breakfast - branflakes / weetabix with frozen milk
snack - old birthday cake
lunch - pasta salad for boys - I was frantically boiling pasta at 8 am as we ran out of bread - crisps, cheapo orange drink, choc biccy, egg sandwich for me after I’d made the bread, mini cheddar and an apple for dd
dinner - pizza, frozen chips
pudding - quality street for kids, large wine for me

Edited to say - make that burnt pizza…

Breakfast - weetabix with milk, a cup of warm milk for the girls

Snack - an apple

Lunch - cheese on toast for the girls, yoghurt, grapes and blueberries a small sweet from their tub to get rid of the backlog from Christmas. Me ham sandwich, yoghurt, cereal bar, grapes and blueberries.

Snack - none today as we were out at gymnastics and have only just got back and it’s too close to tea.

Tea - not sure yet as it’s our treat night but I forgot to buy anything in.  I’m pushing for a takeaway for DH and I.

Supper - cup of warm milk for the girls then once they are finally in bed I begin to scavenge.

We had cereal with milk for breakfast.  Jenna and Rowan had porridge (Jenna with raisins, Rowan with sugar), Morgan had honey oaty pillows.  Some time in the morning Jenna had an apple and Rowan and Morgan ate bananas.  While I was making up our picnic lunch Jenna and Rowan each ate a slice of buttered white bread, and all three children had two slices of the ham I was trying to put on sandwiches.    I gave them a packet of crisps each in the car on the way to swimming, too.

After swimming they are always STARVING so we planned a picnic for in the car.  The two older girls ate two rounds of sandwiches, Rowan had one round (two slices of bread) - again, store-bought white sliced bread.  They ate a whole bag of grapes between them, and a packet of dark chocolate rice crackers.

This afternoon they each had a chunk of cheese and a mushroom, while I cooked tea, as we had eaten lunch late and are having tea relatively early.  Tea is chille con carne with beef, two kinds of beans, two grated carrots, a handful of lentils, grated courgette, finely shredded spinach, tomato, onion, and herbs and spices (not too spicy!) served with rice, and mushrooms for those who eat them (ie not husband or Jenna who only ever eats them raw - Morgan will likely pick hers out but doesn’t complain as loudly as Jenna).  There is no pudding, there isn’t usually, but there is more fruit if they want it.  If they ask for supper there are two pittas left from yesterday’s lunch and that’s it.  There isn’t a lot in the house right now.

I tend to think things balance over the week, and I don’t worry about what they do and don’t eat (or cater much to it apart from serving foods unmixed where possible etc).  Morgan at the moment eats very little, and not a lot of veg, but some fruit.  Rowan went through the white-food-only phase a long while ago now and is probably my least fussy eater right now.  Jenna is very particular, and very whiney about being fed things she doesn’t like.

Tomorrow I have planned…
Cereal again for breakfast, with or without raisins etc.
Mac and cheese for lunch.  With salad for me, cucumber and carrot sticks for the girls (Rowan only eats the carrot, Morgan only the cucumber, none of the three eat anything leafy unless hidden).
Olives, chunks of cheese, oat crackers, and sliced apple for snack.
Veg stew for tea (leeks, spinach, broccoli, peas, squash, potato - each child will pick out at least one of those, Morgan will only eat the potato and then gorge on fruit afterwards).
Biscuits for supper.  I’ve been hiding a packet of Oreos from them, to bring out at the end of the week when we are very low on food!

Friday we go shopping and they’ll eat everything I can’t hide out of the shopping bags. 

We are eating way more processed food than we used to.  I can’t decide if it bothers me or not!  They’re happy, and healthy, and they certainly eat very well, so I can’t overly fuss about a spoon of sugar on cereal or a packet of crisps nearly every day.  I’m not always so relaxed.  (And we don’t often have the money for me to be, either.)

I like to plan but sometimes wonder why I bother as we never stick to it. Saying that, I am officially a SAHM as of the first of this month (hooray!) and so we have to stick to budgets *properly* now, so have spent an hour today writing up a proper menu plan. It was my dad’s birthday yesterday and the only time we could get to see him was at 6pm, so we dragged DS out then, when he is usually getting ready for bed, as such he went to bed late and has been really tired today, when he’s tired he doesn’t eat, just wants lots of milk.

