how many times do your children eat fresh fruit and veg (not frozen) and what types?

Question

1. what does your child eat ?
2.are dinners/lunches out of a packet or freshly prepared?
3.do you think it makes them better behaved?
4. im not being nosey just interested in childrens eating habits/parents eating habits and behaviour around certain food? thanks

thank you all for you and your childrens eating habits both of my daughters mate are such boring eaters but it is not always the childs fault thank you all so much for your time

Answer 1

My lot are round with me quite often and I make a point of cooking fresh grub for em. Unfortunately my ex likes to chuck easy food at em so they can be a bit resistant sometimes. However, things like mashing swede and carrot together go down well, plenty of rice, peas, brocolli go down well. I'm a dab hand at fruit based puddings so no probs there. Eating fruit is not an issue coz if they don't eat it they go hungry at snack time. I admit a plate of crap on a day out for a treat happens, there's a difference between encouraging the youngsters and being patronising and horrible. Chicken supreme is their fav at the moment, they had it today when they were round and I'd made fresh fruit and jelly.

Answer 2

I have a rather faddy 6½ year old. When he was being weaned I used to give him all sorts of fruit and vegetables and he ate them all apart from parsnips. Now the only vegetables he will eat is carrots and olives! Re fruit he eats apples, bananas, tangerines, grapes, melon and pears. He also eats Hummus. The only 'salad' thing he'll eat is cress. He also drinks fruit juices and tomato juice (but he won't eat tomatoes!)

He has school dinners 4 days a week and I make a packed lunch for the other day. I always put a carton of fresh apple or orange juice in with 2 fruits (different to the juice) plus carrots with hummus to dip into. He also gets a peanut butter sandwich, or a cream cheese and ham wrap, or a tuna pitta bread.

I cook dinners from fresh most days, though I do occasionally (approx once a fortnight) make him fish fingers with oven chips and he gets to go to the dreaded McDonalds about once every 2-3 weeks too. We mainly have fish, which thankfully he loves, or chicken as he's not very keen on meat at the moment and won't touch mince at all, though he used to love it. I do cook other veg and always put a small amount on his plate and make him try it - which he does very reluctantly - but he won't actually eat it.

He's always been well behaved and I've not noticed a difference since his eating habits have gone downhill, though I do have problems not yelling at him sometimes, especially when, as is often the case, he refuses something I know full well he used to like!

Answer 3

Hi, my kids are the worst eaters and because as a child i was forced to eat my food i am the opposite with them. Even though i wont force them i still make sure they get the proper nutrients they need. I cook everyday and they can only have take out once a fortnight ... I blend all there vegies to make pasta sauce and i try to make it interesting by making pictures with the food. I have also found that if the child helps prepare the food 90 percent of the time they eat it.

Answer 4

Yes, my children eat fresh fruits and veggies everyday. Our favorites and most used are bananas, plums, peahes, cantaloupe ( the #1 prefered fruit - gone in minutes), carrot sticks, green pepper slices (cooked also), zuccini and squash sliced and cooked in olive oil, and tomatoes and greener lettuces. We also use frozen bags of broccoli alot (it is just so much easier) and frozen blueberries (they get thrown in everything along with raisins and sunflower seeds). Canned fruits and veggies are big also like green beans, carrots, asparagus and chopped spinach (with italian or ranch drizzled on them), margerine oranges (again gone in minutes), peaches, fruit cocktail....The canned fruits usually
are served with cottage cheese.

Our dinners are usually freshly prepared and we all eat at the table together. Of course, sometimes we do canned soup or frozen pizza but we never buy TV dinners. I tried them but they are just horrible and loaded with sodium.

I have a 3 year old (and an 8 month old) and it is a battle at times in teaching him how to sit at the table and have manners. He is at the age where playing is top priority, no time to eat. he will go 2-3 days with eating little and fighting us then all of a sudden he will eat food like it is going out of style. We are trying to set the foundation for later in life and it gives us time as a family to get caught up on the day and also laugh. He gets snacks like chocolate if he eats well at the table. Regular snacks throughout the day are goldfish, graham crackers, pretzel and cheeses...Easy finger foods. He does not drink soda, rather chocolate milk (ovaltine) and watered down apple juice, cranberry, or green tea. I think it does help him behave and it makes him stronger and healthier for later in life.

I have to say it is hard to by food these days. We TRY to buy foods WITHOUT high fructose corn syrup, partially hydrogenated oils, and TRANS FATS. It is really all processed garbage that companies should be prosecuted for. No reason for this garbage only to save money on their part. Even 100 year arrowroot baby cookies by Nabisco are loaded with the junk. I was apalled. The stuff did not exist prior to the 1970's so they had to change their recipe to use the cheap stuff. I ate the cookies and thought these are just too appealing. I loved them, then I noticed the ingredients. Just ashame!

