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).

I eat a plant based diet and whole grain is an important part of this - lushness! Been adding more wholegrain in my meals and making my own wholegrain bread. Finally managed to get my partner off white bread!

Tuesday-
Wholegrain wraps with lunch, nutty and delicious.

Wednesday-
Wholewheat spaghetti carbonara, delicious 😋

I am enjoying the challenge. We have had porridge everyday, brown and wild rice with tuna, whole grain pasta and bread and popcorn so far. Planning quinoa tomorrow!

Always looking for inspiration for including more healthy food into diet.

Little one loves her morning porridge with various fruits for a twist of flavour.

Try to make soups especially in the cold months including various items, as in whatever is in the fridge!
Never hurts to expand ideas for yummy toddler friendly meals.

Can anyone who has made the fruit loaf from the website please tell me whether you used plain or self-raising wholemeal flour? The recipe doesn't specify - I'm guessing plain as baking powder is used? Thanks

Breakfast was again my usual bowl of jumbo oats cooked in semi-skimmed milk but with a chopped up mango thrown in. Yummy! And the puppy enjoyed it too by licking a bit which fell on the kitchen floor!

Dinner will be "congee" - Chinese porridge made with chicken and basmati / wild rice boiled in the chicken stock to a soupy like consistency. DP had a tooth extracted and has to avoid any solid foods for a few days.

Wholemeal loaf ready to go in the bread maker this morning can't wait to have warm bread and soup this evening

I'm enjoying the challenge and finding it easier than I expected. I used my voucher to buy wholemeal pasta and flour, oats, shredded wheat and some snacks.
I have used the pasta in one meal so far and none of the family noticed the difference so that was easy!
I've been eating shredded wheat for breakfast and 2yo DD has decided she likes it too.
DD helped me to make flapjacks which came out a bit hard but we will try again and perhaps try more oat recipes. I sometimes make breakfast oatcakes by mixing oats with a couple of beaten eggs and a drop of milk and then frying spoonfuls in a little oil. We haven't had them for ages so I might do them this weekend.
Out of the snacks I bought I have enjoyed wholemeal hot cross buns and I have really loved rye crackers with nice toppings on such as avocado and tomatoes or cream cheese. They are an easy snack and more filling than the cream crackers or water biscuits I would usually buy. I will definitely buy them again.

I have to say I am now a brown rice convert! I always thought white rice was a bit 'claggy' and much prefer the nutty texture and taste of brown rice. My husband was also convinced he didn't like it but I secretly gave him some with his curry last night and he was none the wiser - until I told him! It seems to be the opposite with brown pasta though - even though dried pasta does not have much taste - the texture just seems wrong. I will keep experimenting...

day 4;
My thanks to the posters who suggested other grains for a risotto.

Made an easy glass of muesli overnight with jumbo oats, chopped apricots, pistachios and skimmed milk. This morning I added chopped apple, fat free Greek yogurt and a splash of apple juice for sweetness - tasted great but I think I should have added the pistachios this morning as they're probably better with a bit more crunch.

Am going to try a pearl barley risotto tonight, with timings from the recipe Barley & Butternut Squash Risotto on the site. My husband hates butternut squash, so I'll use different vegetables including mushrooms and add smoked mackerel right at the end. (Smoked mackerel is great as it adds richness with the good fish oil - slightly salty so no need to add extra salt).

Day 4: Another fast day, so just dinner today! Going to have a Lemon and Mushroom Pilau, substituting the basmati rice in the recipe for the brown rice in my cupboard and slightly increasing the cooking time. We really enjoyed the extra flavour of the brown rice over white rice!

I'm loving the idea of wholemeal hot cross buns. Might get them for next week!!

Really loving how this is making me think about what I'm cooking daily and it's really helping me to plan meals for the family.
I'm finding that Breakfast time and snacks are the easiest place personally for me to add Whole grains to the menu! However, I'm slowly starting to find more place for whole grain in my evening meals too. Yesterday I managed two meals with whole grains, super impressed with myself :) HA, HA!

