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!

I think its quite easy cooking for one (dd 3.5) but I can see by reading this thread how things get more complicated when you have two or more children with completely different tastes! So I'll enjoy it while it lasts.

Ghosty - I agree that eating 'en famille' can be difficult. My DH is often working away from home so DS & I will then eat together at 6pm - I personally cannot bear to eat any earlier - but I still find it horrendous eating with a child, the mess etc - still, now that I am dieting it helps me not to eat so much!!

enid, it's even worse when you have 2 or more children who not only have different tastes but are in different places and get back at different times - this also makes good home cooking tricky!

Being able to sling a trayful of nuggets and chips in the oven on the timer while I pick up and drop off is a godsend.

Some lovely ideas here. I know exactly what you mean, Jahn, about more than 1 child: we have 3 and between picking up here, taking to football there, friends coming to play etc etc., it is becoming increasingly hard to fit in a balanced and nutricious dinner every evening. I try to cook from scratch most days but don't stress if I resort to fishfingers and chips on the odd occassion.

I actually really enjoy cooking and my kids are usually okay with most foods although like many others, they can infuriate me by hating something they loved best of all last week! I really feel for all the mums here who hate to cook as there is so much pressure these days to perform in the kitchen.

Enid's nuggets sound great - will try these tomorrow. One thing I have learned (from a Nigella book, I think) is that if you are going to spend a long time fiddling about in the kitchen for kids, try to make something which can be frozen in small portions and eaten at a later date. I know this sounds strange but works for me. If I have spent 2 hours chopping, peeling sauteing etc I find it really demoralising if my kids refuse the food because they don't feel very hungry or are tired. However, if I can just reheat or take something I have made from the freezer, it doesn't become such an issue if they leave it. This sounds really stupid when I try to explain it

Pupuce... I try not to make troublesome areas become an issue so if something doesn't work it might work a few months later (or not) but I don't give up and I try to be the guide but not dictator there is so much to argue about and make life unhappy for everyone at times. Also I don't like food to be a major problem/issue especially after I watched a programme about children who are referred to Gt Ormand St Hospital with major serious eating problems... a specialist said it often stems from rigid views about eating food and not being allowed to explore etc etc with food. Life is too short and children are too precious to make them miserable and yes you do have to lay down the law (sometimes too often) but when necessary I do.

Life is not always black and white and thanks to those who seemed to understand more that Pupuce but don't worry Pupuce I often come across people who don't understand my reasoning/ways but then wouldn't life be boring if we all understood each other and did exactly the same things?

Actually the children used to eat loads of healthy food right from weaning and then I was criticised for feeding them too much healthy food and not allowing them some junk food so just goes to show you can't win. I found that mixing at lunchtimes with other fussy eaters brought out their fussiness then again maybe they just changed in what they like and will/will not eat we all progress/regress at times.

Has anyone else found that their ideals have slipped as the kids have got older? I was really anti-anything processed, no biscuits, cakes etc until DD got to baout 18m. I think it was partly becuse we eat out a lot at weekends and it got to the point where DD needed more than just "bits" from our plates. Lots of places only seem to offer something+chips for kids even if the menu is quite good otherwise and i'm not going to pay £8 for a meal that DD will eat about 1/3 of. That said i don't have much processed stuff at home, just quiche really.

As a (somewhat) reformed fussy -eater, a plea to just let the kids be! For about 3 years my "sunday dinner" was roast potatoes, parsnips and gravy. At one stage I was eating microchips for each of the three meals. I do not (and did not) have health problems, bad skin etc..Unfortunately boarding school was not as chilled out as my mum (also a picky eater) and i cannot physically eat rhubarb (and other things) as the gag reflex is still so strong! DD will eat foods that i can't look at (mainly fish) and despite the odd testing time we just go with the flow. DH likes to pint out that she seems not to have inherited her eating habits from me.

Your posting struck a chord with me Marialuisa!

My youngest child (3) is a very fussy-eater, whereas my other 2 (7 and 5) will eat anything and everything.

I am fairly laid back with DD2 as I can remember vividly being force-fed grated carrots by a dinner lady when I was 5 and just started Infant school.

To this day, although I love carrots - I cannot eat them grated! Just seeing it takes me back to infant school days

just realised, ditto re carrots for me too slinky!

Oh no, now I'm worried. The sluglet's always been a good eater with wide, if somewhat eccentric tastes. Yesterday for example she ate pickled vegetables for breakfast and one of her first words was Brie. Having said that, I'm waiting for the food battles which I'm sure will come eventually. Currently my policy is offer and if she's not interested, don't push it. She's also just learnt to open the fridge, so within reason I let her try anything she pulls out (unless it's raw meat of course). I do offer new foods, but I don't sweat it cooking for long periods of time. The latest success is

Boiled pasta
Whizz in a food processor soft cheese, tomatoes and any green stuff that dosen't need cooking. Pour on drained pasta.

I did this once with garlic and herb Boursin, cherry tomatoes and watercress. Dh tasted it then demanded it for dinner himself.

Cherry tomatoes are another favourite. Small enough for the smallest hands and mouths, and such fun to eat.

oxocube- really agree about the demoralising effect of knee high to grasshopper bolsheviks going on hunger strike in response to lovingly prepared supper. I wish I was organised enough to do the freezer thing. Enid's nuggets do sound like a great incentive to give it a go, I must say.

Pupuce, what is ayurvedic food?

