What does your child's daily diet look like?

[Allthescreens]

There seem to be multiple videos on FB where people show what they feed their children & I just watched one which got completely slated in the comments. So it got me curious.

Especially interested to hear from people with older boys as I have 3, ranging from 10-15 & sometimes feel like I can never fill them up & they always want junk 🙈

2 year old typical day

B- Shreddies, weetabix or porridge with oat milk, peanut butter and fruit

S- crackers or oat bar or biscuit, and fruit

L- beans on toast, lentil soup and toast or scrambled tofu on toast with tomatoes and cucumber

D- tomato and sweetcorn chickpea pasta, butternut Mac n cheese, veggie sausages with sweet potato and peas

After dinner either soya yoghurt or a small treat like square of chocolate. Then milk with vitamins added before bed.

DDs are 7 and 4

Breakfast is either a "healthier" cereal e.g. Weetabix, porridge, shredded wheat or toast with peanut butter. Plus a piece of fruit.

They have school dinners which fortunately are decent and they're not at all fussy so eat any of the school options. Usually things like cottage pie, vegetable lasagne, bbq chicken, chicken curry etc. They do get a pudding at school which is often fruit but may also be things like jelly, crumble, chocolate brownie etc.

If they have lunch at home it's things like soup, jacket potatoes, egg on toast etc and I don't do a pudding at lunchtime at home.

After school they'll have a snack and I don't mind too much if it's something sweet. They'll often have honey on a crumpet, or a buttered hot cross bun , or some malt loaf plus fruit. Sometimes I'll do crackers and pate for them instead.

Dinners are normal family meals. Pasta bake, stir fries, roasts etc. Pudding is almost always greek yoghurt with fruit and honey but occasionally I'll give them a biscuit depending on what they had for pudding at school.

Overall I think their diet is reasonable. It's not perfect, they consume a fair bit of sugar but most of their meals are similar to things that DH and I eat. E.g. we would very rarely cook them some beige freezer food or typical "kid meals" like fish fingers or chicken nuggets.

At the age of 15, DD was eating cereal and toast in the morning. I sent her to school with a sandwich, portion of fruit, something like biscuits and one extra thing - cereal bar, slice cheese, occasionally crisps. At that age, she spent most of her lunchtimes working on coursework for GCSEs, attending extra voluntary support lessons for a couple of her subjects so often eat just one thing for her lunch, but she'd return home and eat is all straight away. She was veggie at that stage, so would have something like tomato pasta with kidney beans, lentil based dishes, crustless quiche with veggies. She isn't really into desserts, so would chose fruit, but never say no to chocolate!

3 DSs here, 4,8 & 10!

Breakfast - large bowl of fruit salad (berries, bananas, pineapple, mango etc.) with toast / crumpet and Milk.

Lunch - When at Home - Sandwiches, normally Ham or cheese, again with fresh Fruit salad plus cucumber/ tomatoes/ sweetcorn. Sometimes a packet of crisps too if they fancy. Otherwise it's School Dinners.

Dinner - Meal for all the Family, Pesto chicken pasta or Stir fry, Fajitas, Gammon & Potatoes, Chicken and rice, not too complicated but normally accompanied with few different veg.

Before Bed - Plain rice cakes, banana and Milk.

They have a snack bowl out that they can help themselves to throughout the day - Cereal Bars, Apples, Pears, Cheese portions, Rice-cakes and squeezy yoghurts.

I only posted about my 16yo DS but if I posted about DD who has ASD and struggles with food it would be a bit different!

DD(11)
Breakfast - if she isn't having a meltdown and has time for a sit down breakfast she will eat weetabix, Shreddies or avocado on a bagel. If I have to take something with us it is a chocolate chip brioche! (This is at least half the time.)

Lunch - at school she goes to the kiosk as the main lunch line is too long and noisy. So she just gets a choice of things like sausage rolls, pizza and lots of cakes! I think it's terrible. I make her take some fruit for break which at the moment has to be pomegranate seeds.

After school snack - houmous and carrot sticks, cheese and crackers or avocado on a bagel. Also like smoothie melts and crispy tiddlers.

Dinner - often ends up being just pasta and cheese or plain rice as she won't eat most of the food I make. Only vegetables she will eat are carrots and sweetcorn or cucumber. She had Quorn nuggets, chips and carrots last night. One meal she does really well on is wraps - she'll eat beans (even a bit of onion and pepper hiding in there!) with cheese and avocado) and she likes spaghetti with a tomato sauce which I will hide veg in.

She'll eat yogurt for dessert and also likes creme caramel pots or chocolate mousse and apple crumble and custard (She has these on the weekends.)

