AIBU to think that Iceland food isn't poisoning my child...?

[RoystonVaseySmegHead]

A bit long, sorry
yesterday I was at DGP's house, with a bag of shopping from Iceland.. Chinese food (Saturday night 'takeaway') and a bag of smiley faces for me (haven't had them since primary school!!) and DGM was horrified and wouldn't stop going on about how Iceland food was all convenience food, the wrong kinds of food and that I 'was setting my son up for a bad future' she also seemed to think I don't cook and don't feed my son 'proper' food and vegetables!! WTF I can and do thanks I really don't know whether she's right and I'm a crappy mum (not her words but the way she was talking to me about it seemed like that was her opinion) I'm a bit upset about it... I love her to bits but she's quite a my way or the highway sort of person and I usually end up doubting myself after these sorts of discussions with her.. Especially as my lads a big boy (size 4-5 clothes at 2.5yo) and he's got to go back to the children's centre next month to make sure his heights caught up with his weight but he's about 100/101cm tall now and 22kg... So now I'm feeling really guilty and a bit of a crap mum
Is Iceland food really bad? Ds usually has cereal/toast for breakfast then a sandwich or sometimes hoops/beans/ravioli on toast with sweet corn or peas for lunch and a meat, carbs and veg tea before he goes to bed.. Is that a really bad diet for him?

Probably should add that we rarely have chips and they're always done in the oven!

any food is fine In moderation as part of a balanced diet.

with regards to hoops and ravioli on toast it's basically carbs on carbs so I would keep those to a minimum.

if you were a bad mum you'd be ignoring your child's issues and nit be taking him to get checked so ignore your mum on that.

I think your meals sounds fine and normal. However tbh I think Iceland food seems just cheap, low quality food. I am a food snob though. Maybe your dgm is one too

And by Iceland food do you mean you buy meat or veg there or is she talking processed junk?

the processed crap is fine as I said every now and then.

as fat as meat and veg goes it's just neat and veg. perhaps poorer quality than sone places and better than others who knows but essentially meat is what it says if it's actual meat if that makes sense. so she's deluded if she thinks regular food bought from Iceland is a problem.

all supermarkets sell processed stuff as well. all fine occasionally.

fancy potato smiles now

She is a bit really :/ but there's not a lot of money spare for luxuries like proper meat from the butchers every day and I'll admit I only use Iceland ready meals if there's mince involved because the smell of it cooking literally makes me vomit :( but we don't eat a lot of mince so that's not too bad right?

Iceland is mostly processed convenience food and so yes it is rubbish BUT perfectly ok as a treat/meal once a week.

What's your normal diet food wise? What are your evening meals exactly? Are they home made? Does he snack? Does he eat sweets? What does he drink? Sorry lots of questions.

My 4 year old had porridge with banana for breakfast, small jacket potato with tuna and carrot sticks for lunch, vegetarian home made bean chilli with brown rice and salad for tea. Greek yogurt for pudding. Water to drink

I've just eaten smoked cod, king prawns and chilli paella.
All bought today from Iceland. I buy lots and lots of frozen seafood and vegetables from there.
Iceland is fab if you veer away from the beige ready meals.

Ds is doing through the picky eater thing right now so we usually have a bag of fish cakes, potato croquet things with beans or cheese in the middle. But there's a draw full of chicken and a draw full iv veg in the freezer so it's not all processed stuff although this week the only meat to pass DS lips has been chicken dippers and a ready meal shepherd pie

Pulses beans lentils are all cheap instead of meat

Maybe the problem. is portion size rather than food?

Defo not a crap mum, as you wouldn't be worrying about it if you were one!
Processed food once in a while is fine.
Cereal for breakfast and sandwich for lunch is fine. But there's a huge difference between
A) weetabix (cereal) plus egg sandwich on whole wheat with salad on the side, water to drink and
b) coco pops plus jam sandwich on white bread with crisps on the side, fruit shoot to drink.
Both cereal and sandwich - massive variation in quality of meal.

We can't afford good quality meat all the time so we eat vegetarian instead. Meat is expensive and we would rather have none at all than low quality.

However, having processed food now and then is totally fine. Everything in moderation

celery we have a home cooked dinner every day except Friday and Saturday. Usually fish or chicken with mash/wedges/jackets and 2 types iv veg. On a Friday and Saturday we might have something like a Chinese rice dish (egg or chicken fried rice for DS and a bit of whatever meat I'm having) or we have some sort of pie (pastry and mashed potato types iyswim?) sorry I'm drip feeding aren't i

What about serving fish and jacket potato instead of the fish cakes and croquets. Food needs to be close natural as possible.

To be frank your son isn't going to stave if he doesn't eat the odd meal. It's ok to make a healthy family meal and let him choose to eat it or leave it.

