What to feed kids?

[Anonymous No.4906988]

>>4906843

The above post got me thinking. As this anon says, most kids have underdeveloped taste buds and either don't appreciate or outright dislike some of the more complex food items that you and I may adore. They tend to go after simple stuff like hot dogs, mac & cheese, chicken nuggets, etc etc. Things without diverse flavor profiles.

Of course, you can't feed kids that shit all the time, as evidenced by the childhood obesity rate in America and many other developed countries. So, what do you feed them? What do you think ids would like that isn't totally shit for them? What have you fed kids to great success?

>inb4 jamie oliveoil

[Anonymous No.4906998]

secretly nutritious stuff, anything fruit related, in moderation. seriously it's parents faults if the kid is overweight. they'd rather shove garbage into their kid than interact with them because they are just that shitty.

[Anonymous No.4907002]

>celery
>peanut butter
>raisins
Ants on a mutherfuckin log. Back when I had to babysit my nieces and nephew, we often had a 'cooking class' thing going on where we'd all go into the kitchen and just make something healthy. They loved it. It was fun, they got to learn shit, and they ate something tasty.

Most often than anything, maybe if folks made the food look more appealing or have it be 'fun' for the kid then maybe the kid would eat it. Simple finger foods, sometimes the messier stuff, or even cute little things shaped like faces or animals always worked.

[Anonymous No.4907027]

>>4907002

Sounds like the right idea. I think you get the kids participating in the cooking part they're much more likely to want to eat what they've mad.

Maybe that was Jamie Oliveoil's big mistake with the chicken nugget thing, hah. He made it with them so they all wanted it.

[Anonymous No.4907033]

>>4906988

First off, a lot of younger kids really do like strong tasting food. A good friend of mine has a 1-year old right now and he loves all kinds of strong-tasting foods that I'm sure would make many adults gag. He will happily chew on a lemon slice. He eats wierd combinations of pureed fruits/veggies, like apples mixed with brussels sprouts, etc. Apparently when I was young I loved various strong fish foods like mackerel salad and cod roe, so I don't think its true to say that kids only eat bland foods.

I think the key is pretty simple: feed kids a variety of foods. My parents cooked nearly every meal from scratch when I was young. They made a wide variety of dishes. There were a handful of foods that I wouldn't eat--Asparagus comes to mind, as does this cauliflower-cheese thing my mom used to make. But that was about it, I ate nearly all veggies including spinach, lima beans, etc. I loved liver, and still do. Fish, shellfish, etc, etc, I ate all of it.

I think the problem with kids being picky is when they're only used to a very small number of foods and then come across something outside their comfort zone. If all you feed your kids is frozen chicken nuggets then big suprise they might not like it when someone offers them something very different.

So what to feed your kids? Well made home cooked food, with as much variety as possible.

>>4907002
I agree with this too. It's also a great way to get kids to learn cooking. If I'm babysitting my neice and I'm baking bread, I give her some of the dough so she can make her own bread, which then gets baked at the same time as I do the main loaves. It keeps her away from the TV, she has a ton of fun, and actually learns a useful skill at the same time.

[Anonymous No.4907036]

What you eat. Just act like it's normal and don't make a huge deal about everything and they'll enjoy our fine.

Fucking helicopter retards

[Anonymous No.4907060]

>>4907033
>I don't think its true to say that kids only eat bland foods.

But nobody said this.

[Anonymous No.4907260]

When they're hungry enough kids will eat what you give them. If you want them to eat something other than nuggets, hot dogs, and mac and cheese stop loading up your cart with nuggets, hot dogs, and mac and cheese every time you go shopping and stop giving in to them. Kids are generally pretty fat, they're not going to starve if you don't give them their fucking hot dogs.

[Anonymous No.4907282]

>>4906998
>fruit
>implying you should shovel what is candy with added fiber in it down a childs throat

I bet you have a ton of cavities as well.

[Anonymous No.4907293]

>>4907060

OP certainly seemed to say that, sorry if I misunderstood.

[Anonymous No.4907300]

>>4907282
http://www.health-alternatives.com/fruit-nutrition-chart.html

[Anonymous No.4907312]

>>4907293

OP here, I said that most kids like simple foods (not necessarily bland) and they tend to go after the more simple stuff.

[Anonymous No.4907324]

>>4907312

To me, the terms "simple" and "bland" seem very similar when discussing food.

[Anonymous No.4907329]

>>4907324
>>4907312
>>4907293
>>4907060

I think the issue here is your jump from "most kids tend to" to "all kids do." Semantics, but whatever. More importantly, I think we can all say fuck this guy:

>>4907036

>care about what your child eats
>FUCKING HELICOPTER PARENT GODDAMN SO STUPID

[Anonymous No.4907330]

i want to start a trend were i claim im so poor i have to eat nothing but fast food and fast food makes me a a tub of lard. i also propose that if anybody points out that it might be the 5 pounds of butter i eat at home i will just blame it on fast food tasting so good and me being a shitty cook that i have to use 5 pounds of butter just to make my home cooking edible because fast food is to addicting and makes me fat. i also want to threaten fast food places that are to much compitition for mcdonalds and stuff that they need to use less salt and that the taste is to spicy or what ever else i can think of to make the place im complaining about change up their recipe and make it unenjoyable.

