Has anyone amended the way they feed their children since the Jamie Oliver programme?

[Twiglett]

I must admit that DS has chips and chicken nuggets or fish fingers more than once or twice a week and I've never really been that bothered because he eats shed loads of fruit and veg (and he doesn't eat the chips normally )

but have found myself cooking a lot of fresh food instead and getting him to help me a lot more on the main dinners rather than just the cakes since JO (didn't even watch the programme)

anyone else feel themselves changing a little?

[iota]

Info from the Birdseye website:

Chicken

All of our chicken products are made from the best quality 100% chicken breast meat and we have very strict guidelines to ensure we keep our commitment to quality to our consumers. We don't use mechanically recovered meat or "pumped chicken" - which is injected with a phosphate solution to hold water more effectively. All we add is a marinade to improve its succulence and flavour.


Chopped chicken

Chopped chicken is just what it sounds like - chicken that's chopped. The meat can then be formed into a specific product shape. We always the use the best quality 100% breast meat and blend with other key ingredients to create a specific recipe, for example our Lemon pepper chicken. We don't use mechanically recovered meat.

link here

I'm not an employee - just a mum who has a child who loves chicken nuggets (sigh)

[snafu]

LOL suedonim about buying a JO book - am just waiting for Amazon to deliver Jamie's Dinners! Used to hate him, now think he is a hero. And ds ate homemade chicken casserole tonight (organic freerange chicken, pancetta, puy lentils, leeks, carrots - poncey or what?) for the first time ever - result!

[thedogmother]

God those chicken nuggets. Vile and disgusting.

I've been gradually changing for quite some time not just because of JO but it's not always easy.

[Janh]

The Telegraph had a close look at chicken nuggets yesterday. Not for the squeamish. Expensive ones just about OK, do not even think about cheap ones (and those are what are provided in school dinners of course).

[suedonim]

Bundle, maybe we should make it on the same day then we can come on here and compare notes!

[piffle]

no
I feel dead smug as I was yelling, YES I KNOW all through the programmes
I am very opinionated about feeding my kids and what is good and what is not...
But I would never reckon to tell anyone unless they asked
which you did

[bundle]

oh good tigi, i was hoping someone would say that.

[tigi]

i tried that chicken and banana recipe, and strangely it was nice!

[Marina]

Gosh that recipe reminds me of the terrifying cooking inflicted by the mum in Elizabeth Jane Howard's novel Getting It Right. She decides to try Chicken Mole, but as she thinks dark chocolate is foreign muck, she puts a half-pound bar of Cadbury's Fruit and Nut in instead . Has Jamie been hit on the head by a flying copy of Heston Blumenthal?

[bundle]

i know suedonim, i'm determined to try it out of curiosity. there is some nice stuff in there though. since i bought it for some reason i've been making pesto like there's no tomorrow.

[suedonim]

I think I've seen that recipe on the web, Bundle. It is a bit...er...different!! I really must take a peek at the JO book, it's looking a bit sad, sitting there unread. Dd1 is cooking tonight so I'm having a break.

[helsi]

that is intriguing. I do not have time to make most of his suggested recipes though.

Is it right though that JO sends his kids to friends parties with a packed lunch so that they don't eat the party food? If it is then find that a bit insulting.

[iota]

I gave the ds's roast chicken breast, mash and carrots and broccoli yesterday.

ds1 ate the veg and the mash and was nagged into eating 3 small slivers of chicken. ds2 ate the chicken with lashings of gravy and some broccoli

Had roast chicken on Sat, homemade pizza (lunch) and roast lamb on Sun - ds1 wouldn't entertain the idea of eating lamb, so a veggie day for him.

Tonight I'm going to crack and give them Birdseye chicken dippers (made with chicken breast and no preservatives etc) and possibly smiley faces as well - and 2 veg of course.

[bundle]

suedonim, i'm absolutely intrigued by JO's chicken recipe with sweetcorn/butter beans in a roasting tray, with chicken on top stuffed with bananas(!) and finished off with proscuitto (!!!!)

[helsi]

I make my own chicken nuggets which I find healthier than the bags of frozen ones from supermarket. have only started though since watching the programme.

[scotlou]

Yes - I'm trying harder. Although I felt really guilty watching last week as due to roadworks we all didn't get home till around 7 p.m. so I asked dh to pick up McDonalds on the way home! I have been trying to cook meals from scratch and getting more veg into the kids (and dh!) I've also started to eat more fruit.

[bonym]

Yes - I've always tried to feed dd healthy stuff and she's always been pretty good with fruit & veg but I'm even more aware now of what I'm feeding her. Now she is taking a packed lunch to school every day (used to have school dinners 2-3 times a week). I am making my own chicken nuggets and potato wedges (instead of chips) and am trying to cook fresh stuff every night instead of giving her "freezer food" (pizza/fish fingers etc.) 2/3 times a week. I have also been discussing the programme with her so that she is aware of how unhealthy some foods are - bless her, she is very sensible and is also making a real effort to try more, different foods. I was never a great fan of JO in the past but I think he is an absolute hero for what he is doing

[GeorginaA]

Joley - Annabel Karmel has done a Family Meal Planner book too - I'm using at least a couple of her recipes a week at the moment, as they're almost all very nice but not as fussy as some cookbooks (plus the vast majority can be frozen)

[Joley]

JO made me feel a bit guilty so I've dusted off the Annabel Karmel book I used when making baby food, there's lots of other dishes in there for older children to. Now I just need to get them to eat it!

[suedonim]

The main change I've made is to spend 10quid on one of JO's books! I think we eat pretty well, on the whole. But, never having seen JO before, I found I liked the sound of his meals and I always need inspiration. Mind you, haven't had time to even open the book yet, lol!

[GeorginaA]

Twig - since the discussions on here, I've been trying to be better at having more fresh food and being more organised with cooking double portions then freezing the remainder. I didn't see the programme either.

Have to say that since I've had children I don't enjoy processed food as much (presumably as I've been eating better fresh food with real flavour) so I'm not finding it as hard as I thought to reduce it.

Still confess to liking the occasional chicken nugget though... bad mummy...

[tigi]

Hi, I got some yesterday in Sainsburys- it was a for JO tagliatele with spinach and mascarpone. I hadn't realised you can buy it frozen. I will look for it to keep in. I also make a spinach lasagne- I tell the children its 'cabbage surprise!'

[Furball]

tigi - Was the spinach to be used in a cooked recipe? As you can buy it frozen. It comes in handy cubes, which you just pop into stews and things. I find it really makes a bolognese. I find the fresh stuff (Sainsburys) has to be washed extra thoroughly as it can be gritty -bleugh!

[PuffTheMagicDragon]

I'd done the rethink already really, when I examined my own eating habits after putting on a lot of weight.

Doing freshly prepared meals every day is tough going, so I make and freeze food mountains every couple of weeks, which takes the pressure off cooking from scratch every day.

I'm so pleased Jamie took on this challenge. I hope it leads to further exposure of the processed food industry as a whole. I don't see anything wrong with the odd bag of crisps or ready meal, but the prevalence and popularity of processed food has a lot to do with an industry that has been allowed to manipulate and brainwash people. It's not right that all this stuff is on permanent bogoff in Tesco.

[Caligula]

Yes. Getting both kids to help me more in the kitchen (give them ownership of the dinner!) and making my own oven chips instead of buying the frozen ones. Also I've instituted a new rule, that every item on the plate has to be tried, and if DS doesn't like it he doesn't have to eat it, but he has to try it.

We don't really eat a lot of processed stuff anyway, except when playdates come round.