Feeding my family home cooked meals.

Kayalana99

Hiya guys,

I've posted something similar before but not on this thread, and TBH things havn't got any better so I thought id try again!

Family of four but my eldest is 15months and ATM is still on jars.. :eek:. He will eat waffles and fish fingers...sometimes peas I tend to add frozen mixed veg but he rarely touchs anything but a few peas and as yet won't try fruit used to eat banannas for breakfast but turns that away now..

I can cook cottage pie.... I can do roast dinners where I make my own roast potatoes and mash and just add carrots, broc & peas...just change the meat to chicken beef gammon...we've just started doing chicken curry with a jar but we usallay have oven chips with this so its not much better.

Thats basicly it. We've tried fish pie in the past but the sauce never comes out right (not bad just not nice I guess)

Everything else is from the freezer.

Has anyone got any ideas what else I can do and how to try and get DS eating more with us? I struggle to think of things to give him as I was basicly brought up on sausage chips and beans... :cool:

Currently spending about £400 a month including milk and jars for eldest, LO is still being breast feed and all our nappies are brought for us by nan, usually about £30 of beer on the shopping bill for OH/monthly

Plan on trying to cut back in the new year, OH has a new job and more spare cash so no more beer on shopping bill for a start.

pollyanna24

My kids are so fussy that my meal rota now seems to go round about three/four things that they'll eat, but I thought I'd stick them on here anyway and see if I could help.


I used to make spag bol from scratch, but me and the kids both prefer it when it's from a jar, so instead of driving myself mad with it, I just buy loads when it is on offer.


My girls are 5 and 3, so older than yours, but they eat:-


Pasta, Sausages with a sauce that I buy from abroad (they just really seem to like it)
Fish Fingers/Nuggets with chips/curly fries etc.
Faggots and Rice
Chicken Tonight and pasta or rice


Need inspiration too as I've decided that once a week I will make a new recipe just to see how it goes down with them.

Okydoky25

With the toddler eating jar food you can make food from scratch such as spag bowl, cottage pie, chill con carne. Add lots of veg. If they still like it mashed give it a quick wiz. Freeze in muffin trays (£1 each for silicone ones in cheap shops)
Once you have a few batches made up you just take one out each morning and re heat when defrosted.

RAS

Here is your previous thread. https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/4753609

Reading the first post on that, if you are using packet cheese sauce mix - erm - it's foul.

Do you know how to make a basic white sauce?

Tillytrotter1

I like to make a roast chicken dinner on a Monday then use the leftovers so last night made leek, mushroom and chicken pie then tonight making chicken and broccoli bake. Putting a bolognese in the slow cooker tonight for tomorrow night when we will have spat bol then lasagne on Friday. Home made pizza on Saturday. Best advice is to meal plan, I've just planned for a month as it helps when you don't have to worry about the evening meal. My little boy is nine months and he still likes his food blended pretty finely, can't tolerate lumps yet and my 2 1/2 year old sometimes eats well and sometimes doesn't. Don't worry too much, you are trying and it will get better and they will eat more as they get older. Try some of the recipes on the grocery thread, they are very good and pretty quick :-)

camNolliesMUMMY

I used to make plenty of leftovers from our meals.
Spag Bol
Cottage pie or shepherds pie
Sausage casserole
Pasta bake
Sunday roast
Beef stew
Curry

Then I'd blend them with a little extra water to make it the right consistency, as he got older I used to leave some bits un chopped like peas carrots potato etc.

I'd use the jars that his food used to come in, fill them and freeze.
I'd take two jars out I the morning to defrost ready for lunch.

Now he's a year and a half he will eat anything he loves hm pizza, tonight I've pre made hm chicken nuggets for my two boys serving with hm oven chips a lot better than pre bought ones.
I bought a 12kg bag of spuds from the greengrocers for £4.99 and they last longer than supermarket ones.

Pre cut chips up or wedges etc put in ziplock bag with some oil coat them all and freeze ready for when you need them.