At the weekend she likes a couple of mini cans of Dr pepper, Oreos and sweets. Would eat these all the time if allowed!!

One DC has an exemplary diet (but mainly for medical reasons) the other eats a balanced diet (lots of fruit, salad and vegetables as well as more junk than I'd like) and one is a very restrictive eater who dislikes almost all fruit, salad and veg. This child is NT as far as we know but definitely has some sensory issues, mainly with food. It's taken a decade but they finally eat a few healthy things as well as their beige "safe" foods. All DC take vitamins and thankfully the food restricter will drink a smoothie (homemade!) most days so I'm confident they get 5 a day.

All DC are healthy weights, active and in good health.

Kids are 6 (exemplary), 9 (balanced) and 11 (restrictive)

She has been persuaded to have a pancake today

I’m sorry to say this but I found this a little concerning and obsessive rather than commendable. I hope she does treat herself and have lots of balance too. It’s great she wants to be healthy, though, otherwise.

My dc are younger, dd 6 and ds 9 their meals vary from day to day

Breakfast
Dd brioche, crossiant, pancake or choc cereal
Ds any cereal or porridge

Lunch
Dd sandwich, veg sticks or left over veg from night before (her choosing) when at school is a variety of school dinners
Ds sandwich and cucumber, pitta pockets with ham and cheese, fruits

Dinner
Dd normally just the veg option, sometimes chips. Only really eats steak pie, fried chicken or quiche otherwise.
Ds whatever we are having minus the vegetables

Desserts
Both enjoy fruit, cake, yogurt

Snacks
Both enjoy fruit, crackers, crisps, biscuits, sweets

Drinks
Dd water, tea, milk, squash
Ds water, hot chocolate, squash

My dd12 is very active- sports 6, sometimes 7 times a week depending on galas or matches. She has become more health conscious this past year.

Breakfast- 1 poached egg/ whole meal toast and glass of pure orange

Break- banana

Lunch- homemade wholewheat pasta, slicked chicken, tomatoes, peppers and pesto. Pot of raspberries/ strawberries/ blueberries.

After school snack- honey and oat bar or an apple/ orange

Dinner- homemade chicken and veg Thai red curry/ brown rice and broccoli.

After training snack- yoghurt with granola/ slice of toast/ biscuit (or slice of cake)

Apart from morning orange juice and only drink water

But @Weightwatcher2 . What does 'treat herself' with food mean? It's all individual and depends on your own taste buds surely. She loves eating the way she does, says it makes her feel good, and genuinely enjoys the taste. To her, a McDonald's for example, isn't a treat. It makes her feel bloated and slovenly. I have a horrible feeling, many of us, and I'm including myself here, justify putting crap in our bodies under the guise of a treat and balance. It was me who wanted her to have the pancake, for the same thought process as you, and I've kicked myself afterwards - I think it's my own guilt/jealousy maybe that I'm not able to eat like that. She enjoys it, healthy food IS a treat for her. She is not remotely bothered about how she looks (beautiful like most 15 olds) and is not one of those girls posting body shots on line. It's of no interest to her. So, no, forcing her to eat crap is not a treat.

I meant ‘treat’ as balance, I suppose - the occasional food that isn’t a whole food perhaps. This doesn’t have to be something like a McDonald’s. There are plenty of foods that are middle ground obviously. I won’t be thrilled if my DC eat too much junk but I’d hope they enjoy something like, off the top of my head… homemade avocado with salt, proper tortilla chips cooked in oil and cheese and sour cream? I can totally see where you’re coming from when you said you think some of us eat unhealthy food and justify it as balance. I’ve never talked about this on here but balance for me was important on a personal level. I used to genuinely enjoy eating clean and exercising nearly every day and I developed hypothalamic amenorrhea. (I’m only WeightWatcher2 now as I’ve a very young baby.) I’m not drawing a parallel of course, just explaining why balance was important to me, but it took me letting go of eating so clean and the exercise and I got pregnant. I used to think I was so healthy until someone told me the bleeding obvious(!) which was that there’s nothing healthy about losing your period. Thanks for engaging so politely and thoughtfully.

She is not remotely bothered about how she looks (beautiful like most 15 olds) and is not one of those girls posting body shots on line. It's of no interest to her.

