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AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

Original poster

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

135 replies

Thurlow · 06/10/2013 10:50

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 Grin

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?

OP posts:
Retroformica · 07/10/2013 04:33

Sorry I think most of your food listed is crap op and too wheat based. Even your pasta filled shapes is probably rubbish white flour. Why not change to wholemeal?

I think you need to take this as an opportunity to learn to cook basic wholesome stuff. It's a great skill to have and in the long term will make a huge difference to their general eating habits.

Never really bothered with fish fingers, quiche, filled pasta, sausages and other processed stuff with our little ones. We just served them what we ate - so homemade curry, lumpy homemade soups, chilli etc. quick meals tended to be omelette with veg, jacket potato with mackerel/salmon/cod and salad etc. My boys are amazing eaters and the opposite of fussy.

Sirzy · 07/10/2013 05:59

My son is an amazing eater and the "opposite of fussy" even with the odd bit of processed food in his diet.

As part of a balanced diet then there is no problem with some processed food.

finncotta · 07/10/2013 06:06

The only processed food we eat is baked beans occasionally. Unless you count things like the odd kitkat?

Processed food is full of salt and tastes horrible! I wouldn't eat it myself or feed it to my dcs.

It's very easy to make a homemade pizza with fresh tomato sauce, for example, and it tastes so, so much better than a ready-made one.

We don't eat meat or fish so I guess that immediately cuts down the amount of processed food consumed.

Original poster
Thurlow · 07/10/2013 07:25

Thanks, retroformica, but ironically all the 'crap' listed above is what I eat myself. In fact, if I fed DC just what I ate, that would be one very badly fed baby who never saw a piece of fruit from one day to the next Grin

OP posts:
BlackholesAndRevelations · 07/10/2013 07:29

This thread was going so well, and was so non-judgmental.... In fact, I was wondering if I'd stepped out of mumsnet and into another site....

SoupDragon · 07/10/2013 07:33

My boys are amazing eaters and the opposite of fussy

Which is mostly down to luck.

Chunderella · 07/10/2013 08:27

This reply has been deleted

Message withdrawn at poster's request.

Chunderella · 07/10/2013 08:48

This reply has been deleted

Message withdrawn at poster's request.

gordyslovesheep · 07/10/2013 08:54

If I ignore one or two posts this thread is a refreshingly unjudgy treat

bigkidsdidit · 07/10/2013 08:55

Mine doesn't have that much, I have a bread maker and I have to cook for DH and I as we are low carbing, which doesn't lend itself to ready meals. I like cooking too and don't buy pasta sauce etc because they're so expensive and Easy to make. But DS does have those pre filled tortellini from sainsburys once or twice a week, squash, and a mini chocolate bar a couple of times a week. Also petit filous at the childminders and fish fingers at his granny's.

SamHamwidge · 07/10/2013 09:01

I can't honestly see what is wrong with most of these foods! Esp things like fishcakes. Chips are just potatoes and oil (I know you have to watch salt)

I think if I let her DD 23 months would happily drink coffee too, she always wants a bit if I am having one same with red wine but I have only literally let her have 1drop off my finger

It's a myth they only like bland foods

ringaringarosy · 07/10/2013 09:20

i actually find with mine the more strong the flavours are the more they like it,we dont really eat anything bland.

I disagree that having good eaters is down to luck,nothing is down to luck.

ringaringarosy · 07/10/2013 09:23

i find with first children you are more fussy about what they eat,dc1 didnt have any chocolate or crisps or anything like that til he was 3,the others were 2 and 1 by then and they were the same,but dc4 is 1 on wednesday and ha salready had ice cream,pombears and chocolate buttons!His older siblings give them t him and tbh i dont really mind,he eats really well the rest of the time.

BrightSunshineyDay · 07/10/2013 09:44

I think a lot of it is down to luck. I have 3 DC. All are given the same meals, snacks etc. One DC is incredibly picky and would survive on toast if it was down to him, one DC will eat the perfect diet, the other DC changes his tastes on a say to day basis.

BlackholesAndRevelations · 07/10/2013 11:17

It is very much down to luck and personality type!