So today looked like this:
brek - homemade toast and marmite
snack - apple
lunch - leftover pasta for me, DS had some crackers, cheese, tomatoes, cucumber and another apple.
dinner - veggie chilli, but DS fell asleep, so he wont want it when he wakes up, will probably just have more milk.

we’ve eaten very little today! I don’t worry about getting a balanced day as I know some days, like today, we wont eat much, but then will ‘catch up’ tomorrow or the next day. I know that we don’t give DS cr*p food so it doesn’t matter if one day he decides to eat more apple than anything else, its what he feels like eating and its good for him.

x x x

Hmm, porridge for breakfast with sugar and milk (DD has jam on hers)
Snacks of banana and bourbon biscuits with hot lemon and honey as everyone has colds, I had a hot cross bun as well
Lunch baked beans on toast and oranges with squash to drink
no afternoon snack as lunch was so late
few biscuits for me while I cooked tea
Spag bolognaise with beef mince and apple sponge for pud
kids don’t have supper as they go to bed pretty early (although not early enough for me today!) but DH and I will raid the cupboards when they have gone to bed

I never menu plan, I just use up what is about to crawl out of the fridge. Today then:

Breakfast: wraps with raw chocolate spread, banana, strawberries and cream
Snack: ryvita spread with mashed avocado
Lunch: split pea soup and sprouted wheat bread
(DD had ham sandwiches, a packet of cheddars and 2 biscuits because she wanted to be ‘cool’ like her friends <sigh>)
snack: porrage with vanilla and honey with a fresh juice - raspberry, red grape, blackberry and cherry
dinner (cooking on the woodburner right now!) left over cooked veg - potatoes, carrots, broccoli, sprouts, peas - in the frying pan which will be served with butter and salmon
DH is having chicken curry and mashed potato
pudding: chocolate crunch and anything else we can find in the biscuit tin and probably a packet of crisps too knowing DD

Today was an awful food day but thought I’d reply in the hope it might make someone else feel better about theirs! We have a food shop arriving tomorrow which is why today looks slightly desperate.

Breakfast - coco pops for all. It was the only cereal OH could get on the way home from work last night, we enjoyed them but they do nothing for me! Followed by a scone, which OH was seen rustling up at 9.30 last night because he felt bad that we were home all day today with not much to eat.

Early lunch - toast and another scone for the kids. Nothing for me. We have not a single piece of fruit in the house, not even a shrivelled up raisin.

Early dinner - beef stew, new potatoes, broccoli and sweetcorn. It tortured me for about 3 hours today while it slowly cooked but boy did we enjoy it once it was ready! Followed by yet another scone. We managed to leave OH one solitary scone to have after work tonight.

Supper - kids, nothing, they’re asleep. Me - a precious hoarded creme egg with a cup of tea.

Roll on tomorrow when we can eat fruit and good things. Haha!

Breakfast: oats, milk, dried apricots and raisins for Grace, shop bought cereal for the adults.
Lunch: Shop bought pizza, baguette, tuna and sweetcorn mayo. Carrot and cucumber sticks for Grace, cookies for the adults!
Dinner: Rice, peas and chicken in a creamy sauce. Organix vanilla hearts for Grace, cookies for the adults. I will be having sweeties later!
Grace has also had an apple and a banana today. It’s been a pretty bad day for us fruit and veg wise, although I think Grace has hit her 5 a day!

Angie

We have had:

Breakfast: Homemade muesli with milk and glass of juice
Snack: oatcakes
Lunch: Homemade cheese scones with butter, or hummus (homemade) and home grown bean sprouts, apple each
Snack: Homemade lemon cake
Tea: Homemade pizza Including the dough and salad (yep homemade)

I plan a week’s evening meals each week and shop on a Monday to my plan, I started this when my youngest was born ( and have carried on as it saves so much time each day) as found the dilemma of what we were going to have for tea was taking up too much of the day when I wanted to start preparing!  I tend to have a mix,of meals that can be cooked quickly and those that take a bit longer.  Lunches tend to be a mix of picnics (if we are out and about) or leftovers from the fridge if we at home.  I don’t worry about the five a day, I think it is more important to make sure that you get a balanced diet over a week rather than a day.

I have to say that I am equally inspired by some of your meal plans and relieved that lots of you too have days when you haven’t the energy or enthusiasm or ingredients to spend all day in the kitchen preparing a perfectly balanced nutritious feast.  That has been me a lot lately, but today’s not actually been too bad:

Breakfast: DS had 2 bowls of cereal, oj and melon, I had yogurt and granola
Lunch: DS had sandwich, few crisps, yogurt, kiwi and fruit leather thing, I didn’t have time and had a gingerbread latte as I was running errands in town and freezing cold - it was essential to keep my hands warm
Dinner: Toad in the hole with herby carrots, green beans and onion gravy mmmmm.  DH was happy to come home to ‘proper’ food for once!
We don’t often bother with desserts.  DS will have a yogurt or some fruit or even some sweets sometimes, but DH and I tend to have a cup of tea and biccies or chocolate if it is in the house once DS has gone to bed - a habit we should really try and kick, I know.

I do try and get plenty of fruit and veg into DS each day, but often don’t think about whether I am eating enough.  I would also tend to think of balancing food out over the whole week rather than each day too, as some days are just tricky and despite writing out a list at the start of each week, things crop up during the course of the week, DH might need to go away or be back late and DS might have a playdate or I might have just had a busy day dashing around and it all goes by the wayside. I do envy those of you who manage to stick to your plans.  I’m far to flighty and disorganised and it’s a miracle we all manage to get fed most of the time tbh