Whole Grain Goodness Challenge feedback thread - chance to win supermarket gift cards! NOW CLOSED

[PoppyMumsnet]

Here's what WholeGrainGoodness.com, a not-for-profit campaign aiming to inspire people to eat more whole grain, say about the challenge:

“Most of us know it’s important to eat at least five portions of fruit and veg every day. But did you know high fibre foods are also an important part of a healthy, balanced diet? The dietary recommendation for adults is that we should aim for at least 30g of fibre a day; but currently only manage, on average, about 18g. Whole grains are a great source of fibre and so public health advice is to base our meals on starchy carbohydrate foods, and to choose whole grain varieties where possible.

So try something different for your new year's diet resolutions this year – take part in our whole grain challenge, involve your family too if you can, and add your feedback here to be entered into a prize draw."

Here's what's involved:
~ Official testers (those already selected by MNHQ) who add a comment here between Monday 6 February and Sunday 26 February can win a £250 supermarket voucher

~ Non-official testers (open to all UK MNers) who add a comment here between Monday 6 February and Sunday 26 February can win a £150 supermarket voucher

• The challenge is to include whole grains / whole grain foods in at least ONE meal or snack per day for two weeks and tell us what you think by adding your feedback here. Involve your family too if you can.

According to Wholegraingoodness.com:

"There’s so much variety available to choose from, such as wholemeal breads, flours, rolled oats, whole grain breakfast cereals, rye crackers. Even popcorn is a whole grain food! Perhaps try going half-and-half, like mixing white with wholemeal flour in baking, wild rice with white rice or brown pasta with white pasta. If you already eat lots of whole grain, feel free to take part in the challenge too, as we’d like to know what you think also, to help us inspire others to eat more delicious and nutritious whole grains.

"If you have any questions about whole grains go to WholeGrainGoodness.com and check out the Guide to Whole Grain pages and the FAQs, or use the Contact Us form. To help you get cooking with whole grains, try these delicious Recipes created by professional home economists and dietitians, designed to show that healthy eating doesn’t have to be boring – it can be surprisingly good!"

Please add your feedback below on the following:
~ Let us know what you think of whole grains / whole grain foods and if you knew about the benefits already or not.

~ Have you tried out any WholeGrainGoodness.com recipes? How did you and your family find them?

~ Please add any other comments, photos, recipes, tips or ideas you have too – we'd love to hear from you at various stages of the challenge.

Thanks
MNHQ

Closing date: Sunday 26 February. Winners will be selected at random from all posting a comment: one ‘official’ tester and one ‘non-official’ tester – prizes as above.

Please note: posts on this thread may be reproduced by Whole Grain Goodness (AHDB).

Challenge summary:

Breakfasts: as a family we have eaten shredded wheat with cold milk and fresh fruits, wholemeal bread instead of our usual white, and overnight oats with yoghurt layered with frozen raspberries and oats. The overnight oats were a big hit with my girls and i also really enjoyed the wholemeal bread i found it much tasier than white.my kids didnt seem to mind the switch either.

Lunches- i switched to wholemeal wraps instead of breaf and white wraps..really tasty and filling.

Tea-
Wholemeal spaghetti and wholemeal fusilli went down well with my girls.

The website is informative and helpful our favourite recipe was the bananna flapjack which my oldest loved helping me make.

Thank you for the voucher and opportunity to be involved in the trial

~ Let us know what you think of whole grains / whole grain foods and if you knew about the benefits already or not.
To be honest I'd never really thought about wholegrains and their benefits, I tend to just think about sugar/fat content and calories when shopping. It's been really enlightening to swap what we usually buy for the wholegrain versions, mostly without much difference! I actually discovered that my almost 3-year-old DS prefers wholemeal bread over white, which I was really surprised about! I also will not to go back to white pasta as opposed to wholemeal as there really isn't much difference at all! Both myself and DS have been enjoying porridge for breakfast with various toppings - banana and honey, sugar and cinnamon, and weirdly bacon and maple syrup which actually works!!! I think my DS' favourite part of the week was the flapjacks though

