1 orange, 2 banana, some melon, 1 apple, full pack of grapes!

[Wineiscooling]

Half light hearted but half seriously interested how much fruit do your children eat? My teenage son has always been a picky eater but loves fruit so I suppose I’ve let him get away with eating a lot of fruit because for a long time the rest of his diet was junk. Lately he does eat better - not quite so picky but still loves fruit and would eat it all day long if I let him. I did a big shop today and we’ve just fell out over how much fruit he is eating it’s costing me a fortune and with the cost of living going up I can’t afford his fruit habit ! The above fruit in the title is what he’s eaten today and there would have been more if I’d let him. He loves strawberries, raspberries any berries but will eat the lot in one go. I’ve just done a rough calculation and am guessing he’s cost me nearly 5 pounds today in fruit and if that’s every day it’s probably 30-35 a week just for him - no wonder I’m skint! How much fruit does your children eat and if it’s not much what snacks do they eat that’s healthy and cheaper? He must have asked me 5 times today if we have any food before helping himself to more fruit!

Try setting him a cash budget for fruit? You/he can go online to see the prices for different fruit.

I can afford to spend £X/week on fruit for you, what fruit do you want?

Fresh berries are always expensive. Frozen or tinned are fine for mixing in with other things.

This is a good age for him to start learning about budgets, pricing etc.

I don't use defrosted fruit for snacking. They're great for mixing with porridge and yoghurt or for smoothies etc but I wouldn't eat them on their own. I find the texture is really different, even if you only lightly defrost them.

Definitely a great buy, but as an overall fruity addition, for me they don't replace fresh fruit at all.

Not an immediate solution but if you have a garden or allotment, plant strawberries blackcurrants etc. I often have tons of blackcurrants which freeze brilliantly, great with yoghurt or on porridge. I have 5 or 6blackcurrant bushes, but they are a few tears old now. Great he eats fruit, teenagers do eat an absolute ton, it's hard to keep up.

Just what I came on to say. We have a well established strawberry patch in our garden and get absolutely tonnes of strawberries in the summer months.

Just defrost a cup or two of berries overnight in the fridge to use the next day

My DS is the same, the only way to get any vitamins into him is via fruit. Hates veg, I have tried and tried, he even rejects honey roasted carrots!! He has become more open to trying but gags as soon as he takes a bite.

He also prefers soft fruits, so blackberries, raspberries, strawberries etc. he wasn’t like this as a toddler or preschooler - he went off veg after starting school and having school dinners.

If I am in a big supermarket I go for the wonky fruit selection, often you can get some weird looking raspberries or strawberries for less than the more perfect looking ones

Agree with PP re buying cheaper fruits. However, looking long term, if space permits, why don’t you consider growing your own? We have a strawberry plant that goes mental with fruit at certain times of the year. At our old house, we also had a blackberry bush (so easy and so hardy). We’ve just planted a cherry tree but not expecting anything until next year (£29 at b&q) Just a thought.

DD12 loves fruit and vegetables. I couldn't afford to buy strawberries,raspberries,blueberries at the rate she goes through them though.

I buy lots of apples,bananas oranges,plums and peaches. Berries are a treat for the weekend. She also loves mini peppers,celery and carrots. Wish I was so healthy.

Id be ok with all that apart from the grapes I think. If it’s actual hunger then I’d look at adding in some other things like a no added sugar peanut / other nut butter which is nice with slices of apple. You can buy big tubs although it’s not hard to make with a food processor. Hummus with the crackers and some cherry tomatoes. You could also make some low sugar flapjacks as boy filler. The frozen berries I use with Greek yoghurt for myself and then use for ice lollies for DD by blending along with any squishy fruits that didn’t get eaten. The frozen fruits can also be used in smoothies although you wouldn’t want a habit of them I don’t suppose. You can thicken with porridge oats or a bit of nut butter to be more filling. They’re really great for hiding other things like spinach ( which you can also buy frozen). I used to do a lovely one with frozen cherries and raw cocoa which tasted like chocolate milkshake although that was definitely a Friday treat.

