Processed meat or no meat at all?

[Velvetvilla]

So my DC hardly eat any “real” meat. They are generally picky about food. I am NOT looking for advice on this, as we have tried it all! Including “like it or go hungry” (spoiler: they go hungry).

so my dilemma is……

There has been a lot in the news recently about how bad processed meat is for our health. Wondering if it is better to give the DC a small amount of processed meat (such as good quality sausages) or better for the DC to have no meat at all? WWYD? It’s not like they would be eating a variety of other protein sources that vegetarians normally do, like beans and pulses, instead, because there is no way that they would eat these! At least, not at the moment.

Two of our children have had significant issues around food texture so I totally get what you say. DD is also autistic which can have a real impact on needing to eat familiar foods with consistent flavour and texture.
The good news for us has been both of them have widened their palate and with maturity are better prepared to try new foods and eat a much wider range of things. The pulse DD will happily eat are red lentils cooked as a dahl as the texture is smooth and she likes those flavours.
We found it shifted at high school and again once they cooked more for themselves. DSD eats food we would never imagined she would eat as a child.

That gives me hope, thank you!

Dinner has become such a chore.

You can get good quality sausages and ham (think 99% chicken) in Polish shops. They are delicious, too. Go and look around. Poles don't seem to die of bowel cancer on regular basis. It's probably all the cheap filler stuff in those products in the UK/US (I check it sometimes and it's usually only 50-60% meat and the rest are fillers) that kills us here.

Will they eat mince? Spag bol with hidden veggies. Fish fingers, expensive now for quality but can often be found on offer.

How is their dairy intake - milk, yoghurt, cheese...

Do they like baked beans (neither of mine did grrr!) but cheesy beans on toast is healthier than a cheap sausage.

Protein enhanced pizza bases... Make your own pizza.

My son didn't eat anything that wasn't processed or beige, this was late 90s so we didn't have many options!
He did love a chicken roast dinner though - wouldn't touch the veg. Still doesn't, but it's very quick and easy to knock up a chicken breast roast dinner if they like their gravy.

Daughter would have lived on veg and fruit if she could - broccoli especially!

Also have to think about iron intake, because I’m betting they don’t like green leafy veg, so meat may be their main source.

The chicken tenders in m&s and Morrisons are not ultra processed....just buy the ones with all real ingredients. It's usually the plain ones. The Yuka app is really good to identify what additives are in food, it does vary a lot by shop / item.. Good quality handmade sausages from a butcher also aren't ultra processed. If they are picky, they are better off with some meat. Do they eat mince?

The haddock goujons in Waitrose are nice too. Also not ultra processed. Homemade meatballs and burgers also fine.

I had a son that was medically underweight as a child. The paediatrician and dietitian said “fed is best “. If the only thing he will eat is pizza, give him pizza. I’ve given him donuts for breakfast, then I started to bake cheesecakes for breakfast (protein)

in short processed meat is better than no meat.

I feel your pain!

I have a fussy 9 y/o who only really eats sausages. I only buy Finnebrogue Naked Sausages for her as they are nitrite free so mitigates some of the health hazard associated with bangers

This may sound stupid but here goes. I’m assuming your homemade nuggets are chunks of chicken that are breaded? Have you tried putting the the chicken in a food processor and then forming them into nuggets more similar to commercially made ones? Might take some experimenting to get the right consistency but it may work.

You make make homemade nuggets a bit more like the ultra processed sort by whizzing up the chicken in a processor with some soft breadcrumbs, an egg, seasoning and herbs. Then coat in flour/egg/panko and shallow fry. These have a crunchy outside and soft inside, like the processed kind, but without the crap.

Find a good butcher, get their own sausages, always better quality and less crap than supermarket bought. Things like bacon, you can get the nitrate/nitrite free ones where they cure things like sugar. Try to make your own selection like chicken nuggets, breaded goujons…quick and easy and you know what’s going in to them…always try to make your own if possible as less crap 🤷🏻‍♀️

Chicken and fish ARE meat. They don't grow from the ground. They will be fine without it and processed meat is poison.

