What is really stopping us from feeding our children healthy food?

[LilMissRe]

I saw an article today about obesity levels in little children and how it is increasing to dangerous levels. I'm intrigued as this is for a project I'm doing to graduate from university- hopefully this year!

The concern here is that, well, little ones (0-5 yrs) have the least say in what they can eat and drink, and as many don't start school officially till 4-5- schools can't really intervene and so a lot of experts place the blame entirely on us parents- especially mothers.

In my opinion I think time and marketing of unhealthy food is a big player here and is to blame, but I can't just use my opinion and would be very grateful for your opinions and experiences on this.

What is really stopping us from feeding our children healthy food?

Thank you!

I don’t think time or cost have anything to do with it. It takes 10 minutes and about £3 to make a stir fry for a family of 4

Is that a joke?!
Noodles - 50p? Probably more.
Broccoli - 70p is cheapest I've seen
Sweet pepper - As above
Mushrooms - £1

Oh look!
We've hit £3 bar 10p or so and don't even have any sauce!

Rubbish, I make home made soups, nowhere enough calories in them unless you eat lots of bread with it. Fine for a lunch though.

Soup is actually a really good example of a cheap and easy main meal. We have it about once a week. You can make loads at once and then freeze it in bags too. Add lentils or pearl barley (these cost pennies for big bags).
You can even make it in the slow cooker which takes even less time.

It’s slightly more effort than opening a tin, granted. But not much.

I make plenty of soups with a good 400-500 cals. Plenty for a meal with bread.

@tigerbear i agree Someone in a low paid job who is "on call" is not going to start cooking in case they suddenly get called into work on their managers whim. Because they wont be able to just waste food thats half cooked because they cant afford to So they wont risk it,

They should be paid for being "on call" like people in high status jobs are. Its totally a class issue

400 calories with 1 slice of bread. So 500 calories. Fine if you don't eat much. I need more food than that. That is a lunch amount of food.

The idea of a thick veg soup with pulses and bread not being enough for a meal is one of the reasons the country is fat.

You don’t need to be ‘full’ every time you eat.

It costs more than £3 to make stir fry anyway I'm sure. On the odd occasions I make it (which isn't often as I rarely fancy it), I put in:
It can sit more or less depending what you put in.
I mostly have ingredients already in as basic cupboard stock for many other recipes such as sesame oil, soy sauce, root ginger, honey, lemon juice, peanut butter so I'm not buying them for a one use meal. I'm not going go work out exactly how much but with the exception of the ginger all of them last for ages and used in many meals.
A pack of frozen veg is £1 from Iceland, aldi and about £1.20 from Tesco and Asda.. I only use 3/4s of a bag.
I dont put noodles in usually but may have rice, which again is a stock cupboard staple for many dishes.
Sometimes I'd leave it like that but if I have a kilo bag of cashews I may put handful in.
Even if it is slightly more than £3 it is pretty nutritious and good value for a family meal that is made extremely quickly.
It can be made quicker than potato smiles and fish fingers anyway.

400 calories with 1 slice of bread. So 500 calories.

So have an extra ladle full.

400 calories with 1 slice of bread. So 500 calories. Fine if you don't eat much. I need more food than that. That is a lunch amount of food.

And butter.

This is why people are overweight. 500 calories is, unless you are very active, a perfectly reasonable amount for dinner.

Okay so 2 bowls of soup with 1 slice of bread would be enough yes.
I know there is a lot of under eating on MN, and people who eat a lot of snacks. But if you eat 3 meals a day, then you do need a decent meal. I find if I eat too little, I just snack.

roundabout I would not have butter, just bread. I am going to leave this now, but no 500 calories is not enough for a main meal. That would mean I would eat a total in a day of about 1200 calories.

Are you underweight jenny? Personal question and not an attack so obviously only answer if you want to

I mostly have ingredients already in as basic cupboard stock for many other recipes such as sesame oil

It gets worse...

Some people literally have no spare money whatsoever.
Building up a store cupboard just isn't an option for them.

Stir fry does not cost £3 or less with entirely bought ingredients.
It just doesn't!

A point to make while everyone ( including me ) is squabbling about how much a stir fry costs and you can get things cheaper, well if course you can, but not everyone who over eats and makes unhealthy choices with food is skint. Some people have a bit if brass in their pocket and still eat shit.
I thought this thread was about why arent the general population eating healthier rather than everyone being too broke to stick some veg in a wok.

Wellerr No I am not.

What do you eat for breakfast and lunch then? Snacks? Drinks?

Today I ate:

Porridge with frozen berries honey and tbsp cream on top

Chickpea salad (chickpeas, feta, red onion, tomato, spinach, avocado, dressed with lemon and olive oil)

Dinner will be herb and garlic salmon with broccoli, salad and a bit of cous cous if I'm super hungry

Works out to about 1700 calories, absolutely plenty for someone of my height (5ft3). I drink tea throughout the day with full fat milk and I run 4-8k 3 times a week. I'm not running this week as it's too hot. On running days I might have some fruit as an extra.

Stir fry does not cost £3 or less with entirely bought ingredients.
It just doesn't!

You can buy a frozen bag in Aldi that will do a few meals for about £1.80.

It gets worse
I've already replied when you posted so a x post but my point stands. Not everyone is down to their last bean, many are but even on this thread people are saying they haven't got time to cook because they are rushed doing extra curricular activities.
The stir fry meal was an example of something that can be made very quickly and also quite healthy.

I thought this thread was about why arent the general population eating healthier rather than everyone being too broke to stick some veg in a wok

But a massive reason why the general population is unhealthy is directly due to not having enough money!
Sure some people are comfortable and still eat terribly but for a significant proportion of people money, or lack of, is a big reason why they are making poor choices.

A home made sandwich or couscous salad - 300 calories
cereal, or toast, or porridge made with skimmed milk - 300 calories
then main meal about 800 - 900 calories
snack - apple, glass of red wine

You can buy a frozen bag in Aldi that will do a few meals for about £1.80

And what if you can't get to an Aldi?

Neither me or DH drive nor can we afford lessons, tests, car, insurance etc.

We are completely reliant on walking the 10 minute walk to the shops.

Bus to the city centre isn't an option because of time, all of our kids are in different schools and the youngest is only in nursery until 12 so going to the city centre to shop would mean being late to pick up the youngest, plus the fare would eat into my shopping budget.

But it's no money. You can still eat healthily on a crappy budget. It's about educating yourself to cook properly.

Wellerr That simply will not have enough calories in it. You need to add chicken or fish to it and a sauce. It is just the frozen vegetables. I think you can cook cheaply, but you need to have food that actually fills you up.

Being poor is no excuse. When I was poor I lived on cereal for breakfast, then one jacket potato with tuna or beans at lunch and a banana and cup of tea for supper. Whilst freezing my tits off because I couldn’t put enough money on the meter to run the storage heaters.
Been there, done that.

It’s laziness and blaming everyone else that is the issue.