Again with the too many kids, not an adequate amount of food

[Black Aliss]

My 13 year old daughter was traveling (to DisneyWorld, the lucky girl) with her grandparents last week. First time I was "home alone" in...you guessed it...13 years. Here was my meal plan:

Sunday: 5 Guys burger and fries

Monday: Count Chocula cereal and skim milk

Tuesday: Helluva Good French Onion dip and Ruffles

Wednesday: Beef flavored Ramen noodles

Thursday: Count Chocula cereal and skim mik

Friday: vodka and cranberry (with lime, thank you very much!)

Saturday: Rice Krispies and skim milk.

It took me a while to figure out what was unbalanced about your meal plan, but I've got it. You left out popcorn. I guess the Ruffles and onion dip is an okay substitute, but popcorn contains essential nutrients especially when combined with vodka and cranberry and lime (wow, two servings of fruit right there!)

[docmom]

My 13 year old daughter was traveling (to DisneyWorld, the lucky girl) with her grandparents last week. First time I was "home alone" in...you guessed it...13 years. Here was my meal plan:

Sunday: 5 Guys burger and fries

Monday: Count Chocula cereal and skim milk

Tuesday: Helluva Good French Onion dip and Ruffles

Wednesday: Beef flavored Ramen noodles

Thursday: Count Chocula cereal and skim mik

Friday: vodka and cranberry (with lime, thank you very much!)

Saturday: Rice Krispies and skim milk

Sunday--cooking for more than one! Woot Woot! Crockpot lime chicken (with black beans and corn), mexi-rice (brown rice with salsa and cumin) and salad.

The lime on Friday night already puts you ahead in the fruit and veggie stakes! On Monday I'd take the large 5 guys fries and hold the burger (since we're eating healthy)

[TrueRebel1]

This thread reminds me of a blog I read, "Little House in the Hills". This month she's posting on "31 Days of Spending (Even) Less". Each day, she blogs about what they ate and how little they spent on it. Now, I appreciate the idea of keeping track of your budget and reducing where possible. But some of her meals.... :roll: For example, today she served homemade cinnamon rolls and canned peaches for lunch. Yummy, I'm sure, but so full of sugar; not exactly a great lunch for growing kids and a mom who hopes to be pregnant asap. :shock:

littlehouseinthehills.blogspot.com

[Ameliorata]

Like Diana, I don't have much issue with the dinners, but the lunches are just weird to me. I suppose it's a cultural thing? Here, lunch is a cooked, substantial meal and is accompanied (in schools and restaurants at least) with a salad bar, bread and sometimes dessert. Dinner is often a cooked meal as well, but on weekdays usually quite relaxed. I remember having cheese sandwiches and hot chocolate or pancakes or scrambled/fried eggs on toast for dinner quite often as a kid, but that was after eating a balanced lunch at school.

I just can't imagine having to live off of peanut butter and jelly sandwiches all day until dinner. I'd get stupid hungry. Though I guess if one ate a cooked breakfast it would work?

[Mudball]

My 13 year old daughter was traveling (to DisneyWorld, the lucky girl) with her grandparents last week. First time I was "home alone" in...you guessed it...13 years. Here was my meal plan:

Sunday: 5 Guys burger and fries

Monday: Count Chocula cereal and skim milk

Tuesday: Helluva Good French Onion dip and Ruffles

Wednesday: Beef flavored Ramen noodles

Thursday: Count Chocula cereal and skim mik

Friday: vodka and cranberry (with lime, thank you very much!)

Saturday: Rice Krispies and skim milk

Sunday--cooking for more than one! Woot Woot! Crockpot lime chicken (with black beans and corn), mexi-rice (brown rice with salsa and cumin) and salad.

That is very ambitious! I would just stick with 7 days of wine and popcorn. Lol.

[dilannsmom]

That is very ambitious! I would just stick with 7 days of wine and popcorn. Lol.

Pop corn is too much like cooking--multistep (requires oil) and heating multiple things (like said oil and melting the butter of course). Pop corn purist here--raised on the stove popped stuff--no microwave cardboard bits for me!