I really think you can go overboard in keeping junk food away from children. My mum was great about giving us yummy home-cooked food and kept us well away from junk and, following in her footsteps, I have absolutely no wish to allow my two to eat some of the shite out there that masquerades as food. But I'm afraid I have vivid memories of my first tastes of a Big Mac, Findus crispy pancakes, angel delight and, later, Pot Noodles, all at friend's houses. I loved them all and my poor Mum was horrified to face repeated requests for these newly discovered delicacies! For some reason the huge majority of children seem to view this sort of fare as tasty and eventually they will discover it. Perhaps the very fact that it has been forbidden will make it all the more attractive- I believe that was the case with me. So I do sometimes let my boys choose less nutritious options as a treat- chocolate chip cookie cereal found its way into my shopping basket recently...yuk!- or sit with them in Burger King, a rictus smile plastered to my face to hide my shame and distaste as they chomp cheerfully away.

(Aside: I once went round to a friend's house after school and was given a toothbreakingly solid home baked wheatgerm roll filled with raw garlic as a snack... No wonder she'd always wanted to come to my house. At least my Mum cooked tasty stuff even if it was less processed than I'd have liked!)

friends' houses, I have said. Those grammarians will be after me.

DOH! Should HAVE said.

Arrgh! We need an edit post button! Last attempt to post a correction of a corection of a correction without mistakes:
friends' houses, I SHOULD have said.

I give up! Left an r out of 2nd "correction".

But you did it on purpose, didn't you, scummy?

Sadly not, janh, though it is the sort of thing I might do, I agree! I'm having a particularly slap-dash day today, for some reason. Evil twins flooded the bathroom this morning while my back was turned- when will I learn that it's never ok to turn my back!- by turning on forbidden tap on blocked sink and leaving it running... Downstairs neighbours now, understandably, hate me. Now I'm waiting in for HA plumber who may be able to do something to the sink pipes (which don't point downwards- how thick is that?) to stop the sink becoming blocked so regularly. A bit off topic this! How's you?

Kind of them to provide you with displacement activity (or haven't you got an essay to write today?)

Re your pipes - a friend of mine discovered that the overflow pipe of her loo terminated in the middle of the cavity wall!!!! It got extremely damp...what she has now is a very neat arrangement with a little flexible pipe which tucks under the loo seat so it can overflow into itself - which makes my brain hurt.

Great here, thanks, no floods and I am v v v v v excited, we have a new PC, sings and dances and scans and everything - well just now it doesn't do any of those things as it is in a stack of boxes 5' high but it will do when DH gets home (I can do self-assembly furniture but not technology!)

And we are having proper food tonight (hastily back on topic!) baked chicken drumsticks with jersey royals and broccoli - yum (everybody's in so no taxi service).

Essay nearly finished and am supposed to be back at work now but must admit am not hugely cross about getting another day home to finish it properly and generally faff about. You are v. perceptive the janhster! Haven't decided what to give the criminals for tea yet.

New pc sounds fantastic!

Pupuce you talk sooo much sense. i dont agree with frocing children to eat BUT i am not a short order cook, i'm not prepared to ch=ook different meals for each child so its take it or leave it. The kids know this, so we dont have big fights or issues over food (much)

I don't think I said (well I am not re-reading the whole thread!) that you force food kids don't like, I said you have dinner at a set time (give or take 30 minutes) which is a sit down affair (preferably with an adult and no TV) - yes call me old fashion.
And I would be (seriously) interested if there is any risk/danger of my kids developing an eating disorder when they have been raised as seeing a meal as a social/family time - and it is really that... we set the table together (even my 21 mo DD helps) we cook, we eat, DS often suggest the menu and it is very rarely a "silly" idea... and the tidy up when we are finish. A meal takes about 30 to 40 minutes (Sunday Roast is longer)... all four of us, chatting, laughing, eating. And if one of my kids does not want to finish his plate that is fine. If he/she eats very poorly than there won't be a pudding if we had one planned (not at every meal anyway).

My son hates cheese, I dont force it. I put it on DD's pasta and always ask him, do you want some? He says no - I leave it at that. Like you Gohsty - I believe children have a sense of taste and I spend a lot of time with my kids to explore taste and texture... hence they very often cook with me and actively participate in recipe (well I haven't asked my 21 months old what else I can put in the pasta bake... but soon I will!) Recently DS started hating leeks, now he likes the again. At no time was he forced to eat leeks when he didn't like them.

We always (except tonight actually) eat with the kids... but DH and I work from home. We often have a snack at 9PM without the kids around too.

Ayrvedic is a healing system from India.... he tells you what food items are good for different constitutions... it is vegetarian. We are not vegetarian but eat meat about 2 times a week and fish once or twice. Basically the recipes we have are really good. (DH is a yoga teacher)

Agree with so much that has been said about having set meal times, one menu for everyone, all the family together, no TV.

We have one junky meal a week, usually on the night when after school clubs put time at a premium. No one is forced to eat anything but they all get everything on their plates, eg. ds1 hasn't eaten carrots for about 4 years now, he gets 1 or 2 slices on his plate every time we have them, lo and behold, yesterday he ate one - a minor miracle. I don't withhold puddings if they don't eat dinner but as pud is usually fruit I want them to eat it.

Would love to have meals together every night of the week but dh doesn't get home till past 8 most nights. If he's working at home we will eat with the children at 5.30ish. Enjoy immensely our Sunday lunch which often stretches on till 3ish - best meal of the week.

pupuce - my children were exposed to junk food at birthday parties. The boys love it. Dd doesn't (especially not chips) and always complains that she's hungry at birthday parties. Why don't birthday party providers have healthy food options?

Also think school dinners are a disgrace.

marialuisa - have you ever read the ingrediants on a pack of microchips? I was pretty suprised - BUT in a good way. They have just potato and oil; not even any salt. So actually much better than even frozen oven chips.