Someone suggested "Naked" products. I made a dinner once and I'd already cooked the chicken when I realised the bacon I was cutting into the pan had strange green spots on the slices underneath. Didn't want to waste the chicken and thought I was being paranoid so I just fished out the bacon.

Ended up with a very bad stomach. Sodium nitrite is in these products for very good reason.

But back to your question, yes I would give my children processed meats. Chipolatas don't contain much rubbish. I'm not a fan of legumes as a source of protein as they contain a lot of anti-nutrients.

You could also try making cakes with almond flour and loads of eggs such as Nigella's chocolate orange cake.

@TheBuffetInspector I've got a 20 year old DS who's similar. I just give him chicken, Yorkshire puddings and gravy. I pray that one day we might introduce a vegetable...I jokingly ask if he'll try one pea but not luck yet!

My daughter is similar, it's the texture. She likes salami and pepperami which is horribly processed. I try and get her in to other protein as much as possible (she loves yoghurt, milk on cereal, cheese, baked beans) and then probably once or twice a week she has nuggets/salami. She will eat roast chicken so we have that often as well and fish fingers which I know have processed bread crumbs but the actual fish is ok I think!!

I would also say quality over quantity so no processed meat.

Mine also don't like meat but prefer mince is lasagna, shepherds pie, pasta sauces, rice based stir fry with veg.

Although I know it can be hard so don't feel bad if you do decide to give the some processed meats x

Do you have a good processor? If so, get some chicken thigh/breast and process it down to a paste, that way the texture isn't like solid if you know what I mean. Definitely try vitamins if you're not already doing so. Fussy eaters are a nightmare to cater for. Hopefully it's a phase that will slowly move along. In the mean time blitz everything you can think of and pop it in meals where they won't notice. Good luck.

Personally I would let them have sausages etc
My daughter is like this- I blend meat (chicken, mince or ham)- into things like Bolognese, lasagna, fajitas tacos etc.... also can blend for chicken nuggets- it's the almost stringy texture of meat she hates rather than taste .....
I find it's the texture she doesn't like- she will also happily eat butchers sausages as long as they are fairly plain- started with Richmond sausages and changed them every few weeks till she accepted the butchers ones....
Again she won't eat Beans or lentils (apart from baked beans)- and would only eat cheese and peanut/almond butter as other protein sauces. We also make her have school/nursery hot lunches to get used to other food and try things regularly.....

I'd go for the least processed options I could find.

We have a village butcher and he hand-makes his sausages - you can watch, so you can see what goes in them.

Or good quality breaded fish fingers. Or home made chicken nuggets.

Will they eat hard boiled eggs or dippy eggs? Omelettes? Cheese? Dips like hummus or tsatsiki?

I have a fussy eater so I sympathise. He will eat eggs and chicken, though. Occasionally, I can get him to eat a bit of salmon!

I would go for a bit in the middle - sausages or ham once in a while won’t hurt. Maybe once per week for each? Other than that, get them to have more milk, yoghurt, cheese, all full fat and don’t sweat it too much. It’s a battle sometimes to get a kid to eat a balanced diet but they will grow out of it. I cannot wait for the day mine will eat what I eat!!

I just forgot something else my DS has just started to eat - ‘smash’ burgers. High quality, 20% fat beef mince - roll in to golf ball sized balls and flatten and fry. Dead easy and I like them too!

It's quite difficult to be deficient in protein.

She'd be better off without the processed meat.

Also, if it helps to make you feel better, I used to worry about this a lot but don’t anymore.

A friend of mine was a VERY fussy eater when she was little. I mean, she wouldn’t touch anything other than Heinz jars of baby food until she was 4 (this was the 80s) and had an extremely limited diet for years. When she turned about ten, her dad nearly fell off his chair when she asked if she could try a langoustine prawn from his sea food platter - and she loved it. She is now the biggest foodie I know!

I don't allow processed meat at home. I am aware they may eat it elsewhere and that's ok as it isn't often.
If they are getting other sources of protein I would focus on that.