Sausages - Help!

[LissaQ]

DS (nearly 3 yrs old) has decided the only thing he wants to eat is sausages - pref. with mash and gravy - def. no veg! He eats a good balanced breakfast, will eat sandwiches (Laughing Cow & Honey!!), fromage frais, yoghurts, fruit purees and bananas, also homemade veg soup which I make by the bucket once a week for tea. He goes to nursery 3 days a week and has stopped eating there too. I've decided he'll come round in his own time, in the meantime though does anyone have any ideas about the best sausage (obviously he prefers the very cheapest!) - organic from Tesco's are too spicy. I'm very dubious about the contents of most sausages and want to know if anyone has any tips on making your own perhaps or a really good brand? Any advice welcome!!!!

We get ours from the local Farmers' Market. Not sure where you are but here (Berks) there is one in Reading every 2 weeks and one a month in surrounding towns. Very good sausages, you can talk to the producers who are very helpful with ingredients, no additives, rusk etc. Some will even make them to order. Let me know if you want more info.

Good idea to look out for farmers markets - thanks - we're in Glossop in Derbyshire so if anyone knows a local supplier let me know!
Thanks Stinky!

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Tescos Finest - Pork and Apple and my kids absolute FAVE ! They are a little bit sweeter than the usual banger HTH

should have 'are' my kids .....

Sainsburys Taste the Difference chipolatas (not the Cumberland, just ordinary) are delish, not particularly spicy and nice and narrow. (High meat content, not sure what percentage.)

Also Lidl Nurnburger sausages are lovely - not cheap but about 95% meat.

Thanks for posting this Lissa, my ds 2.4 only likes sausages too pref with mash and peas. He eats a good breakfast eg ready brek or just right and then either toast and jam and marmalade and honey (all together) or a croissant with the same! Then he will ask for yoghurt but for the rest of the day is v fussy and will only even look if it is the dreaded sausage meal!! He eats v well at nursery when he is there for 3 days so perhaps it is my cooking?!!! I will try our local farmers market, I am sure that there must be one in Glossop, there is a good butchers near Gradbach - look in the Yellow Pages

Duchy Organics chipolatas seem to be full of less rubbish than the rest. Waitrose sell them

We have the Marks and Spencers Pork Sausages - either 93/95% meat content - can't remember exact.

I second Duchy Originals, and Sainsbury Taste the Difference Pork and Apple. The Porkinson bangers (can get them in tesco and sainsburys I know) are also v good - very high pork content and nothing dodgy in them at all.

my sons were sausage fiends, but I found one way to vary the meat content was to look for vegetarian sausges - quorn ones or other 'gourmet' ones full of leek and spinach. Can't remember their name but most large supermarkets stock them.

Funnily enough I'm just in the middle of cooking a sausage casserole. Marvellous stuff as you can disguise all sorts of vegetables in it and they dont realise. Same with spag bol which I did yesterday, it had loads of carrots, parsnips, sprouts, turnip etc in it, all chopped up so finely they cant see it amidst the tomato sauce and consequently wolfed down. The sausage casserole recipe I got from a friend and involves browning the sausages in a pan, tip away the fat and leave to one side whilst you brown the onion, garlic and anything else you want to put in (tonight I've stuck in finely chopped sprouts). Add some chunky carrots (if they will eat it), a beef stock cube and lots of water to cover and bung in the oven on a low heat for 1-1.5 hours. When most of the juice has gone tip in a tin of baked beans, heat through and serve over a mountain of mash. My friend sticks in a dollop of black treacle with the beans to give it a sweetness. Mine love it but they do eat most things but worth a try as all adults seem to love it too.

Thanks for all the useful advice - I will go sausage hunting this weekend - and give the casserole a shot too!

my ds is a very good eater but enjoys the occasional sausage and mash
we give him veggie/quorn sausages at the minute for the very sam reason as people have expressed here
I will also be on the look out for more 'healthy' meat sausage this weekend!
thanks!