he feeds himself and I feed my child and me. If I make any type of cake or cookie, I usually use about 1/5 of the recommended sweetener (I substitute raw honey), he says it tastes like bread.

[Uxor]

Are we married to the same person?

[SuburbanHippie]

My DH gets like this sometimes. He would be happy if he solely lived on cheese, Townhouse crackers (they contain HFCS!), ham sandwiches and eggs. Unfortunately, that's not going to happen unless he starts grocery shopping. I try to compromise and either buy nitrate free lunch meat or I make a small turkey at the beginning of the week and let him use that for lunch meat. I sometimes will buy him nitrate free hot dogs, but that is few and far between. I tried making things like granola bars and soaked oatmeal cookies, but he turns his nose at oatmeal.

[Lirazel]

Originally Posted by knittinanny

I want food in the house, not just ingredients!'

Oh my goodness - that's just what my DH says! He does like almost all the food I make, but he doesn't like that there aren't easy-to-grab snacks around (ie chips, cookies, and I don't know what he even imagines) and that there's usually some preparation. His favorite joke when I say I'll "come up with something" for dinner is "You gonna boil some grain?" He thinks it's hilarious that I have a "beans and grain" shelf in the pantry.

Since I do all the cooking anyway, I think it's mostly that he feels guilty when we run low on bread or something and it means I "have" to do work rather than just buying a loaf from the store. If I can just keep him convinced that I like the food better when I make it (and so does he...) and that I enjoy the cooking and baking, he can get past it. He just gets annoyed when we run low and he feels like his food is rationed or something. So the best solution for me to avoid him feeling that way and to avoid the arguments is to just always keep my eyes open and make sure we're well stocked on foods *I* have prepared rather than processed foods. It helps with the "food not ingredients" issue, but I'm not sure what to say about the "bland" issue you're dealing with.

[ZoeyZoo]

I know how you feel. DH says I didn't buy anything unless it's something he can grab out of the cupboard or fridge and eat. He is a SAHD who does the cooking so he doesn't always want to cook at lunch and the weekends. I also have a toddler that only wants to eat bananas, cheese, eggs, and raisons. She will no longer eat veggies and meat.

We aren't completely TF but I believe it's the best way to eat. I buy some snack items to please DH when he wants to veg out at the end of the day. They're not healthy but both of us agree that there are things you will want to cheat with on any diet so we make the point of trying to reduce it rather than eliminate it completely. I plan the dinners and do any TF specific things I need to do like made stock and bake. Since DH cooks the main meals we go back anf forth on how to do it like what broth can be added to, which oil to use, etc. (if it's not the way they do it on the food network he doesn't think it's the right way to cook). We also don't do a lot of ferments because neither of us have been able to get accustomed to the taste yet.

In terms of adding spice, there was a post I read a lot time ago on MDC that said to search out what recipe you want and then adjust it to be TF. I have found this easier because the TF specific recipes I have found too bland for our palates.

[Vaquitita]

i will bake cookies that are specifically for my husband, usually chocolate chip his favorite. i'll use half or all white sugar and half or all white flour. also i keep breyer's icecream (vanilla contains only real ingredients!), ritz crackers (which he eats with pb, he will now eat natural creamy pb though he still makes jokes to his friends about the lack of jiff) and oreo knockoffs in the house. but they are for 'daddy only' and the kids know it. they're fine with that, they can't eat cows milk anyway and i keep healthy crackers and cookies on hand that they are happy with. though he's usually good about not eating them in front of the kids, he'll wait till they are in bed.

eta: i second the notion of converting recipes you like rather than just using the ones in nt.

[BedHead]

Funny, dh told me just the other day that he is sick and tired of never having anything ready to eat at home. It's true, we have very little that you can just heat and serve (soup in the freezer is about it right now) but we have snacks that he just won't eat (cheese, fruit, ferments, healthy home made baking, fresh veggies). He wants microwaveable pasta dishes, mac and cheese, canned soups, etc which I couldn't care less whether he eats or not, but since I buy all the groceries with my money and refuse to buy stuff like that, I figure he can buy it for himself.

[Pinky Tuscadero]

My hubby likes to snack on nuts, cubed cheese, chips and salsa, deviled eggs.
I also keep a pack or two of sprouted bagels in the freezer. The kids like to make toaster pizzas on them for easy snacks or lunches.

[EdnaMarie]

Baked goods and things like spanakopita can be baked in large batches and then frozen and taken out by the gallon freezer bag for him to snack on. Would that count as "food not ingredients"?

Slice a roast chicken like deli meat.

Put more salt in your soups.

Buy those Tupperware containers that are shaped like TV dinner containers, and fill them with real food. Stick in freezer and let him microwave them whenever he wants.

Put your yummy chunky spaghetti sauce through a blender and freeze jars of it.

Finally, and this is really not a healthy suggestion, but he may be craving salt. You could put more salt in his food and decrease it very, very gradually, like over a period of months, if you can keep him from eating out much during that period.

