salt - when cooking for family

[Freddiecat]

What do other people do about adding salt to food when cooking for the family.

DS is nearly 2 and should therefore have only 1g of salt per day. If I am cooking a stew or something then I just take his out before adding salt. However for some recipies it's a bit more tricky.

For example I am going to cook Jamie Oliver's meatballs (which are lush and easy btw). The recipe calls for 2 teaspoons of salt - this is 10g (yes I am sad - I have weighed salt). The recipe will make approx 20 meatballs and serve probably 5 or 6 people. Each ball therefore contains 1/2 g of salt. DS may well eat 2 balls so he'll have a gram of salt. Then of course there is a little salt in the tomato sauce too.

I am trying to cut our family's salt intake as a whole but there's only so far you can go.

Do other people worry a lot about cooking with salt when the toddler is eating with you?

I worry about this too.

Did you know Spanish baby food jars all have salt in them (even the 4 month + ones)?

I always add no salt, or less than the recipe says - people can add it with a shaker later if they like. But with the meatballs - couldn't you mix it all up without salt, take some out then mix it all up again with it?

I never use salt in cooking, haven't done for many, many years. I just ignore what the recipe says and it seems to make no difference to the end result. HTH

Freddiecat try using Lo Salt, you can buy it in any supermarket. It is low sodium salt and to me tastes the same.

BTW if you stop using salt in cooking apparantly you don't notice the diff after a while. I don't use it on veggies etc, but do in some dishes that require it.

I would never put 10g of salt into a dish, way too much IMO!

CD I agree - but last time I made that dish (one DP had made several times himself) I put only 1 tsp salt in and DP complained that it did not have enough salt in and he'd take over all the cooking.

Yes I know I should have immediately emptied the salt cellar into the bin and put my feet up...

Does Lo-Salt have any dubious chemicals in? I would rather use proper salt but less of it otherwise.

Like suedonim, I never use salt- my mother was convinced that her fathers heart attack was due to the salt in his diet, so consequently never used it, and I learnt to cook from her. I really don't think it makes much difference to the flavour of a dish, and am happy for guests to add salt, if they want. I do however get quietly annoyed if they add salt before they've tasted the food!

We too never use salt in our cooking, but instead use lots of herbs. Garlic is very good for adding flavour. Also searing things in a pan and then adding a little liquid to deglaze it. Now that dd is 1yo, I occasionally use stock cubes or stock powders. It's true, when you don't use salt as a matter of course your tastebuds develop greater sensitivity to flavour. You can always add it to your own portion later.

I really struggled when I was pregnant - I so craaaaaaved salty foods!

I never add salt when cooking either, but I never did before Dd came along anyway. I just use other falvourings if necessary. No one has ever yet complained about my cooking without it - I just don't tell them!

never added salt to dishes i've pepared. dh adds salt to everything, but the only thing i put salt on is a bag of chips from the chippy.

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I have found since having kids I have weaned the whole family off salt. I never add it to casseroles etc, if DH wants it he could add it. I only add it if I am doing posh food for friends and worry if they aren't used to no salt foods. I do add it to rice/pasta when cooking, but about 1/2 tsp for a panful. TBH I would use about 1/2 the quantity of salt and see if you notice

BTW DD1 has school dinners sometimes and she always complains it is too salty

I never use salt in cooking, and don't add it to the kids food afterwards either. Sometimes dh and I add it to our food, but mostly use pepper.