I shop once a month, this is a big shop of meat, veg, tins, cereal etc
Then I weekly buy top ups of milk n bread.

I have all sorts of herbs and spices in.
If something calls for cream I use milk and flour instead.

I meal plan each week.

pollyanna24

camNolliesMUMMY wrote: »

I used to make plenty of leftovers from our meals.
Spag Bol
Cottage pie or shepherds pie
Sausage casserole
Pasta bake
Sunday roast
Beef stew
Curry

Then I'd blend them with a little extra water to make it the right consistency, as he got older I used to leave some bits un chopped like peas carrots potato etc.

I'd use the jars that his food used to come in, fill them and freeze.
I'd take two jars out I the morning to defrost ready for lunch.

Now he's a year and a half he will eat anything he loves hm pizza, tonight I've pre made hm chicken nuggets for my two boys serving with hm oven chips a lot better than pre bought ones.
I bought a 12kg bag of spuds from the greengrocers for £4.99 and they last longer than supermarket ones.

Pre cut chips up or wedges etc put in ziplock bag with some oil coat them all and freeze ready for when you need them.

I shop once a month, this is a big shop of meat, veg, tins, cereal etc
Then I weekly buy top ups of milk n bread.

I have all sorts of herbs and spices in.
If something calls for cream I use milk and flour instead.

I meal plan each week.

Can you freeze raw potatoes then? If you can, this would be a great thing to do instead of buying oven chips.

DigForVictory

Check Young Sir's weight. If he's near the 75th percentile, you have the latitude to stop jars & give him real food. You just have to hold up against the yelling & the mess. Hunger will persuade him toward the real stuff & freshly mashed banana is easy. (A chore to launder, but easy to sort & serve.)

If you haven't got a stick blender, get one. It's a godsend, as you can bash real food into healthy mush. Young Sir can then choose to eat it, wear it, throw it etc as usual. (Try serving it in a different dish? More babyish or more grownup - whichever you think he'll respond to!)

Mash, carrots & peas all sound a reasonable start, with a finger of cheese for protein, or a boiled egg?

Just remember, he does need to eat & so he will, but if he senses any doubt or uncertainty he'll go stubborn to get the old familiar back. Mealtimes are often war zones, but if you stick to your guns, you can stop buying those jars!

Kayalana99

RAS wrote: »

Here is your previous thread. https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/4753609

Reading the first post on that, if you are using packet cheese sauce mix - erm - it's foul.

Do you know how to make a basic white sauce?

Thank you, he doesnt even eat cottage pie now. Went thru a really fussy stage he wouldnt even eat jars so anything we could get in him was a bonus.

No we did one recently where my partner followd an online recipe with cheese in sauce and it was nearly as thick as the mash potato... will get back to others soon but got my hands full.

camNolliesMUMMY

Some blanch potatoes first but yes you can freeze them. I've been cussing them mixing them in oil and seasoning and freezing them or you could part bake some then freeze? X

RAS

Kayalana

There will be several things at play here

1. Some adult foods (like packet gravy) are incredibly salty for a child.

2. Children develop their taste for food early (in the uterus and during breast feeding) and if your diet has been limited in range, his will be. You can improve your chances with the littley now if you are prepared to try a few things normally outside your own comfort range.

3. At 15 months, and particularly with a second child in the picture, he will be beginning to assert himself and his needs. A lot of this is not about food but if he has picked up your nervousness about diet, that is area where he will have realised he can get you and one where he can win. After all you are so keen to get him to eat that you bend over backwards.

I am not suggesting you start him on chillies and pickled gullimot but there are small children elsewhere in the world who enjoy both options.

Unless he is underweight, I would be prepared to put food in front of him and let him eat it or leave it. No comment, no pressure to just eat a mouthful for mummy and no treats between meals.

Mirror the behaviour you expect by eating happliy in front of him even if the cheese sauce is like mash.