My own husband claims to dislike salt, but actually, prefers food that is a bit more salted.

[lil_earthmomma]

Extra garlic and onion powder in EVERYTHING. Seriously, I find that when I'm cooking for my extended family or friends, I have to triple or quadruple the amount of seasoning because processed foods are so SO so fake tasting that people who eat SAD aren't used to the real flavor of foods. Not that garlic or onion powder will make your food taste fake!

I like the idea of frozen meals to heat up on the go.

What about making a huge batch of homemade crackers once a month. Then you could have cut up cheeses, veggies cut up with dip so he could just grab snacky food?

Tortilla chips are easy to make with homemade tortillas, and fresh or fermented salsa is SO yummy! (I'm sure you could easily find some tortilla chips at the HFS that aren't full of gross ing. too!)

As for lunch meat, what about slicing your own? Meat slicers are very reasonable, and you could cook a small roast and have roast beef for sandwiches, or turkey breast, or chicken breast. Another option is making chicken salad, or egg salad etc for sandwiches.

I'd say give in on the hot dogs as a once a month treat. Have hotdogs and homemade burgers, fermented relish and call it good!

[Junegoddess]

Originally Posted by BedHead

Funny, dh told me just the other day that he is sick and tired of never having anything ready to eat at home. It's true, we have very little that you can just heat and serve (soup in the freezer is about it right now) but we have snacks that he just won't eat (cheese, fruit, ferments, healthy home made baking, fresh veggies). He wants microwaveable pasta dishes, mac and cheese, canned soups, etc which I couldn't care less whether he eats or not, but since I buy all the groceries with my money and refuse to buy stuff like that, I figure he can buy it for himself.

When we first got to the point in our TF transition that most of our food was good and healthy, AND my youngest was 3 years old and not requiring quite so much attention or causing as many interruptions to cooking, AND we had a bit of extra money... I was doing great at baking up a storm and whipping up snacks. Dh's diet improved, and he didn't care if it was my idea of healthy, just as long as he got cheesy goodness on a regular basis.

Then my allergies hit. I got good at subbing for dairy, but then got allergic to coconut as well. Just couldn't win. Then I started having more-serious blood sugar issues, and really needed to cut back on my baking, because when an experiment didn't work out, it was ME who ended up eating the rejected stuff.

So, the last year has seen a drastic cut back in my baking and snack-making, and a big upswing in dh buying crappy non-food. Nacho cheez dip in individual, microwavable containers. Jimmy Dean breakfast sandwiches. Potato chips. Canned ravioli. Ramen noodles. Blech.

I used to take it really personally... it still bugs me, but... not much I can do about it. When I found out our ds needs to be gluten-free, too, I banned bread from the house, and dh didn't whine out loud.

I try to look back over the last 8 years and count the victories... I've gotten him off ephedra (yes, seriously... aaaall the infantry guys were hopped up on it), diet pop, constantly hitting drive-thrus, energy drinks, switched cigarettes for smokeless tobacco, and replaced his 100% junk food diet with about 70% good stuff. There are so many areas left to improve, but... he's a grown man. He's heard all the info hundreds of time, and clearly chooses to not care. Can't do much more than that.

[FairyRae]

There are so many areas left to improve, but... he's a grown man. He's heard all the info hundreds of time, and clearly chooses to not care. Can't do much more than that.

ITA. I do try to make all of our meals as dh friendly as possible, taking into account his preferences. He must have A1 available to put on all meats, must have specific (super processed) chips w/ all sandwhiches (must have sandwhiches as well--although he eats ezekial bread only--won't eat my homemade gf bread, but that's a huge thing for him.), etc. etc. etc.

He eats what he wants when he's out if he's got cash on him, and I just do my best to feed us all at home. I ask (b/c of ds's sensitivities) that he keeps his stash of sugary/chocolate cereal and other snacky things in a special cupboard so ds won't see and want it. But he will eat cookies and muffins and cupcakes I make if they are available (I've been using the bean cake and pumpkin seed flour recipes in the TF and allergies forums a lot lately)--I usually make a batch and freeze them, so that we can take them out in individual servings. He'll eat homemade ice cream as well (we use coconut milk) as long as it's chocolate . He loves meat and potatoes and those kinds of dinners really win him over, which is great b/c I think a lot of TF is like this. Usually if I have stuff prepared for him that he likes, he'll choose to eat it when he's here. If he leaves to go out w/ friends or works a long shift etc, he will most likely pick up some kind of super processed fast food.

I've learned to just let it go. If he goes out to get a pizzone (from pizza hut--ahhh!) or a burger and fries from a fast food place, that is his choice to make. I ask him not to eat that stuff around our ds, or to lmk first b/4 bringing it home so I have time to make a substitute so they can eat together (like homemade fries w/ a burger, etc, if I have the ingredients.) I used to seriously stress about this kind of stuff--esp. for health reasons--b/4 we were parents, but I realize only in control of myself and feel so much relief accepting this! Also, I've seen him 'self-wean' from multiple fast-food places since we've changed our diets at home. He told me the other night he got Taco Bell and thought it was disgusting--that he's "done with that place". We each do things in our own time...

