To think beige kids dinners are fine?

I will say that when you get into the autism/ARFID range your principles quickly go out the window. One of mine is autistic and a poor eater. Not ARFID, but limited range and worse is underweight (3rd percentile BMI). At that stage, you're happy when they eat Nutella sandwiches. I know perfectly well it's not nutritious, and we're generally a cook from scratch household.

that's certainly not true for your average fish fingers eater, but I'm saying this to caution anyone who says they'd never allow it.

Well probably because many autistic people have severely restricted diets and there’s not much you can do about it. So it’s either food they WILL eat or starve. Which do you find “acceptable”.

I am not sure how it’s acceptable to feed a disabled or neurodiverse child non - food only .

I said I would do everything in my power to ensure my child did to exist on highly processed non food. I also added that my kids did not eat processed chicken twizzlers, nuggets etc very often at all .

No, that's not okay for a child. Highly processed foods are not nutritious. That's lazy parenting. I'd understand once a week, because it's a busy day or out and about, but not on a daily basis.

We have 'beige' max twice a week sometimes it's not worth the battle! Mine won't have any fruit with breakfast but get loads as snacks.

If it's day in day out then yes it's too processed and sugar content too high so needs examining but I don't see the need to chastise parents about it.

I cook from scratch 5/6 times a week my 3 year old is very much in the beige stage and will stick to what he wants, it helps us balance it knowing his nursery is very healthy where he magically eats vegetables!

I grew up on findus pancakes when home from school as thats what I was given by childcare half the time so my kids diet to mine seems pretty good 😂

That’s a shit diet 🤷‍♀️.

Once you start looking into UPF it’s hard to actually see some of this stuff as food any more. It’s just a collection of artificial chemicals masquerading as food. So having some upf is fine but thinking there is no problem with having it for every meal
say in day out is a problem. This stuff is not good for you

What is the point of AI-written answers? Seriously?

I think Jamie Oliver's push for healthier school dinners went out the window with Covid unfortunately. Before covid at Secondary school DS's would get a plate of food with 2 vegetables. Afterwards he was getting things like fish fingers and chips in a disposable cone with no vegetables - and it didn't stop when covid ended.

If you think this is bad you should see the school dinners in my kids infant school.

3-4 days per week they have something like Pizza, burgers, cheap sausages, fish fingers and chips, ultra processed chicken meatballs which look and taste disgusting. 1 or 2 days a week they have something that looks less processed: roast, curry with rice etc.

for pudding every day: sugary yoghurts, jelly, cheaply made cakey things no better than the op’s angel slice.

You can feed your infant kids as healthily as you like at home but unless they take packed lunches then they are getting a meal of an entirely processed nature 3-4 times a week, and for many its their main meal at that.

I saw that thread and people were annoyed because you seemed to be treating a post about tips for taking an autistic child with ARFID (whose safe foods included naan and Yorkshire pudding, as well as various types of breaded meat) to an unfamiliar country not known for those foods as a debate about chicken nuggets.

It’s a shit diet

This absolutely. I got absolutely lambasted on another post when a woman who was taking her autistic child on holiday would struggle as her child only ate chicken nuggets /turkey dinosaur and one other ultra processed food (sorry can’t remember. I said that I would do everything in my capabilities to ensure my child did not live on that diet . Wow I was called a twat , entitled, awful person, cruel etc . !!!!!!!!

• 'that's simply'. Won't let me edit!

🙄 Of course there's a process. As there is in most things we do.That's simply not what is meant by the phrase 'processed' or 'ultra-processed' food though. You can wilfully fail to understand that if you like, but the world isn't going to change the definition to fit in with you.

I don’t think there’s anything wrong with good quality fish fingers, or the nuggets made from chicken breast
The £1 for 20 are questionable imo.
fridge raiders are highly processed and the smell is nauseating and personally I gave my boys a chunk of cheese rather than Dairrylea dunkers( much cheaper and less salt) not to mention the plastic tubs.
Again moderation in all things, and I’d happily let mine have the biscuits( and sweets, chocolate etc)
Kids are more likely to self regulate and none of my 3 have a sweet tooth as adults and have perfect teeth( unlike me!)

Yes but there’s a huge difference between processed food and ultra processed. Which I’m sure you well know.

Steak is cut from the carcass and put in a pack. There are no added ingredients, no more processing than cutting a slice from atomato.
Processing is a loose term, but as far as the usual use for dietary purposes go then suggesting steak counts as a processed food is absurd.
Sausages, bacon and burgers are all processed meats. Not steak

It is shite. It’s UPF and it’s ubiquitous in this country. However some children have issues with food and genuinely will only eat beige,
ultra processed food. I’m not sure attacking people personally is going to get anywhere though. I thinK the change likely needs to come from the industry itself. Also more and more people are time poor and so rely on convenience food.

Come on. We all know there's processing the animal and cutting it up. That's not what we're talking about.

We're talking about the difference between a piece of beef meat being grilled and sliced and eaten, and something like a mechanically reclaimed beef grill that's had additives, fillers and moulded to look like a steak.

Stop being deliberately obtuse.

The odd meal is fine

It's not hard to do non UPF meals

Sausage, eggs, chips
Chicken casserole
Jacket potatoes
Omelette and bread

Etc

I let my kids eat beige food but I always make sure there's vegetables on the plate. They like cakes and crisps but also like fruit. About 3 nights a week I will make something from scratch. It's all about balance.

No, beige food is I believe refers to beige coloured often frozen stuff chucked in the oven.Chips, fish fingers, chicken nuggets, the godawful reformed turkey drummer type things, sausage rolls.
Sausage, mash and vegetables is a perfectly sound dinner!

Just accept defeat. You can take issue with eating meat all you want, that still doesn’t make steak a highly processed food. There’s no more processing than picking raspberries, moving them through a factory to be packaged and shipped to a store.
You’re just wrong.