Encouragement to eat more fruit and veg?

[OverWyreGrower]

Baby food in jars and packets should have the vitamins required in it. But they are damned expensive. I would show your S-I-L just how simple it is to do stewed, pureed apples or pears and mashed parsnips to begin with. Point out just how much cheaper it is. I would also buy her a tiny blender (Kenwood do one) to whizz up pureed vegetables.

That's what I can't understand... if they are on such a tight budget, how can they afford to buy tinned baby food??

My mum never fed me or my sis any tinned baby food. She said that she just used to whizz up whatever her and my dad ate and feed that to us!

Good idea of a blender! That can be the "new baby" present

We have bought them Mothercare vouchers for Christmas, as the pregnancy was unplanned, they can't afford lots of baby stuff. I've offered to post "Wanteds" on Freecycle for them too

[Geordie]

Bit of a confession for an allotmenteer and vegetable grower....but I only eat potatoes and peas, never eaten any other veg since I was about 5.....just stopped liking them I guess

[Lesley Jay]

Ohhhh!!!! Geordie!! How can you not love veggies???

[OverWyreGrower]

Mr OWG only eats: potatoes, leeks, carrots and yellow peppers....

Most of the other veg is for me! He says peas and sweetcorn are the food of the devil....

[Geordie]

Yessss.....I know....or Garlic, toms ,peppers, chillis, aubs, in fact 99.5% of anything even romotely like a vegetable, or herbs etc....but in my defence the gravy has been made with water used to boil veg.....does that count as 1 portion? And no, my reference to boiling veg is not a signal to open the floodgates on favourite ways to cook veg, boiled, steamed, roasted over candles at Christams or any other way! Thankyou! Bah Humbug!

[Geordie]

Yes thanks, have now put all the toys back in my pram and am quite happy!

[Lesley Jay]

It would be a boring world if we were all the same with the same likes and dislikes Geordie! Infact if we were all the same it would be extremely boring!!!

[Geordie]

As usual LJ you present the voice of reason and harmony....I am indebted to your timely posting!

[Lesley Jay]

Oh you smooth talker Geordie!!

[Alison]

Bit of a confession for an allotmenteer and vegetable grower....but I only eat potatoes and peas, never eaten any other veg since I was about 5.....just stopped liking them I guess

What do you do with the rest of the veg you grow or is your patch just put over to pots and peas? Do you eat fruit at all? Sorry for all the questions, just I really like most vegs (apart from sweetcorn) so find it strange when people don't.

Back to the original thread, good thing about blending what you've cooked yourself is that you know exactly how much fat, sugar etc is in it, nothing's hidden. Friend of mine had a little boy about 18 months ago, the first summer the pear tree in their garden had a bumper harvest so he was eating freebie stewed pears all winter.

[Snadger]

What do you do with the rest of the veg you grow or is your patch just put over to pots and peas? Do you eat fruit at all? Sorry for all the questions, just I really like most vegs (apart from sweetcorn) so find it strange when people don't.

Back to the original thread, good thing about blending what you've cooked yourself is that you know exactly how much fat, sugar etc is in it, nothing's hidden. Friend of mine had a little boy about 18 months ago, the first summer the pear tree in their garden had a bumper harvest so he was eating freebie stewed pears all winter.

Didn't Christen him 'Conference' did they?

[Mrs Dobby]

Hello Rusytlady, if the situation is as bad as you describe, then maybe the answer to Mrs D's question is - it should be compulsary for primary schools to teach where food comes from and what we need to eat to be healthy, and for secondary schools to teach basic cooking to all pupils.
In an ideal world it is parents who should do this. But if the parents don't know ...... well...... I guess it comes down to the schools and teachers have to take it on along with everything else.

Hi Alice, I think you may have hit upon the root of the problem there, nowadays its all IT and the like that they learn, unfortunately life skills such as cooking seem to take a second place all too often!

