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Moondog, Franny and anyone else who prides themselves on cooking good food for their kids - I have a challenge for you....

168 replies

englandflag · 04/07/2006 11:46

Whenever I try and feed my family on "good" food, it seems to cost me a fortune.

So, I challenge all you foodies to give me a week's worth of meal ideas that are not going to break the bank - have three kids aged 7, 5 and 3.

TIA

OP posts:
FrannyandZooey · 05/07/2006 18:14

Mercy, the Quinova chunks are vile

and I speak as a huge quinoa and wholefood fan, so you can imagine just how bad they are

Greensleeves · 05/07/2006 18:15

Christ, they must be bad

FrannyandZooey · 05/07/2006 18:19

No joke, they are truly bad

amaranth is also a real no no, unless you want to regrout the bath

beansprout · 05/07/2006 18:21

Franny - can you suggest some breakfasts? We are veggie too so ds won't be eating any fry ups just yet.....

Greensleeves · 05/07/2006 18:22

ROFL amaranth is exactly like sand

(quinoa being more like fine gravel)

FrannyandZooey · 05/07/2006 18:27

Oh breakfasts, aargh, I am falling behind with the lunch and dinner recipes already

(however is marvellous displacement activity instead of doing actual work)

I will have a go

Greensleeves · 05/07/2006 18:28

Mixed lightly fried mushrooms on granary toast

FrannyandZooey · 05/07/2006 18:28

BTW you are all sweet to humour me by asking me stuff and even acting pleased with the answers, instead of just saying "stop ranting on about inedible pulses, please"

Greensleeves · 05/07/2006 18:29

I'm always saying "stop ranting on about inedible....."

But you don't listen!

moondog · 05/07/2006 18:35

Jimjams,how about fried rice?
Tortilla/Spanish omelette thingies?
Risotto?

FrannyandZooey · 05/07/2006 18:48

I was talking to the polite and cultured people on the thread, not the bag lady at the back with a black pudding sticking out of her tights

Greensleeves · 05/07/2006 18:49

Oh that it's....er, not a black pudding, Franny

And there's nothing polite or cultured about beany guffs...

moondog · 05/07/2006 18:50

Well,let me ask something...
People go on about good food being expensive.
I was in Netto today (research,although bought some bloody good stuff) and noted that Fruit Shoots were 49 p each??!!!!

Jimjamskeepingoffvaxthreads · 05/07/2006 18:56

mercy- that's great- i was thinking about sausage casserole, although sainsbury's have stopped doing gluten free sausages afai can see. grrrrr.

no way would ds1 eat rice moondog. May have to talk to school about a desensitisation program to introduce it....

Jimjamskeepingoffvaxthreads · 05/07/2006 18:57

oh ds1 won't eat egg at the moment either, although he did used to eat runny scrambled, He ate spanish omlettes before his regression but i think they're too many obviously different colours for him now.

moondog · 05/07/2006 19:00

hAVE YOU TRIED QUINOA jIMJAMS?
Or how about rice balls deep fried like Ital;ians do?

Mercy · 05/07/2006 19:05

That's just typical of Sainsbury's .

Moan to a member of staff, that's waht dh does. They often have things hidden out the back.

Jimjamskeepingoffvaxthreads · 05/07/2006 19:05

Moondog- he just shudders and refuses to even sit down, or come to that stay in the room. It took over a year to get to a spoonful of mashed potato and baked beans. Rice is an absolute no go. Actualy anything other than the previous list is an absolute no go as far as ds1 is concerned.

What does quinoa look like? At the moment I hide things, so he had cheese in his pnacakes and flax in his bread.

popsycal · 05/07/2006 19:07

skim read thread so apologies if it has changed tack...
cheap food

tuna ball thingies that cod posted a few monthths ago is now one of our staples
tuna whatsit
dead quick and can be made in advance and reheated easily. better with rice than with pasta IMHO
dirt cheap too if you buy aldi tinned tomatoes, cheap onions. Replaced parmesan with normal cheddar tonight and tasted no different
recommmned

FrannyandZooey · 05/07/2006 19:09

Right, breakfasts:

cooked:

Scrambled tofu

Fry an onion. Mash a block of firm tofu with a fork, then fry for a few minutes with enough turmeric to make it lovely and yellow. Serve with toast with a few sliced tomoatoes (looks like scrambled eggs and tastes good). Not especially cheap, but does make a darn good breakfast or lunch and you can feel so superbly smug knowing your child had tofu for breakfast

Lentil weaver 'porridge'

use up leftover cooked brown rice or quinoa (cook extra the night before on purpose). Warm through with a little milk, add mashed banana and cinnamon to taste. Yummy.

Real porridge made with oats is of course is the ultimate cheap and healthy breakfast. Unfortunately I can't stand it

Eggs in whatever style you like them. Cheap and filling.

Cold breakfasts:

Breakfast smoothies - liquidise soya milk / cow's milk and banana with as many of the following as you like: yogurt, tofu, soft fruits, wheatgerm, molasses, cashew or peanut butter (not for yours obviously, EF). This is as good as a meal IMO.

"Mixing" breakfast - ds's current favourite. You provide a choice of oats, rice crispies (Kallo do organic sugar and salt free version available from that earlier link), whatever other plain cereals they like (wheat flakes etc), wheatgerm, ground almonds or chopped nuts (not for EF), sunflower and pumpkin seeds, chopped apples, banana etc, raisins and chopped apricots, etc etc etc. Don't put all of these out every day, just say 6 things or so. If you have those big plastic canisters they can help themselves, or for ds I spoon small portions out into old yogurt pots each day . They choose what they want and mix it all into their bowl, then add milk (premeasured for little ones! I learnt this the hard way) from a plastic jug. Ds invariably puts everything in his bowl and then usually eats it all as well. V cheap and cheerful.

Homemade baked muesli: (from Lucy Burney's Optimum Nutrition - fab book)

3 cups oats
1 cup wheatgerm
1/4 cup sesame seeds
1/4 cup linseeds
1/4 cup sunflower seeds
4 tbsp ground almonds
1 tbsp barley malt (dissolve in a little warm water as v sticky otherwise)
1 tbsp blackstrap molasses (ditto)
1/4 cup olive oil
1 tsp vanilla extract
1 tsp ground cinnamon
2 cups raisins
1/2 cup desiccated coconut

Mix all ingredients up to almonds in a bowl. In a separate bowl, mix malt, molasses, oil, vanilla, and cinnamon. Mix wet with dry. Spread on 2 baking trays and bake for 20 mins until golden brown, stirring after 10 mins. Add the raisins and coconut and allow to cool. Once cooled store in an airtight jar or tin in the fridge. Really tasty served with milk and fresh fruit if you like. Requires a bit of cash outlay to get all the ingredients but will make tons of batches and save you money on processed cereals.

Greensleeves · 05/07/2006 19:13

Oooh, Franny, even I have to admit that muesli recipe is good

FrannyandZooey · 05/07/2006 19:14

Oh the baked muesli recipe is superb for letting the children help with, as it just involves measuring and stirring, for as long as you like. You could pass an entire blissful afternoon with a 2 year old making it.

moondog · 05/07/2006 19:15

Quinoa looks like tiny bron stones Jimjams.
Do you give him gluten fee pasta?
How about noodles-rice but in a completey unrecognizable form?

FrannyandZooey · 05/07/2006 19:16

Greeny I don't expect you will have heard of wheatgerm, but it is the good bit of the wheat you see, the bit they take out to make white bread to flog to peasants like you, dear

Greensleeves · 05/07/2006 19:17

Quinoa is tiny brown stones, moondog

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