Is there any acceptable "fast" food for kids ?

[Monkeysmom]

I am committed to feeding DS, 14mo only good food and to avoid junk, processed and basically anything with additives for as long as I can. I know the day will come when he will have a mind of his own.
However, I work full time and sometimes I just want to get the odd fish finger out of the freezer, forget all about cooking and put my feet up for the evening.
I saw the ads for Bird?s Eye fish fingers, you know the one with ? ?N is for NOT in my food? and now think fish fingers should be OK. And what about baked beans once in a while, or pizza ?. I am not talking on regular basis, just now and then, when I feel like a break.
Any thoughts ?

[bossykate]

i think baked beans are fine in moderation, as are fish fingers. i consider neither of them junk and i am careful about the children's diet.

pizza, i'd say you have to be more careful and read the ingredients very thoroughly. provided there are no hydrogenated fats or other suspect additives, i'm happy to give ds pizza in moderation and i add additional vegetables before cooking it.

hth.

[saadia]

I also try to give dss healthy natural food but don't really worry about giving fish fingers or pizza, which they seem to like (most of the time), but I would never give them Macdonalds or any of that junk. I would also be happy to give them baked beans but they don't like it.

My kids are reluctant feeders so I think they do need the extra calories from more fatty foods

[BadHair]

Baked beans are very healthy - go for the low-sugar ones. Don't see a problem with the odd fish finger or breaded nugget type thing, as long as its not every night. You can always make yourself feel better by giving him a shed load of fruit for his pudding.

BTW, check the fish content in the fish fingers - most of them are only about 55% fish with the rest being batter. Surprisingly Asda and Tesco's own brands have more fish per finger than the branded versions.

[oliveoil]

I stopped buying fishfingers as I kept eating them all myself .

Everything fine in moderation imo. I 'make' my own pizza's, I use ready made bases from the supermarket and get dd1 to put stuff on them that she wants.

Or I do a job lot of my own version of chicken nuggets and stick them in the freezer so they are there for when you want them.

[otto]

What about pasta and sauce? I give ds pasta and pesto and pasta and tomato sauce when I want to give him a quick meal. Do you freeze food? I work full-time too and tend to freeze things like pasta sauces, fish cakes and macaroni cheese and then re-heat them when I get in from work.

[Mum2girls]

Monkeysmum, I actually agree with kama however, in order to give you a rounded view, I think I should tell you that a clinical nutritionist friend of mine thinks Baked beans are the devils food. She says that a tablespoon of beans contains the maximum amount of salt and sugar that a 2 and a half yo should have in 1 day.

I still dish out beans, but have to say, do so more infrequently since she imparted that little nugget of info.

[Mum2girls]

Badhair - the low sugar versions invariably contains sugar substitutes like saccharin and aspertamine (sp?). I think the full sugar versions are preferable.

[Monkeysmom]

Kama, I know I have to relax, my DH is telling me this everyday. However, it is scary the crap they add to food which otherwise seems perfectly healthy.
For example, I do my own fish cakes but I had a look at some Tesco?s ones the other day and saw some E numbers in the composition. So I had to forget about buying ready made ones.
Are sausages OK ?
It is funny really because before I had DS, I was never concerned about this stuff and now it has become an obsession. Have to relax !

[Mum2girls]

OMG - don't mention sausages to my nutritionist friend - again v.high in salt. (Yes, I still occasionally dish them up.)

[Monkeysmom]

Otto, I do freeze loads of stuff. I used to do casseroles and freeze but now DS would only eat finger foods. He has gone off mushy casseroles. So I do cook things like Spanish omelette, roasts, fish cakes and pasta, pasta, pasta. The problem is that I am stuck with the same foods and would like some variety. I also have to think of 2 meals a day as the nursery does not provide food, and have run out of ideas.

[Mum2girls]

ok, non-mushy finger foods.

My kids adore pittas - and sliced cucmber, yellow pepper and carrots with humous or humous/yogurt dip.

They love omelettes. They love malt loaf.

How do you make your fishcakes MM? Mine love the bought ones although I know they're full of stuff, so would love to have a go at making them.

[TwoAngels]

the wee birds eye microwave meals for littleones look very good there is nothing that i am aware of in the ingredience that could be harmful to little ones...

and DD2 just loves the chicken korma one with peas and rice and all...

