what treats to offer grandchildren on sugar free diet

littlerock

My daughter in law is very fussy about what her children(my grandchildren) are allowed to eat.The banned items include absolutely no sugar in any form, no artificial sweeteners or colours, no synthetic flavours colours or additives, no preprocessed food, no fried food . No crisps. Only sour dough organic bread, 100% full fat milk, unflavoured organic yoghurt. only milk and water to drink . Plus my granddaughter will not eat potatoes.

It all seems a bit grim to me but my daughter in law is 100% committed to this diet and i am not about to criticise. (Although sometimes I wonder what they do eat.) Now they (the grandchildren) are coming to stay for the weekend shortly (without their parents) and I am desperate to serve them interesting meals and tasty snacks without breaking my daughter in law's rules. Anyone got any suggestions? They are 4 and 2 1/2.

Nicki

You could check out the goop website or the intolerant gourmet website for nice recipes which are sugar free and unprocessed.

How about blending very sweet fruit like a very ripe banana and some strawberries, mixing with the yoghurt and freezing to make ice cream or ice lollies for example? Or make muffins sweetened with applesauce rather than sugar? Frozen grapes are nice. Or different exotic fruits they may not have tried?

Alikay

Strawberries, mango or other tropical fruit? What about peas in their pods, carrot batons, different coloured cherry tomatoes? I don't know why your DIL has such strict dietary rules, but clearly she must have her reasons, and they ARE her kids, so I'd go along with it, and get treats which are not food or drink: Maybe a simple game, Cbeebies comic, some stamps and ink pads or other simple arty crafty things to do together instead.

GwylimT

Its refreshing to see children with a good diet, yoghurt ice lollies are lovely, especially with nuts blended in, or if you make the nuts into a crumb they can coat the outside of the lolly.

Rummer

We followed a similar eating approach with our DS although natural sugars such as fruit were fine. We have enjoyed the following:

• Popcorn delicious plain, plus cheap and lots of fun to make.
• Different fruit, we have loads of types in the house to keep snacking interesting.
• Rice or oat cakes with a variety of dips and toppings.
• Meat, cheese, olives and bread is one of our DSs favourite meals
• Chopped up veg and dips
• Vegetable crisps cooked in the oven
• Falaffel
• Mini quiche and pizzas
• Omlettes
• Whizz the yoghurt up with berries to make fruity yoghurt
• Eggs with toast soldiers
• We also mixed eggs, flour, cheese and a variety of veg/herbs to make a selection of hand held snacks

Did their mum give you an idea of the kinds of things they like to eat? There are great ideas on My Lovely Little Lunch Box.

shandyclover

Pinterest is good for things like this...

A quick search on sugar free treats threw up quite a lot. Double click on anything that interests you and it will take you to the original webpage.

https://www.pinterest.com/search/pins/?q=sugar+free+treats+for+kids&rs=ac&len=2&term_meta[]=sugar+free+treats+for+kids|autocomplete|1

Good luck, I have 2 vegans, 1 vegetarian, and 1 'raw till 4' in the family. Trying to find a treat that will suit them all can be challenging - but it can be done.

I even found dairy free ice cream in a tiny Cornish shop while on holiday. Ask DIL if she has any objections to 'BoojaBooja ice cream, only 4 ingredients, dairy free, sweetened with agave nectar. Usually available in health food shops and Waitrose. http://boojabooja.com/ice-cream/

PlutoinCapricorn

It does sound a bit grim, although I would agree with some of the rules. I know from experience that cutting down on sugar makes some things taste sweeter though.

Dates are very good, especially the Medjool ones. Raw Sugar Snap peas are delicious.

Mojisola

littlerock wrote: »

It all seems a bit grim to me but my daughter in law is 100% committed to this diet and i am not about to criticise. (Although sometimes I wonder what they do eat.)

Anyone who is sticking to a particular way of eating (or making their children stick to it) shouldn't ask someone else to cater for them without giving clear examples of meals and snacks.

If the foods that are allowed are a lot more expensive than the usual types, then food should also be supplied.

Toothsmith

Alikay wrote: »

Strawberries, mango or other tropical fruit? What about peas in their pods, carrot batons, different coloured cherry tomatoes? I don't know why your DIL has such strict dietary rules, but clearly she must have her reasons, and they ARE her kids, so I'd go along with it, and get treats which are not food or drink: Maybe a simple game, Cbeebies comic, some stamps and ink pads or other simple arty crafty things to do together instead.

Excellent advice. :T

'Treats' are too often associated with unhealthy 'food'. There are many more imaginative ways to 'treat' the grandkids!

Jojo_the_Tightfisted

littlerock wrote: »

My daughter in law is very fussy about what her children(my grandchildren) are allowed to eat.The banned items include absolutely no sugar in any form, no artificial sweeteners or colours, no synthetic flavours colours or additives, no preprocessed food, no fried food . No crisps. Only sour dough organic bread, 100% full fat milk, unflavoured organic yoghurt. only milk and water to drink . Plus my granddaughter will not eat potatoes.

It all seems a bit grim to me but my daughter in law is 100% committed to this diet and i am not about to criticise. (Although sometimes I wonder what they do eat.) Now they (the grandchildren) are coming to stay for the weekend shortly (without their parents) and I am desperate to serve them interesting meals and tasty snacks without breaking my daughter in law's rules. Anyone got any suggestions? They are 4 and 2 1/2.

Presumably, they eat everything except processed junk and over refined carbs. Fruit, vegetables, meat, fish, salad - the stuff we're supposed to.

It sounds a whole lot easier than trying to feed a five year old who didn't know chicken could come without breadcrumbs, expected a bag of sweeties for breakfast and, whatever went on her plate, announced 'I don't like that'. A mild, noncommittal 'what?' Was answered with 'I don't know. But I don't like it'.

A healthy snack could be (with the ok of mum), a slice of the bread spread with curd cheese/ricotta and topped with strawberries. They could help, which makes it an activity rather than just being presented with something. You could freeze melon and then blitz it in a blender for a slushy drink/ice cream substitute. Or return it to the freezer with a stick for a lolly.

I'd use the money not spent on child-oriented junk food on fresh fruit and things like paints, paper and other craft stuff. Keeps you enjoying their company and out of the kitchen.


But I'm glad you aren't ignoring mum and giving them junk; there's plenty of time for them to have that later, if she decides it's ok.

Indie_Kid

Maybe look on somewhere like BBC Food and cook something simple with the grandchildren?