Food Budget

*Sparkle*_3

marieb wrote:

My two are quite fussy really - 5 year old doesn't eat meat as he doesnt like it but he will eat mince, 3yr old is a a bit less fussy and will eat most stuff, i do try and cook from scratch but i do have fish fingers nuggets etc in for days that i have been too busy to cook, neither of them will really eat veg unless you count baked beans carrots and spuds no matter how often i try and sneak it in they both used to when they ate as toddlers as I was very good for that but as they have got older they have completely gone off it all my OH doesnt do veg either which is probably why but I love it. Is it cheaper for me to buy frozen veg as it is generally only me that eats it, fruit they are really good with and they love pasta, they dont like rice either. I have even tried only giving them veg and stuff they say they dont like only to find i am chucking it away and them moaning they are hungry later in an attempt that they will eat it if they are hungry but it doesnt work.

I love casseroles and stews etc but the 5 year old doesnt if i do a roast I have to give him slices of cold ham as he will eat that, there not fussed on chips really which is fab as my diet dictates they are no good for me anyway and they wouldnt eat a baked spud

so i anyone has simple pasta sauce reciepes that would be really helpful too.

Oh dear :huh: that is a bit of a challenge.
A really quick pasta dish is pasta and dolmeo(sp?) stir in sauce, my kids really liked it.
I'm just thinking on terms of making the kids and your partner more adventurous, you said they like fruit why not try and get them to taste different fruits that they havent tried before? Introduce them one each week,perhaps let the kids choose them?
This might open their minds up into being more adventurous with veg too, i think the hardest thing is getting them to try it, once they taste it they realise its not that bad.
Corn is a good veg to start with its nice and sweet, in the tin or even better on the cob.

Good luck!

Chipps

Savoury Mince
basically just mince cooked with onion & chopped or grated carrot, with some savoury flavouring like worcester sauce, brown sauce or bisto etc. ( or in other words cottage pie without the topping!)

Pasta bake
Similar to spagbog or lasagna: mince cooked with onion, garlic, tinned tomatoes, tomato puree & basil or italian seasoning. Mix with cooked pasta shapes, top with grated cheese (or more filling - grated cheese mixed with breadcrumbs) heat through in oven until the topping melts.

kittiwoz

You can make a basic tomatoe sauce for pasta by frying some chopped onion and garlic, then adding chopped canned tomatoes and a squeeze of tomatoe puree. Season using salt, pepper and lemon juice (which is a great flavour enhancer and much under used). Done by the time the pasta is! You can vary the basic recipie by adding herbs late in cooking or by adding vegtables and/or meat with the onions. I add black olives, anchovies and a dash of chilli sauce to make Pasta alla Puttanesca.

You can also make endless variations on a white sauce to go with pasta. The obvious one is cheese sauce and I also make cheese and walnut sauce. Other good additions to a white sauce to go with pasta might be tuna, sweetcorn, prawns, ham or mushrooms. Mushrooms + bacon + cheese = carbonara. You can add soft cheese to make it creamier. Again I season with salt, pepper and lemon-juice.

You can also make pesto style sauces though the no greens thing might limit you in this. Basically you whizz some veg with some nutsor seeds, a slug of olive oil, some strong cheese, lemon juice, pepper, salt and a little water. I do peas with cashews, fried peppers with sunflower seeds and almonds and roast squash with pumpkin seeds. I make a "treat" mushroom sauce for pasta in a similar way by wizzing up a handfull of raw button mushrooms with a few walnuts, a dollop of soft cheese and a glug of red wine. Not suitable for kids though.

Apologies for my lack of measurements btw. I am a poor student and don't have any scales. Plus I don't often follow recipies unless I'm cooking something new.

oldMcDonald

neither of them will really eat veg unless you count baked beans carrots and spuds no matter how often i try and sneak it in they both used to when they ate as toddlers as I was very good for that but as they have got older they have completely gone off it

My kids went through a phase like this. I found that I could get veg down them and extend the (vegetarian) mince by grating veg in with the mince. I started off by frying an onion and then grating one or two carrotts into the pan before adding the mince and cooking it all together. After doing this a couple of times I started adding a couple of grated mushrooms, even finely shredded sprouts!!! By gradually adding a little more veg each time I cooked it I managed to get them used to different tastes and bulk out the mince.

A few years on and they have come through this phase of refusing veg....also helped by their being older and getting them to help prepare it. Most kids will try anything if they have helped cook it themselves.

Pooky

Baked mince, great for a Sunday dinner.

Grated onion, carrot, other veg if you want to hide it - beef stock cube, chuck in some herbs and an egg to bind. Squidge it all up and put into a loaf tin. Cover with foil and bake for around 40mins on 200c. You may need to drain any fat half way through.

When it's cooked you can turn it out and slice it.....we have it with roast potatoes etc and an onion gravey.

A really tasty sunday lunch without the expence of a joint.

queenofthedump

some fantastic ideas there especially like the sneaking the veg in will give it a try most definatley

Thanks all

troll35

Marieb, you may find it helpful to write a menu plan whereby you can have the meals you like and accomodate your childrens fussiness to whatever extent you need to. Our son is fairly picky. He won't eat anything that is in a sauce/sloppy. He eats most veg, chicken breast meat, pork steak, gammon, some fish, good quality sausages (and nuggets etc given the chance). He's currently off fruit.
Examples of how I accomodate him without cooking a totally seperate meal -
Today I made spag bol. He won't eat the bolognese sauce so I part cooked some carrots and broccoli whilst making the bol then added the spagetti to the veg pan. He had spagetti, carrots, broccoli, a pile of grated cheese and a bit of left over roast gammon from yesterday.
When cooking chicken in a sauce I usually steam his chicken with the veg so his stays plain.
If your children will eat a tomato sauce on their pasta then you can add various veg which will be disguised if the sauce is blended. I've hidden courgettes, mushrooms, onions, peppers and marrow this way.
I nearly always add a grated fruit or veg to a cake mixture eg apple, carrot, courgette (very nice and the cake doesn't go green), pear, banana, stewed rhubarb.

countrymusicfan

I usually throw a handful of oatmeal in with mince and it helps eek it out a bit more.

newlywed

Mince bake italienne

Fry onion, add beef mince and fry together. Add tomato sauce (mum uses dolmio, I use passata and herbs).

Put into casserole dish.

Pour white sauce over the top (either HM or from a jar )

Butter 3 pieces of white bread. Cut each slice into 9 squares. Place squares on the top of the white sauce.

Bake in oven for 20 mins until bread starts to brown on top.


Kinda cross between lasagna (with no pasta) and moussaka

trigger2

an easy idea for pasta sauce for fussy kids - a tin of ratatouille & blend it so there's no bits ! if needed add a little squirt of ketchup ! this certainly works with mine, they dont realise there's veg in it. a cheap meal with pasta & some grated cheese. also works with mince for a bolognaise sauce. sausages can make toad in the hole - cheap. mince in tacos shells - mine like this as they can add their own grated cheese ! good luck
trigger