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Take the Wholegrain Goodness challenge: testers can win £250 – NON TESTERS: chance to win £150. NOW CLOSED

401 replies

AnnMumsnet · 15/01/2014 12:45

Try something different for your new year's resolutions this year - take part in the WholegrainGoodness.com challenge and be in with a chance of winning supermarket vouchers worth up to £250.

Here's what WholegrainGoodness.com, a not-for-profit campaign aiming to inspire people to eat more wholegrain, say about the challenge: "Most of us know it's important to eat at least five portions of fruit and veg every day, but did you know you should be eating more wholegrain to keep you healthy too? Nutritionists encourage eating at least three servings of wholegrain a day. But despite the nutritional benefits, national surveys show that 95% of adults don't do this, and almost a third don't eat any at all. So take part in our wholegrain challenge to help us inspire mums to get more nutritious wholegrain into their family's diet and we'll enter you into a prize draw"

The challenge is to include wholegrain in at least ONE meal or snack for the family per day for two weeks and then to add your feedback here by Sunday 9th February to be entered into a prize draw.

  • "Official testers" (already selected) can win a £250 supermarket voucher of their choice


  • "Non-official testers" (open to all UK MNers with at least one child aged between 2 and 16 living at home) can win a £150 supermarket voucher of their choice


You can use the variety of wholegrain foods available, such as wholegrain breads, breakfast cereals, pasta, rice, flour and even popcorn. And feel free to take part if you and your family already eat wholegrains. Visit WholegrainGoodness.com if you need help finding out what wholegrains are and to see what a serving of wholegrain looks like, as well as to get recipe ideas for inspiration and some top tips. If you have any further questions about wholegrain, ask their independent registered dietitian or go to the wholegrain FAQs (frequently asked questions) page, which we'll keep updating. You can get a free recipe booklet and sign up to their e-news alerts too.

Please add your feedback here on the following:

~ Let us know what you think of wholegrains and if you knew about the benefits already or not

~ Have you tried out any WholegrainGoodness.com recipes? How did you and your family find them?

~ Please add any other comments, recipes, tips or ideas you have too - we'd love to hear from you at various stages of the challenge

Thanks
MNHQ

Please note: comments made on this thread may be reproduced by Wholegrain Goodness (AHDB)
OP posts:
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daisydaisy75 · 15/01/2014 19:15

I eat wholegrain bread every day for breakfast. Just can't stand the taste of white bread. Wholegrain bread doesn't make me bloated and I fill full for longer. I also eat wholegrain pasta and rice. More vitamins and minerals.

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sharond101 · 15/01/2014 21:57

We regularly do wholegrains and only buy wholegrain bread as a rule. We use alot of basmati rice and I make chicken soup identical to that on the wholegrain goodness recipe list. My DH isn't so keen on oats but I add some Readybrek to his cornflakes and he says he cannot tell the difference.

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Theimpossiblegirl · 15/01/2014 23:43

Marking my place while I add wholegrain oats, rice and pasta to my shopping list. I already buy wholegrain bread about 50% of the time but will try harder...

Anyone got a good recipe for slow cooker porridge?
:)

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cornishgirl54 · 16/01/2014 07:47

I always buy wholegrain bread for myself but white for my husband because he prefers it - next step will be to try and convert him too!

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moomoo1967 · 16/01/2014 09:34

My DD has got fussier the older she gets so it will be interesting to see if this helps her try new foods. I already have quinoa, wholewheat spaghetti, and popcorn in the pantry. I plan to make the Middle Eastern and Lamb quinoa patties and the Irish Stew with Barley at the weekend to put in the freezer for mid-week.

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supermariossister · 16/01/2014 11:41

We have recently started introducing new foods and having the " everyone will try at least a little bit" argument. the wholemeal bread has been the one that has got the least fuss and best response so it will be interesting to see where else we can make changes.

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kirstyphillipsonlowe · 16/01/2014 16:24

My shopping list is full of wholegrain alternatives and my cooking brain is on the go constantly!!
On Sunday I am going to sit down and write our weekly meal planner and I aim for every single evening meal to contain wholegrain!
I will probably just adapt a lot of my own recipes to contain wholegrain but I am also looking to create some new meals which I will share!
Roll on Monday I can't wait to get started!

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kirstyphillipsonlowe · 16/01/2014 16:28
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CuttedUpGrape · 16/01/2014 19:47

i'm already feeding my lot wholegrain. my partner's comment when i told him we're taking part in this challenge was: "are you trying to kill me?!?" he's under the illusion that wholegrain gives him heartburn (it doesn't) and that it's something for lentil weaving tree huggers only. good job i'm in charge of doing the shopping in this house Grin

i've been using the wholegraingoodness website for a while now, some recipes are great, some not so much, but i keep coming back to it. looking forward to discovering more!

so we've got wholegrain pasta, wheat flour, pasta, bulgur, quinoa, weetabix and bread and oats. oh, and popcorn of course! i've seen "wholegrain cous cous" as well and was wondering if cous cous isn't always wholegrain, much like bulgur, anyway?

what is everyone doing for breakfast? these days it's mainly weetabix and fruit, because it's quick but surely there must be more... will think of some!