My family had been eating wholegrain foods regularly for some years now, seeking out wholegrain pasta, brown rice, wholegrain bread and whole grain flour etc. My husband, a diabetic for almost 18 years, has been struggling to lose any weight and recently enrolled in Shape Up. They have informed him that the insulin that his medication is encouraging his body to make more of is turning the sugar derived from carbohydrates into body fat and while ever he is eating carbohydrates he will never be able to lose the necessary weight, so now while I do continue to eat a small amount of carbohydrates (especially oats) my husband has given them up and is eating mainly vegetables and protein so this diet is now no longed suitable for our family.

We swapped our white rice tonight for brown & I actually enjoyed the nuttier consistency. The kids didn't even notice!

Realising I don't eat much whole grain I've decided to do the whole grain challenge and started off with porridge, as a daily breakfast it really does keep me filled til lunch, I snack less too! Looking forward to trying some more whole grain recipes from the website for all other meals.

non-tester - I have been a fan of whole grains for ages and often partially substitute oats to recipes that use flour. I am always looking for new ideas so flicked through the recipes o the website. I particularly liked the stuffing balls with the chicken and will try variations of that in the future. A stuffing topping containing whole grains can also be used instead of mashed potato on top of mince/ fish pie etc

day 5

The pearl barley risotto last night was delicious. In the end I didn't use even the method from the barley recipe from the site because it seemed pointless to mix the barley with rice.

I cooked it for less time than suggested because I didn't want the barley to be as mushy as it would be in a soup or casserole. Once it was done I added peas to my husband's portion and cooked mine with half a bag of spinach, before finally mixing in some hot smoked mackerel.

I think that I actually prefer pearl barley to brown basmati as it has much more texture and is lovely and chewy.

Finally got round to using my voucher last night and managed to turn up at Tesco at marking down time which meant that I also picked up lots of (mostly non-wholegrain ) baked goods for pennies!

Anyway, the voucher was spent on some Shredded Wheat with spelt and barley (had some for breakfast this morning and it's delicious!), porridge sachets with barley flakes which I will probably keep at work for virtuous snacking, some wholemeal pasta, sachets of pre-cooked wholemeal rice for quick midweek meals and some bulgar wheat and quinoa mix that I think I will use tomorrow with a vegetable stew. Even though I already eat quite a lot of wholegrains, it was fun going round the supermarket looking for new things to try.

I was just looking at the Waitrose valentine meal deals for next week, and one of the sides is wheaterries, lentils and green vegetables:
www.waitrose.com/shop/DisplayProductFlyout?productId=498182

I thought I'd flag it up on this thread as it sounds really tasty and I've never heard of wheat berries before.

Day 5 , I had toast made from my seeded cranberry loaf and it's lovely 😀
Will make a salad with the quinoa pouch , and whatever else Pinterest suggests
Slightly TMI , but I suffer with constipation , and things are definitely moving this week , so I think I'll be keeping to the wholemeal , whole grain lifestyle , now if I can just lose 8lb....
🙄

As a family, we decided to include Wholegrain into our daily diet, as part of the New Year, to live more healthily. Now, breakfast is usually wholegrain cereal or wholegrain bread! Also, whenever I cook pasta, I ensure it is wholegrain - must say, a little fills us up well, so we're eating more like what should be our portion sizes!!

Discovered two new things in last two days.

1. It's quite difficult to eat wholegrain products when eating out. Lunch with friend in a tapas bar was a total washout - white bread, white rice only on offer.

1. Responding to someone earlier in the thread - sometimes you do need something very quick. I made a stir fry with spring onions, red pepper, sweetcorn, pineapple, peas and prawns - ready in less than 10 minutes. Adding some rice meant grabbing a ready made sachet which I keep in the cupboard for easy meals and it's usually white rice. However, I found this one on the shelf and it was much more substantial than the usual. It's one packet amongst many but it's there if you look carefully.

DS14 - "Why didn't you ask us if we wanted to take the Wholegrain Challenge?" has thankfully forgotten my undemocratic decision. Fed him wholemeal rolls with grilled sausages for lunch and they disappeared just as quickly as white rolls used to.

And DP couldn't resist snacking on whole almonds and pumpkin seeds when he saw me eating them - don't think he knows he's participating either!

My lovely hubby made me porridge as part of my new healthy wholegrain diet. Unfortunately I hate porridge and found it very thick and gloopy : (
Tried adding cinnamon and blueberries, and a dollop of maple syrup to make it more edible! I think i'll try a thinner mix next time... wish me luck!!