What did your child have for tea today?

[Mulefa]

My dd1 is 3 and a half and tonight she had sausages, couscous, carrots and broccoli (all half eaten!) then a Munch Bunch fromage frais for pudding. She drank diluted apple juice.

I would love to know what other children of any age have for their tea - just out of nosiness and also to get some more ideas!

Thanks!

54321, why dont you try offering them their tea a little later, perhaps they are not truly hungry at tea time but then genuinely hungry at bedtime?
Or do as i do (as advised by wise friend)if they dont eat their tea, dont offer any alternatives, keep the uneaten tea and when they finally ask for food offer it colld. this way they see there is nothing to gain by food refusal.

Carmel where did u get the good shopping guide?
I've been following the Guardian food supplement over the past 4 weeks and am revolted by some of the processed food maunfacturers practices.

Making your own chicken nuggets is not cheaper in the long run if your children won't eat them

The book is availible at www.thegoodshoppingguide.co.uk.
The best things about it is they tell you what you can buy, not just what you can't. Good luck with it, we can all make a change together!

I feel like such a bad mother, DS went through such a long phase of refusing all my carefully planned homemade meals that I no longer bother. I think i'd better start stocking the freezer againg, thanks for the inspiration.

euwwwww.....wickedwaterwitch...just read that article. Shocking and sad.

carriemac I've already tried doing your suggestions over and over again.

I have tried to feed on demand as well as give them small amounts at intervals and nearer bedtime and can't seem to get it right at all. I end up spending all afternoon/evening in and out of the kitchen with a load of food uneaten.

When it comes to saving their dinner what just happens is in the end they never ate it and went to bed hungry and cross with me - leaving me to worry if I was being too harsh with them.

but thanks for trying to suggest something

plus... when I save their uneaten dinner for bedtime, the process of going to sleep always takes a lot longer and I am so tired and cross and they are cross and claim to by hungry (which they must be) and they become even more wide awake, and I hate the fact that we have all ended up going to sleep very very late (ie after 9.30pm usually) & unhappy... so have resorted to bread and butter is the only thing you get plus a glass of water!

Beetroot

Cook whole rice.
Leave to cool
Cook/steam broccoli
Panfry medium heat - a dash of (olive) oil with cumin seeds, curry powder for 2 minutes, add pine kernels and raisins.
Add rice and brocoli in small pieces, heat up and serve.

Easy and the kids love it !

54321 -
1.How old are your kids?
2. Who is the parent???????

Sorry this sounds harsh but do you think you are doing anyone any favours by allowing this to happen?
Children will not starve themselves. There is a time to eat and if they choose to not eat then fine. The first day they will be VERY surprised (as they won't expect you to be strict) and the next day.... either they are testing you or they will know you mean business. As parent we need to give guidance to our children and "educate" them. If you choose to let them decide when and what they eat they are unlikely to eat well and learn the social aspect of having a meal (eating is not JUST about filling up your stomach - to digest better you need to ENJOY your meal! And eating while playing or watching tele (sorry) does not count

Now I must have made 1000 ennemies

pupuce, your idea sounds wonderful, but I do know the problems of having a faddy eater. Mine is the middle one of three, I am the parent, the other two have logical likes and dislikes as most adults do, dd won't eat aubergines, ds2 wont eat broccoli, but they will try things. Ds1 who is my middle child, will eat nuggets, chips, sausage, fish fingers, and burgers. I have tried everything. He will if necessary make himself vomit at the table if forced to eat things that he doesn't like. He is 10 on Friday and I would rather have happy meal times that he remembers even if it means that he is eating c**p and I am cooking 2 or even 3 meals at teatime everyday (I am a veggie). I beleive that he will grow out of this, who heard of anyone getting married and having fhish fingers chips and beans at their wedding reception!?! I make sure he eats an apple every day as it is the only fruit he will eat and he has plenty of milk on cereal and fresh orange juice in a morning. I feel bad enough about the way my son eats and will always do my best thru gentle persuasion rather than starve him. If you try that sort of 'education' on chuildren, is it not possible that it could lead to eating disorders in later life - giving them no food until they eat their leftover meal? Would you like to eat 36 hour old fish pie or whatever??

Lilibet - actually I agree with you - your son at 18 will probably have a much more sophisticated meal
You are also right to make the meal times pleasant... still I feel like when they are young (and maybe 10 - I don't have a 10 yo yet) and you say: this is tea.... (and make it varied enough so that you do cater for likes and dislikes)... then that's what's on the table.
I am very lucky (actually I am not sure luck is all that it is) but my kids eat everything and some very "weird" stuff too. Actually they don't like processed food. We eat almost all our meals with them and they know mealtime is an event in the day... tgheyn help prepare the food, often eat the ingredients uncooked (DD - 21 mo) steals onions and garlic while I cook ! they both set the table, they are starting to clear the table and we eat 1 meal - all the same.
DD was a very fussy eater when she started solids but at 8 or 9 months she started eating everything. I never fought her but I kept offering things she refused.

