kids/families & food

DH & I are planning meals with the goal of getting everyone to eat a healthy well balanced diet & we want to do this by cutting the processed foods getting more into fruit/veg...cutting out the "treats" etc.

I have a month to implement the changes with food/meals before school goes back.

DS2 is our fussy eater, he is skinny always on the go & won't eat what everyone else will. DS1 &3 will try anything & eat well.

I need ideas for quick easy breakfasts as I am busy in the morning. DS1&3 will eat cornflakes/weetbix/anything but DS2 will only eat toast with chocolate spread & lots of it, if he does this then DS1 wants it also & I am stuck in the kitchen for ages making toast...I just don't have he time & also don't want him living off toast.

He will eat cereal but not with milk....so need ideas for b'fast

School lunch boxes, DS1 will eat everything, DS3 will try everything & DS2 hardly touches his. I had tried to cut the crap but chips & biscuits had made there way back in. They are not on the menu this yr

I am prepared for the hard work & know it will take several weeks for the changes to become normal everyday life.

Dinner is not a problem as it is mainly BBQ with chicken or prawns & veg which he eats minus the veg but we are going to work on that...

My oldest DD is the same, drives me nuts that she won't eat cereal with milk! but she will eat it with canned fruit, although I need to keep an eye on what she takes, but on a whole she just eats her cereal without milk.

I can make pancakes super quick in the morning or we have a waffle machine so I make them while putting lunch boxes together. Flour, egg, milk, never fail

Or my hubby gets up early and makes himself a cooked breakfast which DS has with Daddy.

I think in the recipe section on here there will be homemade muesli bars.

thanks for your posts I told DH we are not the only ones with a child that does not like milk with cereal so he feels better lol.

I want to make b'fast as quick & easy for me as possible & that's my reason for cutting out toast, this is week days mainly.

I am going to get a few different cereals so we can change them up...but 1 serving each only daily (or they would scoff the pack). Might do fruit juice also, not sure..

DS2 wont eat yogurt or tinned fruit, only fruit he eats is a few grapes, strawberries, watermelon & apples. I have just bought melons, apricots, nectarines, blackberries to try on him.

He also seems to get put off by heaps on his plate. He likes dry plain bread his fav being grain, loves chicken on the bone & likes mince & pasta meals which are great to hide the veg in..

I don't want to do much baking, not a fan of it & when trying to lose weight it is too easy to mindlessly "try" it

For lunch I made them buns/salad/ham/cucumber/cheese & he scoffed it, when asked if he will eat it for lunch at school (I had sent them before) he said he does not have time at morning tea & at lunch they are "messy" so maybe too lunch in his l/box for him....he eats all the dried processed stuff I am trying to cut out.

Heres some ideas here:

http://www.kidspot.co.nz/article+3954+143+10-healthy-lunch-box-recipes-(they'll-actually-eat).htm


Some of them are a bit messy for lunch boxes but there are a few good ideas!

Can you give him only 3-4 things? Rather than a heap? So one thing for morning tea & then 2-3 for lunch? Point out to him or label them if that helps him decide? My DD only eats 3 things during the day, which is heaps considering some days she doens't stop to eat at all :/ I usually then have a decent arvo tea for them when they get home.

Edited by AandCsmum - 03 January 2013 at 10:01pm

I love this ladies blog for healthy breakfast ideas, she's got two kids as well and does a lot of different things and stuff that can be prepared the night before.

DS2 is now refusing to eat veg & insists on being a "carnivore" only, he is doing my head in.

He said he will not eat any sandwich/roll/buns etc only wants biscuits/chips/crackers & an apple...not that hew will eat an apple..at school.



Edited by jazzy - 21 January 2013 at 1:14pm

I do do that but his comes home uneaten & then I say no snacks till lunch boxes are empty & DS1 &3 will fight over DS2..

I weighed him yesterday & he is 31kg, DS3 is 34kg & 17mths younger

he was 8 in dec..

I am going to do bread with spread & roll it up, so it looks different. Also will do homemade sushi & pizza as he loves them. I am still going to put in rolls/buns/wraps/sandwiches but will offer different things daily so its not the same old.

Will try watermelon & strawberries as those are his faves at moment & an apple.

They get popped corn sometimes & I make it in the morning, this is instead of chips although they did creep back in at the end of last yr.

& biscuits/cake depending on if I bake or buy...& crackers if no popcorn.

It will be interesting to see what comes home this yr.

DS3 is 4 mths of being 7yr. I just looked up a chart that put him in a normal weight range for a 7yr old. If I look him up as 6yr it puts him above for both height & weight. He is 2 inches shorter than the 8yr old & he is a solid build, chubby but not fat looking. He takes after DS1 & me where as DS2 takes after his dad as he was a tall supper skinny kid.

I don't have a problem with the weight so much as what he will/wont eat. He does not eat dairy but its the veg & the refusal to try things that I want to change.

DS2 is the one that gets skin problems & I bet its from not having a balanced diet. I do hide veg in what I can.

They all take Centrum for kids & I want to add fish oil as well this yr.

He will still have what everyone else has on his plate/ lunch box (up to a point) but most of his is left untouched.

Edited by jazzy - 23 January 2013 at 7:26am