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sisi99 · 16/01/2014 23:46

i always eat wholegrain very good for you keeps you fit and healthy skin I eat porridge for breakfast wholemeal pasta bread love it.

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kirstyphillipsonlowe · 17/01/2014 11:33

I am all ready to go and do my wholegrain shopping at the weekend! I have come up with 12 main meal recipes that will give us all a serving of wholegrain, I've only done 12 as we go to my mum and dads for our Sunday dinner! I am going to be making wholegrain bread instead of the white I usually make, adding wholemeal into homemade cakes and biscuits and if I do any pies it will be made with wholemeal flour instead of white!
We are just about ready to go!

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CuttedUpGrape · 17/01/2014 12:07

my pack arrived today. the mackerel recipe from the booklet is a firm favourite with us already. timing's perfect as well as fridge and pantry are almost empty bar the skeleton of a starved rat so will replenish with lots of wholegrain stuff. happy meal planning everyone!

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CaramelisedOnion · 18/01/2014 00:15

My voucher arrived today :) Looking forward to getting stuck into joining the Brown Rice Brigade on monday!xx

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redoctober · 18/01/2014 00:15

My pack arrived today. Can't wait to get started, will go shopping tomorrow. We already eat some whole wheat, weetabix, but will be interesting to see what the family thinks or even notices any changes I make to their meals. Particularly my younger daughter. Smile

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moomoo1967 · 18/01/2014 13:05

I received my pack yesterday so am at present writing a meal plan to incorporate one portion of wholegrain per day for the next two weeks Smile

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antsypants · 19/01/2014 07:40

I have gotten my pack, and am planning out the meals for the next two weeks starting thursday, I am hoping this is going to be an energy boost for me and DD!

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MadMonkeys · 19/01/2014 08:46

I spent my voucher yesterday on wholewheat pasta (in various shapes), wholemeal strong bread flour, black rice and red camargue rice. I make all of our bread and we eat lots of rice and pasta so that should make it very easy to eat something wholegrain every day. We had homemade wholemeal bread this morning toasted for breakfast - made in my Panasonic breadmaker - and it was lovely.

One thing I noticed - wholegrain ingredients are much more expensive than alternatives. The rice I bought was a luxury, brown rice would have been much cheaper, but the pasta and flour work out significantly more expensive than white rice or pasta. With pasta this seems to be because it is not sold in bulk quantities. This is quite a big disincentive - Sainsbury's if you are reading this please consider selling wholewheat pasta in 3kg or 5kg bags. Wholewheat flour is a lot more expensive. I can get 1.5kg of strong white bread flour for 80p from Waitrose, whereas the wholemeal I got from Sainsburys was £1.90 for the same quantity. I'm not sure why this should be, as surely it needs less processing?

A recipe we love is Delia's chicken basque, made with brown rice. I make it in bulk to bring down the cost and freeze it. It is delicious.

www.deliaonline.com/recipes/main-ingredient/poultry-and-game/chicken/chicken-basque.html

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CuttedUpGrape · 19/01/2014 12:03

madmonkeys i've been wondering exactly the same, about the price of wholegrain stuff. i found this article. but really it would be nice to be able to buy stuff like pasta and flour in industrial quantities.

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kirstyphillipsonlowe · 19/01/2014 14:52

Our pack arrived yesterday so off we went to Tesco!
We have stocked up with wholemeal food for the next 2 weeks.
I bought wholegrain pasta, rice and couscous, pearl barley, arborio risotto rice, Walkers wholegrain Sunbites, wholemeal strong bread flour, rapeseed oil, wholegrain plain and self raising flour, some wholegrain mustard and some wholegrain breakfast cereals!
I certainly noticed the huge difference in price!
We normally pay 20p for the basic spaghetti as we found it is exactly the same as the regular one, however for the organic wholegrain spaghetti we paid £1.05 which is a huge difference!
I am planning our weekly meals at the moment and am going to be cooking more or less the same meals and just changing to wholegrain alternatives. I have also planned a couple of new meals to try!
I do bake a lot so I will be putting the wholegrain self raising flour to good use and will be baking some wholegrain cakes and biscuits and make wholemeal pastry when making pies.
I also make my own bread, and have just taken a lovely wholemeal cob out of the oven. I do often make wholemeal bread but tend to make more white as it is cheaper to buy the white bread flour, but luckily at Tesco the wholemeal flour is only 59p more so it is not too much and I will get 3 loaves out of a bag.
I am looking forward to the cooking and baking challenges as I love trying new recipes and creating new dishes.
I will share my recipes and weekly meal plan as I do them!
Here's to a great, healthy 2 weeks everyone :-)

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woodrunner · 19/01/2014 16:50

Our voucher arrived too. I let DC help choose.