[lawlifelgbt]

This plan sounds a lot like what I eat, being a graduate student. You buy cheap and stretch. And even so, I go to events at least once a week so I get a substantial catered lunch, and I snack and eat cheap proteins. Sad to think that a growing kid eats worse than student me!

[BravaAmica]

I'm just going to go out on a limb and say you've probably never dealt with a kid who has both sensory issues AND food issues, because you'd probably all be snarking and clutching your pearls over his meals as a toddler/preschooler until, through a lot of therapy, he was finally able to eat "Protein and veggies at least" :lol:

Also some kids have a lot of food allergies and sensitivities. My son's friend is allergic to corn, soy dairy and he has the following food sensitivity. Fructose Malabsorption. It doesn't leave much for him to eat.

[RosyDaisy]

Why, oh why can't these fudies plant a veggie garden? It's not that expensive, and a good family project.

[itsthatonegirl]

My 13 year old daughter was traveling (to DisneyWorld, the lucky girl) with her grandparents last week. First time I was "home alone" in...you guessed it...13 years. Here was my meal plan:

Sunday: 5 Guys burger and fries

Monday: Count Chocula cereal and skim milk

Tuesday: Helluva Good French Onion dip and Ruffles

Wednesday: Beef flavored Ramen noodles

Thursday: Count Chocula cereal and skim mik

Friday: vodka and cranberry (with lime, thank you very much!)

Saturday: Rice Krispies and skim milk

Sunday--cooking for more than one! Woot Woot! Crockpot lime chicken (with black beans and corn), mexi-rice (brown rice with salsa and cumin) and salad.

That's awesome. Totally reminds me of whenever my dairy allergy kid is gone for the night. The rest of us eat cheese, cheese, and more cheese.

[FreeJosie]

My 13 year old daughter was traveling (to DisneyWorld, the lucky girl) with her grandparents last week. First time I was "home alone" in...you guessed it...13 years. Here was my meal plan:

Sunday: 5 Guys burger and fries

Monday: Count Chocula cereal and skim milk

Tuesday: Helluva Good French Onion dip and Ruffles

Wednesday: Beef flavored Ramen noodles

Thursday: Count Chocula cereal and skim mik

Friday: vodka and cranberry (with lime, thank you very much!)

Saturday: Rice Krispies and skim milk

Sunday--cooking for more than one! Woot Woot! Crockpot lime chicken (with black beans and corn), mexi-rice (brown rice with salsa and cumin) and salad.

Yum....I seriously want this now!

[TMS]

Well, I am assuming (and hoping!!) the menu just lists the main course, and there are various sides and salads that she serves with it. And the names of main dishes don't really tell much anyways - I mean, to me "lettuce wraps" would mean a low-carb meal of seasoned ground turkey with tomato sauce and cheese wrapped up in a big piece of lettuce (instead of a tortilla). I would hope a tossed salad and maybe some steamed broccoli or green beans are served along side the "dirty rice and bacon." I have no idea what a milkshake night is - but let's hope there's something more substantial than milkshakes served!

[Closed Womb]

Pardon me if this has already been said. I don't have time or inclination to read the four pages.

Milkshakes may be fortified with meal replacement powder. Also, most fundies have church on Wednesdays. I imagine that is why she had milkshakes on Wednesdays; fast, can "eat" in the car, etc. My neighbor had weight loss surgery and her "milkshakes" (her words) are no where approaching a sugary treat.

It sounded irresponsible at first, but my mom used to let me have instant breakfast when I was a growing teenager. No ill effects thus far.

[ohnomoe]

Does the lack of food have anything to do with the hate that (some) fundies seem to have of fat people?

[amers]

Milk shake night: Wednesday nights. That's a church night. I'm gonna assume its milk shake night cause they eat at church???

[AnnieC 305]

I thought I heard of Dirty Rice somewhere, and I did. I found a recipe for it in one of my America's Test Kitchen cookbooks. For four people it calls for:

1/2 lb ground pork

1 onion

1 celery rib

1 red bell pepper

4 oz of chicken livers

1 1/2 cups rice

Add in some bacon and double or triple amounts as needed and that might be a main dish. But you'd need more veggies to go with it and maybe more meat to really satisfy, they have it listed as a side dish.

