Help me overhaul our diet!

[KeepSmiling83]

Hi,

I have 2 DDs who are 6 and almost 3 and over Christmas we have all eaten more junk than we should! With the new year I'd like to revamp what we eat.

For breakfast, we tend to eat toast or cereal like rice crispies or Frosties or yoghurt. But I don't think they are particularly 'hearty' breakfasts. It has to be something relatively quick as I'm on my own with the girls and we have to all be dressed and out the house by 8am.

Lunches are sorted as they are either in school/nursery. They both have a hot meal at lunch time such as spaghetti bolognese, homemade pizza, curry and rice etc.

When they come home they have a snack and it has slipped into something sweet like a cake or some sweets.

Teatime tends to be another hot meal such as pasta, risotto, shepherds pie etc but I don't know if they really want something big again. I sometimes give things like spaghetti on toast but I can't think of enough smaller meals that would fill them up. They always have pudding after tea and this tends to be something from our treat box.

Has anyone got any ways I could improve our diet? Or suggestions for new meals? Both my girls are a healthy weight (my eldest DD is actually quite scrawny!) but can be quite fussy eaters!

For breakfast try Ready Brek instant porridge sachets with yogurt. When I make porridge for my dc I add a splash of sugar free crusha milkshake syrup. I add chopped banana or a spoonful of raisins.
My DC also like blueberry wheats, banana flavoured weetabix, crumpets with peanut butter and banana, malt loaf and strawberry oat smoothies.

They have a large meal plus a snack and milk at school so in the evening, I usually give them something like:
Tortilla wraps/pitta bread with fillings such as chicken/turkey breast pieces, hummus, falafel, tuna and red peppers.
Bagels with fillings such as cream cheese, pastrami, smoked salmon, scrambled eggs.
Couscous salad with additions such as chicken chunks, prawns, roasted veg, cherry tomatoes, chickpeas and feta cheese.
Bean burger in a bun.
Small baked potato/sweet potato with toppings such as tuna mayo and red kidney beans in chilli sauce.
Omelettes

Snacks are very similar to breakfast in our house: a slice of malt loaf, toast, small bowl of cereal, smoothie, yogurt, rice cakes etc..

I know a lot of people on MN think cereal is terrible but I think it depends a bit on the cereal, I try and avoid the sugar coated things but Weetabix, shreddies, rice crispies are ok. Weetabix with milk and chopped banana is really filling.
Bagels make a quick and easy breakfast, especially if you add some protein, cream cheese/cheese, eggs or avocado adds some fat if they like it.
I’ve nailed scrambled eggs in the microwave so can do them in the time it takes for the toast to be ready. Snap pots of beans are really handy, again ready it takes to do the toast and beans on toast makes a quick breakfast or would pass for an evening meal every once in a while if they’ve eaten at lunch. Add some grated cheese and use wholemeal bread if you want to make it more filling.
Another vote for jackets for a quick and filling tea.
Fritata good too.
A quick stirfry with straight to wok noodles and cashews is really easy.
We have a lot of fish-again it’s really quick to do. Salmon or cod with whatever, herbs and spices, lemon juice, soy, chilli, balsamic -wrapped in foil and cooked in the oven.

Sorry forgot to add about snacks. We stick to mainly fruit and veg but have to mix things up a bit because apples and satsumas get boring after a while. I’ve had great success making my own dips of late. Beetroot and horseradish, curried carrot, pea and mint, homemade salsa basically I’ve just played around with veg, herbs,spices and the blender and most have turned out good. Wholemeal pita and veg sticks dipped in veg dip make a really healthy and tasty snack.
I also make pop corn and baked paprika chickpeas make a nice crunchy snack. I often make savoury flapjacks which are pretty nutrient dense but without high sugar.
For pudding have you thought about making your own frozen yoghurt ice lollies? Literally just fruit and yoghurt in lolly mould frozen. Just seems a bit more exciting than regular fruit and yoghurt.

Thank you for all the suggestions - I am writing them down and will definitely try some.

I forgot to add that one night we have a number of after school clubs for DD6. She finishes school and we come home until we go to dancing at 4.45 - 5.30pm. Straight after that we go to swimming from 6.15 - 6.45pm. I'm not sure when or what I should give the girls for tea? Her dancing has changed days so I haven't had to do this yet. Maybe something at 4pm and then some supper before bed? I have to drive straight from dancing to swimming so anything eaten then would be in the car. Any ideas gratefully received!

I'd be tempted to hold off with the snack that your DD has straight after school and then give her a slightly bigger than normal snack just before you leave for dancing. Something high in carbs such as a bagel. Then I'd give her something dessert-ish in between dancing and swimming like a cereal bar/banana/malt loaf/dried fruit and a drink of hot chocolate before bed.

Frosties for breakfast, you aren't serious, are you? I think it should count as a treat (only).

Frosties is a breakfast cereal. It isn't that surprising that someone might consume it for breakfast, surely.

I know what Frosties are, they've been around for ages, since the 1970's at least. They're very sugary (as are Honey Monster puffs). I recall I tried to coerce my mum into buying them when I was a child but only got them for my birthday and similar festive occasions. From a nutritional perspective, I find oatmeal better. It's high in whole-grain fiber and protein.

A bit of sugar never hurt anybody. I'm not denying that porridge is miles better than Frosties, but At least they get breakfast, and the milk that they presumably had with it is protein/calcium. A lot of children do worse.

You can get bear cereal that’s sweetened with coconut nectar and also mine love rude health’s chocolate porridge. I wouldn’t worry overly, j agree with rice that this gets too much airtime and cornflakes and Frosties is what most 80s kids grew up on.

Mine also like avocado on toast or peanut butter on toast w wholemeal seeded bread

Frosties for breakfast, you aren't serious, are you?

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Well for breakfast if it needs to be quick I think toast and non sugary cerals are fine. You could add nut butters to toast and add some fruit. Do they eat a pudding at nursery after lunch if so I wouldn't give a sweet snack afterwards then pudding after tea. Could you change the snack to cheese and crackers, rice cakes, veg or pitta with dips a banana type thing? I think teas are fine but if you want some quick ideas I do stirfrys, omelettes, puff pastry sheet with veg, pasatta and motzerella On, pitta bread pizzas, pasta they are all quick you could make soup at weekend and use for tea for a few days aswell. For these type of teas I just do brocolli, carrots, green beans type thing on the side aswell. If you do a roast meat say on Sunday you could have some leftover to add to quick teas.

Thank you so much for all the replies. Yes she does have Frosties some mornings and I know it's not great which is why I posted. She can be really fussy and getting her to eat anything in the morning can sometimes be a challenge!

But I have written down all your suggestions and I'm going to try and introduce new things alongside tweaking the things we already have. I am going to write her a 'menu' of things she can have for breakfast, snacks etc and let her choose what she would like that week while I'm writing my shopping list. Hopefully if she has had some input then she may actually eat them!

I'm going to start with some porridge this week, English Muffins, fruit, yoghurt and Rice Crispies. I'm definitely going to have a non sweet snack after school so am going to try Pitta bread, veg sticks and dips or fruit. On the day we have got after school clubs I thought I could make them beans on toast at about 4pm then some banana bread or a small cake in the car after dancing then supper when we get home. Does that sound better?

Yes op that sounds good. I would do beans on toast or scrambled eggs on toast and maybe a banana after dancing for energy as I'm guessing it will be a very busy day for her. You could get them involved in baking and do things like banana bread/ flapjack ECT so they are still getting some treats but you can control ingredients.