I know IABU I feed my DC rubbish but feel too overwhelmed to change things :(

[toomuchjunk]

I have 4 DC and DH in the army away a lot. Me and 4 DC eat rubbish I know we do and I want to change. I have all the cook books, but feel to overwhelmed by all the ingredients etc. Also meal planning for 3 meals plus snacks and deserts takes me hours and I get stressed. DC are used to having sugary deserts like angel delight, jelly, ice cream and I don't know how they would react to plain yogurt or fruit. I cook a roast on Sunday with leftovers on monday but the rest of the week is frozen pizza, fish fingers, baked beans, breaded chicken fillets etc. Lunch is cheese sandwiches, I just cannot come up with other fillings the kids will eat. Each week I plan to buy healthy food but get overwhelmed with all the ingredients I will need to buy. Plus I have no idea how I will get the DC (age one, three, five and six) to change. There is no way they would eat porridge for breakfast, they all like chocolate spread on toast :( they guzzle sugar free squash and will not drink water. I feel so depressed, I had such good intentions when I only had one child, now I have four and I have lost my way and cannot see a way forward :(

I am going to try the banana omelette Snoogy!

I agree that small changes are the way to go, and to not get too stressed about it either. My DC are pretty fussy but I manage to get plenty vegetables into them with the help of my trusty handblender - you can get loads of veggies incorporated into pasta sauces, soups etc and if you make double quantities, it's not really any extra work at the time, you can stick the extra in the freezer and that's one meal less to have to worry about the following week.

For breakfast, thinking about your chocolate spread situation, why not try giving them porridge with a small amount (1/4-1/3 teaspoon) of chocolate spread to mix in? My DC love this and have it most days. They also enjoy mixing in the chocolate spread themselves.

I make the porridge out of a 50/50 mix of organic rolled oats and a organic muesli base of four other grains which I get from our local health food shop and cook them with milk (no sugar or salt added) You could just use rolled oats on their own but using the other grains increases the nutritional value further. It's really easy and quick to make once you get into the swing of it, and. although I am sure some people will throw their hands up in horror at the idea of adding chocolate spread, I use a good quality dark chocolate spread which contains very little sugar and I use such a small amount that it is far, far less than the amount of sugar they would be getting in a boxed cereal. We don't add any sugar to the porridge other than the small amount of chocolate spread. This breakfast is also pretty economical, even if you choose to use organic ingredients, and I buy 2 kg of the oats and muesli base at a time which keeps my two (3 and 7 years) going for around 6 weeks. DD isn't keen on fruit but for DS, I often add in some blueberries or banana etc into the porridge as well when it is being served up.

Fruit muffins might help get the fruit intake up as well, although I agree that getting vegetables into them is more important that fruit. Muffins are easy to make and if you steer away from recipes laden with sugar, they are quite a healthy option. I add a couple of handfuls of frozen mixed red berries into them (eg raspberries, strawberries, blackberries, redcurrants etc) at the final mixing stage and even my fruit-hating DD wolves them down. The DC also like to be involved in making them. Fruit muffins can be a nice pudding as well as a snack. Fruit cobblers or fruit crumbles are also nice puddings, easy to make and you can find recipes which aren't too sugary. Again, with muffins and fruit cobblers/crumbles, I tend to make double quantities and put the extra in the freezer as the start of the following week's menu. Making double quantities saves on time and washing up too!

Hope some of this is helps! I have picked up some ideas myself from the posts you've had. Am going to try a banana and egg omelette very soon!

I changed my diet at the beginning of the year to more simple foods. The banana omelette helped me the most as I needed a sweet substitute for cereals in a morning.

My fave food day now is:

Banana and sultana omelette with honey and almonds on top for breakfast.

Bacon and avocado salad for lunch.

Salmon and roasted veg for main meal.

An apple or dark chocolate for a snack.

I feel great when I eat like this with no IBS symptoms, bloating or sluggishness.

Well done for making the first steps. One meal a week is a fantastic idea. The children could make their own pizzas if time, they are more likely to eat them. I make loads of dough and freeze half so you only have to do it fortnightly. Or use pittas or naan bread. Have sweetcorn, peppers, mushrooms, tuna, cheese, pineapple then smaller amounts of ham, cheese etc. for them to choose from.

