What fruit do you feed your children?

[wilchil64]

My daughter is 7 years old and likes fruit and veg, but I am finding fruit so expensive. What fruit do you buy for your children that is not too expensive but doesn't get too boring? I used to buy a melon, some strawberries, some apples and peaches or nectarines, pref. organic, but that is much too expensive now. This week I've just bought apples, but know that she will get bored of them soon. Any suggestions?

oh gosh if you have a market handy go there
if soft fruit is cheap stock up and freeze it
when i am working in town i go to a fruitmarket [which is open every day] and buy stuff by the box! its nicer quality than svme of the stuff in the supermarket and super cheap

I've found a website for PYO in York so if ankle up to it may organise trip there this weekend. Will def try the baked apples, I've heard people say they put marzipan in too, all sounds nice, do I use cooking apples or eating apples or doesn't it matter?

I like the sound of grilled banana. But I don't have a grill. CanI stuff banana with chocolate, wrap in foil and cook in the oven? How long do I need to cook for?
Thanks for the great ideas everyone.

DS will only eat strawberries, pineapple, satsumas or kiwi.
If they eat loads of veg, I wouldn't fret. I read recently that generally veg are more nutrutious and to weight the 5-a-day rations strongly towards veg.
Carrot sticks etc are much cheaper than fruit.

Two of my four DC are big fruit eaters and the others eat quite a bit too. There is always a big bowl of apples in the fridge. I usually have bananas in and often grapes (bought on special). During season, we usually have summer fruit in as well, such as peaches, plums and nectarines, which I buy on sale. Occasionally, I buy melon, berries and cherries if on sale and I often get kiwi and pineapple for desserts. We pick blackberries in bramble season and I freeze them. We have a pear tree so when that fruits, there are lots of pears.

fruit can be expensive, is there a market you can get to?

I am very fortunate that both my DC eat tons of fruit and veg - so I admit I do spend a lot on fruit esp. But I woudl far rather buy 4 nice fat juicey plums than spend the equivalent on other 'kid' food, I justify the expense that way.

Is there any way you could cut back on other things? just a thought..

I have been cutting back on everything, don't buy junk and never have done, I always cook from scratch and don't buy ready meals, my daughter has food colouring allergy so I don't buy sweets often either. have stopped buying any organic food, am now buying supermarket brand everything and can't find much more to cut back on. Unless I buy "Tesco value" everything, which in some cases I don't want to. I want us to eat fruit, just wondering what is the cheapest way to do so, and grateful for all suggestions.

gosh that must be hard.

some good ideas here re freezing. Can you do that? Also, here is a bizarre idea, you remember during the war with rationing they used 'fake' foods? well what about that sort of thing? ie substituting fruit for other this? eg apple etc? Have I totally lost the plot?

The cheapest way to eat fruit is to only eat what is in season, so that means strawberries only for a few weeks of the year!
I usually buy a bag of apples, satsumas/clementines, and bananas each week.

Soft fruits, nectarines, peaches or melon have become a very big treat for us, and even then I only buy them if they are reduced.

At this time of year, I get a lot of fruit free. Blackberries, bilberries, (blueberries) even apples from a fantastic tree near me on council land.

Not much use if you live in a city though I suppose.

I once discovered that if you arrive at a market fruit stall towards the end of the day you can buy huge quantities for very little money.

I think I bought a mahoosive tray of apricots for £2 and a carrier bag of pineapples and melons for £1.

Unfortunately it wasn't particularly near here otherwise I'd be there every week!

My fruit list weekly is

Satsumas
apples
bananas
plums
nectarines
grapes (IF on offer)

I usually chop one of each up and make a little fruit salad, they are more likely to eat it that way.

I try to buy fruit that's seasonal and possibly local. I remember stocking up on raspberries, blueberries etc when they were on offer at Sainsburys etc, as the dc love them.
Since moving back to Italy we eat more fruit, not that it's cheaper, not anymore, but it is tastier. Plus mil grows her own and we get free peaches/apricots/strawberries/plums etc.

We only eat fruit that is seasonal too and am trying to buy local food,altho not always possible when shopping online. I don't have a large freezer so can't freeze lots but do freeze rhubarb if I get a big crop. Haven't tried freezing other fruits yet as they seem to go very soft when thawed.
I've just gone through all the discounted fruit on Tesco's site for next Wednesday's delivery, they have knocked down the price of quite a few things at the moment, so I've ordered quite a good selection, including Galia melon for 80p, unfortunately they don't always have lots of discounted fruit.
I will def try baking bananas with chocolate as my daughter may eat them then! Do you leave the skins on?
Will also try stewing things and serving with rice pudding as she loves rice pudding, i.e. plums etc.

I went a market today at about 2pm and managed to get a back of about a dozen bananas for £1. A huge bag of cherry toms for a £1 and 4 punnets of strawbs for £3.

Satsumas are great if they are on offer. Frozen raspberries are great, especially blended with natural yoghurt (yum - that's what I've had for brekkie the past two days!). Tinned mango blended with yoghurt (also know as Lasso I think) is a yummy snack too.

Do you think DD would eat banana bread. There is a fab recipe on the BLW site for sugar free banana bread, it has sultanas in it but I suppose they could be replaced with something else. I also grate carrot into it too, makes it practically a portion of fruit and veg!

try aldis (though their grapes were yuck this week!)

I buy apples and bananas each week and satsumas over the winter. I alternate kiwis and pears.

Then I'll buy a pineapple or a melon most weeks (whatever's on offer!)and strawberries in the summer.

At the moment we have lots of raspberries and some blueberries in our garden which has been wonderful and we're all really enjoying them.

My 2 eat a lot of dried and tinned fruit too.

It must be hard if you're relying on supermarkets - I live in an area with lots of local shops and a street which specialises in greengrocery, and you can buy fruit surprisingly cheaply in some of those shops. Don't know what I'd do without them, so I don't know what to suggest.

elkiedee, we only have one greengrocers in town and a market on Mondays. The greengrocer isn't very cheap, about the same as the supermarkets most of the time, market is good, but have been without car since May, so difficult to get to, but hope to have car next week and hope ankle will heal so can drive it soon too!

I can't get to Aldi without a car but will make more effort to go at the weekend (where does time go?).

Bumperlicious, I have made banana bread in the past, altho with sugar, and it was v nice, but cant remember if DD ate it, so will use brown bananas Ihave left tomorrow to make some - is it ok to use bananas if they are soft and brown, how long before they have gone off too much?

Bumperlicious, BTW what is BLW site? sorry if being dim ...

This is the BLW forum. In case you don't know, BLW is Baby Led Weaning, feeding your baby just finger food and skipping purees. Anyway, there are some fab child-friendly recipes on there. Bananas are best for banana bread when they are over ripe! Makes them much easier to mush. A friend of mine blends the sultanas (otherwise they go straight through the babies!) hopefully DD wont notice them.

Here is the recipe in case you can't find it. Under the recipes section there are loads of good recipes, so you could just buy the cheap fruit and veg and find novel ways of presenting them to her. The veg flapjacks are yummy. Have a look anyway and good luck.

Thanks, I'll take a look and make some. The bananas are really black and soft today - do they go off?

If they are black and soft make banana bread.

Apples, bananas, grapes are always in the house. Satsumas/manarins, melon, strawberries, blackberries in season.

Apples, bananas, grapes are always in the house. Satsumas/manarins, melon, strawberries, blackberries in season.