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

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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

Can I add my recipe for the soup below then? It's so easy, cheap and delish.

Carrots, leeks, onions, cut to desired size and thrown into a pot (no sauteing) (add any other root vegetable if you want) I fill up a had rinser IYSWIM) level to the top with lentils, chuck them in (or alternatively half and half with lentils and quiona - very nutritious and ds 21 mnts LOVES it), some dried or fresh parsley, 2 Kallo organic vegetable stock cubes. Full up with water,bring to the boil and then simmer for half an hour. (Also add dumplings if you like too).

I tend to make it a very thick broth consistency so DS can manage it, but add water to make it more soupy for us.

The kallo cubes and lentils are the essential ingredients IMHO.

it's very low fat too, but contains essential amino acids.

Hello

1st time I've posted on this thread........was reading it last night so went I went shopping today I bought some kallo stock cubes for lentil soup! and all the ingedients for Franny's lentil shepherds pie
I'll let you know how it turns out - if I can make it turn out good anyone can

Also here's something I've started making after getting bored of peas and carrots........................we have it with salad, pasta or jacket potatos

Prepare all the following veg, chop into similar size cubes, then toss in a tiny bit of extra virgin olive oil,black pepper, basil, oregano and a bit of sea salt...
3 red onions,
3 courgettes,
2 aubergines,
5 carrots,
2 potatos,
1 leek,
2 red peppers,
2 yellow peppers......

then bake (190c - 20mins) (check every 5 mins to be sure I don't have the book with me)
when they are, um, par-baked, lol, cool and put into portions in the freezer, and this will last for quite a few meals. To cook, put into an ovenproof dish, drizzle with a bit more oil and cook at 200c for about 15-20mins.

Birdseye have just started making something similar to this and it costs £2 for a small bag! There's has pumpkin in so suppose you could add that too if you like it

mmm, sounds lush Laura

Franny please can I ask you about your ds being such a good eater and your huge smugness quotient? What do you put it down to in the weaning process - what you gave him to eat or your attitude or both?

Sorry hijack, but doing weaning and really really interested

Bumbleweed, sorry, I only just spotted this today.

I would love to say that I am responsible for ds being such a good eater, but I think I must admit that it is mostly luck, and we have been very lucky indeed. I know other people who have followed the same methods with more than one child and had one great eater and one 'problem' eater.

I found the book "The Food our Children Eat" by Joanna Blythman, a great inspiration; although I hadn't read it when weaning ds, it was very useful for fussy toddler stage. She sets out the wider picture of food issues and health problems we have in this country and gives you something to aim for, ie a healthy and positive attitude to food.

Other than that, I usually tried to give the healthiest foods possible (bit of junk creeps in inevitably) and we also never had sugary foods or very salty foods such as crisps in the house. We all eat the same meals, at the same time where possible.

I don't think I had much clue what I was doing when I was weaning - the HVs were chuntering on about 3 meals a day and iron and god knows what. I think I went too fast and shoved all sorts into the poor child as soon as he got to 6 months Next time I would try the baby led weaning as that appeals to my (lazy) philosophies of life.

Dp and I are both huge eaters and enjoy our food very much indeed - don't know if that helps! I should not be smug about ds's eating, as I know it is mostly luck of the draw, but, well, it does make me proud and happy knowing he will sit down and at least try whatever is put in front of him.

Franny thank you so much for replying and sharing personal experience - I really admire your approach to food, it is exactly what I believe and strive for (but I eat too much choc and cake). Also your philosophies on other aspects - which is why I asked you.

Sorry not aiming to sound sucky-up, just liking 'meeting' kindred spirits on here especially as you are a few years ahead parenting wise.

Ta.

Bumbleweed I am also a chocolate and cake fan Decided when ds got old enough to notice, that if I didn't want him to eat these foods, I was going to have to stop eating them myself. I feel good when I don't eat sugar, but still rely on it in times of stress. I need to find a good alternative.

I like discussing things on here too and it clarifies for me what I am aiming for. I hardly ever manage to achieve what I believe to be right, especially as far as my own behavious towards ds goes. But we are all learning all the time, aren't we?

Franny, do you know how to do cunning things with aduki beans and dates?

Erm, yes, I do.

(am slightly nervous, wondering where this is leading....could be sexual perhaps? Hmmm)

Ooooh no, 'tis perfectly innocent! I had some "fake ice cream" recently which was made with only aduki beans, dates and carob powder and it was scrumptious. I've also heard of aduki bean chocolate brownies, but not too sure where to start.

Ah, no, I am not that cunning. I think that would qualify for a Blackadder cunningness quote. I can make date muffins, if that helps?

Date muffins sound good - I bought a packet of half price organic dates last week, only to realise I still had some in the cupboard. And my children are generally unreasonably suspicious of undisguised dried fruit.

Will try and dig out later. It's got apples and carrots in, and no sugar. NQC will like it, too, I think.

Oh, the aduki bean ice cream would be "as cunning as a fox that has just been nominated Professor of Cunning at Oxford University."

That was the quote I was thinking of, I think.

Franny, didn't Blackadder once have a plan so cunning that you could put a tail on it and call it a weasel?

Wonderful thread thanks a lot - I have been cutting and pasting happily .

lol - sometimes dd tells me she has a plan and when I ask "is it cunning?" she looks at me blankly