If they're not keen on fruit, how about making a fruit salad. Even tinned fruit (in juices rather than syrup) is a start. You could have a small amount cream/ice-cream or yogurt with it to make it more of a pudding if you wanted.

Here those "buffet teas" are an indoor pinnic and my DDs líked To lay them out as toddlers too. They always are moré if they'd "prepared dinner".

I agree that making one change is the way To go.

A breakfast mine have always líked is natural (I told them it was special breakfast yoghurt) yoghurt with chopped banana and a little muesli sprinkled over, or 1 buscuit crumbled miraculiously turned it into a pudding.

I wouldn't attempt to overhaul their diet in one go unless you are prepared to be very militant as you could be setting yourself up to fail.

I don't think there is much wrong with Rice Krispies and toast for breakfast so long as they don't have a mountain of sugar on it; if they do then cut it back bit by bit until they jsut have a sprinkle of sugar.

So far as squash goes, personally I would swap the no added sugar squash for normal squash and try and get as natural a version (Rocks or good quality Hi Juice) as you can afford.

Your roast dinners and left over roast is absolutely fine and I see nothing wrong with fishfingers really. You could try making homemade pizza (buy breakfast muffins, slice in half, spread with tomato puree and add toppings and cheese). I give mine mash and sweetcorn/peas/carrots rather than chips and beans when I do 'easy dinners'. You could try making soup and giving them pasta for lunch; soup is mega easy, saute an onion and whatever veg you are using, add stock and a few herbs, boil until soft and then blend if you want it smooth.

Same with macaroni cheese, just try making the things they like homemade to begin with and then eventually you just vary a theme but, maybe, just try one new thing a week or a month? Ham, peanut butter, egg mayo are usually reasonably palateable for sandwich fillers, maybe make one round of each including cheese so and given them one quarter of each sandwich so they get to try new flavours.

Feeding kids is hard because with 4 invariably not everyone will like the same thing so do what you can do and don't be hard on yourself. I don't know what they are like yet but I signed up for the healthy meals email from the government health campaign so you could look at that?

Do your kids like coco pops?

Ds2 will not eat porridge on its own...but he will if there's a handful of dry coco pops mixed in. It's actually very nice! And a handful of coco pops really doesn't bother me when it's in a big bowl of porridge oats.

Sounds pretty much like very normal diet. I wouldn't blame kids for not wanting to eat porridge (i hate porridge).

Have you seen that Sainsburys ad? Drops of yogurt with a slice of strawberry frozen like 'buttons' & thinly sliced Apple baked and sprinkled with cinnamon. ...worth a try?
How about natural yogurt with raisins?
TBH I wouldn't worry too much about fruit if they eat veg.
and I am so gonna try banana omlette

What about chopped fruit with ice cream? Or frozen banana instead of ice lollies?

Mashed banana on whole meal toast.

If lunch changes from cheese sardines then cheese on whole meal toast for brekkie or beans on toast for brekkie.

A handful of frozen berries thrown into a bit of natural (not low fat) yoghurt. Stirred and mushed is very nice.

Lasagne (you could make two and freeze one for later in the week or for the following week).

Vegetable curry with rice or on jacket potato.

Jacket potato with tuna and cucumber/peppers chopped into tiny pieces.

Lol sarnies not sardines! Tho my baby loves sardines, maybe your 1 year old will also love sardines!

The indoor picnic thing works great with my two. Sometimes they just ask for "cold things" which is DD's name for a plate of cut up fruit, veg, crackers, cheese etc.

Yesterday I was doing sandwiches and they asked to have them in their lunch boxes - I bunged a load of extra veg and fruit in and they took them outside to eat, it was such a treat for them!

A few people have hit on what I think is the key. Replace one thing per week every week.
Maybe week one you could ditch the sugar and replace it with rice malt syrup and/or stevia?
Replace the chocolate spread with a nut spread.
Replace the dessert with fresh fruit. Replace processed snacks with nuts, fruit, yoghurt (careful of the low fat ones which are often full of sugar and other rubbish).
Replace the squash with water - add some fruit pieces to make it more interesting?
Replace the sandwiches with a box with hard boiled egg, ham pieces, cheese pieces, chopped carrot - etc etc

I found one of the best ways to make the change easier was to become well acquainted with my slow cooker. It allows you to cook dinners far in advance and you can use really cheap cuts of meat.