~ Have you tried out any <a class="break-all" href="http://go.mumsnet.com/?xs=1&id=470X1554755&url=www.wholegraingoodness.com/recipes/?utm_source=mumsnetwggrecipesjan2017&utm_medium=digitalprpaid&utm_content=mumsnetwggrecipesjan2017&utm_campaign=mumsnetwggrecipesjan2017" target="_blank">WholeGrainGoodness.com recipes? How did you and your family find them?
We tried the cheesy pasta bake which was AMAZING, will definitely be one of my go-to recipes in the future. We also tried the wholemeal pitas with scrambled eggs which was a bit plain but a quick and easy breakfast/lunch. I did try the pancakes using wholemeal flour but I did not like these - they turned out too dry for my taste but DS enjoyed them nonetheless. I used the flour to make pizza bases, and these turned out perfectly so will carry on doing this in future.

I have often considered making these changes but for some reason could never push myself to do it, fear of not liking the products I think. Never really thought much about it but I eat quite a lot of porridge already.
I've even tried to convince myself that the beautiful chewy flapjacks I made are healthy(well they do have oats!!). At least they have some nutritional value for a sweet treat.
One of the main changes for me which has me pleasantly surprised is that I actually really enjoy brown rice and its so easy to incorporate as many of our fave family meals are served with rice. Not too keen on wholegrain pasta which is a shame as I do love pasta dishes. I don't consume much bread but find wholegrain, seeded loaves much more tasty and satisfying. Oh, we did try wholegrain wraps with chilli and rice but felt it was a bit too much with the brown rice, don't think they were these nice tbh compared to the usual wheat and white I buy.
I feel like maybe I didn't do as much as some other testers, such a making homemade bread etc but I made many changes in comparison to our normal family intake. It's been a good thing for me personally to finally find out I like more things than I thought I would. The kids received it slightly better than expected but don't think they'll be converted but will happily incorporate more wholegrains into their diets. Thanks for choosing me for the challenge!! Xx

This has really opened up my mind to the wholegrain range of foods and recipes. I hardly ate wholegrain except for bread
We made scones and porridge and it was very tasty and the kids loved them.
Tried crackers with cheese for nourishing snack, very filling and tasty. Crackers were light and not bulky at all.
Going to try some other receives now. Thanks for helping me add a new product to my diet.

I do try to eat wholegrain in bread and pasta as I feel less bloated, but I've slipped into the habit of getting separate white bread for the children as its just easier. But have made an extra effort to encourage wholegrain last week and was pleasantly surprised! Both young boys enjoyed wholegrain toast or porridge oats for breakfast, and my youngest particularly took to oatcakes as a snack. Hubby didnt even notice that we had wholegrain rice with our evening meal, and he is a really fussy eater! Have decided to stop buying separate white items and go for wholegrain. Subtle changes but even our eldest said he felt like he had more energy than usual in his swimming lesson.
There werent many of the recipes that took our fancy, but we tried the banana bread which disappeared from the kitchen worktop very quickly! We are a week behind everyone else so our half term is this week, so am planning to try another recipe or two this week that I can involve the children with.
Overall, pleasantly surprised with how easy the transition has been and how well received it was. Hoping all the family will feel the benefits too.

The challenge has focussed me into using more whole grains. Breakfasts have been porridge with fruit, wholemeal bread toast or muesli with fruit.
I tried the Quinoa with prawn salad and the cheese scone recipe both went down well - very nice.
Have switched from white rice to brown rice and also changed to wholemeal pasta - definitely more filling.

Managed to have oats for breakfast and flapjacks for snacks and then a mixture of wholewheat pasta dishes and brown rice dishes and new recipes - all went well

Well we finished our challenge and must say I did nt think I would feel any different but I do and to make me more happy I go to a slimming world club and when I got on scales I lost 5lb in 2 weeks I hardly ever loose anything. The kids have nt minded or even noticed the change . We made the energy bars (that were on wevsite)they were big hit especially handy as a snack to take with us . We also made whole grain bread crumbes to coat our fish to make fish fingers thumbs up .
We will carry on using whole grain s etc as part of our life style change as done the family world of good and got kids trying new things .
It was big thumbs up for us

Thanks Mumsnet!