[Monkeysmom]

Kama. No chance to pass my obsession to him. My DH is the opposite and tries to give him the occasional crisp, sweets etc. I usually don?t protest because I know kids have to be kids. I actually think everything is OK in moderation, even the dreaded Big Mac.
However, I do want to teach DS to enjoy good quality food rather than junk.
For me, good relationship with food also means exposure to different tastes and open mind ness when it comes to trying new stuff, going on Holiday and enjoying the local cuisine rather than asking for fish and chips and pizza.

[Monkeysmom]

Mum2girls, fishcakes are so easy to make !
Mashed potatoes + butter ( no milk)
Tinned salmon ( better than fresh as per Delia?s)
Grated cheddar cheese
Mix all together in a bowl. Make fishcakes of desired size, dip in flour, egg and fresh breadcrumbs and fry quickly on each side until golden.
You can add anything you like to the mixture to make it more interesting, such as herbs.
Can I please have your recipe for malt loaf

[anorak]

I agree with kama, if you don't let him have any junk food he'll pig out on it later.

I feed my kids fresh fruit and veg and home cooked meals so that when they eat the odd shop bought cake or crisps their system can deal with it very efficiently.

You have full control over your son's diet atm but that won't last long. You don't want him to be avid for forbidden fruits as soon as you can't watch him.

When my kids were that age I used to give them a lot of finger foods. A big plate covered in a selection of sliced fruit and veg of varying colours with a little cheese or ham and maybe some malt loaf or toast fingers was a very commonplace tea for them. The other big advantage with this was the variety - they felt as if they were in control by choosing what they were going to eat off the plate. 9 times out of 10 what one didn't like the other would eat.

[Mum2girls]

Monkeysmom ermm... how can I put this, but some nice people at Soreen make the maltloaf for me.

Thanks for the fishcake recipe - look forward to trying them out.

Agree with you Anorak, worse thing you can do is to make it the forbidden fruit, however have so far managed to avoid the dreaded McDs. DD2 however has seen on tv that they are advertising free Polly pocket toys with the kids 'meal' and is now deparate to go. What do I do?

[lovecloud]

I always give my little girl birs eye fishfingers, made with natural ingrediants, cod, breadcrumbs, sunflower oil and paprika - thats it i think.
i serve them with frozen parsnips (as chips) frozen food sec at Waitrose and peas.

Or Waitrose have organic chicken nuggets again quite plain ingrediants.

Sainsburys sell thin organic sausages cook in 4 minutes under the grill, perfect for little fingers.

Buy a jar of 4 mth vegetable puree and use as a sauce over fusilli pasta.

Mc Cains crinkle cut chips are just potato and oil.

Good luck

[anorak]

mum2girls you can't give them everything they see on TV. I heard a little boy in a shop yesterday telling his dad 'I want this...and this, and this, and this, and this...' I wouldn't agonise over it. They'll always want things they can't have. The word no won't kill them

[Monkeysmom]

Mum2girls,
I meant to say meat loaf, but I can see now that you were referring to malt loaf.
Oh god, I am embarrassed.

[WideWebWitch]

I've only skimmed the thread but baked beans are good for you, and I don't consider them junk at all, as is pasta with pasta sauce, but check the ingredients list if you're buying jars of sauce -Seeds of Change sauces are good I think. Assorted children in my house are eating pasta sauce made with onions, garlic, oregano, tinned tomatoes + apple juice for sweetness, plus various veg, and the sauce only took 15 minutes to make from scratch. It freezes too so you could make up a batch and then it truly is fast to get out and use. Fish fingers are also fine I think, although someone here a while back said make sure you buy them made with fish fillet as the other fish fingers can be made of minced fish from all sorts of different fish/bits. I think there's plenty of home made fast food that's very healthy and completely acceptable: omelettes, scrambled or boiled eggs, eggy bread, pasta, pizza in moderation if you've checked the label - I like the Little Big Food Company organic ones - fruit, cheese, sandwiches, pieces of cucumber, tomatoes. But if by your thread title you mean is there any processed/ready food you can buy for kids that's acceptable, I'd say not much, most processed food is full of crap!