Cooking two dinners is the fastest route to resenting cooking. But a household where one person avoids chilli, another does not eat meat and a child rejects anything green does not need two dinners. It needs one dish built so that people finish their own plate.
Build a base everyone accepts, then diverge at the table
Rice, pasta, potatoes, flatbread, a tray of roasted vegetables — something plain, generous and uncontroversial goes in the middle. Then the things that divide opinion go in separate bowls beside it: the sauce, the chilli, the meat, the cheese, the raw onion. This is how a huge share of the world’s food is served, and it is not a compromise. Everyone gets exactly what they want and only one thing was cooked.
Keep the divisive parts out until the last minute
Cook the base unspiced and season each portion after. A pot of plain lentils becomes a mild bowl for one person and a fierce one for another with a spoon of chilli oil at the table. Meat is easiest kept separate: cook it alongside rather than in, and the same meal serves someone who eats it and someone who does not without any extra pan.
For a child who rejects things, keep it boring and visible
Separate, recognisable components work better than a mixed dish, because a child can see what everything is. The same dinner deconstructed onto the plate is often accepted when the stew version is not. Serve a small amount of the new thing next to plenty of the accepted thing, with no commentary. Acceptance usually comes from repeated exposure rather than from persuasion, and mealtimes where food is not a negotiation go better for everyone.
Do not become a short-order cook
There is a difference between accommodating a real dislike and cooking a separate meal on demand. One base plus optional toppings accommodates almost everything; a second full dinner is a habit that grows. Say what is for dinner and what the options on it are. That is a choice within a meal rather than a menu, and it keeps the cooking to one pan.
Rotate whose favourite it is
In a house with different tastes, the fairest system is a rota rather than a compromise: tonight the meal leans one person’s way, tomorrow another’s. Everyone eats something they love regularly instead of everyone eating something nobody minds every night. It also means the person cooking gets a turn, which is the part that tends to be forgotten.
One base in the middle, the divisive parts in bowls beside it, seasoning added per plate and a rota for whose night it is. Nobody cooks twice and nobody eats a compromise.