Answer 5

Well, Jamie Oliver, my daughter takes a packed lunch to school. Not the most healthy, but typical being cheese sandwiches or pasta bowl, small yoghurt, apple, raisins, wafer chocolate bar and carton of orange juice or squash. For break she has a packet of crisps. I vary things up for her throughout the week, packing different snacks and fruit. Sometimes raw chopped carrots. My sister reckons its not enough for her, but she gets a good hot meal for tea when she gets home.

Not always I prepare everything from scratch, but I do my own home cooking as in curries, bologneses, pastas, roast dinners and baking etc. She loves my steamed puddings and custard. And in winter I was giving her a flask insulated of soup or hot noodles to take to school too.

With veg as well I'd say most days on average she gets to eat 3 to 5 portions or more sometimes. As for being better behaved, she doesn't get too many sweets. I always say red pop, coca cola and those E loaded sweets are like crack cocaine to kids. You just see the eyes widen, the hyperactivity increase, then the moodiness a while later. She honestly prefers to drink plain water too at home, milk or fruit juice.

We try to eat good, but there are treats I give her. As for everything in life, a little bit of what you fancy do'es you good. Naughty treats in moderation.

Oh, and I hate McDonalds. Daughter likes the Happy Meal. But she too would prefer KFC or a chinese on the very odd occassion we eat fast food.

And Mama's secret recipe, I blend up a wide variety of vegetables to add to home cooked dishes, without her ever knowing. For instance once I put onions, garlic, mushrooms, peppers, courgettes, cabbage, tomatoes, carrots, sultanas AND a green banana into a chicken curry. Thats 10 varieties and everyone ate saying it was delicious. Oh, and using an unripe banana is not so weird as it sounds. In tropical climates natives use them like we use potatoes, so there. ; )

Answer 6

My sons eat apples/oranges/bananas everyday. Dinners are freshly prepared although they can have fast foods once in a while when I don't have time to cook. Lunches, they get it at school (prepared in accordance to the school nutritionist). The only veggies they eat are carrots (raw), cucumber and tomatoes.

Answer 7

I get a lots of fruit an vegetables in they do eat loads of them bananas tangerines grapes when i can afford them strawberries, veg they love sweetcorn peas cabbage turnip carrots , also we eat a lot of celery i could go on all day ,,, but we do have a bit of junk food in but it is a treat every two weeks we all sit down an order a takeaway ..

Answer 8

1. my children eat everything, variety and diversity is important - they claim not to like certain things (e,g, tomatoes, brocoli) but frankly we are not too bothered and some of these preferences change after a while anyway
2.always freshly prepared but my wife is a great cook - the downside is that it is hard to get the children interested in cooking because she is too good
3.not sure but it keeps them healthy and interested in good food
4. not at all, a very good question, lots of responses, mostly thoughtful and informative, so thanks for asking!

Answer 9

My grandchildren are very lucky as their Mum gives them fresh vegetables every day and to drink flavoured water she don't allow hardly any sweets as they have too many E numbers in them, once when I was going to buy my grandaughter sweets she said NO Mummy says they make me hyper(it was funny) everyone in the shop laughed. She also gives them a packed lunch for school every day, so they eat very healthy.

Answer 10

My 12 year old daughter is vegetarian. She enjoys a wide variety of fruits and vegetables, and everything is homemade from scratch, using organic ingredients. A typical day for her would be toast with real fruit jam for breakfast, along with some fresh fruit, usually a pear or apple. For lunch, she will have curry cous couse, mac and cheese, veggie soup, veggie lasagne, arapas with beans and cheese, or somthing along those lines, with grapes and kiwi, raw baby carrots dipped in hummus, a fresh juice (usually a combination of carrot, apple, celery, parsley) For dinner, she might have breaded okra and mushrooms, dipped in spicy cocktail sauce, asian noodles, or some type of pasta, steamed brocolli or cauliflower, and some type of desert, like a chocolate cake, or cookies. For an evening snack, she likes popcorn and a apple dipped in almond butter. My daughter is a gem! I never have to raise my voice to her or discipline her in any way. She is an honor roll student and a brown belt in karate. She is clearly healthy and thriving on a vegetarian diet (her choice, not mine) I think fresh fruits and veggies are essential to young children. My daughter often has sleepovers, and her non veg friends love the foods we eat, and never realize they are not eating meat