[bionicmlle]

This thread has made me so thankful for my mother - she never "taught" me how to put together a meal plan, but every night we all sat down at the table with a main dish, a vegetable and a salad. Not anything fancy - our salads were iceberg lettuce, green onions and tomatoes, veg was often just frozen peas - but those staples at every dinner. Now, I can't imagine eating dinner another way (except on Saturday nights when we eat fruit and popcorn for dinner).

[August]

My 13 year old daughter was traveling (to DisneyWorld, the lucky girl) with her grandparents last week. First time I was "home alone" in...you guessed it...13 years. Here was my meal plan:

Sunday: 5 Guys burger and fries

Monday: Count Chocula cereal and skim milk

Tuesday: Helluva Good French Onion dip and Ruffles

Wednesday: Beef flavored Ramen noodles

Thursday: Count Chocula cereal and skim mik

Friday: vodka and cranberry (with lime, thank you very much!)

Saturday: Rice Krispies and skim milk

Sunday--cooking for more than one! Woot Woot! Crockpot lime chicken (with black beans and corn), mexi-rice (brown rice with salsa and cumin) and salad.

No wine? And Count Chockula is a poor substitute for real block chocolate. No doughnuts? Or maybe you just left the sides off the plan?

[lexiloumarie]

Her "milkshake" recipe.

Ingredients:

2 whole Chiquita Bananas (best with brown flecks on peel)

2 cups Ice

1/3 cup Yogurt - preferably Greek yogurt flavored with honey

1/2 cup Cooked oatmeal

1/3 cup Almonds

Instructions For:

Quick Chiquita Banana Oatmeal Smoothie Recipe

Pour all ingredients in blender pouring ice in last. Blend on high for 30 seconds or until smoothie thickens.

[Coconut Flan]

On one her menu planning posts, she says that is the main dish listed and sides are also added. She mentions vegies and salads.

[outrunningzombies]

Her "milkshake" recipe.

Ewww, oatmeal? I love smoothies (they work well for breakfast for me) but that's pretty odd.

Also, where's the protein? A few almonds and a dab of yogurt isn't enough for growing kids. No protein powder? I guess oatmeal has some protein too, but growing kids need lots of protein.

How many servings does this make? I can see a fundy splitting this between several kids. Maybe the oatmeal is to stretch it further?

I look at this meal plan and it looks like someone who doesn't have many recipes to use. Several of them are fairly derivative of each other, like the fettuccine alfredo and spaghetti carbonara. I'd bet the only difference between those two meals is bacon in the carbonara.

[louisa05]

On one her menu planning posts, she says that is the main dish listed and sides are also added. She mentions vegies and salads.

I was going to say that you all would pick apart my weekly meal plan list, too, because I don't list sides. Those are assumed and dependent on what I feel like having. Veggies and salad stuff are always in the house and a standard part of the grocery list. Main dish items are what I have to specifically shop for so those are the planned part.

As for "milkshake night" and protein and being underfed, many fundy churches have some sort of light meal after Weds night church. Kids probably need something to keep them full until then as it is likely a later meal than their normal routine.

[August]

Lots of smoothie recipes have oatmeal. You should try it! Greek yoghurt's pretty high in protein. That recipe has 23g of protein, and a 4-8 year old needs about 19 a day.

[IReallyAmHopewell]

Milk shakes can be made with protein powder or (even though you shouldn't) raw eggs for protein or with tofu. I'm guessing this is not the case here........ Kids eat worse than this every day all over the world. At least they get food 3 times a day. Kind of a first world problem if you ask me. Many, many parents think a bowl of tomato soup from a can is a "meal." I'd be more worried about discipline methods than about the food in this case.

Too many kids! Read the book Fourteen if you want to hear about too little food for two many kids. An eye opener for any Quiverfull wanna bes.

[August]

I just made her smoothie recipe, subbing the two cups of ice with a cup of coconut water and using frozen bananas. It's fine. There's an earthy kind of taste from the oatmeal and the occasional unblended bit (maybe I'd better go buy a thermomix?), but it's not dusgusting.