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Which foods would you class as unhealthy?
I provide my mindees with what I would class as healthy home cooked meals lots of veg and fruit but I'm interested to hear what foods you would/wouldn't serve
Im talking things like Jam, fish fingers, tinned soup
Interested to see what people regard as unhealthy!
Thanks x
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:-) We have jam ... I make it and we usually have it on plain yogurt or in jam tarts.
Don't have fish fingers ... purely because I don't like them! Have goujons instead.
Don't have tinned soup as again I don't like it. I prefer to cook some veg and blitz to make my own. However I love packet chicken noodle soup as I've never been able to make it the same! Don't think I've ever given it to mindees.
Can't think of anything we don't have as I prefer to offer a balanced diet and I think by offering some unhealthy options it helps discussions and understanding plus no food becomes an issue. Thinking about it we only have chips once in a blue moon as I don't cook them at home! Usually its fish and chips for lunch on the beach!
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Ooooohh fish and chips on the beach! Lovely!
I'm the same all sauces I make from scratch, lots of stews, pies, pastas and homemade soups.
I just wanted to see weather I was regarding some foods as unhealthy unnecessarily. If that makes sense? X
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I have a real mix here. I mostly cook from scratch but we do have things like jam, fish fingers and even packet mixes just not often. Same with snacks- I do fruit with a carb or cheese every snack time- that's 10 snacks a week and out of those usually about 8 are things like breadsticks/ rice cakes etc but 2 are something like biscuit/cake/flapjack etc. I think its all about balance.
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I think that some of the new "packets" available are super healthy and so absolutely fine to use! I use things like pesto from a jar, certainly use shop bought jam, and have no problem with oven baked chips!
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Originally Posted by
MessybutHappy
I think that some of the new "packets" available are super healthy and so absolutely fine to use! I use things like pesto from a jar, certainly use shop bought jam, and have no problem with oven baked chips!
When you say "packets" what do you mean?
I think I'm being OTT about it really I've only been minding 2 months and I've become a bit obsessed with "healthy eating"
So for instance if you were doing a curry would you buy a jar of sauce and add bits to it to spruce it up? X
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Yup! I use tomato sauces for babies as the base for things, I buy & serve vacuum packed canneloni, I'm quite happy to use a jar of spag bol sauce if I'm in a rush. I draw the line at potato faces or whatever they are though! I do do a lot from scratch, but if I'm honest that's more down to cost savings than being "healthy and home cooked"!! After all, beans on toast is home cooked, but I didn't bake the bread! The clever machine or the nice folk at the supermarket did! I'm quite honest with parents too, but if they want organically sourced, slaved over food, don't pick me!
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I give kids a wide range of foods here, some days we'll gave pasta in a tomato sauce with lots of veggies in, some days they make they own pizzas (well I buy the ready made bases!) so they come up with some weird and wonderful toppings, some days it's just good old sandwiches.
I do give them fish fingers occasionally and even give the potato waffles!! Always make sure to give them veggies with it though. And yes I have given them tinned soup, no one has came to any harm because of it!
Current favourites just now are baked potatoes with cheese or tuna, scrambled eggs & toast and they all eat wee willy winkie sausages like they've never been fed before, 2 seconds and they are gone!!
I'm not a chef and I don't claim to be so if parents want certain things I suggest they send them in theirselves
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What about spaghetti hoops?
They always strike me as unhealthy but mindees love them.
I prefer not to give fish fingers chicken nuggets oven chips but some children don't eat home prepared stuff or veg and are very limited . One child only had the above and pizza and that was it. Luckily he's at school now so I only give sandwiches for tea.
'It's never too late to have a happy childhood' ( Tom Robinson)
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I will on occasions give fish fingers and things and will Definately use tinned soups and jam. But to be honest mindees here tend to prefer the things I home make. We stick to spag Bol (home made but have used jars in the past), cottage pie, fish pie, curry (never used a jar but have to be careful with the curry powder I use now as a child has a reaction to mustard), chilli, casseroles and stir frys (to be honest I normally use packet sauces for these) , turkey meatloaf (blw recipe) and my favourite chicken nugget substitute is chicken and apple balls (an Annabel Karnel recipe) It's all about balance. My daughter prefers these things anyway as do most of the mindees. One thing that is very rare tho is chips. Not against them just would rather do potatoes or rice.
