to think fruit and vegetables are a bit of a con

[mariej2]

Me and the hubby have both never been a big fan of fruit and veg. We don't worry about having 5 a day and probably rarely do. We are both healthy late 30s, not overweight and hardly ever get ill.

Now dd is at school we are having her friends round for dinner. One was horrified that we fed her daughter fish fingers, baked beans with diet cola. To be fair we would usually have sweet corn with this meal simply because we like it but we had ran out.

It feels like kids are being punished by feeding them kale and broccoli and nothing nice.

Apparently a glass of orange juice has as much sugar as a Mars bar. If you give your child the orange juice that's not much of a treat and once they become a teenager they will gorge on all the forbidden foods!

I think this whole eat fruit and veg is a conspiracy to make the supermarkets more money and make people miserable.

This thread is making me really worried about my health.

I was talking to DP about it and we worked out I'm only eating veg once a week.

Tonight I had roasted carrots and a couple of mange tout but DP said the amount was less than a portion. I are it because I feel that I should. I didn't enjoy it as such.

Last week I had 5 baby beets (from a jar) with a steak.

The week before I had carrots and green beans with a roast.

I've never tried kale but I have tried just about every other type of vegetable I can think of. The only veg I actually like is garlic and mushrooms. But they aren't very nuitritious are they?

I do have quite a 'child like' and monotonous diet. I don't like strong flavours or different things mixed together, with the odd exception for things like spaghetti Bol.

I eat lots of dairy, fruit and wholemeal bread. Am I maybe getting enough nuitrition from those?

Have you tried sneaking vegetables into things? I have a friend whose husband doesn't like a lot of vegetables, and she puts them in other food. She said last week she coed red peppers really fine and put them in meatloaf. He ate it and didn't even realize they were in there.

I think we are going to try this as I'm so worried now.

DP used to hide extra veg in tomato sauces for the DCs but now they eat veg anyway he doesn't do it anymore.

Have you tried sneaking vegetables into things?

Sorry steff that conjures up lovely images of trying to smuggle underage vegetables into night clubs.

weatherall

Take your bologness as a starting point and put something extra so small chopped up or pureed that you dint notice.

Could you try courgettes with your garlic mushrooms they are similar in texture.

If you like cheese try some roast veg with cheese sauce on. I think you need to try some stuff and build up your flavours and get used to it slowly.

How about avocado and tomatoes they are a bit sweeter and a bridge?

You nee to get some greens in for iron/folate. - try cabbage with butter and pepper on, in time reduce your reliance on the butter for flavour.

Be careful as you introduce any additional quantities to be mindful of your digestion.

If my child had come back from a playdate having been fed that, I wouldn't have really minded, at least not enough to say anything. I would however, have assumed that the parents were uneducated and skint, and my child would have noted, privately to me, that the family hadn't offered her any proper food.

Eat what you want but don't kid yourself that diet isn't linked to health.

andsmile thanks. I'll try the roast veg and cheese. I started putting red pepper on my pizzaso I could probably manage that.

There were roasted courgettes at dinner tonight but I didn't eat them. I don't like the taste or texture.

I will have tomato sauces now- I didn't as a kid. But I do t like tomato soup or ketchup. I will eat a fried tomato but I don't like it. I also don't mind a slice of tomato hidden in a cheeseburger! I'll eat a couple of cherry tomatoes but I can't say I really enjoy them. I eat a lot if pizza so I am greeting some lipomeme there.

The smell of avocado has been enough to stop me ever tasting it. They smell like soap.

I find black pepper burns my mouth. I can taste the tiniest amounts in dishes.

I actually don't mind brussel sprouts that much but DP and the DCs don't like them so we never have them. I might start doing them just for me, especially with butter and lardons.

I'm picky about veg, and am relaxed about how much ds eats as a result (memories of sitting at a plate with leeks in crying because they made me gag and mum was determined to make me eat them).

