Freshly cooked meals for children? How often a week?

[Mum84762002]

How often are you cooking freshly cooked meals and how often are you cooking frozen food for your children?

By fresh I refrigerated meat/fish etc.

Thank you!

6 out of 7 nights. Thursday nights we have frozen veggie burgers or schnitzels with chips or smilie faces.

This thread is wild 😂 Calling it basic parenting!?

Go on other threads and some of the same people will be the ones that say they spend £300 a month eating out or on takeaways.

60 - 40 in favour of fresh stuff, but i count a jacket with tuna and salad and pasta with a quick tomato sauce on the fresh side.
would like it to be more but hey ho

Exactly! @Mum84762002 you're getting a lot of replies that are answering a different question to the one you've asked.

The home made lasagne, greek chicken skewers, curries etc being listed can all be made just as well with frozen mince or chicken. The ingredients are the same whether they come frozen or chilled. It's all fresh.

Also since I think you're looking to save money, a couple of things that helped me (nothing earth shattering):

• Cook once, eat twice. No adaptations, turning Bolognese into lasagne or chilli for day 2 etc, just make chicken curry or bolognese and eat it 2 days in a row. I found it really cut costs as you have a shorter ingredient list every week.
• add grated carrot, a tin of lentils or a big handful of dried red lentils to things like Bolognese and curry to stretch the meat.

Probably 5 nights a week. Usually kids will have pizza or similar one weekend night. And swimming lessons etc means a quick early dinner is required one week night which is often nuggets or similar freezer food.

Im not counting me using frozen ingredients such as veg or meat, or me batch cooking and freezing a whole meal because I still consider that cooking from scratch.

The post is a bit confusing. If by ‘frozen food’ you mean frozen chicken breast (as per your update) then why would that change how often you’re cooking from scratch or not? Surely even if you’re using frozen meat, you’re still having to defrost it then cook it like fresh meat?

Or are you talking about processed meat products that can be cooked from frozen?

Most days. The kids love freezer crap though so we have some gross, beige dinners from time to time.

Most days. It was every day when they were younger and I wasn't working but when I returned to work and with all the running around in the evening for the different things they were involved in I made Tuesday's our quicky day and we would have pizza or wraps. And now they are all older and I'm not doing that it is usually 5/6 days a week as they still love a pizza night or wraps made from goujons etc. We do occasionally make our own pizzas but usually we just have what's in the freezer as everyone likes something different. I used to feel incredibly guilty but now I don't.

6 days a week. One day I’m late as I go to the office so older DS makes pizzas or airfryer crap for him and DS2.

I do keep in a stock of fishfingers, veggie bakes, wedges and stuff in case I’m ill/busy/tired though.

Pretty much daily, I’d say 6 days a week we’ll have a meal cooked from scratch and once a week, we will have breaded chicken n chips with baked beans, or fish n chips and baked beans. That kind of thing. I try and buy the ones with the lowest amounts of UPFs in but not always. Depends how short on time we are, eg if I’m grabbing something from Farmfoods or Iceland out of ease.

batch cooking in the slow cooker/pressure cooker and freezing helps for the busier evenings.

Little has a freezer dinner on a Friday night and the rest of the week he eats whatever we eat which is always fresh home made.

Oh having read your updates, I buy frozen meat from food warehouse. I don’t mind them at all. Frozen mince, frozen beef n frozen lamb all fine in my experience

Every day , it’s cheaper than processed food
but that includes soup, tray roast vegetables etc which pre prep and cook when needed
also now eat more pulses etc in place of meat

Between 5 and 7 days a week. Sometimes we eat out in day of the weekend. Every other week my daughter has physiotherapy at 4 p.m. so it's late by the time we get home, then I do something quick, so could be fish fingers or other frozen, breaded fish with sweet potato mash and peas, pre-made "fresh" tortellini (the kind you stick in boiling water for 2 minutes) with a sauce made using tomato passata from a jar, very occasionally (maybe 3-4 times a year) a supermarket pizza, usually from the fridge section but I don't think that's any better than a frozen one.
I don't tend to buy frozen meat because our freezer isn't that big but my dad is always freezing meat and to me it's no different to if he put it in the fridge to use straight away.

One DS has ASD and probably ARFID, the other is vegetarian. My main aim is to ensure main food groups are represented in their diets each day - ASD DS would live on plain carbs given the opportunity and I take the view that it’s better for him to be getting some protein from chicken nuggets than none at all.

Realistically most weeks feature a shop bought pizza, a beige dinner and beans on toast. I’ve tried my hardest not to rely on so much processed food but with two children with diets which are restricted in different ways it’s challenging.

100% this .
My children are adults now and I have grandchildren. Genuinely cannot remember what I cooked when they were at school but can guarantee it wasn’t all fresh cooked food every day.
Definitely chicken nuggets type food if they had friends to play.
I do wonder how all these parents ,if they work full time manage to magic up the time for prepping and cooking ,without the children having to wait until quite late in the evening to eat .
My children at primary age were in bed and asleep by 8 pm .

Be kind to yourself. We all have different circumstances. Some single parents, some not, some work from home, stay at home parent, both parents work full time. And different finances too.

We both work full time Monday-Friday (cannot work from home) and we have two young children.

This is what our week tends to look like…

Monday: I don’t eat a lot of fish but DH and children do. We usually have a fish pie (bought), homemade fish cakes (batch made and frozen) fish in parsley sauce. I don’t mind fish cakes so I will have those if they are having something else.

Tuesday: chilli con carni, lasagna, pasta bake, stew, ham joint (something that can double up for left overs on a Wednesday).