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When I said packets I meant the packet mixes for sauces. Like you said I use them more as a base and add extra bits. I always do a slow cooked meal on a Monday cos of timings so I bung it all in with a packet mix and extra things and let it cook. The amount that a tot will have I really don't think its going to harm them.
I always make cheese sauce or tomato based sauces from scratch - its my personal preference. I'd use a jar for curry but but I'm talking maybe 5 times a year! As long as over a week they have had a balance then its fine. So I try and make sure I do pasta, rice or potatoes spread out, chicken, pork, beef, tuna,salmon, sausages etc and never more than 2 days in a row with any type of food.
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i don't believe in unhealthy food, it's everything in moderation.
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No such thing as unhealthy foods - only unhealthy diets.
I had a good conversation with an NHS nutritionist at my local children's centre recently. She's thoroughly P'ed off with the way she is now expected to teach nutrition in oversimplified terms of 'good' and 'bad' or 'healthy' and 'unhealthy' foods, to the point where she is looking for another job. She was sick of having to give out scientifically wrong advice: eg. home-cooked food is always better than processed; sunflower spreads (which, oddly enough, are heavily processed) are always preferable to butter, and so on.
it's not helped by the contributions of self-publicist celebrity chefs with their over-inflated egos and ridiculous attention-grabbing campaigns.
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The only things I don't really ever give are sweets, chocolate or cake, unless it's birthday cake. I don't totally 'ban' anything though.
The children even have crisps here...shocking, I know! One packet shared between 3 or 4 of them, along with a tuna sandwich, cucumber, tomato, a yoghurt and fruit. I wouldn't hand them a whole packet to eat (although I know they do at home), but I really don't see any harm in them having a few with an otherwise healthy lunch.
I don't think it's so much about individual foods, but about how they fit into the child's overall diet. I prefer to look at the day or week as a whole, rather than expect every meal to be the ultimate in healthy eating. There's nothing wrong with serving fishfingers as long as it's not everyday and as long as they're balanced out with 'healthier' food.
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Originally Posted by
MessybutHappy
Yup! I use tomato sauces for babies as the base for things, I buy & serve vacuum packed canneloni, I'm quite happy to use a jar of spag bol sauce if I'm in a rush. I draw the line at potato faces or whatever they are though! I do do a lot from scratch, but if I'm honest that's more down to cost savings than being "healthy and home cooked"!! After all, beans on toast is home cooked, but I didn't bake the bread! The clever machine or the nice folk at the supermarket did! I'm quite honest with parents too, but if they want organically sourced, slaved over food, don't pick me!
I like your thinking! X
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Originally Posted by
bunyip
No such thing as unhealthy foods - only unhealthy diets.
I had a good conversation with an NHS nutritionist at my local children's centre recently. She's thoroughly P'ed off with the way she is now expected to teach nutrition in oversimplified terms of 'good' and 'bad' or 'healthy' and 'unhealthy' foods, to the point where she is looking for another job. She was sick of having to give out scientifically wrong advice: eg. home-cooked food is always better than processed; sunflower spreads (which, oddly enough, are heavily processed) are always preferable to butter, and so on. it's not helped by the contributions of self-publicist celebrity chefs with their over-inflated egos and ridiculous attention-grabbing campaigns.
Exactly!! I think I'm overthinking it completely. Thank you x
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Thank you all! I think I need relax a bit. Your responses have really opened my eyes x
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I dont wish to offend but this healthy eating thing really really annoys me. I'm sure this generation are going to grow up with all sorts of eating disorders as we have all become obsessed with 'heathly eating'.
In my opinion children should have a balanced diet but nothing should be classed as 'unhealthy' and i never ban any foods.
My only rule is that if they dont eat main meal/sandwich etc then nothing else is offered.
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Originally Posted by
ziggy
I dont wish to offend but this healthy eating thing really really annoys me. I'm sure this generation are going to grow up with all sorts of eating disorders as we have all become obsessed with 'heathly eating'. In my opinion children should have a balanced diet but nothing should be classed as 'unhealthy' and i never ban any foods. My only rule is that if they dont eat main meal/sandwich etc then nothing else is offered.
I have to agree with you ziggy. Eating disorders are absolutely the worst thing! Everything in moderation.
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