Cooking for different diets

 If you are lucky, everyone in the household will be happy eating the same diet.

If you are usual, then when you make a meal you will be altering it to suit how some folk need to eat.

If life has dealt you a meaner set of cards, you could end up cooking four different meals in one dinnertime.

We spent many years cooking one main meal with adjustments.  A usual adjustment for us was ensuring there was a Gluten-Free option.  It was- and still is -  too expensive to cook GF for everyone, whereas cooking just a handful of, say, GF pasta is completely manageable.

These days when I cook a main meal for us with our little bubble of extended family I have to ensure I have food for:

1. A person who eats meat and potatoes, but who is fussy about different vegetables.
2. A vegetarian.
3. A vegetarian who won't eat gravy, any sauces or any messy-looking foods, and has to have their foods set completely apart on their plate.
4. A paleo person who doesn't eat meat, dairy or gluten but does eat fish and eggs.
5. A pescatarian.
6. A wee one who 'hates' vegetables, and would eat their body weight in Yorkshire puddings if they could!

So I plan a meal - say vegan lasagne - and alter it to fit the majority of folks.

        I use GF pasta for the whole dish (suits everyone, but especially person 4)

        I use non-dairy cheese (person 4)

        I use grated veg (onion, garlic, mushrooms and courgettes) with a tomato-                based sauce, but keep aside a portion of each veg that is sliced and served             with sliced cheese. (Everyone, and the portioned veg for person 3)

        I use non-wheat flour to make my white sauce (4)

        I serve this with slices of oven-roasted HM chips made from potatoes (1-3, 5             and 6) and sliced sweet potato (4).

Do you have to cook for a wide variety of different diets?

What might you cook and how do you keep it as stress-free as possible?

Tracey xx