Wednesday: left overs e.g if we had chilli con carni with rice I would do it with jackets or as enchiladas the following, or if I did a ham joint as a roast dinner we would have it with homemade chips and egg or in paninis with side salad.

Thursday: is usually something quick as it’s the children’s swimming night. Homemade quiche with salad and new potatoes, omelettes, hotdogs (proper sausages though), chicken wraps, homemade soup, pasta dish. Occasionally fish fingers.

Friday: I usually have a little bit more time and love to cook, especially my families favourites. Fajitas, curries, pie, homemade pizza.

Saturday: we often go out and about on a Saturday so we eat out, take a fancy picnic, or get a takeaway.

Sunday: either at families for roast dinner (DH family live 2 hours away so we often visit on a Sunday), or out for a roast dinner or I cook one.

I don’t have a specific day for batch making or purposely do it. I love cooking/baking. If I make a quiche I make 2-3 and freeze some. When I make a roast I double my Yorkshire pudding recipe and freeze surplus. Same with pizza dough, naan bread.

I also have some handy pack up bits frozen too; savoury veg and cheese muffins, small pizza discs, homemade sausage rolls.

I buy fresh meat but often freeze rather than waste. Mix of fresh and frozen veg and fruits. I rarely make pasta from scratch - usually dried shop bought but I make pasta sauces from scratch as it’s super easy. Never use frozen chips we much prefer them in the air fryer and I can prep them the night before.

Thank you... I really needed to read this comment.
I really struggle with my three year old, she's quite picky. I'm also not a great cook but I want to be, especially slow cooker meals as they seem a great option. My fiance works from 3pm so it's down to me really, at the moment we have our main meal at lunchtime and he usually cooks which makes my life a bit easier in the evenings. My 1 year old still loves having those puree jars but I also give her what we are having aswell, she eats anything in sight! Unlike my 3 year old.

I just wanted to know if frozen chicken breast/mince etc was bad, as I find it's cheaper buying it like that.

Usually this is how it'll be -

Sundays we have a roast.

Once or twice a week a pasta dish. My fiance homemakes a lovely lasagne usually!

Beef or chicken burgers (no buns though as we use lettuce as buns!)

Fish fingers or chicken nuggets for the girls with veg etc once a week

Saussages and mash usually with Yorkshires as my 3 year old loves yorkies also with veg aswell

And then we also get Pizzas sometimes aswell but my three year old doesn't like pizza so she might have scrambled eggs with fruit etc.

All meals are usually served with frozen veg and chips or mash.

I guess I posted to get some inspiration aswell, what people's weeks are like usually.
Lunches (served at dinner time usually as we have a main meal at lunch) is usually sandwiches, eggs, beans or something like that.

I definitely try and make sure the girls are having the healthiest snacks where possible. My 1 year old has fruit porridge for breakfast and my 3 year old usually has Cereal and toast.

I just want to do better, I feel so guilty sometimes that I'm not doing a good job.

@Mum84762002 Remember. People lie! The fact that you’re even thinking about it means you’re doing a great job. Most people don’t even get as far as thinking!

Mine are in bed by 7:30, but I still manage to cook even while working. It's just part of my routine, cooking from scratch doesn't have to take a long time.

Lettuce rather than a bun sounds so dull.

Frozen meat is the same stuff, just frozen, fresh fish has likely been frozen prior to being in the supermarket.

Around 90% of our meals are entirely made by me (well not literally), but you can’t be quorn nuggets, rice and peas.

Daily, but unfortunately some components are sometimes UPF, such as bread, spaghetti, baked beans etc. Always have multiple servings of fruit and veges.

Snack options my dd likes are breadsticks (sometimes with nutella), cucumber, raspberries,strawberries, grapes, crackers, apples, crisps, yoyo bears, yogurt etc. She'll only have taost and cereal for breakfast.

There doesn't sound anything wrong with what your feeding them. I don't use frozen meat as I don't think it taste the same as fresh, I don't even like to defrost fresh meat that been frozen.

OP, please don't feel bad about yourself. Cooking from scratch every night is not "basic parenting". Lots of people don't do it for lots of reasons - time (depending on your hours, if all the adults in the household work full time it's hard); lack of skill or confidence; children who are picky eaters, etc.

As long as your children are healthy and are getting broadly the right amount of calories to sustain a healthy weight, and broadly the right balance of protein, fibre etc to grow, what exactly you are feeding them is not the end of the world ...

When my daughter was little, because I worked full time and was struggling a bit, I didn't cook that much - I did (horror of horrors) even give her jars and pouches of babyfood when she was very small, and you don't get much more processed than that.

As a teenager she is now healthy, intelligent and happy with a great attitude to food, eats almost everything, cooks a lot for us (and I cook more too now, as I have more time and money and headspace to do so) and enjoys experimenting with food..... In contrast to a lot of her peers who I know for a fact ate more home cooked food as little ones, and are now very picky eaters.

All o am saying is, take the pressure off yourself. You can only do what you can do, and the more guilt you feel, the worse that will be for your little one. Kids benefit most of all from happy parents and carers who are enjoying spending time with them, relaxed and unstressed, and living within their means.

The rest is really just window dressing. All the organic home cooked meals in the world will do her less good than a happy thriving mom.

I just don’t worry about it. He’s in nursery 4 days a week where he gets really healthy home cooked food. At home he has porridge or egg and soldiers for breakfast most mornings and I’d say at least half his dinners are home cooked and we eat the same things. But there is also plenty of toast and baked beans with cheese, fish fingers with tinned sweetcorn, wraps with Heinz tomato soup, tuna pasta, or pesto pasta.

He’s healthy, fit, and active. I don’t worry.