Feeding a family of just 2 on very limited budgets

djbum_syd

Meritaten - Sad to say, that really is all that is in my cupboard. Shameful to say! Lol. I found some Healthy Start vouchers still in date last night, so popping to shops first thing tomorrow to use them and spend my whole £20. Woo-hoo. :P
Do you have any suggestions what the best fruit/veg to buy would be? Something that doesn't go off so quickly.


nuttybabe - I love the shark idea! I'll give that one a whirl - might even do a shark for me.


jojo - I have heard of that potato growing technique somewhere before, I'm guessing something like those big old plastic rubbish bins would be ok? I have a few gone-off potatoes now. May steal some soil from neighbours garden. Which his permission of course.

Aarons_mummy

There have been loads of fab ideas but I just wanted to say you're not alone with the wee one not eating veg, my LO went through a 'phase' of that from around 16 months and only just the last couple of weeks he has started voluntarily trying fruit and veg apart from bananas.

I do our shopping for around £20-£30 a week through choice I used to be able to spend £50+ but checking out the boards here has helped bring that right down and we eat really well, have snacks, cakes and biscuits and are spending much less money. It requires a bit more effort but it really works.

Good luck

villagelife

Most children seem to like satsumas and grapes. I went to a rugby tournament once and the boys were from age 7 to 12 and the queues all day at a stall giving away cubed pineapple were amazing!

lostinrates

djbum_syd wrote: »

I do like the thought of having a meal plan. I tried once before and ended up spending more than normal - so I obviously went wrong somewhere! Lol.

Finding out where will help! For the two of you things should stretch quite well...so a packet of mince will go a long way but you have to remember a: not to serve too much and b: to freeze it/cook with the left overs within time of it perishing.

so a meal plan for you too that includes mince will probably prive meals to feeze for the next week....otherwise you'll be eating a lot of meat per week (pushing budget up). (especially if you bulk the mince with red lentils)

I don't have children, but I was one once and have taken care of a fair few in my time, and the blender/maxgimix, (or if need be good old fashioned grater and knife and some serious prep) to hide veg is essential. Carrot, onion and celery are hidden in almost anything I've cooked for fussy kids. As is working on ''fussiness''. Its legitimate to have some dislikes, but it is not on to refuse food that's not her favourite chicken nuggets.

Some advice from parents on ho to tackle this without starting WW3 when you obviously have a lot on your plate right now might be useful. I used to get kids to help cook...even tinies can stir (and do things like get sugar/flour and butter between fingers -even if discretely the bit they are working on unhygenicaly in a small separate bowl doesn't make it into what you eat ) and the simple but not angry or loud failure to provide an alternative usually worked in combination with getting them involved.

rozmister

It's not really a recipe (or extremely healthy) but if you are stuck for lunches for your Little One Iceland currently have a dozen eggs for £1 and a loaf of toasty bread for £1. You could easily make 6 lunches worth of boiled egg and dippers, scrambled egg on toast, etc for the two of you if you're a SAHM and it would only cost £2. If you gave her a piece of fruit for afters too she would still be getting some of her 5 a day as well as a good portion of protein

Also I buy all my fruit and veg from Aldi which works out a lot cheaper then a supermarket if you buy the things on offer. I got a hefty head of broccoli on Sunday for 39p. Would easily have done 2 meals worth (for 2 adults and LO) as a veg accompaniment!

Stew is good too. If you get stewing steak and bumph it out with lentils, veg, stock cubes and water it can go really far and not cost a lot. You could always blend the veg element before you put in the steak so for LO it's almost a thick puree with meat in it. It sounds weird but I've done it before out of curiousity and it was nice!

JulieGeorgiana

I was once told that a child of 5 only needs 8 tablespoons of food every 48 hours. So using that advice when my son was younger I gave him what we had, if he didn't eat it I never said anything. Sometimes he wouldn;t be hungry later, If he was I gave it him back cold, and he ate it if he was hungry enough.

I just never made a fuss. Anyway it didn't last long... he got fed up of eating cold food!

I think the trick is not to worry if they don't eat, because until they are much older (ie. outside influences coming to play) they will eat when they are hungry.

The other thing I did was to feed him when he asked for food... rather then making him eat at set times, which helped too.