Sirzy · 07/10/2013 11:20

I can't honestly see what is wrong with most of these foods

me either, and I think most parents feel the same.

Its all about balance and overall diet.

Original poster
Thurlow · 07/10/2013 12:06

I think it's mostly luck too.

Obviously it helps if you a) introduce a wide variety of foods, tastes and textures, b) if you limit the amount of high sugar, fat or salt foods (because most people are going to prefer them!) and c) if you're able to vaguely win any battle of wills over whether your child will eat what's in front of them.

But much of it is going to be simply down to your child's personal tastes and preferences.

OP posts:
ScarletLady02 · 07/10/2013 12:21

I will admit DD doesn't have the best diet. She is amazingly fussy but I keep offering her things. She point blank refuses fresh fruit and I have to hide vegetables. She's also gone right off meat (DH jokingly says I've been secretly influencing her - I'm vegetarian) She is nearly 3 and ate a bit of cooked carrot yesterday...I'm so pleased!!

Just goes to show though that parenting isn't the only influence on diet as me and DH are both really good cooks and we eat a really good diet. DD just won't try things. My tactic is to not make a big deal and keep offering her stuff...I can't force her to eat things, and I don't want to make meal-times a battle.

She even bit a strawberry the other week...she spat it straight out, but just getting her to TRY something is a revelation.

She loves things like fish-fingers and chips, so I try and make that as healthy as I can and just keep offering her healthier things as well.

ringaringarosy · 07/10/2013 12:52

theres no such thing as luck!!!!!!!

ringaringarosy · 07/10/2013 12:55

obviously you can do the same thing with 2 children and have two different outcomes,but not in extremes.

And i say this as someone who has 4 and does give processed foods,daily,i dont see how you can avoid it,espescially when you are counting things like bread as processed,i mean i know bread is a processed food as it doesnt grow on trees does it Smile but when someone says processed to me i think fish fingers,crisps etc.

RandallPinkFloyd · 07/10/2013 12:58

No. You're absolutely right.

The fact that my DS has food issues is totally down to me. Please excuse me whilst I self-flagellate.

(There's always a couple who feel the need to rock up on this kind of thread isn't there)

RandallPinkFloyd · 07/10/2013 13:00

obviously you can do the same thing with 2 children and have two different outcomes,but not in extremes.

Really? Gosh, you'd better start getting that message out to the masses because it seems like an awful lot of people don't realise that and have forced their children to have different personalities.

Rowanred · 07/10/2013 13:07

Dd has cooked meats ( I do roast a ham myself but buy chorizo and pre-sliced turkey).
An occasional m&s baby ready meal.
And bread- all sorts

I don't think she has anything else processed. I won't let her have anything breaded ( like fish fingers or chicken nuggets) as I think it puts them off the taste of real food.

I make pasta sauce myself. Although actually thinking , she does have pesto from a jar occasionally too!

And she does have cake/ chocolate sometimes if we're meeting friends. And if we are at a restaurant or someone else's house I dont care what she has. I just don't buy stuff at home I don't want her to eat.

Original poster
Thurlow · 07/10/2013 13:12

Rowanred, yes, very much I just don't buy stuff at home I don't want her to eat. That's what we do. Obviously I'm in the great conglomerate of people giving their kids 'crap' to eat (Wink) some mealtimes, but I just don't have cake, crisps, any bicuits bar malted milk (and those only for an emergency, really) in the house as it's easier. So you weigh off one 'bad' thing with another.

You can kind of see from this thread that people are doing that. Some posters seem to have healthier meals than I might make, but allow more snacks. Both seem perfectly normal to me.

OP posts:
Rowanred · 07/10/2013 13:30

Yes I think it balances out. I think baked beans are actually quite healthy are they not? I don't buy them because I don't like them!

Shop bought sauces are normally really high in salt- pasta ones are easily replicated in 20 mins with a can of chopped tomatoes and curry based ones you just need a tin of coconut milk with a little curry paste. I make really spicy curry but just put 2 spoons of yogurt in dd's to make it milder!