And this was so refreshing to read and testament to you I’m sure. Forgot to say! I hope for this for my DD. @arethereanyleftatall

Ds is 16 and definitely still growing (for reference is currently 5'9" but with a 28" waist and 34" inside leg, his upper body has not caught up yet 😂)

Breakfast: on weekdays weetabix or porridge with a banana, Saturdays he usually has toast if anything at all and on Sundays I usually do a brunch/cooked breakfast of scrambled eggs, mushrooms, tomatoes and a couple of hash browns

Lunch: he takes a packed lunch to college and has a chicken sandwich, 2 portions of fruit, a couple of Babybels and a small malt loaf. Once a week on a Friday he goes to Taco Bell with his friend for lunch and has a burrito or quesadillas instead

Dinner: usually pretty balanced, I'm tracking my food to lose weight so it's usually healthy, lots of lean protein, good carbs and a couple of portions of veg

Snacks: yoghurt, all the fruit (I spend a small fortune on fruit but rather this than junk food even if it is a lot of sugar), he'll have a biscuit bar or a couple of plain biscuits in the evening too

We only eat desserts once a week on a Sunday unless we eat out and it's a small pot of chocolate pudding or similar. Since having his fixed braces fitted, he only drinks milk, water or sugar free cordial and has one glass of Pepsi Max a week (through a straw because of the braces)

I think it could be better but is fairly balanced, he gets a decent amount of exercise and has always been slim and full of energy, 10 year old dd is another matter, she'd live on chocolate and pizza if we let her

i have 4 Dc aged 4-9. Here’s Dc1’s who’s 9.
Breakfast: Porridge with apple or honey/syrup or peanut butter & toast. Or waffles.

snack: Apple or popcorn at school.

Lunch: wrap/sandwich either cheese or cream cheese on wholemeal. Carrots, melon & homemade flapjack or cake, bag of crisps. Orzo salad is other option with olives, cucumber, carrot, beetroot dressing & flatbreads.

After school snack varies, biscuit or fruit.

Dinner: Will only eat boiled potatoes. No fish and only meat is sausage from our local butcher. Will eat most veg, pasta & pesto, halloumi or mozzarella. Risotto. He loves homemade veg soup though and eats a lot of it.

snack: glass of milk or Horlick, if at Cubs will have toasted cheese sandwich or crumpet or tea cake.

He’s a big lad, tall & slim he has size 6.5 feet though which seem massive. Not into sports other than a bit of bmx, fussy compared to siblings and always completely of being hungry.

Complaining not completely.

He does eat chocolate bars some days and pudding is rather yoghurt/fruit or crumble/sponge & custard. He has free reign over cereal, fruit & our school snack box which is filled with various cereal bars/popcorn etc.

I have a 7 year old son. He only drinks water, won't even have squash.

Breakfast - jam/peanut butter toast, cereal, porridge or occasionally dippy eggs and soldiers.

Lunch- hot school lunches or sandwiches at home. Usually cheese and with something else after like a packet of crisps or tomatoes/cucumber, or a yoghurt. Depends what I've got in the fridge. Only fruit he will eat is apples or bananas.

Dinners- all kinds of pasta, roast dinners, sausage mash and peas, fish fingers and peas, jacket potatoes and beans etc.. yoghurt for pudding most of the time.

He has a swimming lesson once a week quite soon after school and on that day it's cheese on toast for dinner.

🤞he will like spicy food one day.

I have DD too but DS in your specified age range.
He has
B: Omelette/ Nutella on toast/ cereal (one, not all)
L: Chicken breast cob, crisps, cucumber & pepper, choc bar, fridge raiders
D: Mac & cheese with veg / Cajun chicken breast & salad / fajitas / Jacket spud / roast dinner

Snacks are usually a bowl of cereal in evening (he can't be arsed to make toast) or cheese & crackers & another chocolate bar if the box is open and he thinks he can get away with it without me realising

Breakfast would be weetabix, shredded wheat, cornflakes or branflakes. At the weekend it would be eggs of some sort, maybe a breakfast wrap with sausage, egg and hash brown, or poached eggs on toast.

Lunch they take a wrap or sandwich to school. Chicken, salmon, ham and cheese, salad. Crisps, the eldest will take a small cake bar too, I put fruit and carrot sticks in but they rarely get eaten.

Eldest gets home and has toast or super noodles or porridge oats. Youngest will have berries with Greek yoghurt and nuts.

Dinner is usually something homemade like a roast, spag bol, lasange, pasta, fajitas. Youngest usually has more fruit for pudding but eldest (teen) goes for a flavoured yoghurt.

Do a big roast once a week with a mountain of veg to try to get some in them.

I have 3 boys. The older two are 11 and 13(youngest is under 10). Today we are mostly eating pancakes but yesterday was a more typical day.

