Just one more thing... how many people do you know in RL who are all homemade/organic/free-range/from scratch etc.

[emkana]

Because I don't think I know any!
In fact, I think I am the most "bothered" person about food I know around here, and as you all know by now I feed my kids chicken dippers occasionally.

And I live in a fairly affluent, middle-class kind of area - admittedly in the provinces, not London.

i know someone who says they are but her children tell everyone a difefrent tale

my dad and his wife.
dont know much about the area but its NICE,
they live next door to Dom Joly.

I know someone who is - and their kids are raving lunatics!

I don't really ask people about how they feed their children.

i think im the most bothered about it - apart from my dad who fed me articles on the subject till i gave in and decided to learn to cook and buy organic.

but then, how would i know? i dont question people about what they buy/cook. that would be a, boring and b, nosy and judgmental. no?

plus, i can afford to. think that makes a hell of a difference.

oh, and its only since i became a 'responsible mother' that i have given a flying duck. before that i treated my body like crap

I don't either but you see things, don't you?
The mother who gives her son a dairylea lunchables packet in the car just after preschool.
The mother who tells you in the playground that she forgot to pack lunch and so bought a packet of dairylea lunchables and a fruitshoot on the way to school.
The mother of your child's friend who's coming for tea - with the warning that the child will not eat any vegetables other than baked beans and potatoes only as chips...
The children waiting for their ballet class munching on monster munch etc.

I could go on

I know two.
One inherited a huge family pile along with a smallholding that they farm in a very green way. Very nice lady. Smells a bit.

The other has moved to our area as a deliberate downsize so she can afford to live in the way that she wants which includes every meal being totally organic. I stood behind her yesterday in the organic farm shop with my box of Organic choco-crunch cereal as she spent £65 on two very light looking carrier bags. I had a bootfull of quite responsible shopping from Morrisons for the same price. I tried not to feel inadequate.

Message withdrawn

Like most parents i try my best, but i do get irritated by people who shudder because you occassionally buy your kids a 'Happy Meal' or don't squeeze your own organic tofu juice. A little perspective wouldn't go amiss.

i would agree with sheraz - right up to the point about macdonalds. have you not seen 'Supersize me'?

i could never eat that poison again.

But in that case you don't actually agree with Sheraz, do you, NappiesGalore? [confused emoticon]

I have seen supersize me, but i would never give the stuff to mt kids every day. It is a treat for them once in a while. I just don't like all the media scares that change from one week to the next.

lol. yeah but no but...

i mean, if not every single bite that passes their lips is absolutely perfect, i wont tie myself in knots about it.

i just happen to think that McD's in particular are sooooo far from perfect that id only contemplate giving it to them if, say, we were now living through a nuclear winter and all the rats had been eaten and it was that or death right away...

you see, im perfectly rational about this

but didnt you see the bit where he asked the doctor if he had eaten a McD's, when would he feel it was safe to eat another, and he said a year??

id rather treat them with ice-cream or sweets or toys or cuddles or anything than that...

it hardens their brain cells. i mean wtf?

Yes bt you get a fruit shoot with a happy meal!

lots, my parents live in the country and lots of their neighbours are hippies with organic veg patches and they all give out their produce to each other.

the last time i was home their neighbours brought a huuooge jug of redcurrant wine that they'd brewed and i've been offerd sloe wine, gooseberry wine and other hedgerow brews on other occasions by other neighbours. some of them raise animals too.

i do my best but am flat broke so can't afford to do as well as i should.... although aldi's new organic stuff is helping!

Aldi's organic - oh fab. i aman Aldi shopper. If I could afford teh time I would have a veg patch and grow my own.

lol, i don't even have a garden but my organic chillies on the windo sill are doing well!

bump

I'm a mix amd matcher - I mainly buy organic for the kids, but if I can't get what I want in an organic version I buy ordinary stuff - and my kids have the occasional junk food as well, including McD and Fruitshoot.

I knew a family, totally organic and sugar free, kids drank herbal tea only and the mum even ground her own flour. The kids were really pale and thin, the parents would let them cry for more cake (on the rare occasion that a cake was on offer in their house) they never gave in. At first I admired their stamina , sticking to their concept.
And then they were old enough to go to full time Kindergarden with "normal" but still healthy warm lunch included and the 2 girls blossomed into rosey cheeked healthy looking girls.

My best friend here in NZ is the most organic/cook from scratch person I know ... but she isn't arsey about it ... she was brought up that way and so that is the way she is with her children. She never cooks anything from the freezer (unless she has cooked it herself and froze it ...) or has anything from a tin (except maybe tinned tomatoes). So everything at home is organic and cooked from scratch ...

BUT ... they do have the odd Macdonald's or fish and chips from the chippie now and again and have chocolate and sweets in the house too (I don't have chocs or sweets at home ever) ...

I don't do organic ... would like to but it is difficult to find easily in Auckland (poor choice) but I try my best to give my children healthy food as often as I can - but I will admit to the odd McD's - once every couple of months at the most ...

It is all a question of balance IMO.

A bit of mix and match here too. We do have loads of fruit and veg, and ds is actually a very unfussy eater. And no McDonalds, either (well, once, for a coffee only, in France, where they had a free soft play area and ds had been sitting in the car all day and needed to let off steam). But I'm not going to freak if once in a blue moon someone gives him a fruit shoot at a party say.

Don't quite get the "must be organic" thing either - I'm actually more likely to buy local produce from local sources like farm shops and farmers markets, than I am organic stuff from a lot further away.

in answer to OP, none. and if I did I'd avoid them like the plague.

Lol ssd

None.

My sister cooks loads from scratch, but not by choice. She lives in Spain and she doesn't have a great deal of access to convenience food.

My mum cooks from scratch a lot.

Neither of them use organic particularly. I probably buy more organic an sctually and that's very little.