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?

They are twins 2.5 yo, no sausages, no baked beans. We get 2 big boxes of organic fruit & veg delivered weekly. Meat is from butcher who gets it from a local farm. We rarely eat meat though. Most is beans and pulses which I soak and cook at home. They drink water. DC are bright & healthy so no junk is working for them.

Think brown rice is unrefined which may or may not mean unprocessed. Read a nutritionist who said children under certain age can't tolerate just brown rice or brown pasta - bad for their gut, need to mix it with white.

I have MS so processed food, meat and dairy are really bad for my health, so as a family we eat none of it (DTs have meat sometimes and we eat it once a year on Xmas day). It's quite easy to cook and we don't have a microwave and our freezer only has frozen peas in it.

Whatever he fancies that day

My friend the dietician says baked beans on wholemeal toast is a complete meal and good for you. I suppose you'd have to go for the low sugar and salt option to really feel saintly, but they taste of nothing.

I put pre-grated cheese on our beans on toast too

arhivetsh - don't go getting smug on us with your DC's diet!

I didn't even think of bread and cereal as processed

Glad other people feed kids about the same amount - don't get me wrong, DC eats plenty of fruit and veg but I just don't get where people have the time to cook from scratch EVERY single meal...

Oh, and I'm sure everyone else's kids are bright and healthy on some junk food too

I wasn't being smug, it's just the way it is. If we eat crap then I could have a relapse so we don't.

OP, I have used all on your list except microwave baby food, and I wouldn't have bought that because I am to tight to spend money on something he may not eat.

Arhivetsh - ooh want to share a meal plan or some recipes/ideas? We're trying to eat less processed food.

Its funny - we don't eat classic "processed food" like ready meals, but when you look at it we do eat baked beans, sometimes ham, bread, cheese, etc.

Sorry, or quiche or ham. No chance it would be eaten so it stayed in th shop.

We get meat and veg delivered in a veg box or from the farmers market. I cook from scratch most days and dd eats anything apart from dairy and eggs, but we still also eat crap on a reasonably regular basis. This includes:

Baked beans
Sausages
Pasta sauces
Veggie burgers
Falafel
M&S microwave meals
M&S salady bits
Bread sticks
Fish fingers
Biscuits
Cake

We also eat out about once a week and who knows what they put in stuff.

Oh and dd is bright and healthy so a moderate amount of junk is clearly working for her.

My DD eats a lot of processed I guess,but I go by the ingredients. As long as there's not loads of salt or additives don't see the problem.

I make pizza etc myself but the cheese and pasata are processed so do it more for taste really as we like home made.

It's really interesting what one person sees as processed and another sees as pretty good food. For example pasta sauces and pesto - I included it in my list but really, especially as I chose the lowest salt etc versions available, I don't particularly count them as processed.

Similarly fish fingers and baked beans (again low salt which I agree, they taste awful!) I'd consider a relatively good meal, plenty of protein and fibre.

Processed vs. unprocessed isn't very high up my list of things to care about tbh! Even when I cook "from scratch(ish)" I use lots of cheats - bolognese sauce for lasagne, frozen mash for fish pie, tinned ratatouille etc.

Obviously a diet exclusively made up of findus crispy pancakes and beans isn't ideal, but sausages and fishfingers and pasta pesto a few times a week, cereal for breakfast and lots of fruit and veg = not a problem imo.

LittleRobots pm me and I can email you a great recipe book in pdf format. Lots of great ideas for starters, snacks, mains, soups and desserts.

The advice about not feeding under-5's whole grains was not around when my kids were under 5 (they're only almost 8 and 11 now!) I made 2 big batches every week of brown rice for both of mine as toddlers and mixed it with adult vegetables & chicken/fish - (adding Marigold bouillon and olive oil in increasing doses as they grew older).

I have no earthly idea how whole grains could be considered bad in the context of a healthy diet. Brown rice must have comprised 30% of my kids' pre-5 diet.

Whole grains are hard for small children to digest and make it difficult for them to get enough nutrients.

I feed my kids Pizza Express pizzas every now and again. They also like Waitrose currys. I cook a proper dinner most every night.

Their snack diet is appalling, though. My dad just brought an enormous (2 kilo?!!!!!) bag of American candy along when he visited - they're making steady inroads - and they love Pepperami & walkers crisps. And peppridge farms cookies.

But if you tend to eat high fibre foods, remember that young children's stomachs can't cope with foods such as wholemeal pasta and brown rice. Also, too much fibre can sometimes reduce the amount of minerals they can absorb, such as calcium and iron.

From here www.eatwellscotland.org/agesandstages/children/yrtoddler/index.html

Off the top of my head my two have jar....

Spaghetti sauce
Soup
Instant rice (the ones with no preservatives...but I'm sure the salt content is not the best)
Cereal
Bread
Sandwich meat
The occasional hot dog

They eat whatever really...all in moderation I say. My 7 month old just ate a rusk (shock and horror!!) but he also had some tuna and veggies - no big deal.

Crowler - it's in the book called 'Yummy - Every Parent's Nutrition Bible' by Jane Clarke (recently did a MN webchat) published 2006.

I found the book completely overwhelming - and DD would only eat what she wanted from the age of 2 despite the angst I went through.

Dd is 19 months and eats a lot of processed stuff. Tinned ready meals like spag Bol and mince etc. Served with veggies though. I get quite upset about it sometimes (like earlier today actually) but the reality is atm that my MH prevents me from handling raw meat and that combined with low income means processed stuff it is right now. I just look at it like at least she's eating somewhat balanced because she will try anything and I watch the salt etc.