I started a little sceptical, but between the cracked wheat, wholemeal bread, pulses, oats and other wholegrain goodies I feel less "floaty"/ dizzy than I have been (am 28wks and bit light headed at the best of times!).

Favourite meal was a Nigel Slater mushroom, cracked wheat dish which was filing and healthy.

But the daily wholemeal toast has been a far better start to the day than sugary cereals.

Some new habits acquired!!

Hi all

Still enjoying this challenge I think I'll be keeping it up forever!

Last night had BBQ chicken with brown rice and green veg, it was delicious. Over the weekend I made spag Bol with wholemeal pasta and had a bacon sandwich with brown bread.

I have loads more energy!

We've been eating porridge as a family for a few weeks now, seems to be going well and everyone likes it. Have also bought wholegrain bread, which we've made sandwichs from. Haven't really bought anything else wholegrain as no one in my house would eat brown rice or wholegrain spaghetti. Will definitely be trying the cottage pie with oats though, sounds delicious :)

This challenge had encouraged me to make more food from scratch as eating whole grains seems healthier. Made a turkey & squash casserole tonight, served with brown rice

~ Let us know what you think of whole grains / whole grain foods and if you knew about the benefits already or not.

We have really enjoyed the new foods and plan on keeping up with them. Healthwise can I say we have all been much more err 'regular' lol, I personally have found that I have had more energy and less bloating on it as well.

~ Have you tried out any WholeGrainGoodness.com recipes? How did you and your family find them?

we did try a few recipes with various success - the cheese and tomato oat muffins which were really easy to do were a fave especially hot with a bit of butter - th suggestion on the site was to have them with soup but they were pretty much all eaten hot from the oven - oops

we also made the go to energy bars but had to substitute a few items - they came out okay but not as good as the granola bites we did previously

~ Please add any other comments, photos, recipes, tips or ideas you have too – we'd love to hear from you at various stages of the challenge.

I already posted a few pics on previous comment but our fave thing to make has been granola bites - they are super easy to do and you can add in pretty much anything - our favourites have been these ones made wth diced figs, cranberries, almonds, peanuts, sunflower seeds, flax seeds, chia seeds, pumpkin seeds, toasted rolled oats and binded with honey and whole nut peanut butter - all the ingedients mixed in a bowl and then squished out onto a tray lined with clingfilm, covered with clingfilm and refrigerated. Once set we cut them and put them in tupperware and have them in lunch boxes for work, nursery and school and for quick energy snacks after the gym/sports activities too

Non official tester. I've found it pretty easy to do whole grains for breakfast - alternating whole meal toast and porridge. Our local bakery sell delicious whole meal bread so that's no hardship. We also like whole meal pasta but they don't stock it in Lidl/Aldi where I do most of my grocery shopping so it's a bit of a pain to have to go elsewhere to get it. I also find brown rice really frustrating to cook as it takes so long to cook.

I will have a look at the recipes as it's easy to get into a bit of a rut when you're cooking for small children and I'd like to find some new things that my fussy 4 yr old might like.

As a non official tester I'm really enjoying this challenge. As others have said we probably eat wholegrains for breakfast most days anyway, so we have been trying 2 whole grain meals each day.

I have been pleasantly surprised. It's actually been pretty easy. We have had a delicious buckwheat risotto, tasty biryani and whole meal fajitas. They have all been quick to prepare - so easy for a busy weeknight. The food has been filling and tasty, and relatively inexpensive as we have needed fewer expensive ingredients.

We will definitely be continuing with a lot of these recipes, and I think will aim to maintain a wholegrain twice a day habit.

With two children under 5 and a rather fussy husband to cater for, I have previously shied away from using whole grains. The challenge has prompted me to replace some of our usual staples for the whole grain variety.
Prior to the challenge I vaguely knew about the health benefits provided by whole grains. Wholegraingoodness.com has given me valuable information and a deeper understanding about why whole grains are beneficial to the whole family.

We exchanged our regular rice and pasta for the whole grain options, I can honestly say no one noticed the swap and I felt rather smug that I had fed my family hearty, healthy whole grains without complaint.

We also swapped our usual breakfast cereal for porridge oats which went down really well and were perfect for the colder weather.