We bought:
wholegrain bagels
pita
wraps
brown basmati rice
Supermarket own brand wholegrain cereal
wholegrain ryvita with extra seeds on
wholewheat pasta
wholewheat petit pain.

That's a lot of wheat, and I'd have liked to steer everyone towards more adventurous stuff like quinoa, but they (including DH) were getting all enthusiastic about it. Given that it has to be an improvement on white bagels or pita that imho have the texture of thick glue once chewed, it will help.

DS2 had a bagel for lunch. He loved it. As he has flatly refused to try wholewheat bagels in the past, this is a result. DS1 had two pita. So much for my theory that the fibre will fill him up more quickly and he'll only want one. Works for me though. I couldn't eat two.

There's been some discussion on the obesity thread about whether wholegrains are good for you anyway since they are carbs, and DH said on way back from the big brown shop that he heard a doctor say they convert to sugar anyway. But I thought that they convert more slowly so use up more calories to do so, and release the sugar more slowly, and also the fibre fills you up more quickly (unless you are DS1).

Carbs seem so out of fashion these days but I can't afford to let two teenage boys fill up on protein. DS1 would eat a whole chicken in a sitting!

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dragonmummy · 19/01/2014 20:15

I'm a terrible time-keeper and thought I should have started the challenge already - doh!
Anyway, went to my local Tesco on Friday and bought some stuff to get started, and also to the local wholefood shop (which does a 10% discount to early bird shoppers before 10am).
We got some lovely Whole Earth muesli that my DS hoovers up whenever it's in the food cupboard - just about the only wholegrain food that he's really enthusiastic about.
My not-so-secret purpose in signing up for the Wholegrain Goodness challenge is to stop the creep towards processed carbs in DS's diet and introduce some healthier eating habits. Very pleased to find out that popcorn counts, that's an easy one to sell.
So far we've had wholemeal pastry for spinach and cream cheese flan, wholemeal pancakes for breakfast, popcorn snacks and half wholemeal wraps round those fantastic Thai turkey burgers in the recipe book. Oh, and some brown rice, subject of much argument and pushing food around plate before. None of these have been an issue, even the brown rice which was acceptable because I said we had entered a challenge and, as far as DS is concerned, any competition is worth entering. Let's see if that keeps us going for two weeks...

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Theimpossiblegirl · 19/01/2014 23:00

We started the challenge today.
Today I bought:
Wholegrain pasta
Wholegrain bread
Wholegrain sandwich thins
Whole grain giant cous cous
Whole grain mustard
Whole grain bread mix
Weetabix
Porridge oats
Cheerios
Popcorn
I must say it is expensive compared to other options which doesn't make any sense to me as surely a production process has been cut out. I liked the look of the Seeds of Change quinoa and rice mix but will try that next week.
I made a pasta bake tonight and no-one noticed the change- all eaten up as usual. At lunch we ate wholegrain bread sandwiches with tuna and salad. Again no complaints.
It's easy enough to source/eat/prepare more wholegrain but for families on a budget needs to be cheaper.
I'll keep adding my feedback as we try new things.

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Theimpossiblegirl · 19/01/2014 23:01

Oh and I bought muesli which DH had for breakfast and nearly broke a tooth on half a hazelnut shell, but that has no impact on the success of the challenge. :)

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BlackeyedSusan · 20/01/2014 11:12

started experimenting at the weekend...

the fridge has an intermittent fault so there is often not a lot in it and we are eating our way through the contents of the freezer in order to get the fridge replaced. so the recipe nicked ideas from the wholegrain site.

saturday: dc1 and 2 had 2 wheatbisks each for breakfast dc1 had added fruit.
two slices of wholemeal bread for lunch
tea: beef and leftover from christmas parsnip stew with pearl barley, brown rice, and four handfuls of rolled oats stirred in. (plus mung dal, red and green lentils and yellow split peas. it is amazing what you can find lurking in the back of the cupboard!)

the stirring in oats was taken from one of the recipes in the book sent out.

we have also had some 50/50 english muffins that were on offer in asda last week.

sunday. wheatbisks for the children, wholemeal spaghetti for lunch and beans on wholemeal toast for tea. and 50/50 muffins for pudding. (plus fruit)

the cost is annoying. I try to buy in bulk when they have two for 1.50 offers for wholemeal pasta. we are still eating our way though about 20 bags of wholewheat organic pasta asda were selling off at the same price as white. to balance out the cot I have cut back considerbly on meat and use it more as a flavouring, if at all, nd we are eting lots of mung dal and lentils and tins of kidney beans that i bulk bought when the offers were on to stock up for ramadan. sometimes looking in the asian aisle gives you cheaper stuff than in the wholefood aisle.

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BlackeyedSusan · 20/01/2014 11:18

wholemeal bread at aldi is about 47p a loaf.
morrisons occsionally have the two for 1.50 on wholewheat pasta.
aldi have wholemeal pitta bread, though pitta is far more expensive than ordinary bread a serving.

pop corn is very cheap if you buy the seed sort and pop it yourself.

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