advice wanted - help me plan healthy food. be gentle please!

[CravingSleep]

Hello. Advice would be really welcome as I've got into quite a bad rut and need a bit of gentle advice to relearn healthy meals.

Once upon a time when I left uni I cooked from scratch, used Delia, had friends olds etc. A divorce, ill health and kids later and I can't even remember basics like how long to boil carrots.

I confess now really isn't good. This week we have had suppers of shop bought quiche with tomatoes and cucumber. Fish finger sandwiches with tomatoes and cucumber, chips, scrambled egg with carrots add peas. Tuna and pasta. Help this really isn't good. Where do I start? She will eat fruit and has several pieces a day but it's just from the bowl not anything special.

I'm exhausted. Home alone with non sleeping children during week as husband away and really struggling in general so I'm not going to start doing anything complicated. Child won't eat 'gloop' so all the make and freeze meals I used to do like curry and Bolognese and pie are out. Pasta is ok with no sauce.

I'm about to wean number 2 and it's this that's made me take stock. Can't just give her cucumber and tomatoes can I . . .

Would really appreciate any advice. I know

your menu doesn't sound too bad to me actually!
the important thing is a balanced diet, which you do have. veg is great, even if you have the same stuff a lot.

my fave method though for jazzing things up a bit is to pick a cookery book and go through it and menu plan for the week.
if you still have some delia books then that would be a good place to start, otherwise take a look on the bbc good food website, they have a lot of really easy recipes on there.

also, do prep for it earlier in the day when you aren't so tired, that way you can just chuck it together later.

Hold on.

1. Scrambled eggs with carrot and peas
2. Tuna and pasta
3. Quiche and tomatoes and cucumber

I think these are great, easy, summery meals, perfectly healthy. Don't beat yourself up.

Fruit just from the bowl is the best sort.

Don't think that just because what you're giving her isn't gourmet and hasn't taken yonks to make, it isn't well balanced and healthy.

It is far healthier than those family staples like toad in the hole or spag bol.

You could ditch the chips and try new potatoes.

What you eat now sounds absolutely fine! I thought you were going to say stuff like pot noodles and Rustlers chicken burgers

As long as they are getting all the food groups then you are doing absolutely fine. Why not slowly try to build up your repertoire if it makes you feel better? Have you tried stuff like baked potatoes, omelette, chicken stir fry - all dead easy and healthy.

also, don't stop having your make and freeze meals either!

my lot have to try a tiny bit of everything at each meal.

so make a bolognese. give her spaghetti, and a little bit of meat in sauce on the side.
add some other bits that you know she WILL eat and the rest of you have the bolognese as is...

don't beat yourself up, it's all real food. and you have TOTALLY made me crave a fish finger sandwich.

ps best tip i ever got was to offer crudites before tea every time. then they've had their veg before they even get to the table, so any more is a bonus.

Mine are highly suspicious of sauce with lumps in so wouldn't go for spag bol BUT spaghetti and meatballs is their absolute fave... same ingredients, different order! I batch-cook a basic tomato sauce and get shop-bought meatballs (Swedish ones from Sainsbury's, far nicer than anything I could turn out)

Aw thankyou. I was expecting flames! I feel so bad that what we eat is basic and I think high in salt as it's processed but yes I guess it boulevad worse! It's just 3 year old and me eating which takes some of the fun out of it and I get panicy if I think about inviting someone over for company as I can hardly give them what we're eating.

I think gradually expanding what we do is good. I get into a panic every day about cooking. I've tried meal planning at weekends. Do online delivery to get food in and then just can't face cooking - both the mental space and physically. I just want to go to bed! Need to pull myself together.

Grr. Bad predictive text. Just reading replies. Thank you. Will tackle this!

I agree, what you're having doesn't sound that bad to me. I think perhaps because you're used to it and perhaps it's become a bit repetitive you have lost perspective - I don't mean that in a critical way!

Not being able to do things like fish pie, bologanse, casseroles etc it is harder to think laterally. So rather than planning whole meals why not look at alternatives. So instead of chips, have roasted new potatoes, minted new potatoes, sweet potato wedges, baked potato or if you are going to have chips then make your own (peel, slice, boil for 5 mins, drain, shake, put onto baking try and spritz with fry light, bake for approx 30 mins turning). You could even do fried egg (using fry light), healthy chips or sweet potato wedges and serve with peas and sweetcorn or corn on cob. Another favourite of mine is to put fromage frais in things like coleslaw (instead of mayo) or salads...but then that's going down the sauce route a bit. What about doing a ploughmans? Or healthy cooked breakfast with low fat sausages, lean bacon, grilled tomatoe and mushrooms, egg done using fry light or scrambled eggs or poached and wholemeal toast? You could also roast up lots of veg like butternut squash, parsnips, peppers, aubergine, courgette etc and serve with chicken legs. I am now officially hungry!

so in place of shop-bought quiche, do a frittata. i just got loads of peppers for eighty pence so will roast them and put them in a jar with some oil over (might freeze some, there are loads), that's the sort of thing that can be flung into an omelette very easily.
nothing nicer than fish finger sarnies, as i may have said. not every day, sure, but delicious.
scrambled eggs with carrots and peas i would not thank you for, but add some bacon and ditch the carrot and make it into an omelette and that's lovely.
tuna and pasta is great, esp with some olives, bits of roast pepper, that kind of thing. or even do it creamy, with sweetcorn and all that kiddie stuff.
what about burgers? www.babyledweaning.com/recipes/lunchdinner/cheesy-beefburgers-with-harissa/ these are mine, take literally two mins to make, i grate carrot into the mixture as well, then it's easy enough to make them into meatballs/mini-burgers and stick in the oven. then let the kids stuff warmed pitta halves with them and some yoghurt sauce, cucumber or whatever. or tomato sauce.

www.babyledweaning.com/recipes/lunchdinner/cheesy-beefburgers-with-harissa/ sorry, that should link now.

"Child won't eat"

I'd have a go at tackling that if you're to expand the meal choices for your family and keep your grocery bills down. It's very restrictive when a fussy child is dictating things, and I think it's important to keep offering a wide range of foods, even if they aren't sold on it first time around. Good luck

This is my dinner meal plan for a week if it helps to give you some ideas.

Monday - Fish Pie (will prep Sunday so I can reheat)

Tuesday - Spaghetti Bolognaise

Wednesday - Salmon & Celeriac Daulphinase (using salmon trimmings so it's cheaper)

Thurdsay - Pumpkin and Ricotta Cannelloni (can get toddler to help stuff tubes)

Friday - Risotto - Herby chicken and Pea

The weekend I'm going to try something different...

Saturday - www.jamieoliver.com/recipes/vegetarian-recipes/tagliatelle-with-spinach-mascarpone-and

Sunday www.jamieoliver.com/recipes/pasta-recipes/melanzane-alla-parmigiana-aubergine