We are sooooo fed up of chips and fritters... please can someone help?!!

[TLO]

Can anyone spend a bit of time reading this and then giving me some ideas of meals we can have that are healthy and simple to make, we are very willing to try, but I just don't know how!

We have found ourselves in a real rut and I just can't seem to find a way out of it. We are a family of three (soon to be four, DS is 4 years old) and at the moment we are living on things like egg and chips, battered cod and fritters, pizza, and the very occasional jacket potato here and there and aside from the fact that most of what we eat is obviously unhealhty and expensive, I am sick to my back teeth with it!!

Now, we have gotten into this situation over the years because I really can't cook, which means DH has to, and after a long 12 hour+ day at work he can't be bothered to do much more than shove something in the oven/fryer (can't blame him!!) but I am really going to try very hard to learn to cook, especially if it means we have something nice to eat.

The other problem we have is that 9 times out of 10 we all have different dinners, we are all terribly fussy eaters:

DS won't eat anything with any sort of wet/sloppy sauce (gravy, soups, stews), although he loves rice and pasta, we can never find anything to go with it because of the sloppyness, he is also very very very reluctant to eat any fruit and veg, we give him dried fruit and fruit juices, which helps a bit but he has absolutely no fresh fruit and veg. he actually kept a strawberry in his mouth for over an hour a few weeks ago because he just wouldn't swallow it - this is what worries me the most, I can't physically force him to eat it.

DH cannot stand even the slightest bit of onion/garlic/peppers, we have to check every single ingredients list to make sure there is no onion/garlic powder in it, and he isn't keen on many vegetables although will eat lots of fruit.

I am not keen on curry powder, and although I love things like homemade stews and shepherds pies and things like that, I never feel like I have had a proper meal if it doesn't include chips, I do realise that is utter nonsense and I am really trying to change my POV on this. I am very lazy with food as well, would much rather grab a bag of crisps or a chocolate bar than an apple.

The other thing we can't get our heads around is we have read people saying stock up on fruit and veg and salad stuff, it is cheap and lasts for ages, but when we do try to follow this we end up bringing half the fresh food aisle home with us (which usually costs us more than our usual shop - we aim for about £100 a week, would like to bring this down rather than upping it!), eating some of it, and then chucking most of it in the bin on day 3 because it has gone off, or dried up, or gone brown or something....

I know I have waffled on, and it is a big ask, but if anyone can help us find some good healthy meals that we will all eat, that I can cook, that doesn't include sodding chips, please help us!!

do a week long menu
egs form our hosue( that you woudl do ) are

*steak msuhrooms and baked potatoes
*NIce suasges roasted veg/beans for kids adn spud
*Pasta wiht a hoem made tomato sauce
*chicken casserole with veg and mash
*fish pie
*sheperda pie

keep posting nd we will help you h=through it

home made doesn't thave to be fancy

Tomato sauce

Dice an onion really small and sweat it slowly in oil till it softens (low heat) then add a tablespoon of tom puree and garlic (? 1 clove)

Stir around briefly

Add a splash of old wine if you have it to deglaze the pan, then add a carton of passata and some sugar to taste. I also add a drop of Tabasco. It will look pretty unexciting a tthis point?BUT let it simmer slowly for 30 mins or until it thickens and turns dark red and it goes very sweet and nice.

Add veg to taste and simmer or parmesan on top of pasta.

ih sorry no onion
i htink dh needs to get oevr this dont oy

My food processor is something like this Kenwood one but I got it for half that price at Christmas time last year, from Currys I think.

this hand blender is good for soups - and baby food when the time comes! I also use mine in my shepherd's pie.

I have spent 6 years trying to get DH to get over the onion and garlic thing, but he just can't bear it. He has tried bless him!

So the main thing I should be thinking of doing is basically trying to hide the veg in things, still not sure DS will go for it, because it would be runny but it has to be worth a try. And then looking in some cook books for simple recipes to hide the veg in!!

DH and I would be more than happy with steak, mushrooms and jacket potatoes, but what would be a simple alternative for DS? He won't eat jackets. And is it OK to have butter in jackets? I don't think I'd like them with out butter!

And whats in fish pie - apart from the fish! And what type of fish is it? We do all like lots of different fish - even though DS thinks he has been eating chicken sticks (fish fingers) and chicken cakes (fish cakes) for years with out realising!!

Wow £100!!!! What does it actually do?

I know

but I had some money for Christmas and splurged a bit and as I say it was £49.99.

I use it for soups, cakes, biscuits, chopping veg finely, making fine mince meat, hummous, curry paste. More than I thought I would actually.

TLO, I usually use cod and smoked haddock when making fish pie but it can be made with various types of fish I think.

What about sausages, mash and veg; or stir fry pork or steak with rice? Do you like eggs?

oh yes, you can't have a jacket potato without butter. You could always mash the potato, scoop it out of it's skin and eat it!

