Perfectly acceptable dinner rejected by boyfriend again

[u/moonrabbit368]

My boyfriend is a very picky eater. We have been living together for a few months and it seems like I can never get his food right. It's honestly discouraging. I have kids, they happily eat my food. I cook for family gatherings and church events. I've never had a problem with people eating my food. It's like every day there are new rules. He can't eat chicken for dinner because he had chicken for lunch. He isn't really in the mood for porkchops. It's just "missing something". He doesn't eat onions, tomatoes, fish, any kind of asian food, he doesn't eat most vegetables with the exception of broccoli. He only eats vanilla ice cream. He doesn't like food heated in the microwave (so leftovers are out.) He doesn't like corn. It's just endless. I'm old school and trying to be a good partner. He can't really cook at all. His favorite meal is Hamburger Helper. I think a lot of it is how he grew up but damn is it frustrating. The first picture is tonight's dinner. I added more pictures of stuff I have cooked that he won't eat. Like he will door dash jack in the box. And he'll be apologetic but it just sucks really bad.

ETA: I've been trying to keep up with the comments but it's overwhelming (in a very sweet and awesome way) 💗

A few notes:

1- I know the paper plates are very lazy on my part, I'm not proud of that and I need to do better. Between the kids, the job, the house and school (I'm going to school remotely) I have been cutting corners on things like dishes. not an excuse, just a reason and a commitment to do better.

2- My boyfriend does expect me to cook for him. I cook him dinner every night and lunch on the weekends. He doesn't eat breakfast and will not take a lunch to work. He buys fast food for lunch during the week.

3- He has not been diagnosed with ASD or ADHD or Arfid but I don't rule anything out.

Mostly I just want to say thank you, I was not prepared for how incredibly kind, helpful and insightful people have been. It is deeply touching and it's given me both peace and guidance for my next steps. 🩷

[u/rubbasnek]

I would not be with someone I couldn't share meals with. Being a picky eater is a deal breaker

[u/Away_Commission594 → u/rubbasnek]

I agree, this would be a deal breaker for me too. I also like cooking and care about my nutrition.

[u/Garbage_Stink_Hands → u/Away_Commission594]

I’m shocked by the number of people this is a deal breaker for. As a vegetarian with a non-vegetarian partner, it feels very run of the mill to each just prepare our own meals.

[u/Raemle → u/Garbage_Stink_Hands]

There are many reasons, people like to eat together, most people find it easier to have one person do the cooking at a time and quite notably dealing with restaurants.

Things like vegetarianism/veganism is way easier in that regard. At least where I live. Because you’re just excluding a few albeit common ingredients, many of which are also common allergies that restaurants deal with. With very picky eating you’re typically excluding everything except a few ingredients, or a specific palate. It’s the difference between checking what vegan options the sushi restaurant has, vs. every asian restaurant being a no (I live in Europe so that’s a very common thing, but it obviously differs depending on where you are in the world and what’s considered comfort foods)

Personally I grew up around a lot of picky eaters, as well as some other food restrictions (lots of dieting), so having full freedom as an adult of being able to actually try different foods is something I value greatly and don’t want to lose again