Breakfast- porridge made with whole milk, bananas and golden syrup plus a glass of whole milk

Lunch- A couple of those tik tok wraps filled with cheese, chorizo and tomato purée, some salady bits on the side, a bag of crisps, a pear and a couple of biscuits

A cereal bar/couple of biscuits/crackers or similar mid afternoon.

Dinner- Korean chicken bao buns, they had some chips and a couple of chicken dippers that needed eating up. I do usually do a couple of veg portions with dinner but last night was a rush.

A yogurt and a few Lindt chocolates.

Usually an apple or something a bit later in the evening.

Water to drink during the day.

Ds is 12, a typical school day looks like:
breakfast - 2 boiled eggs and 2 granary soldiers, piece of fruit he eats on the way to school
lunch: either a packed lunch of typical lunch things or something he’s bought at school
after school: snack plate I make for us both to share of crackers and cheese, kiwi, couple of biscuits,
dinner: whatever is cooked! Tonight it’s pulled pork, pittas, wedges (maybe, depending on the amount of potatoes we have!), coleslaw, sweetcorn fritters
pudding: tonight it’s pancakes but sometimes will be a yoghurt or some jelly or whatever’s in the cupboard.
Basically it’s an okay diet, we cook from scratch every night, even the pittas are homemade. As much unprocessed whole foods as possible.
He does obviously eat crisps and sweets but they’re as and when. He sometimes stops off at the shop on the way home for sweets but bless him always shares them when he comes home!
He eats a full steak, leg and drumstick and bit of breast when we have chicken; he has a large appetite and I try and steer him into healthy choices - the snack plate diversion from just eating crisps when he gets home.
I hear about teen boys eating extraordinary amounts of food but I do wonder how much of it is very high sugar/upf stuff that isn’t complex enough to be filling for very long.
Not to say that ds won’t turn into one of these boys himself!

Today DS12 has eaten:

Porridge with too much maple syrup
Glass of milk
Chicken curry and rice
Cake and custard
Homemade cake
Banana
Glass of milk

Later he’ll have:
Pasta with cheese sauce, bacon and broccoli
Milk and oatcakes

DD15 has had:

Weetabix minis with milk
Orange juice
Vegetable wrap
Homemade cake
An apple
Hot milk

Later she’ll have:
Pasta with cheese, bacon and broccoli
Yoghurt with compote (probably)

It doesn’t look much compared with other kids but they are both healthy weights (DD is very slim.) and eat adult sized portions.

Next week we are in the Alps. They love ‘ski food’ and will eat like absolute demons!

DS18 typical day-

• no breakfast aaaargh
• cooked lunch at school, usually eg pasta with tomato sauce. Fruit.
• After school snack- vast quantity of fruit, maybe pitta and hummus, scrambled eggs, beans on toast. Occasionally he also goes out and gets himself a Tesco meal deal or similar (completely unnecessary as we have plenty of food freely available to him but he just loves that Tesco meal deal)
• Dinner usually something like veggie chilli with lots of different beans and pulses, sapg bol and green salad, shepherds pie with peas and broccoli

Weekend-

• Breakfast- porridge, fruit or toast
• Lunch is usually vegetable soup with bread, cheese and various bits and bobs like raw veg and hummus, salads, cold meats
• Dinner- either as for the week or else a roast with a lot of veg. If he's going out it can be a struggle to get him to eat first but otherwise he doesn't bother and ends up eating crisps in the pub or McDs.

What has helped a bit with snacking is encouraging him to have a proper mini meal eg beans or scrambled egg with toast after school. Otherwise nothing fills him up so he ends up eating endless rubbish. If you're hungry enough to want to eat 3 bags of crisps that's a sign your body actually wants something decent and nutritious.

What is with this omg I'm gonna get so slated eeeeek nonsense? By who? People on MN who make up their children's organic/paleo/£300 a week diet as much as they make up all sorts on other threads?

Most kids eat pretty well and pretty healthily pre teen. Then they hit teens and eat everything. Whole pizzas. Whole swiss rolls. Whole punnets of grapes. Two jars of anchovies (thanks DS, I didn't need them for menus this week) and then go back to more regulated eating as they hit 20s.

DS eats endlessly. He's 15 and is constantly hungry, and growing.

A typical half term day's food (today)

Br: Two slices of wholemeal toast with butter & homemade damson jam, and two satsumas.
Lu: Baguette with ham & cheese, with a salad of lettuce, beetroot, cherry tomatoes and cucumber. Three fig rolls

afternoon snacks - banana, a packet of crisps, six crackers and pate.

Supper: A big bowl of wholemeal pasta with tomato and bacon sauce, followed by pancakes with blackberries.

He costs me a small fortune 😀

You are spot on @WillYouPutYourCoatOn 👏