If you ever find that you have extra veggies then always easy to make a soup. Can you find stock cubes called Kallo in your supermarket? If possible get the low salt ones they are really good. Squash, pumpkin, courgettes, anything chop up and then saute with some herbs and add the soup cube (first dissolve in boiling water as per the instructions on packet). After it all boils then simmer for about half an hour and then you can puree it smooth and add Philly cream cheese or some milk to make it taste even better, or melt some grated cheese into it. This could be a healthy and tasty dinner with bread and a salad for DH and you. Then for DS, you could give him good cheddar cheese melted on toast sometimes which I think can be quite healthy and full of calcium - you could add bits of ham, or sausage to give it a 'pizza' sort of look - and put tomatos on too. Sardines on toast for dinner with fresh tomatoes grilled on the bread as well for DS? Also, since he likes rice you could give him fried rice with omelette & lots of tiny veggies shredded into it so that he won't notice he's even eating them. How about a light Indian style rice - just grate carrots and toss some boiled (frozen) peas and sweetcorn in butter and put it together in a pan. Hope this helps!

Again sausage mash and veg fine for me and DH, but DS would only eat the sausages. He really isn't keen on potatoes.

We eat lots of eggs, mainly fried (but not from now on!) but we do like scambled egg, omlettes (normally DH adds bacon and/or ham, is this good or bad? Anything else we could add?) Any other eggy dishes?!

I quite like the idea of boiled potatoes all soft and falling apart, and I think I could get DS to try them (with them not being soggy!) but how do I do them? (Haven't had boiled potaotes for years!!) And how do I do rice that isn't either hard, or stuck together? We buy the microwave rice for DS which always turns out nicely, but aside from there being no where near enough to do all three of us, I guess that because it is quick and easy, it is also probably full of bad stuff and expensive?

Konya, some of that sounds so delicious! DS and I aren't big on cheese though (I will only eat it on pizza, and even then we buy the pizza's that don't have a lot of cheese on! And DS will only the sliverest of slithers spread on some crackers if I can convince him it isn't "proper" cheese!

Can I just second the cookbook recommendations on here. Delia and Jamie are a killer combination because Jamie gets you all enthusiastic about different recipes and Delia has enough detail to make you confident you're doing it right. Nigel Slater 'Real Fast Food' is great too. Nige has some great ideas for instant sauces to serve with Enid's chicken breast and rice.

If you're eating home-made instead of processed food you will be eating a lot less hidden fat, sugar and salt, so don't be afraid to add things like butter, creme fraiche or a bit of single cream to perk things up a bit.

Re. the problem with fresh stuff going off, some things are worse than others and you will soon get the idea about what you need to use up first. In general I find that bagged salads don't keep as well as whole lettuces (and no time at all once they're open). Tomatoes keep pretty well, and carrots are great (as well as cheap) - don't forget they're nice grated.

We have never had squash or courgettes, only ever scraped out pumpkins for hallowe'en, never known how to cook any of them.

Is there anything I can put in things like shepherds pies and stews to replace the onions? I love onions and find foods like the above plain and quite boring with out them, I don't want to end up cooking three different lots again!

OK

1. Sauages, mash & veg for you; serve in a roll and ketchup for ds, or with baked beans, or with pasta

1. Omelettes fine with ham or bacon; or cheese&tomato, or mushrooms, or 'Spanish' omelette with tomatoes, red pepper, mushrooms and peas. Shall have to think re other egg dishes.

1. Rice. Buy basmati rice. Put approx half a cup per person into a saucepan, rinse a couple of times. Boil a kettle and add water to 2 inches above rice. Should take just over 15 mins - only stir once or twice. Drain rice.

Oh and I meant to ask, stirfry with rice? I always thought you had to have noodles with it.

A nice recipe for me to follow for a stirfry would be great, DH has had a few attempts at some before, but I have always found them almost too full of flavour, really OTT.

tlo, have been reading the thread, have nothing constructive to add except a big well done

giving kids good (tasty) food is one of the most important things you can do for them, I think.

pob lwc! (good luck)

Another vote for 'Real Fast Food' btw - very easy to follow, no long list of ingredients (which I always find off-putting)

I'd buy the dinnerlady cookbook if you are just starting out.

As for your DS - I'm afraid his time would be up with me - if he doesn't eat veg, or pots and that is what you are cooking, then he'd be hungry!

Tough love is called for here, I think

So is it OK for DS just to have sausages and pasta? (He won't have tomato sauce or beans because it is wet) It doesn't sound very varied? He will eat sausage sarnies for lunch. He loves bread type things, pita, naan, garlic bread, don't know if that makes his meals any easier?

Does the rice need to boil madly or just simmer?

I agree with filly - well done, it's one thing deciding that you are going to learn how to cook, but when you are 8 months pregnant wow!

thank you

It is already a nightmare to get DS to eat anything, even when he loves it, I don't think either me nor DH could handle dinner time getting any worse!

pita filled with chicken pieces or tuna would be good. if he like sbread stuff- then how about fajitas.

i do think you need to be increasing the foods the family will eat though rather than limiting what you cook/eat. make it a challenge to try one new thing a week. let ds choose a new veg at the supermarket and if he tries it he gets a sticker or something?

8 months pg? Missed that!

Respect!

How do I do fajitas with out onion/garlic?

I agree, I am trying to not only get as many meals together that we will all eat, but also many different things, I don't want to be back on here in six months saying help me find something else to put in a cassarole (or whatever!!) I'm fed up of carrots!