We also took a look at the recipes on wholegraingoodness.com and were spoilt for choice! We made the Hazelnut and Sultana cookies, which, unsurprisingly went down a treat!
My daughter and I made a cheese and tomato version of the Madbrød using wholemeal bread flour and whole rye flour. It tasted amazing and everyone thoroughly enjoyed it!

I am pleasantly surprised how easy and well received the changes have been and we shall definitely be continuing to use whole grains as part of our regular diet.

This has been such an interesting challenge especially with a few fussy eaters in the house. It's been easy to swap breads/pitas/wraps for whole grain which has largely gone unnoticed. I can definitely feel healthier and that extra bit of energy and will continue to find more whole grain foods moving forward.

We have made lovely desserts using oats namely crumbles and flapjacks which have gone down a storm.

The challenge has definitely helped me to rethink our diet as a family and introduce healthier ingredients where possible.

Rather late post from me, a tester.

We have enjoyed most of the wholegrains, particularly the pearl barley risotto, but none of us have been able to come to terms with wholemeal pasta. I've even tried making fresh wholemeal lasagne, both with and without spinach in an attempt to conceal the texture - but no joy!

We've always eaten oats but took the opportunity of the gift card to buy some better, organic, "jumbo" oats which were wonderful, though they didn't work so well in flapjack or parkin, being a bit dry. I would normally use rolled oats or oatmeal for these, which are more easily absorbed into the recipe. I think I may have another try, perhaps soaking them first in some of the liquids from the recipes?

Let us know what you think of whole grains / whole grain foods and if you knew about the benefits already or not
I knew about the benefit , vaguely , but didn't take much notice , or really include them in our diet enough

~ Have you tried out any WholeGrainGoodness.com recipes? How did you and your family find them?
We've tried a few of the recipes , we like the whole grain pasta with tuna and tomatoes, I make whole meal bread , they've all been a success

~ Please add any other comments, photos, recipes, tips or ideas you have too
Wholewheat pasta has been a revelation , much nicer than I thought
Whole wheat muesli is a delight, and a frequent breakfast now

I've enjoyed this challenge, thanks for the opportunity

We have been eating wholegrain for a month now. And I can honestly say we enjoy it so much. It feels good to know that the food that you eat is healthy and will not do any harm to your family. I can say it was not easy to switch to whole grain food my little daughter who is 3 years old. But those recipes on WholeGrainGoodness.com recipes are fantastic and they taste so good! I will definitely continue our wholegrain food challenge for the rest of our lives. The bread I baked with my daughter from the whole meal flour we bought using the voucher provided.

Tonight's dinner
Whole grain spaghetti with fresh tomato , mushrooms and courgettes and grated cheese , with wholemeal seeded loaf
and a big glass of wine
Photos a bit dark , sorry

I normally eat quite a lot of whole grains so didn't really need to make many substitutes to my families diet, however I didn't realise how many more foods there are that are whole grains.

I found the website good for teaching me what whole grains are and what food stuffs are classed as whole grain I am still yet to try out the recipes and see what whole meal flour is like in place of white flour but as a family we tend not to eat many things made with flour I have however made brownies with rice flour and they were a hit.
I enjoyed this challenge and varied my diet more as I am much more aware of the choices out there

My dh has started baking bread this year and we enjoy whole grain loaves. My older DC have preferred whole grain loaves, shop bought, since their teenage years.
I have been having porridge/muesli for breakfast for about a year. Brilliant for slow release

my teen dc also now veggie prefer whole grain rice.
The pasta is not so popular.

We've completed our challenge now and have to say I'm really glad that we have 'rediscovered' wholegrains. I really feel that they have helped the whole family feel fuller for longer so we've been reaching for far fewer unhealthy snacks.

When we have had snacked we've taken consideration to try to make them wholegrain ones like popcorn or wholewheat crackers or cereal/breakfast bars that include wholegrain.

We've switched to brown rice completely now and the same for pasta. We're also including things like Rye bread which is fun to experiment with things that taste different too.

Overally really enjoying incorporating the wholegrains as a family - don't necessarily feel like we have any more energy but certainly feel healthier for eating better.