What age is to old for jars?

claire16c

I've always eaten with my mum and /or dad if he was back from work in time, ever since I was a child at around 6pm.

I don't think that's early for an adult?

Now I live with my husband and I eat around 6.30 after work. When we have kids ill eat with them.

ALIBOBSY

Time wise TBH we are happy to be a bit flexible, but have never considered eating separately from the kids unless we were going out or having a "date night" at home, in which case we would eat later and probably have a takeaway lol. We always felt it is an important part of the day to sit and eat together. I sometimes wonder if this is a northern thing as ev1 I know here eats together around 5-6 o'clock except for one friend who is from down south and feeds the kids early and whooshes them to bed asap, then settles to a "supper" with her OH. Always seemed a bit stepford wives to me lol.

At the end of the day its what works for you, but my understanding is studies suggest kids eat better and its a good bonding act to sit down as a family together.

Regarding Jars, I hated them. With my eldest we tried them, but they were so bland they tasted like wallpaper paste to me. So apart from the chocolate pud which he was fond of, I stopped buying and just gave the kids what we had to eat, but adjusted for them (we have 4). So no added salt when cooking, sunday dinner-small portion, no gravy, pasta dishes, more plain pasta with small amount of normal sauce (homemade so plenty of herbs, little salt), chilli mild version made for kids then spiced/heated up for us.

We also used to do what we called taster plates, so just little bits of stuff they like, cheese cut in cubes, bits of fruit, corner of toast, bit of ham, bit of chicken, pieces of favoured veggies. TBH oven chips aren't too bad as long as its not every day and no salt on top. Scrambled eggs are great and can be microwaved with no salt or fat-cook with some chopped fresh tomato and you get soft tomato in your scrambly yum. Boiled eggs and soildiers or "chopped up egg in a cup" (not sure if anyone else makes this or was it my grans invention-boil an egg to just after the yolk starts to set (about 6 or 7 mins in boiling water, take it out and scrape the contents into a cup and chop up to eat with bread and butter or toast whilst warm).
I make my own quiches as well, BUT we do have chickens so lots of eggs to use up lol.

Best thing for all of your diets is to reduce the processed food as on the whole the more its processed the more its likely to not be good for you. A good rule of thumb is look on the back of the packet, if the list of ingredients is so long you really don't want to read it all, or you don't know what an ingredient is from its description don't buy.

Don't try to do it overnight as you will get disheartened and don't beat yourself up for the odd quick bang it in the oven/micro tea.

Don't get me wrongI don't mind the odd Mackie d's, but by cooking most of your food from scratch you get better, healthier food and spend less. Thing is you have to be more organised and plan ahead rather than just grab a box from the freezer. It isn't easy at first, but the day your child turns to you and says the ready meal cottage pie his gran gave him for tea "wasn't a patch on your homemade one mum" you know why you do it.

Freezing is a good idea, make your own ready meals. I liked the cook for one day eat for 30 book and still use the yahoo group. The basic idea being use the time you have to cook in effect your own ready meals. Its amazing what you can freeze. Its basically US, but the idea is the same.

Good luck and defo check out the old style boards, I live over there most days and they are great sources of info.

Ali x

dizziblonde

What I tend to do, since we have a fair bit of time we're somewhat lax with our own eating, is to make an effort to plan in one or two more "cooky" meals a week - and freeze a load of portions of it (I use washed out yoghurt tubs with cling film over the top) - so I do things like tomato sauce with spaghetti (add meatballs if flush), chillis, curries, shepherds pie when I can face spud peeling, lasagna etc... double up what I'm cooking and freeze a second meal for us (I use those foil trays to do that so I'm not tying up oven dishes in the freezer) and freeze portions of leftovers for the little one.

If I rotate through what I'm doing I can keep a relatively constant supply of meal portions going for my eldest that way. I use baby stock cubes to keep the salt content down where applicable as well, and with things like tomato sauce I shove in whatever veg I feel I can get away with and either blend or leave unblended depending on how brazen I feel like being with the presence of the vegetables.

LannieDuck

Interesting. I agree that it's important to sit with children to have food, which is why we make a point of having something small to eat with LO when she has her tea (normally a bit of whatever she's having).

I think I'd be ok eating at 6.30 ish (I'm a southerner), but my OH wouldn't. His family spend half the year in France and he grew up eating much later in the evening. When we visit them we can start the meal about 8-8.30ish and still be going at 10pm.