There are some really good pages on Facebook which are full of brilliant ideas on how to make this sort of change.

I bet there are lots of people like this.

Tbh it sounds like you're just a busy family putting good on the table and trying hard. There's nothing 'wrong with that' and I personally think there's nothing wrong with something from the freezer a couple times a week, a takeaway here and there and the rest of the time doing your best to be healthy. IMO this is how normal people eat. There are people on here that will scorn at that and only eat green pepper flapjacks from scratch or whatever but yea right :/

Breakfast for us is a choice from toast, fruit, cereal. If it's not there you can't eat it so just stop buying the chocolate spread.

Dinners range from home made spag Bol & chilli, roasts, something from the freezer, jacket potatos, sausage and mash, fajitas. Basically things that are easy to do for a busy family with young DC. I too get overwhelmed with lots and lots of ingredients, but you don't NEED lots to make tasty, largely nutritious food.

For the record, we are all slim and healthy. And happy by the way.

Oh I forgot to say, we do love fruit and veg in this house and that's I'm quite stringent on. Every dinner will have at least 2 or 3 veggies either on the side or in a sauce and the fruit bowl is constantly stocked up.

Healthy Chocolate Porridge

Sounds pretty ok to me - just throw in a bit more fresh fruit & relax.

Thanks for posting about that sainsburys ad honeybee - I'd seen it once but forgotten, I'd really like to try the yoghurt buttons!

Oh OP, please don't be hard on yourself - so many of us have been where you are food-wise. It's really tough looking after young DCs and striving for that elusive varied & healthy diet too!

You are doing a brilliant job, and doing it by yourself. It's not easy.

My family meals have been revolutionised by discovering the wonder that is the Slow Cooker. They are cheap to buy, pennies to run, and it's amazing what you can produce with only a little practice. There's lots of advice on MN, fb groups etc to get you started.

I honestly regret that I didn't have one when my DC were small, as I too used to beat myself up about the convenience foods they ate. Now almost every meal is from scratch, but just thrown together mid-morning ready to be served at our convenience at dinner time.

Try it, you won't regret it! (and give yourself a break. )

Well... If 7 days is to much to plan, try 5. I plan Monday to Friday only. I cheat too. See....

Friday nights it's always fish. Dunno why. Just meant that one meal a week was fishy based. Fish fingers, fresh, battered. Don't care but it's fish.

Sunday it's always roast. Chicken or anything. That always gives you a roast dinner Monday night. And probs left over veg already done.

Tuesday it's always mince. Spag Bol or cottage pie or something. Chilli (no chilli in it, But looks different coz of beans n chickpeas and when much older I will put chilli in it.) But mince based. There's always left overs. I then give those Thursday.

This means that several times a week I already have meals ready for dinner.

That's all without the left overs of stuff that I freeze in small pots.

Breakfasts well mine always eat the same, toast or cereal eggs or bacon. Or yogurt banana.

So it's just lunches I really 'wing'. If dinners are planned I'm more relaxed as I know if we are out late I can feed almost as walk in via microwave, reheated home food. And it makes the witching hours of dinner bath beds smoother.

Alter to fit your tastes but you get the pattern...

For the fruit - ime kids much prefer fruit salad to whole pieces of fruit. I don't mean fruit salad like you would serve to adults. Just chop up two apples and half a punnet of strawberries and put it in a bowl. That's fruit salad. If you have some nectarines or a few grapes so much the better. Pour a little orange juice on it if you like. Let them serve themselves and eat it with cocktail sticks if you have some. That will probably get some fresh fruit in them!

Our kids were having too much fruit juice so we have started keeping a big jug of water in the fridge with slices of lemon and lime in.Add some ice cubes and everyone is happy so one meal a day has become just water.
Jacket potatoes is always a great easy meal. You can have some bowls of easy fillings and let the kids choose.
If we are at home for all meals we have a easy meal of bread or cheese and biscuits and have lots of cucumber/carrot sticks/celery/salad/mini tomatoes and some lovely houmous to dip it in.
The breaded chicken is easily done yourself and not really unhealthy. Try potato wedges rather than chips.
We find it is easier to write a plan for the week and shop accordingly.We don't always stick to it but it is a start.
Bolognaise is a great thing to batch cook and have frozen and you can add lots of finely chopped veg that the kids wont know is there. Can be had with so many things...pasta/rice/jackets/wraps/nachos/lasagne/cottage pie etc.
But it is so hard to stay motivated as it can just get so tedious.Are any of them old enough to help out?

