Living out of my store cupboard & freezer, how little can I spend to feed my family?

Siebrie

missymoo81 wrote: »

Hmmm just come across my biggest hurdle yet, neither child will eat the pasta bake and to be honest I think they're going to refuse anything 'different'

Or, prepare the ingredients separately for them, and let them eat some of all, and a few bites of the bake. Mine came up with the idea that they have to try as many bites as they are old, so four for youngest and seven for eldest. Mine won't eat pasta with sauce, but will eat it plain with the sauce as a dip. If they don't eat, the next meal is tomorrow morning, no dessert, no snacks. Usually they decide to eat at least a bit.

Anne_Marie_2

Sorry that you've had a problem with the little ones eating the pasta bake.
Sometimes it helps to give the food a funny name, doesn't matter what it is, but if it helps the kids to eat it, job done. I always had a pot of soup on the go, my little one wouldn't eat anything but creamed soup. So no matter what kind of soup whether it be lentil, scotch broth, vegetable, chicken anything, added a spot of milk and it became creama soup and no mention of anything else. Worked a treat, and was wolfed down. Am sure if I had said cream of vegetable, cream of carrots etc. that it wouldn't have worked.
With my little toddler granddaughter, I make up little picnics to be eaten at the table. It's what she would be getting anyway, but the food is put on several little plates, and it seems to be more exciting, so gets scoffed. This is not something you can do with your own kids on a daily basis, but perhaps a "treat" once or twice a week. I obviously did it with my own daughter when she was little, but laid a tablecloth out on the floor in the living room, or outside in the garden if it was nice, and had the picnic there. (I can get down to floor level, but it's not so easy to get back up these days, and crawling about on a marble tiled floor is not a good idea. )

Anne_Marie_2

Siebrie wrote: »

Or, prepare the ingredients separately for them, and let them eat some of all, and a few bites of the bake. Mine came up with the idea that they have to try as many bites as they are old, so four for youngest and seven for eldest. Mine won't eat pasta with sauce, but will eat it plain with the sauce as a dip. If they don't eat, the next meal is tomorrow morning, no dessert, no snacks. Usually they decide to eat at least a bit.

Isn't it funny how they are all so different. Think that the idea of sauce in a little bowl to dip plain pasta into is a really good one. And might work in well with my picnic idea, with batons of vegetables, breadsticks/garlic bread to dip in too.

greenbee

My mother got my brother's kids to eat pasta with sauce ('they won't eat it, they don't like cooked tomatoes') by telling them it was pizza sauce. She'd seen them eat enough pizzas to know they ate them...

Anne_Marie_2

greenbee wrote: »

My mother got my brother's kids to eat pasta with sauce ('they won't eat it, they don't like cooked tomatoes') by telling them it was pizza sauce. She'd seen them eat enough pizzas to know they ate them...

Your Mum and I sound like we were cut from the same cloth! :rotfl:

Missymoo, just had a thought about the pasta bake. Perhaps the children don't like the crispy topping? Know that my daughter didn't as a young child, so either fed her serving before baking, or kept her portion aside, and reheated when the baked dish was being served.

mothernerd

If the children are ill things might taste strange to them anyway. It might be worth trying again when they are better. Also with young children who don't like particular vegetables it is sometimes better to wait a couple of weeks before trying it again. If you try say three days apart, they remember they 'didn't like it' and it becomes automatic to refuse it.

FunBrum

I love this thread!:D
It just so happens that I'm helping my friend to eat our way through his freezer. It needs to be defrosted at the weekend.
So far we have had some great meals, but as its emptying, there might be some interesting concoctions!:eek::rotfl:

Keep up with the good work!:T

missymoo81

Wow thanks for all your lovely replies! And so nice to see you all here Hi Pigpen, you are right, I do try and give it to them 2 days running to see if they'll eat it, but they're very stubborn and would rather be hungry, but saying that, like you say, if I'd put sausage in it they'd have gobbled it up! Will have to think ahead a bit more. I like the fruit salad idea, I've got some jelly too so I could make up little pots.....

Hey purple kitten, I tried the coconut oil!!!! The ends of my hair were lovely, but the top tiny hairs where they've just regrown from falling out were still all wispy, will definitely use it as serum though.

Anne Marie, green bee, funbrum, mother nerd and siebrie. I am going to try all the tips, think the pizza sauce and dipping sauce and picnic ideas might definitely help!

missymoo81

Ok, have got round to trying the muffins I made, the chocolate ones aye horrid, but the other ones aren't bad, think i may make a tray bake with jam and coconut on top. Need to make some bread and some biscuits today. Oh and wilt spinach and freeze mushrooms.

Today's food:
Porridge with bananas and honey
Lunch will be tuna sandwiches and oddments of fruit and veg from fridge
Dinner will be omlette.
Actually need to check and redo my meal plan.

MallyGirl

Inspired by this thread I have started cataloguing the contents of the freezer. OH saw the list and said it was a good idea - and wow what a lot there was in there. I had to admit I hadn't listed the big drawers' contents yet so I think we won't need to buy much except fresh veg for a while!