I think if you have 1 fussy eater versus more than 1 "bad" eater than maybe it's more to do with the child rather than the rule.

Pupuce, what actually happens (in my house) is they wake up ravenous at breakfast time. Mine refuse to eat their tea all the time unless it's something "safe" like sausages. If they don't eat it, they don't get anything else and they wake up starving in the morning.

Today, for example, they have refused to eat Tescos macaroni cheese with hidden cauliflower which they usually wolf down (No, they won't eat my homemade version so I've given up trying - it's less upsetting to throw away a ready meal).

And i would never make them eat cold left overs.... the food is there now, you have the meal on the table now, when we are all finished then I take it away (I have had this issue a few times with DS - but more down to him wanting to play and not eat).

Oh, and they used to eat virtually everything when weaning - homemade vegetable korma, homemade hummus, homemade broadbean gratin.... all sorts of things. Now?? It's a nightmare!

pupuce- feel you were a bit harsh to s4321 and way too idealistic. You are very lucky to have children who eat everything and you should appreciate that and not preach at people for being honest. S4321 could have lied and said her children had spinach pie but she didnt. my eldest son is like lilibets (spookily so- think he could be living in 2 houses!), last vomit was at the weekend post eating one kernel of sweetcorn. My other 2 children are better and will try things but its hard when they see their older brother being offered something more "child-friendly", they want the processed muck too. Having said that, we are going to have a week, next week, of no processed food/additives etc. Ds1 will have to live largely on marmite sandwiches and fruit (not dissimilar to bread/butter and an apple) and I am under no illusions that hunger will drive him to eat a single vegetable or meat other than chicken. All children are not the same

I've been avoiding this thread for a while as everyone's children seemed to have varied healthy meals. My ds (nearly 3) got fussy as soon as he moved onto feeding himself (before then he ate anything).

He doesn't eat any fruit or veg apart from potatoes( has recently given up on bananas). Only drinks water (won't touch milk now either apart from on cereal). So I make sure what he does get is organic and fresh eg. steamed potatoes and salmon followed by cheddar cheese! He'll eat houmous by the spoon load but nearly vomits on a pea. Peer pressure doesn't work. Once in a blue moon I can get him to try something but he'll spit it and not try again for ages. I tried to hide food in pasta sauces for eg. so he stopped eating pasta.... Same with multivitamins - he smells them a mile off.

Do they grow out of it. He looks really fine and is rarely ill but I'm worried he's storing up health problems for later. Everyone says to let him alone and not turn it into a big deal - which we're adhering to. Advice welcome.

Oh, soupy, I do sympathise re the little s*ds no longer eating what they used to love; DS2 turned into a food nightmare at about 2-2.5, can't remember but before that he would eat almost anything, his favourite thing was spag bol (into mouth with both hands) after that he ate almost nothing, I seem to recall he lived on peanut butter sandwiches for about 3 years but that can't be right.

For a long time all he would eat was pizza/chicken nuggets/sausages. For his whole 5th year he promised he really would eat peas on his 5th birthday but still won't (seems to be a phobia!)

He is 10 now and does have quite a good diet - loves chicken-and-asparagus-pie (shop-bought), any kind of casserole or roast, new-spuds-in-skins (hates mash for some reason, DD2 was the other way round, kids are so weird!), broccoli, DH's garlic-carrots - tolerates green beans - hates baked beans and salad. Quite likes pasta dishes again, but still most loves pizza/nuggets/sausages.

Packed lunch most days is peanut-butter sandwich, peeled quartered apple, flapjack and Frube, and he generally has a banana and assortment of cereal products after school (bread, Shreddies etc.)

Hope this helps anybody out there despairing of their child ever eating proper food again!

How come children get to eat/like fast food in the first place?

nobby and miggy, hadn't read your posts thoroughly - my DS also has thrown up over things like onepea concealed in his mash (maybe that's why he doesn't like mash - he used to!)

(I have 3 older kids and they were never anything like as picky as him.)

Don't despair - there is light at the end of the tunnel!

Policy on mealtimes in our house is
If you dont eat it all up you get nothing else.
I am no commis chef dishing out different meals neither. It is bad enough washing the bl**dy dishes

pupuce, do you mean nuggets?

Because they are quick and easy and some of us are not Nigellas.

Nuggets (for example) are bloddy easy to make as Enid posted below ! And they cook faster than the frozen ones !
You don't have to be Nigella to steam 2 vegetables and put a piece of fish in a pan - do you ?

I am like Doormat !

P.S They still dont eat it all up.
It was spag bol tonight and kids still complained. Aaaarrrgggghhh I will never win.

Doormat. We do have the eat it or have nothing policy with the food ds likes - but I'm not prepared to do that with obvious dislikes as it will be WW3. I'm not going to make it into a battleground. Makes me weary just thinking about it - and I'm pretty strict!