to ask what 'processed/pre-made' food other people actually feed their young DC?

[Thurlow]

Just curious really. 20mo DC currently still eats well and we've been able to keep snacks still as oatcakes, veg sticks, that sort of thing. But I'm a pretty crap cook, so the meals aren't lovingly homemade stews or that. Yesterday she had supermarket filled pasta and sauce, few extra veg packaged food other parents actually do feed their young DC. Especially as often you come across threads where squash/chips/chicken dippers are considered the foods of the devil

Off the top of my head, we feed the toddler:
Fish fingers
Baked beans
Pre-filled pasta
Pasta sauces from jars (does that count?)
Very occasional microwave baby ready meal
Fishcakes
Quiche
Processed meats like haslet, cheaper sandwich ham etc

What pre-made or processed food do you feed your DC?

The CLAIM to be real cheese... Is that the case?

Mine eat whatever we eat (all from scratch) which sounds good but is usually followed by whatever crap we eat for pudding too.

Fishfingers
Fish cake
Baked beans
Pasta shapes in tomato sauce
Garlic bread
Cocktail sausages
Scotch eggs
Onion bajis
Samosas
Quiche

We cook most nights and put it in the freezer for DS. He eats a fish cake type meal about once a week. He's not a fussy eater (apart from salad) and eats well so I can't complain.

Only bread, nothing else is processed.

Baked Beans
Fish Fingers
Sliced Bread
Shreddies
Sausages
Chicken in breadcrums
Pizza

DS is 3.

Freezer food
Filled pasta and sauce
Tinned beans, ravioli, macaroni cheese, ratatouille
Filled gnocchi
Kids microwave ready meals
Crisps and chocolate
Squash

Breadcrumbs not crums, I can spell really

Wow arhivetsh, that's impressive.

How old are your DCs?

bakingaddict - Most of the things you've mentioned parents feed to their children whether they are upfront about it or not is a different matter.

Exactly

I always wondered because if you're not a massive fan of cooking and/or you don't have much time, the reality of what you serve for meals has to be slightly less than the standard I see on MN sometimes. I can rustle up some pasta and veg so DD doesn't have a ready meal when left alone with me, but as I'm not a great or experienced cook it's beyond me to make a shepherd's pie or spag bol with a toddler at my feet!

Interesting that most people buy the same processed things.

Like most people, DD eats well as DP cooks from fresh a lot and we freeze up meals, but I'm sure her average meals at home aren't stunningly impressive. I'm reassuring myself by the fact that so far we've avoided cakes, biscuits, crisps and sweets in any regularity, so her snacks at least are still very healthy and low in salt.

Arhibetsh, not even baked beans or sausages?!

Fish fingers every Friday, ds has them at school and dd at home, plus oven chips and peas.

They eat chicken dippers sometimes, also sausages, ham, cheese, crisps, biscuits, baked beans, jarred pesto.

They are fruit and veg lovers and I cook from scratch most nights so I don't sweat them eating some processed stuff.

Not much processed food here other than fish fingers, cookies (as a treat) & Jelly. Can't think of anything else. DS's eat that's (heavily) processed.

It's hard not to use processed foods, even if you deliberarely try. It's difficult to find tinned tomatoes without added citric acid, these days. I picked up a tin of coconut milk, the other week and was horrified by the ingredients. Your average stock cube has an ingredients list that reads like the index of one of my organic chemistry text books. It's the same for most of the more expensive stock pots, too.

fish fingers
baked beans (about 4 times per year)
If have play dates I get in breaded chicken goujons.
Pre made pizza (my dh brings home fresh pizza sometimes - but pizza is pizza - all crap imo)

Pasta sauces - all home made (did you realise you can cook up a really good tomato sauce in 20 mins). But pasta is also pasta and is processed imo.
I get some mini baby belle stuff sometimes. But he's not that into it. Also processed ham (aka ham).

So quite a bit.

My get out clause is that if he has processed food has to have it with a green vegetable.

My 2.9yr old refuses to touch the following:

Eggs
Cheese
Ham
Vegetables
Potatoes unless roasted or made into chips
Fish unless smoked mackerel (very salty!) or in fishfingers

So I really struggle with lunches! I'd happily make jacket spuds with tuna, macaroni cheese or ham omelettes but he won't eat a bite. So fishfingers and baked beans is a very frequent staple if we don't have leftovers from dinner. He likes a hot cooked meal like curry, chilli or bolognese but I can't do that every lunch time! He was great at blw when weaning but eats far, far more processed stuff than I ever envisaged back in those days!

jelly - think that is normal.

I remember my ds hugely fussy (less so but still fussy) and we at a party when he was 2.9 where others his age were chewing on legs of lamb. DS ate 2 crisps. Met this other lamb leg eating kid recently and he's now far, far fussier than ds. So have hope.

My 2 yo will eat:

Fish fingers
Beans
Toast
Chicken dippers
Pasta & pasatta sauce
Ham / cheese sandwich (occasionally)

And that is it! But at nursery she eats bloody everything, even things like cod morney, Mexican rice, curry, but if I try her with anything different (I tried lasagne last night) she refuses to eat it & goes to bed hungry...

Not sure what to do if I'm honest.

Its so easy to cook and freeze your own food and much cheaper. You dont need to be a good cook just buy a Annabelle Carmel cook book.

Processed foods are so bad for babies and adults.

The M&S kids range ready meals are amazing and I sometimes get them for myself

Nearly everything I feed them:
Fish in many forms
Potatoes in many forms
Sausages
Mince
Ham
Chicken pieces that're breaded or coated
Burgers
Quorn
Fajitas
Burritos
Pizzas
Cereal
Bread, toast and sandwiches

I can, and do, cook many meals from scratch (today for example they've had home made stew) but still many of the ingredients are pre prepared or processed. And a lot of the time it's easier to make something out of the freezer. Yesterday they had pizza fingers, potato croquets and cauliflower. Not particularly unhealthy but all of it pre-preapared. Even the veg I use for curries, stews and chillis is pre chopped and frozen.

And I use Asda's great stuff range of kids' ready meals and young's fish pies for when I really can't be arsed. I don't see a problem with it.

Fish fingers
Baked beans
Chips
Ham & bacon - occasionally
Pasta
Bread

... Probably lots of other stuff I don't think of as processed.

Oven chips.
Bread and bready things.
Flavoured tofu.
Hummus. Lots of hummus.
Occasional veggie burgers.
Pesto.
Cereal.

Only bread here, no because I am some sort of earth mother, but I'm a coeliac and most processed foods contain gluten so don't enter our house.

I'm struggling to think of anything DD (9) eats that isn't processed

Oh wait a minute !

Nope, can't think of anything.

Non-processed things DS eats:

Fresh fruit
Vegetables (mostly from freezer though)
Some meat and fish
Rice
Porridge
(do rice and porridge oats count as non-processed?)
Can't think of any thing else