And I found that talking to him (about anything) used to make him forget what he was eating!

Children can be funny onions...!

Ps. My son is now 8 and eats everything, the few things he doesn't like he will try 'just in case his tastebuds have changed'... the only problem I have is fruit... I'm fed up of him hiding it around the house to avoid eating it... so I feed him lots of veg instead!

Aarons_mummy

JulieGeorgiana wrote: »

I was once told that a child of 5 only needs 8 tablespoons of food every 48 hours. So using that advice when my son was younger I gave him what we had, if he didn't eat it I never said anything. Sometimes he wouldn;t be hungry later, If he was I gave it him back cold, and he ate it if he was hungry enough.

I just never made a fuss. Anyway it didn't last long... he got fed up of eating cold food!

I think the trick is not to worry if they don't eat, because until they are much older (ie. outside influences coming to play) they will eat when they are hungry.

The other thing I did was to feed him when he asked for food... rather then making him eat at set times, which helped too.

And I found that talking to him (about anything) used to make him forget what he was eating!

Children can be funny onions...!

Ps. My son is now 8 and eats everything, the few things he doesn't like he will try 'just in case his tastebuds have changed'... the only problem I have is fruit... I'm fed up of him hiding it around the house to avoid eating it... so I feed him lots of veg instead!

My son refused fruit and veg but will happily eat pureed fruit mixed in with yoghurt or fruit smoothies, would those help?

I agree with not making a big deal my LO eats breakfast and lunch but dinners are a problem I dish him some up but more often than not he'll have a few forfuls off my plate (exact same as his) so as long as he has something I'm not all that fussed.

djbum_syd

I think my problem is I get a bit stressed out with her for not eating her dinner, and sometimes we both end up in tears. Not good at all! :-/
Part of the reason me and my family fell out was because they would hold her down and force food into her mouth, and I wouldn't do that. If she didn't eat I'd leave her with nothing until she was hungry and had no choice but to eat what I gave her.


I made a little meal plan up today to take with me tomorrow. Just simple things like spag bowl, omelette, pasta bake, etc. I'm hoping that this wont stretch my budget, and wont make DD throw a paddy! Lol.

Going to pop into my local £ shop too and see what seeds they have. Should be fun.

Now, just got to learn to sew.... Haha.

RAS

djbum_syd wrote: »

Part of the reason me and my family fell out was because they would hold her down and force food into her mouth, and I wouldn't do that. If she didn't eat I'd leave her with nothing until she was hungry and had no choice but to eat what I gave her.

In which case the problem may not be her hunger or food but her memories of what happened.

So maybe you need to look at the circumstances when she was force fed and assure that when she eats, she is not in circumstances that replicate the situation?

[Deleted User]

My DD is now 43 and still a fussy eater and under duress will eat tiny amounts of greens and very little else in the veg dept.but she does eat other things to compensate and will drink gallons of OJ. My youngest however will eat almost anything I am sure because I just didn't stress whether she ate or not .Having a fussy first one was more than enough for me .I would dish up what there was and if it wasn't eaten then they would do without I know it sounds a bit hard but at the time I was also very broke and couldn't afford to get in a state about it.My youngest DD has five kids all of whom eat anything whereas my fussy first DD has two kids who also are fussy beggers.My DGS bless him is 21 this year and had never tasted a banana because his Mum was convinced he wouldn't like them as she didn't .When at work a little while ago he happend to say he had not ever had one, and his work colleagues fell about in hysterics when he told the. They now ask him when out 'do you eat this dan try it and see.He has so far in the past 6 months found a liking for curry,butternut squash soup,vegatables,and believe it or not the untasted bananas.His lovely girfriend has got him eating lots of different things that he would never have thought of trying before this.So try not to worry too much as often kids will eat more and different things when they are a bit bigger and see their friends eating stuff .My godson is a 6ft 2" strapping chap who when he was small would happily live on weetabix and yorkshire pud and refused anything else,then he went to school and suddenly he found a taste for other things.Often little ones like to see how far they can streeeech Mums patience at that age by stubbornly refusing all the healthy things and sometimes only wanting to live on one or two things ,but trust me she won't starve and neither will she grow up into an underfed little person.If she refuses then just say 'O.K. fair enough off you go and play' trust me tummy rumbles will eventually bring her back to the table