Weezl's phase 1- recipe testing and frugalisation- come one, come all!

maltesers_2

weezl74 wrote: »

Firefox has done a preliminary look at protein and was reassured that all was well. We've evaluated about half of the meals for protein and they're fine for our teenagers as far as I know.

That's the advantage of a team with different skills, I'd not be able to know that by myself at all!

I hope that helps to reassure you, obviously the final version will be able to contain the cold hard maths showing shirley that there's plenty of vitamin C for the children

I'm so sorry Weezl I forgot to count the bread - so I think there is enough protein after all. I am still a bit concerned about vit C because dried fruit doesn't contain vit c and it is destroyed by heat in cooking.

weezl74

maltesers wrote: »

I am still a bit concerned about vit C because dried fruit doesn't contain vit c and it is destroyed by heat in cooking.

interesting, thanks!

I don't get how that isn't allowed for in the 5 a day campaign. It's a bit worrying that you can in all good faith put together a meal planner going above the 5 a day and still get it wrong

The govt investment in the 5 a day project seems a bit misplaced if that's the case.

Is there no vit C in dried veg at all? How are they allowed to count as a portion.

Love from Perplexed Weezl of Cardiff xxx

Lesley_Gaye

weezl74 wrote: »

OK back to the issue of these hungry teens. I'm grappling with the maths of this a bit.

When I work out a meal planner based on weight maintenance amounts of calories for Bob and Shirley, the feedback is most definitely that this will not be sufficient for some members of the family.

I want to provide plentifully, but if we cater for each member of the family the same (portions-wise) then someone in the family is going to end up with a weight problem! Or there will be a lot of food wastage at the end of the month, which will not be good for a subsistence plan.

Going back to other debates we've had, and mindful of the advice to keep things simple and staying confident in our original idea, here's a solution.

We publish (in some form) our meal planners and recipes and example days with calorie and nutritional info. each day allows a 2100 cal to 3200 cal range depending on snacks. Mrs average needs to eat the lower amount and young master average the galloping teen boy needs the top end with the other two in between.

Then, if anyone is still struggling to get enough snacks into their kids, we offer a series of extra add on recipes, costed and calorie counted, which 'Shirley mum of two lads training for the next olympic rowing event' can use quite happily.

The only other way seems to be to create a menu planner so stuffed with cals and fats that there'll be monster amounts of wastage, filling up on snacks rather than the good stuff, or more frighteningly we will have unwittingly contributed to a national epidemic of childhood obesity. Children today consume fewer calories than these averaged amounts, but gain weight due to the increasingly sedentary nature of their lives.

I'd rather start with what's needed for todays averages, and allow shirley to add more in. Does that make sense?

Avocet for example knew that the example day I gave would be a hummus sandwich short for her DS. Presumably though, at that many calories, there is another member of the family who might not need the 3 slices of toast with apple curd along with 3 square meals. So financially, all is still neutral.

I really hope that makes sense and I look forward to hearing what you all think

sounds very sensible to me. I think 2 adults and 2 teenagers is a good base to work from, but we know that many familes won't be made up of those individuals, and that although calorie requirements can be said to be so much a day, individuals vary as to what they need, some need more, others will need less, even those individuals of the same age, sex and size will vary in their calorie needs, let alone all the various ages and sizes that family members come in

So a basic plan around which Shirley and Bob can dance sounds a good plan to me

Weezl - my subsistence diet was an assignment. I think I still have my papers, so I will have a hunt and let you know what I did. I think it will be embarrassing compared to what I have learnt on OS and on what we are doing here, so I might have to PM it! It's a long time since I did it, so it will be interesting seeing what I wrote

Lunch wise, OH and I tend to have 500ml soup of some kind, and a couple of slices of bread, sometimes as a cheese sandwich, sometimes as toast. Or 2 x beans on toast, 2 x egg on toast. And in the summer, salads from the garden feature a lot, about 400g salad and maybe an egg or some cheese or beans as protein. They are our most common lunches

maltesers_2

weezl74 wrote: »

interesting, thanks!

I don't get how that isn't allowed for in the 5 a day campaign. It's a bit worrying that you can in all good faith put together a meal planner going above the 5 a day and still get it wrong

The govt investment in the 5 a day project seems a bit misplaced if that's the case.

Is there no vit C in dried veg at all? How are they allowed to count as a portion.

Love from Perplexed Weezl of Cardiff xxx

I think dried fruit is included because it is high in fibre and contains other vitamins and micronutrients but FSA says not vit c.
http://www.eatwell.gov.uk/asksam/healthydiet/fruitandvegq/

Are raisins a healthy snack or do they contain too much sugar?

Dried fruit, including raisins, is a healthy choice if you want a snack because it's full of fibre and vitamins and counts towards your daily fruit and veg portions. Prunes and dried apricots contain beta-carotene, while figs, prunes, raisins, sultanas and dried apricots are good sources of iron. But dried fruit doesn't contain vitamin C.

All fruit contains sugar, but the type of sugar in fruit is less harmful to teeth than the added sugars you find in sweets, cakes, biscuits, ice cream, honey, fruit juice and processed foo

homegrown_life

I think there should be some vit c in the peas, potatoes, oranges, chickpeas, probably lots more. As far as I know it's a water soluble vitamin so steaming is recommended (or else use the cooking water??). Happy to see if I can google for some info later, but really need to get on and do some housework right now!!! (easily led!)

edit - cauliflower apparantly a good source. Ok am off now.... you never saw me....

maltesers_2

weezl74 wrote: »

interesting, thanks!


Is there no vit C in dried veg at all? How are they allowed to count as a portion.

Love from Perplexed Weezl of Cardiff xxx

apparently not much in dried veg either - well pulses anyway

Beans and pulses can count towards the five portions of fruit and veg we should aim to eat each day, but they can only make up a maximum of one portion a day.

You need to eat three heaped tablespoons of pulses or beans to make up one portion.

Pulses and beans are a good source of protein and they are rich in fibre. They also contain iron, but they don't provide much of vitamins A, C or E. We need to eat a variety of fruit and veg to make sure that we get these and other important nutrients


sorry

phizzimum

hello everyone! what a busy lot you've been!

the little phizzies have had a tummy bug so we're all feeling tired and washed out - no cooking has been done since friday!

wanted to say a big thank you to all the contributors to the calcium discussion/calculations. made my poor head spin just reading it all - but I'm very grateful because it will impact on how I plan my family's diet.

maltesers is vit c destroyed by all cooking or just if it's cooked in water? for example - the orange juice and zest in the carrot cake.

a lot to think about...don't know how you do it weezl!

aless02

I found a reference that to preserve Vit C, put the stuff in casseroles so the "leaking out" will just be into the other foods - so by extension similar would occur with the carrot cake? The real loss is in cooking water that's just then thrown out. BUt it's poss the cake's long cooking time may work against us...

maltesers_2

phizzimum wrote: »

hello everyone! what a busy lot you've been!




maltesers is vit c destroyed by all cooking or just if it's cooked in water? for example - the orange juice and zest in the carrot cake.

a lot to think about...don't know how you do it weezl!

I'm not sure if it is heat in cooking as well as soluble in water but I do know that one orange should contain the daily vit C requirement so if carrot cake which has one orange in is 32 portions or even 16 it won't contain enough vit C.

maltesers_2

I have just had a thought about vitamin C. I don't think it is destroyed by heat as rose hip syrup is an excellent source and the hips are boiled for quite a long time. I know tests have been done on the syrup to show only a little is lost. I made a winters supply of rosehip syrup for my supply of vit C.