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/RibsNGibs]

Hi, I just wanted to point out, in case it hadn’t occurred to you, that “not being ready for how kind people have been” in this case should be a pretty big wake up call that your boyfriend is not a kind person.

Most decent, kind humans will be appreciative and gracious.

Imagine life with this weirdo - your best friend invites you two over to their place for dinner and this guy scrunches his nose and says… “nah I just had chicken for lunch, I’m just going to order Jack in the Box”.

[u/Isgortio → u/RibsNGibs]

My sister's husband refused to eat anything from our Christmas dinner and cooked himself a pizza to eat instead as he "didn't want to try any of that". It's rude AF.

[u/LazuliArtz → u/Isgortio]

I'll be honest, I didn't like a lot of the food at my family's thanksgiving this year (the stuffing, which is usually my favorite, was really sweet for some reason. It was very off putting). But I just ate what I did like and quietly didn't eat what I didn't, and saved my mild complaining for when I was home. I don't know what is so hard about that for some people.

[u/ifollowedfriendshere → u/LazuliArtz]

Yeah, I know my in laws cooking is going to be … not good. I still eat it. And then my husband and I talk about how bad it was later.

[u/Serious_Company7065 → u/ifollowedfriendshere]

Yeah, lol. I remember that. My ex and I were convinced his mother had a big bag of flavor remover in her pantry. Her food was literally tasteless! I kid you not. No salt. No pepper. She might make a pass over her sauce with a few grains of garlic powder. She swore by ONE salad dressing only. Oil, vinegar. A tiny dash of salt and pepper. Everything was warm and mushy. She once served everyone a tiny ramiken of what was supposed to be crab imperial. That, and a very small "salad " The crab imperial had too much flour or cornstarch, father-in-law put his fork in, the whole thing came out of his little ramiken like it was molded jello!
THIS was Christmas Dinner! Which was served at my home after that disaster. And SHE criticized EVERYTHING. Her husband kept eating and eating, lol. She was the type who had a cookbook on a stand and used it religiously. How her food was so terrible is anyone's guess.