But that's too late for me. So we compromise on 7.30-8ish

(OP - sorry for hijacking your thread)

LannieDuck

ALIBOBSY wrote: »

I sometimes wonder if this is a northern thing as ev1 I know here eats together around 5-6 o'clock except for one friend who is from down south and feeds the kids early and whooshes them to bed asap, then settles to a "supper" with her OH. Always seemed a bit stepford wives to me lol.

Just to add, even though me and OH do a separate dinner we find no need to 'whoosh' LO to bed straight after tea She has dinner at 6pm then bedtime at 7.30pm.

notanewuser

LannieDuck wrote: »

Interesting. I agree that it's important to sit with children to have food, which is why we make a point of having something small to eat with LO when she has her tea (normally a bit of whatever she's having).

I think I'd be ok eating at 6.30 ish (I'm a southerner), but my OH wouldn't. His family spend half the year in France and he grew up eating much later in the evening. When we visit them we can start the meal about 8-8.30ish and still be going at 10pm.

But that's too late for me. So we compromise on 7.30-8ish

(OP - sorry for hijacking your thread)

I think the other Europeans have much better ideas about child rearing than us.

shell_girl

My little boy (1 in two weeks) eats everything we eat but sometimes we eat later so I have a stash of frozen baby meals ready for him.

This is the easiest recipe in the world as one lot of prep makes 3 types of meals (and more if you use imagination!)

Visit Aldi - they have loads of cheapish veg on offer. Grab as many or as few of these as you like - potato, sweet potato, peppers, courgettes, carrots, swede, onion, garlic, aubergine, butternut squash, mushrooms, cauliflower, broccoli, and anything else that takes your fancy. Get a couple of chicken breasts to add protein, or lentils if you don't eat meat. You could also get frozen veg such as spinach to add iron.

You will also need a couple of tins of chopped tomatoes and coconut milk and a few herbs and spices.

Chop all your veg (and chicken if using) up into bite size pieces - this will take what feels like hours but you will make so many portions it's worth it. (I do this once a month and I get enough 'ready meals' to give him every other day if I need them)
If you are using lentils, soak them in boiling water for about 20 minutes then drain them and throw them in whenever.

In a very large saucepan, heat a few spoonfuls of olive oil and start by adding the onion, garlic (1 or 2 cloves chopped really really small) and potatoes. Keep moving them around, then add swede and carrots, squash etc. Then the chicken if you are using it. Then add the rest of the veg. Basically, the hardest veg goes in first as it takes longest to cook, then work towards the softest stuff like peppers which doesn't take as long.

Once everything is cooked, divide it into three pans.

Pan 1- add a pinch of a few herbs like oregano, basil, and thyme and then add a tin of tomatoes. This is baby bolognese and can be served with pasta or rice.

Pan 2 - add a pinch or two of mild curry powder, a pinch of turmeric and a pinch of cumin. Add either a tin of tomatoes OR a tin of coconut milk. This is baby curry and goes nice with rice or with a jacket potato.

Pan 3 - mix in some cooked pasta shapes then cover it all with cheese sauce. Divide into portions and top with wholemeal breadcrumbs - baby pasta bake.

To make the cheese sauce, just melt a spoon of marge or butter in a pan, and stir in about twice the amount of flour (it will look like a paste) slowly add whole milk until it becomes liquid, then top up with milk until you have the right amount of sauce. Heat it slowly while stirring it, when it starts to go a bit thicker chuck in a handful of grated cheese or a couple of spoonfuls of dairylea.

Sorry for a long post but I love this method as I can make loads of meals that he loves for the sake of an hour or two in the kitchen.

claire16c

LannieDuck wrote: »

Interesting. I agree that it's important to sit with children to have food, which is why we make a point of having something small to eat with LO when she has her tea (normally a bit of whatever she's having).

I think I'd be ok eating at 6.30 ish (I'm a southerner), but my OH wouldn't. His family spend half the year in France and he grew up eating much later in the evening. When we visit them we can start the meal about 8-8.30ish and still be going at 10pm.

But that's too late for me. So we compromise on 7.30-8ish

(OP - sorry for hijacking your thread)

If that was me I'd eat with the children & let your husband eat by himself later on. The smell might entice him?

ALIBOBSY

LannieDuck wrote: »

Just to add, even though me and OH do a separate dinner we find no need to 'whoosh' LO to bed straight after tea She has dinner at 6pm then bedtime at 7.30pm.

Wasn't suggesting it in application to anyone on the thread, more the person I referred to .

Ali x