He has a cup of tea or hot chocolate as a first drink (hot chocolate maybe twice a week) then weak dilute or water through the day and a bit of milk before bed to drink.

I realise this info might be outdated now and I hope someone us able to correct me on this.
but I did hear once that iceland meat is the worst for injected water. so where it's cheap fir a whole bag if chicken breast the amount of shrinkage would be an that it won't go as far. so where's a normal chicken breast could he divided between two children you would perhaps need to use a whole one if it was heavily injected or full of fat.
.might be worth looking at the value as opposed to price.

happy to be corrected obviously

Tea and hot chocolate for a two year old, why?
Honestly I don't think you are a crap mum. However his diet does sound crap. By your own admission your ds is obese.

What I mean is that maybe the meat isn't as filling as it could be and he's eating too many carbs.

A two year old doesn't need to be drinking tea and hot chocolate!

22kg? If he is 101cm he is on the 99.6 percentile but 22kg is way off the chart - 22kg is on the 99.6 at 3.8 years. He's tall for his age but his clothes must be so long for him.

Does he have many snacks? You don't mention puddings, does he have dessert?

I would say the Iceland meals once or twice a week is fine but home cooked is obviously better for everyone. They add so much unnecessary crap to ready meals and convenience foods that nobody needs.

The croquets and fish cakes are usually a last resort, he went almost 3 days without eating a single cooked thing I gave him so I keep them as a just in case sort of thing. He loves fish with butter/parsley sauce with just veg and no carby stuff though and that's eaten at least once a week and other non carb dinners. I do have the 'I've cooked it so you can eat it or leave it' approach though I'll sometimes cave and let him have something he picks for himself. He doesn't eat haribo type sweets but he has a kinder bar or 2 over a week/week and a half as a treat (we're toilet training so if he's had a day without an accident he can have a piece of chocolate or a biscuit)

I always associate Iceland with crap, processed food. Sadly, money is really tight at the moment and I had to get some shopping at my local Iceland this week. I do think they have made some improvement to their food since I last went there, about 2 years ago. However, on the whole it is still generally very processed food so you have no idea how much salt or sugar the products contain ( I know they have to list it all now but it's still a bit confusing for most of us). Kids quickly get the taste for high salt/high sugar diets and dont want to eat any alternatives after a while.
It does sound like you could be over feeding your son if he is in such big clothes already. Your DGPs have their own opinion which has a basis of truth, I think. Regardless of who is right or wrong this could be the perfect opportunity to reassess the whole famiy's diet and see if improvements can be made. You possibly have lots to gain and very little to lose if you all get even a little bit healthier from a few dietary changes.

And we don't do puddings that's why he gets a bit of chocolate as a reward. His clothes aren't long for him but primark sizes aren't exactly generous.. In m&s and next he's a 2-3 or 3-4 trouser and 3-4 shirts because he's a fussed and doesn't like wearing clothes.. If they're baggy on him he doesn't mind as much if that makes sense? I think the last primark jeans I got him were 3-4 and said 98cm height in them..

Ok, this is probably going to sound hugely critical, so I apologise now, and if you don't want to read, then skip to next post!

The problem is the salt content, mainly. Chinese food is very high in salt and probably also contains MSG. Baked beans, spa hoops, ravioli etc are very high in sugar and salt, so should only be eating very infrequently. Using pre-prepared shepherds pie will also have high salt content, far too high for a 2yo. Cheese is great, as it's got calcium in, however it too has a high salt content, so you do need to watch how much he has.

What type of cereal does he have? If it's plain weetabix (no sugar on top), shredded wheat, rice krispies etc then that's fine, but if he's having granola, cocopops, frosts etc, then they're all too sugary.

No under-7s should be drinking tea! Tea leaches the iron out of their diets, so can lead to anaemia. Tbh, a 2.5yo should not be drinking anything other than water or milk, there's just no need.

I know it's hard when they're picky, I understand. Sometimes we're just happy when they eat anything. At 2yo, my youngest was eating only plain porridge (made fresh from oats, not ready brek), bananas, plain toast.
Nothing else. At 2.5, he was just under 15kg, which was bang on for his height. Your DS is definitely taller than he was.

What will DS eat in terms of fruit and veg? What things can you guarantee will be eaten if you serve them? Start from there, and try to wean him of all the salty, sugary foods he's eating. It will be difficult as they're all so bloody tasty! But his health will benefit in the long run.

I think if you ditched the chocolate the hot chocolate and the tea and the weak juice and stuck to meat and potatoes in natural firm as opposed to processed you would dramatically reduce the sugar which could be a massive help.

often what seem like time tears actually contribute alot of sugar and are extra calories with no nutritional contribution