I am officially heading to Wits End Territory!
Tonight I made my own chicken nuggets.
They weren't bad, they were actually quite good.
My husband even said so and that is a massive stamp of approval because he is
But...would my 6 year old boy eat them?
No.
Of course not.
This is nothing new.
He has been doing this since he was about 3.
He used to eat many more things when he was 1 and 2, but now?
Dinner has been nothing but frozen Chicken Chippies or frozen Fishies for years.
He eats that with raw carrot sticks and plain pasta.
And he eats well for breakfast and lunch.
He was even given an award at school for 'Always having a healthy lunch'.
He was pretty pleased about that...
...and so was I!!
But dinner has me tearing my hair out.
I admit I've been lazy and have just given in and cooked the same thing night after night after night....
But it is not good for him.
It is not a healthy option.
And I don't want to do it anymore.
I don't believe in making children sit at the table until they've finished everything on their plate.
If they're hungry, they'll eat.
If they've had enough they don't have to eat any more.
We hardly ever have takeaway, and my 6 year old boy won't eat anything except the chips anyway.
But the frozen chicken nuggets have been worrying me for ages.
I think the universe is trying to tell me something, and I'm hearing it!
It started with Jamie Oliver's Food Revolution, which I loved!
Then my sister-in-law recommended Michael Pollan's books.
I'm reading "In Defense of Food" right now, as you can see on my side bar.
Then I joined the "Fatty Boombah Club" and everything is coming together.
My husband and I have decided to do our best to eat nothing with ingredients on the label that we don't know. Like all those numbers and boxes or packages of things with a million ingedients listed.
We started to read some and said to each other, "What is that?"
We don't know, but we were eating it anyway?
Not anymore, we binned it.
We binned a lot of things a couple of nights ago.
Tonight I started anew.
I made chicken nuggets.
I even made the crumbs, because when I read the list of ingredients on the boxed versions at the supermarket...well, I couldn't even get to the end. Have you looked at them? Crazy!!
I don't like to cook, but I've resigned myself to the fact that I need to spend more time and effort in the kitchen.
My husband and I have resolved to eat food as close to their natural state as possible.
And that goes for the kids, too.
So, tonight didn't go so well.
I wasn't expecting it to, really.
But...
I am not giving up.
I've told my boy that I will be cooking real food every night, and it will be on his plate.
It will make me very happy if he tries it, and eventually we'll find things that he likes to eat.
He won't find immitation food from freezer boxes on his plate anymore.
I will persist with this, because this is important.
It is so important, for all of you.
ReplyDeleteFor you beautiful boy, I'd change slowly, not over load him with new. Perhaps a bit of negotiation, if you try this nugget you can have _____ insert thing he really wants to eat here? Just a thought :)
Change is big. For all of us. But it can be done. I promise.
Real food is so important, I'm a bit of a soap box stander on this!
good luck xxx
Yeah, it's frightening when you take a look at the ingredients on some kiddie staples. I'm trying to make food from scratch too, and healthy home-made snacks for school rather than bought stuff. Just making your own nuggets is a bit of a procedure, and my kids can tell the difference too. But I only insist that they at least taste something each time, and give them stuff they will eat (like peas and corn and steamed potatoes etc), as well as the new 'home-made food'.
ReplyDeleteSometimes it works, sometimes not, but at least we are trying.
You are doing a really worwhile thing Thea. xx
ReplyDeleteGo Thea. This is such a good thing you are doing for your family. Real food is the only food. We are pretty much doing the same thing. I have for years, but slide back into bad habits all the time, however I always go back to real. xx
ReplyDeleteGo Thea! I think homemade chicken nuggest are fantastic! I used to make them all the time and then... I stopped. But you have inspired me. Good luck with the new regimen.
ReplyDelete