My Teenage DD is the same, super fussy but loves fruit. Especially exotic fruit, mangos, pineapple, passion fruit, pomegranate, fresh coconut (if that counts as a fruit!) melons. Plus berries, peaches, nectarines, kiwis etc she's not keen on apples or bananas obviously because they are cheaper. It does cost a fortune. She also love avocados and little gem lettuce and makes some lovely salads. Won't eat meat but she will snack on toast and marmite to supplement the fruit and salad diet.
My teenage DS has a thing about cherry tomatoes. I have to hide them. And grapes. If I buy grapes and cherry tomatoes in a shop you can guarantee they will be eaten within 24 hours. No matter the quantity bought.

Is he eating enough protein and carbs at meal times as this sounds like an awful lot to be snacking on between meals.

You say he's been a picky eater but not so bad now, have you looked at what he's actually eating for breakfast / lunch / dinner to ensure it's nutritional and filling.

Is he drinking enough water - if he's saying he's hungry it might be thirst

Also, how is he spending his time? If he's very active then he may well be hungry between meals, alternatively if he's lounging around bored he might be snacking out of boredom.

Adding healthy fats to the fruit will help keep him fuller eg greek yogurt with the berries or some peanut butter with apple slices - healthy peanut butter, not Skippy 😉

We have frozen berries on porridge and shreddies, with yoghurt etc. It's not as nice as fresh but much cheaper and lasts longer.

This won’t be a popular comment, but it’s greedy - especially the whole pack of grapes. I get the whole ‘teens are hungry’, but it always seems on here that greediness is allowed because ‘they’re growing teens’.

We’d never have dreamed of practically clearing the fruit bowl in one go as teens, leaving little left for the rest of the family.

I snack on boiled eggs, would he eat those if available along with his crackers etc, so he's less hungry for fruit?

DS has arfid and his two safest foods are apples and carrots. On an average day he will eat 4 apples and 4 carrots at least.

He is a teen. He needs more food. Actual food. Not 272 bits of fruit...

Yeah the texture is completely different. I only use previously frozen berries for something cooked or as an ingredient in another dish iyswim. It would work with ice cream I expect.

OP does he like blackberries by any chance? Not a long term solution but there's about to be a lot of free ones out and about, there may be some near you? I'm not a serious blackberry picker by any means but usually get quite a bit during the season just out and about- depends on where you live though.

Does he take note of what there is and how much is his share? There's just the two of us and if DS wants to eat his share of a snack food all at once then fair enough but he would only eat half the punnet of grapes for example then stop. He would only eat more than his share after asking (and a few days later). Would never eat the lot!

Just before my 9 and 4 year old broke up for their summer holidays I added up what we spend on fruit every week - €35😳
For packed lunches they would have a punnet strawberries and punnet blueberries/ raspberries every day between them . 9 year old would also bring in an apple and the 4 year old a banana.
Before dinner they would also have an orange / apple/watermelon or grapes

It would be cheaper to buy packets of biscuits and crisps 🥴

I did start buying tins of pineapple (89c) which I would give 9 year old for lunch instead of the berries so will continue when back in September!

I do buy the tinned mandarins to have after dinner with ice cream or as a snack as well

Sometimes I buy a melon /watermelon but it only lasts the day . Trying to find ways to cut down on shopping but would love not to have to cut down on fruit

9 year old is good with veg so sometimes will have cucumber and carrots for packed lunches but 4 year old only eats cucumber occasionally and very occasionally carrots . I have to blend veg in to sauces for her.

I definitely find we spend more on fruit and veg in summer than winter overall. It's because the seasonal fruit is so tempting, and also because I tend to want more salad stuff now whereas in winter the dishes with root veg and lentils are the way to go.

Frozen fruit is nice frozen and takes much longer to eat eg bag of frozen mango, frozen blueberries, frozen chopped strawberries and banana. Iceland has a good selection.

Does he like smoothies? Because he could add protein to them to fill him up for longer and you could buy frozen fruit which would be cheaper.

Mine came home from school and ate half of a watermelon as a 'snack'. He ate the other half the next day.

That sounds like a heck of a lot of fruit and sugar. I thought the advice was to try to make at least half of your 5 a day veg rather than fruit. I also agree with pps who say that he'd benefit from more fats and protein which will make him feel less hungry all the time. I'd actually feel cross with a teenager who thought it fine to basically eat his way through the family's fruit quota, that is so selfish.

Re cherry tomatoes, do you have room to grow them? You should still be able to get hold of plants now.