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 :(

Small steps is the key. Drop one thing at a time and replace it with something else No one has the perfect diet.

Their diet doesn't sound that bad. Do they like pasta? You could make a tomato-based sauce with extra veggies (just sautee some carrots, onions, etc, bung in some tinned toms/passata and whizz smooth with a hand-held blender) and serve this on pasta with cheese for some protein. They'll only taste the tomatoes.
Most kids like raw carrots to munch on.
A small glass of fruit juice counts as one of their 5 a day.
What about roasted veg? Just chop into chunks, toss with some veg oil and roast for about 20 minutes or so. The veg (root veg works best plus cherry tomatoes) goes really sweet.
I don't think a small pudding after their main meal will hurt their health. The important thing is that they are active every day.

I think you should cut yourself some slack - 4 children under 6 - the fact you manage to feed them at all is impressive. I can just imagine the war over who likes what! No wonder you chose simple stuff that is quick to make. Why not just try to change a few things gradually rather than dispair of everything. You make a roast which is great, can you also make mince in tomato sauce, so you have bolognaise or shepherds pie? that's really easy and will also make you feel better especially if you put some veg in it. For breakfast why don't you try brown bread and chocolate spread, then maybe brown bread and honey, and then porridge and honey? IMO they like food they have made themselves, so you could try a home made pizza evening? I would try to just say you've run out of squash so they have to drink water. That's the one thing I would try to change. Cheese sandwiches sound nice - like them myself - can you try cheese and apple? Food is important of course, but so is a relaxed loving mummy so don't make this a stick to beat yourself with
x

I know how you feel when my dh was in the army and mine were littlies I was the same. I felt overwhelmed too so I just started changing a meal at a time.

For breakfast you could add a banana with the Nutella on toast. Lunch add some carrot sticks and a dip? For the main meals have a go at making your own breaded chicken. You only need chicken, egg and breadcrumbs. With the pizza you could make your own dough or you could make your own from French sticks cut in half and then tomato purée and get the kids to add their own toppings. Add some chopped fruit in the jelly when you are making it.

You don't have to change everything straight away just a few tweaks here and there to get you started.

Smoothies is a great way to get goodness onto them!

My kids favourite smoothie: banana, strawberries, blueberries (or other similar), Banana & apple juice.

Great suggestions above. I'd add trying to make he made versions of what you know the kids enjoy from the shop. Pizza is quite easy, and you can cheat a bit by buying the bases until you're ready to try to make dough. And home made oven chips by cutting potatoes and spraying with fry-lite and baking. Also works with sweet potatoes and carrots, parsnips, courgettes, peppers.

Not "he", home.

Sorry I just noticed I had posted this topic twice by accident. Thank you for all the good ideas on this thread too, you have all been so helpful and I can see changing one thing a week is the way to go :) thank you all so much x

I find when I'm working & exhausted it is a lifesaver to have a meal or two in the freezer to defrost - so I batch cook on days that I do have some time (and energy)!

Shepards pie
Fish pie
Bolognaise
Chilli mince
Chicken curry
Chicken stew

(All made with extra hidden veg, lentils & beans etc.)

....just reading it sounds exhausting...but if you batch cook once in a while, your freezer soon fills up!

Also don't be disheartened if the kids don't eat what you make. Just keep offering and then they will get used to healthier and healthier options

You are doing better than me, I only plan main meals and write down a couple of sandwich fillings.

Babysteps, if you want to make changes do it sloooowly.

Pick one meal a week to eat more healthily, don't do the whole week. Or maybe batch cook one day to give 2 or 3 weeks' worth of Thursday tea.

You have cookbooks but are they the right ones? If ingredients are too complicated or cooking takes too long, they are not the right ones.
Re fruit/yoghurt, how about starting with strawberries or melon once a week while these are fairly cheap? Or banana blitzed with milk to make milkshake. You might find fruit flavoured yogs/fromage frais go down well anyway, especially if you go for the novelty style eg squashems, but if not how about freezing Frubes and serving as ice pops? You have to peel the plastic down, you can't push the frozen yog up like ice pops but DC don't mind.

If you fancy a new book, I like Hugh FW's veg book for a new approach to food. Veggie food is so much cleaner and easier to cook. Today we had aubergine for tea. Bought aubergines, cut in half, added a little oil and roasted. Served with a bit of yoghurt on top. DC loved them (surprisingly) and no more hassle than a kiev. His basic philosophy seems to be take vegetable, stick strong cheese on top - what's not to like? Or a simple, uncheffy Good Housekeeping '30 min meals' type of thing perhaps. You could also do plain chicken portions, or add a bit of lemon or pesto, or slice open and put in a bit of tom puree and cheese, and bake.

Also we generally eat the same meal 2 nights in a row. This is purely to simplify planning and shopping for me, and IMO it works out cheaper and faster too. I can handle thinking up 3 dishes a week and digging something out of the freezer for the 7th day.