I've managed to convince one of mine to drink water by switching to "mineral water", served with ice, which makes her feel very grown up

we bought one bottle of still mineral water about three months ago, and have topped it up from the tap every night when no-one's looking. the evil marketing people are definitely on to something.

I'm in the same position :/ When my baby was born I was full of it, going on about how she'd only ever eat home cooked meals and none of that processed crap.

Fast forward two years and I struggle to cook the most basic things like roasted sweet potato or something because I always seem to mess it up. She won't even eat these things. Unfortunately there's hardly any choice here in Sweden, they bring kids up on meatballs and hotdogs. The only veg she will eat are peas or sweetcorn, and some cucumber which is great but that means putting them in every meal otherwise she won't eat any veg with her meal.

My big struggle is the meat. She won't eat stripped chicken, or pieces of pork or beef cut into small bits, she won't have it blended with anything either. In fact, if there's any meat on her plate she will simply leave it.

The only way to get her eating meat is to give her meatballs or bloody hotdogs as a snack before her meal, as then she sees it as a special treat. Yes, the 'special treats' I've been panicking about because I don't want her to ever see food as part of any reward system.

When she visits her grandmother she dishes up a bowl of buttered macaroni and ketchup. That's all. No veg, no meat, just stodgy carbs. I've even had to fight about the ketchup as she would slather it all over whereas I only allow a few drops.

I want to take more control of my daughter's diet and enrich it, but I'm stuck for ideas....

...so I'm following this and going to read all the replies above.

Eggs! Eggs are brilliant. Scrambled (and mixed with milk)- protein, calcium and lots of other vitamins, dippy eggs and soldiers are always excellent and easy breakfasts/dinner even! Make the switch from white bread to 50/50 and eventually to wholemeal. Use a fortified spread on the bread. Cheesy omelettes are always good too. I lurve eggs.

Fruit wise. Make a fruit pizza? It's very simple. You can get recipes on google for the base, the sauce can be yogurt and then just top with a shed load of fruit. Banana muffins/bread/cookies are always good and you can make a batch to freeze. Blueberry muffins too. Pancakes for breakfast topped with yogurt and fruit. Greek yogurt mixed with honey/maple syrup and peanut butter and put some berries/grapes in there? Make shapes out of the fruit. Sometimes I do rice cakes topped with peanut butter, banana ears and eyes and blueberry mouth- rice cake bear.

Easy teas- as others have said homemade pizza is always good. Use wholemeal breakfast muffins, tortillas or even pitta breads as the base. Let the DC top with what they choose (within reason of course). Fish fingers are fine, especially the omega 3 Birdseye ones. Sweet potato chips? Just chop sweet potatoes into wedges, spray with some olive oil and into the oven they go. Fajitas are usually a hit with DC. Picnic tea or 'higgeldy piggeldy tea' as I call it always goes down well. Selection of carrot sticks, pepper sticks, ham slices, cheese, hummus, fruit etc. Pasta is never not good. Tuna pasta, cheesy pasta, pasta mixed with quorn or chicken pieces. Shepherds pie when weather gets cooler, hide some thinly chopped veggies in there. Beans on toast with cheese on top is one of the easiest and best meals you can have. Switch to low salt/sugar beans, 50/50 and then eventually wholemeal bread, fortified spread on the bread and top the beans with grated cheese. There's just about everything going on with that meal- calcium, protein, iron, carbs, good fats. Linda McCartney sausages, jacket potatoes. Cheesy bean mash.

Squash wise slowly weaken the squash. To jazz water up add strawberry pieces or squeeze some orange/lemon in there. Offer milk twice a day- flavoured milk

Breakfast wise toast is fine, try topping with peanut butter instead of chocolate spread. Cereals- porridge topped with honey/maple syrup/peanut butter/mix some yogurt in there, mash a banana in with it and top with chopped berries (make a face with the berries). Weetabix is good. Pancakes for a treat- use a sugar free recipe and top with honey or yogurt to sweeten.