[crunchy_mama]

Originally Posted by Junegoddess

When we first got to the point in our TF transition that most of our food was good and healthy, AND my youngest was 3 years old and not requiring quite so much attention or causing as many interruptions to cooking, AND we had a bit of extra money... I was doing great at baking up a storm and whipping up snacks. Dh's diet improved, and he didn't care if it was my idea of healthy, just as long as he got cheesy goodness on a regular basis.

Then my allergies hit. I got good at subbing for dairy, but then got allergic to coconut as well. Just couldn't win. Then I started having more-serious blood sugar issues, and really needed to cut back on my baking, because when an experiment didn't work out, it was ME who ended up eating the rejected stuff.

So, the last year has seen a drastic cut back in my baking and snack-making, and a big upswing in dh buying crappy non-food. Nacho cheez dip in individual, microwavable containers. Jimmy Dean breakfast sandwiches. Potato chips. Canned ravioli. Ramen noodles. Blech.

I used to take it really personally... it still bugs me, but... not much I can do about it. When I found out our ds needs to be gluten-free, too, I banned bread from the house, and dh didn't whine out loud.

I try to look back over the last 8 years and count the victories... I've gotten him off ephedra (yes, seriously... aaaall the infantry guys were hopped up on it), diet pop, constantly hitting drive-thrus, energy drinks, switched cigarettes for smokeless tobacco, and replaced his 100% junk food diet with about 70% good stuff. There are so many areas left to improve, but... he's a grown man. He's heard all the info hundreds of time, and clearly chooses to not care. Can't do much more than that.

Originally Posted by FairyRae

ITA. I do try to make all of our meals as dh friendly as possible, taking into account his preferences. He must have A1 available to put on all meats, must have specific (super processed) chips w/ all sandwhiches (must have sandwhiches as well--although he eats ezekial bread only--won't eat my homemade gf bread, but that's a huge thing for him.), etc. etc. etc.

He eats what he wants when he's out if he's got cash on him, and I just do my best to feed us all at home. I ask (b/c of ds's sensitivities) that he keeps his stash of sugary/chocolate cereal and other snacky things in a special cupboard so ds won't see and want it. But he will eat cookies and muffins and cupcakes I make if they are available (I've been using the bean cake and pumpkin seed flour recipes in the TF and allergies forums a lot lately)--I usually make a batch and freeze them, so that we can take them out in individual servings. He'll eat homemade ice cream as well (we use coconut milk) as long as it's chocolate . He loves meat and potatoes and those kinds of dinners really win him over, which is great b/c I think a lot of TF is like this. Usually if I have stuff prepared for him that he likes, he'll choose to eat it when he's here. If he leaves to go out w/ friends or works a long shift etc, he will most likely pick up some kind of super processed fast food.

I've learned to just let it go. If he goes out to get a pizzone (from pizza hut--ahhh!) or a burger and fries from a fast food place, that is his choice to make. I ask him not to eat that stuff around our ds, or to lmk first b/4 bringing it home so I have time to make a substitute so they can eat together (like homemade fries w/ a burger, etc, if I have the ingredients.) I used to seriously stress about this kind of stuff--esp. for health reasons--b/4 we were parents, but I realize only in control of myself and feel so much relief accepting this! Also, I've seen him 'self-wean' from multiple fast-food places since we've changed our diets at home. He told me the other night he got Taco Bell and thought it was disgusting--that he's "done with that place". We each do things in our own time...

I agree with those sentiments as well. I don't do separate meals and dh certainly doesn't ask for separate meals, but I do keep some quick snacks for him. I try hard to make food as nutrient dense as I can and yummy for him as well. Like I said before we love a lot of ethnic food and it keeps things interesting.

I had to laugh at the comment about how they can look in the house and not *see* a single thing to eat, yet there are dozens of meals that could be made. I cannot believe I missed that before. I have sure heard that one before! So, here while back I bought him a box of hotpockets. I guess it has been a few months back. Now, I try to make sure there are leftovers handy so he can grab those first, but that is his backup. I think it makes him feel less deprived to have it there, even if he isn't eating it. He also has his special cabinet with granola bars and such. Like I said it isn't so much that he grabs these things all the time, but having some around is nice to him. I see it as well that I am not his mother. We both agree though we won't feed the kids crap food, so it is not ate around the kids- for the most part.

[prairiebird]

I wish I had some helpful advice to contribute, but I am just here to say that I am actually quite relieved to find out that I'm not the only one with a partner like this!

We have a pantry stocked up the wazoo and I get a crop share weekly, the meat I buy is the healthiest I can get away with at a general supermarket. But he always tells me we have nothing to eat! In his mind, things to eat = microwavable dinners, frozen pizzas, krakus ham for sandwiches, and hamburger helper. Over and over and over and over...