[Mrs Dobby]

I was appalled to find out that my F-I-L and my pregnant S-I-L (17 yrs old) don't eat anything fresh... in fact, they class "fresh food" as something out of the chiller cabinet rather than the freezer section

snip

I understand that they are on a very tight budget and I offered to help them with their shopping for a week and show them how to make stuff that they can make and then have over a couple of days/freeze.

I think part of the problem is that people perceive that making fresh stuff means spending hours in the kitchen and loads of money in the shops. When you have a screaming child/baby, its much easier to pop something in the oven/microwave. And as Jools said, if kids get crap food at home, why would they eat "healthy" food at school? How would they know what it was?

I always remember the original series of Jamie's School Dinners, where they were asking kids what vegetables he had on a table, and so many of the kids couldn't name a leek; but knew what all the logo's were for McD's, Domino's etc

I often make huge batches of lasagne/casseroles etc and freeze them. Both myself and Mr OWG work 40hr + weeks, but still manage to shop and eat on a fairly strict budget, buying as much local produce as we can. OK, so I don't always have my 5 portions (especially in winter), but I'm not eating ping meals and frozen pizza every day.

OK, rant over!

Well said!! OWG you obviously have a similar take on it as I do! Cooking in bulk and freezing is not only a great way to save money, but also a much healthier way of eating than bleedin 'ping' meals! We too both work plenty of hours, but also manage to shop and eat healthily, also on a fairly strict budget! It can be done, especially if you have no other choice! I couldnt afford to eat if it was McD's and ping meals! I take butties for lunch (meat and salad, as good as any that cost £2 from Tescos) and am always amazed at some of my staff who will think nothing of spending £5 on their lunch from a fast food place! a fiver will keep us both in butties for a week!

Don't worry about ranting, your point is spot on. I find it very difficult to understand why people would choose to live like that but unfortunately your in laws are not remotely unique. I personally love cooking so don't mind spending the weekend in the kitchen now and then to get the freezer filled up with nice fresh food which we can then heat up quickly when needed. Made enough chicken curry for 8 to 10 meals on Sunday at about £1 per portion and that was purely from fresh ingredients with fresh veg and organic meat. It's much tastier than the bizarely coloured stuff in the chiller cabinet and cheaper too.

Personally I try not to shop at supermarkets anyway as I don't like them but you can still buy a balanced diet there if you need to. One of the problems as I see it is that they have such a huge range of produce from all over the world that it can be hard to find the cheaper seasonal stuff hidden away in the corner which gives the illusion that everything's expensive. Doesn't help that the stuff on prominant display in bright "buy me" packaging is the prepared type ie chopped beans, ready mashed / baked potato (I ask you!) which has a higher profit margin. If you've never chopped a cabbage / carrot or peeled a spud then perhaps it's not obvious.

As far as you nephew is concerned, OWG, suppose you've just got to try and encourage him to try things when he comes to visit and make a game out of it. Oh yes, as with most things in life, cross your fingers and hope!

Well said!

Baby food in jars and packets should have the vitamins required in it. But they are damned expensive. I would show your S-I-L just how simple it is to do stewed, pureed apples or pears and mashed parsnips to begin with. Point out just how much cheaper it is. I would also buy her a tiny blender (Kenwood do one) to whizz up pureed vegetables.

Most prepared foods are expensive, they offer convenience, but at a huge cost, not only in monetary terms, but also in food miles, taste and goodness, bring back home made I say!

That's what I can't understand... if they are on such a tight budget, how can they afford to buy tinned baby food??

My mum never fed me or my sis any tinned baby food. She said that she just used to whizz up whatever her and my dad ate and feed that to us!

Good idea of a blender! That can be the "new baby" present

We have bought them Mothercare vouchers for Christmas, as the pregnancy was unplanned, they can't afford lots of baby stuff. I've offered to post "Wanteds" on Freecycle for them too

Nice one OWG, your obviously going to be a bigger help for them than they realise, jusat hope they appreciate it!

[Alison]

Didn't Christen him 'Conference' did they?

Oh, what a missed chance, althogh actually they've not had him "done" so perhaps I should suggest!