But we always have an in season green veg, carrots, sweetcorn, frozen peas and basic salad stuff (no tomatoes, they make me gag). At lay one, preferably two is served with every meal and they're generally tried.

I would have had mange tout or green beans with the steak. Nice and crisp.

No who would start a post dissin veg...is the potatoes or the eggs?

I would however, have assumed that the parents were uneducated and skint, and my child would have noted, privately to me, that the family hadn't offered her any proper food

My goodness and I thought I was a snob. There is nothing wrong with fish fingers and beans. I might have added grilled tomatoes but to say fish fingers and beans aren't proper food is silly.

phaedra I would serve fishfingers and beans to a younger child on a play date or pizza and chips. I buy these items in special for the 'playdate' as its easier. The main aim of the childs visit is to play and socialise so I keep the food fuss free. BUT I now don't consider fishfingers and beans proper food as they are both processed products - we now eat clean as much as possible so in my view they are not proper food.

...unless they were homemade but I dont think we are talking about them being that are we.

Oh no, my 3yo eats fish fingers and beans twice a week at least - does that invalidate my First from (RG) university? There was nothing in my degree specifically relating to the horror that is Birds Eye so I wasn't aware that it was an education issue...

I agree it's not a wonderful meal and I understand that processed food is not ideal, but it's something that the majority of kids will eat so it's a fairly safe choice for a playdate. I would not be making notes on a parent's education or lack thereof based on this meal and I wouldn't think that it mattered whether they were skint or not...I wouldn't be adding them to my list of Commoners To Avoid Lest They Contaminate My Child anyway..

I love vegetables, I like colour on my plate and they taste lovely.
Your meals must be quite boring if you just have meat and carb all the time. My children all love vegetables too.
I wouldn't care if my kids had fish fingers, beans and diet coke at your house although they prefer proper coke and would wonder where the chips were.

"or pizza and chips."

Now, I would have offered pizza and salad. Just saying.

See, to me meals with veg are boring.

I'm going to make an effort to add some eg I can tolerate green beans with steak. But it's a chore and I don't want to spend my life dreading meal times.

Weatherall why not start a thread on the food/recipes board asking for advice on increasing veg? There are some really knowledgeable foodies on there, I bet you'd get lots of ideas :)

"See, to me meals with veg are boring."

And meals without veg are boring to me, and unhealthy. You need to get over the idea that vegetables are boring and horrible because they really aren't.

Weatherall have you tried making a vegetarian main? Veggie shepherds pie or chilli is really tasty. It incorporates the veg into the main meal so it's not a chore it's just your main meal.

"It feels like kids are being punished by feeding them kale and broccoli and nothing nice."

That doesn't make sense. For a start some children like brocolli and kale beleive it or not. But anyway no-one makes a child just eat brocolli and kale, usually there is something else that you may or may not see as 'nice' to go with it. I have no issue with fishfingers TBH but I probably would always serve some sort of veg with them.

BTW if suspect that supermarkets make more money on processed and packaged food than on veg and fruit.

I love fruit and veg, we have healthy smoothie every morning which makes me feel great. I feel tired and bloated if eat crap food.

Thanks fuzzpig, will try that. I do try to avoid thread about threads but it's probably a good idea here. (Although I'm sure OP is long gone from this one!)

Spottyteacakes my DP is a vegetarian! So we do have vegetarian meals- they just don't have much/any veg in them. Eg pizza 2/3 times a week, macaroni cheese, cheese and ham omelette, egg and chips, chips and cheese, baked egg. Breakfasts and lunches are things like bagels and toasties, beans and toast or eggs and soldiers.

Anyway I'm off to start another thread.

I've never had a juniper berry. Are they nice?

They are if you have them as gin

I'm always baffled on "coke for children" threads (a side issue on this thread I know) that people bang on about aspartame/sugar/carbonation/phosphoric acid, but nobody ever mentions that giving Coke to a child not habituated to caffeine at supper time is a recipe for a nightmare bedtime. I would be less than impressed.