Feeding a family of just 2 on very limited budgets

djbum_syd

lovethymini - I gave her a jacket potatoe a couple of weeks ago and you should have seen the look of horror on her face, it was priceless! Lol.
She LOVES banana's though, it's one thing I always try to keep around as she would eat them all day.

ab7167

Planning planning and planning. And bulk cooking and freezing so you have some 'ready meals' when you are knackered so you don't spend money on convenience (need to pracitce what I preach on that one...)

Can you get your daughter to cook with you? Mine loves this and does eat better when she has helped prepare it. She is now 3 and can crack eggs, knows what goes into a basic sponge and can peel a carrot with a vegetable peeler. Very slowly, but it keeps her occupied :-)

Do you have a garden at all? Is planting things a possibility? I find salad leaves an excellent grow your own, as those bags of mixed salad leaves are SO expensive and SO easy to grown yourself!

djbum_syd

I was thinking about getting little one involved in cooking. She always stands in the kitchen and watches me whilst I cook.
I bought a fairy cake mix on Monday (before all the money woes surfaced), so I was thinking of attempting that with her tomorrow and see how she gets on with icing/decorating, etc.
My back garden is completely slabbed, but if I can afford it I'm hoping to get some grow bags to put veggies in.

Mrs_Jojo

I used to blend everything when DD was tiny - literally juice all the veggies and add the juice and pulp together and heat it up for soup! Also, I used to rename things. DD hated mushrooms, but she used to love champignons (french for mushies!) don't ask me why, but it worked a treat!

Also, do you eat with her? Sometimes it can help to see someone else eat what you are eating - must be nice if everyone else likes it!

djbum_syd

Yeh, I like to sit us both at the table to eat our dinner. Want to get her in that habit for as she grows older.

I used to blend everything for her, but lately she has been refusing even the blended foods. I know it's most likely a faze, but it's getting really frustrating. She goes through phases, one week will eat great, the next week will scream blue murder if something green even looks at her. Strange little creatures these children! Lol.

meritaten

HI - told you they were helpful and friendly down here!
okay - so daughter is a bit fussy - so was my son and you wouldnt believe what I used to hide in his mash! or blend into the gravy!
cauli is VERY successfully hidden in mash - one moneysaving tip is that when caulis are expensive for fresh, like now (over a pound for a cauli no bigger than an orange?????????) buy frozen!
many kids love orange veg! my grandkids love sweet potato - but cant actually tell it from swede! much cheaper!
sweetcorn is often popular with the younger kids - buy tinned or frozen rather than cobs - by the time the cobs get to the store they often have less nutritional value than the frozen or tinned (and less taste) and you get more for your money!
you know she is going through phases so try to vary meals from week to week - serving up things in different ways! so she didnt like tomatoes this week? she might like them made into soup next week!
keeps life interesting for you - and challenges you too!

nuttybabe

me again. just thought of what i used to do to get my daughter to eat. once i made a shark out of mashed potato (with cauli and cabbage hidden in it), sausages and peas. she ate it. put smiley faces on pizza out of veg, i even blended carrot into the tomato sauce on pizza a few times. no one noticed (not even hubby).

meritaten

meant to say - even two year olds can 'help' with cooking! they like to stir, so let them stir some ingredients (even if they dont need stirring). they can use their baby cutlery knife to cut up very soft ingredients! and if they help to cook a meal - they are often more inclined to eat it!
as for your store cupboard - slim pickings there! do you have any condiments you havent mentioned? ketchup, brown sauce? worcester sauce? pepper? spices ? herbs? any fresh veg? (not just bananas please - onion? garlic? potatoes?).
what flavour cuppa soups?
do you have any butter or soft marge?

Jojo_the_Tightfisted

You can get grow bags or compost quite often from pound shops - they also seem to do a good range in fruit and veg. OK, not exactly instant, but worthwhile. And a box of whitworths dried peas (about 40p) gives you posh pea shoots, peas growing outside for summer and something fascinating for kids (who are more likely to eat them in the end). You can grow tomatoes from the seeds in the ones you eat. Stick them in a bean can on the windowsill next to the posh peashoots. Same with lettuces, get salad leaves or cut n come again seeds, sow some every couple of weeks and you have a constant supply. If you have potatoes that have gone bright green, then you have lost nothing by shoving them in a sack or pot 4 inches from the base, then topping the bag up with soil each time the leaves stick out from the surface (yes, proper seed potatoes are better, but if it's going to be wasted, anyway....). and carrots - something like an olive oil tin, pop them in and leave them (no poking at them), sow in batches again.

And they are educational activities, too!

FatVonD

My son loved quiche when he was little so I'd buy one with broccoli in it. Mini toad in the hole was also a favourite and handy to take if we were out and about. Like the others I've bended vegetables into gravy and mashed carrots into mash. Hummus was also a big favourite, even if your DD is dipping chips in it she'd at least be eating some chick peas with them too but you might be able to persuade her to dip carrot sticks instead!