[Anonymous No.4907331]

>>4906988
feed them food. they develop a taste for what they are programmed to like, so don't let them eat school lunches and make them food that doesn't suck.

my parents always sent me with a lunchbox, and often it contained really shitty food. in fact, most of the food I ate was pretty shitty, so of course I saw Burger King as sweet release. regardless, I grew up to have a refined palate and now I can make a variety of foods that don't suck.

[Anonymous No.4907347]

Less lazy fast food and more good old fashioned home style cooking.

[Anonymous No.4907357]

>>4907331
>often it contained really shitty food

What kind of food?

[Anonymous No.4907365]

My kids are getting nothing but gruel with beatings for dessert.

[Anonymous No.4907389]

>>4907357
at its worst, sandwiches of wheat bread, american cheese slices, mayo, and mustard with an apple and some kind of bland homemade cereal bar

I think my most common lunch growing up was turkey bologna sandwiches, which always left an empty pit in my stomach. Looking back, I wonder if my mother even stopped to think what kind of carcinogens that shit contains. I don't blame her for choosing cheap lunch fillers, but I would never send my child to school with some kind of processed meat more than once a week.

[Anonymous No.4907428]

>>4907282
don't start crying once you get scurvy

[Anonymous No.4907442]

>>4907331
This anon has it right. Kids learn by example give them whatever you are eating. if you don't eat it or show a distaste for something they will mirror it. Otherwise if they don't want to eat they are probably just not hungry.

Also a side note if you are taking on children that are already imprinted with someone else's shitty eating habits you simply just hold firm. Don't cave in to their demands. Its what you served them or nothing.

[Anonymous No.4907463]

>>4906988
Beans
rice
pasta
cheese
crackers
apples
bananas
chick peas
potatoes
salad
sliced raw veggies
pb&j
eggs
toast
olives
pickles
...
Mix & match

[Anonymous No.4907537]

>>4906988

>Of course, you can't feed kids that shit all the time,

You shouldn't be feeding it to them at all

[Anonymous No.4907540]

>>4907463

All those except for eggs are good healthy things to feed kids.

[Anonymous No.4907570]

>>4907033

Also, make your food actually flavorful. I swore god my parents underseason my food to the point I consider community college grub as more edible than anything my mom had made for me.

[Anonymous No.4907579]

>>4907033
Yep, this. But I also think there's a nugget of truth in what this guy >>4907036 said too. I think one of the biggest things you can do wrong is use food as a reward or a punishment. If your kid doesn't eat something, don't try to force it on them. Don't make them eat it the next day etc. etc. If they get hungry enough they'll eat it. I know that kids generally don't really like veggies as much as the meat or carb part of the meal, and they'll of course be influenced to some degree by the "vegetables are icky, kids!" idea from TV and society in general, but there's no need to aggravate it further by telling them that vegetables are bad and sweets are yummy by using the former as a punishment and the latter as a reward.

[Anonymous No.4907623]

Feed them whatever you eat. If they don't like it, they can leave it on the plate, but don't give them anything else to make up for it.

Talk with them about it, though, and adjust your dishes. I remember I used to HATE the steaks my mother made; she used to be a vegetarian, and she'd cook them past "well done" and into "boot leather". When I was about 9 or 10, I talked to her about it, and ended up cooking dinner under her supervision whenever she bought steak.

[Anonymous No.4908546]

>>4907540

[Anonymous No.4908589]

>>4907579

Yeah, I still can't eat peas to this day because my mother would give me a mountain of them whenever she'd make meatloaf. I'd eat the meatloaf first and be totally full, but I wasn't allowed to get up until I finished the half pound of unseasoned steamed frozen peas on my plate. I used to swallow them like pills to avoid tasting them.

Against all sound advice, I dated a single mom for a while, and she'd regularly lose arguments to her 4-year-old. All he ever wanted to eat was McDonald's because he wanted to play in the Play Place, so he entered kindergarten obese, about 20 pounds heavier than the average kid. He wasn't as extreme as OP's pic but he was headed that direction.

[Anonymous No.4909050]

>>4908589
that's fucked up. McDonald's has salads and fruit sticks now as a "healthy" option, why didn't she just feed him that stuff? it's the easiest way to set a kid straight, take him to McD's and say "you're going to eat this chicken salad and these apple sticks, or we're going home and you're not going to play in the play place" and show you fucking mean it at least one time by driving him home when he doesn't acquiesce. of course
>single mom
but yea.

[Anonymous No.4909076]

Pasta is a good way to introduce children to vegetables, you can just add chopped veges into the sauce and gradually increase their size until they are aware of what they are eating.

Also, don't feed your children lollies and junk food before they start school. Between the ages of 0-4, the parents are pretty much the child's only source of information and habits can be formed fairly early.

[Anonymous No.4910065]

>>4906988

You infuriate me.

[Anonymous No.4910323]

Feed them good food. Whatever you're eating. Kids need to build food trust, and that comes from eating what mommy and daddy are putting in their mouths, and from making sure that that food isn't shit. Jesus, it's not fucking rocket science. I cook 9 out of 10 meals my kid eats. He's been eating anchovies, brie, chicken livers, venison burgers, parsnips, turnips, salt cod and capers since he was less than a year old. It didn't take some supreme effort on my part, and it's not because he's a particularly good eater as a toddler - he just hasn't been fed a diet of boxed mac and cheese and apple sauce his entire life like some sort of fucking bubble boy.

When you see picky children, look at the parents. Chances are very good that they've got massive food hangups themselves and have projected them onto their kids.