Do you restrict your kids food intake for financial reasons?

amother

↑ Carnation ↓

Thu, Apr 04 2024, 9:40 pm

amother Calendula wrote:

Same. You make enough food that there will be enough and maybe some leftovers. You aren’t rationing out food and having all these restrictions. My kids love eating healthy food and they are all thin as well. This happens naturally because there aren’t restrictions.

My kids also love eating healthy food. They all eat vegetables and fruit happily and by choice and are healthy weights. Despite the restrictions that real life places.

amother

↑ Calendula ↓

Thu, Apr 04 2024, 9:41 pm

amother Tiffanyblue wrote:

Community resources can only go so far….

She’s not serving them beans and rice every single night. Then there would be an issue.

That’s not her chesbon. Her priority is her kids and she can reach out to her Rav for assistance. Community resources are literally there for situations like this.

amother

↑ Carnation

Thu, Apr 04 2024, 9:57 pm

amother Calendula wrote:

That’s not her chesbon. Her priority is her kids and she can reach out to her Rav for assistance. Community resources are literally there for situations like this.

If we were starving or malnourished I absolutely would reach out for help. We are not.

We are making more frugal choices than you would, and I hear that this is very triggering to you.

But there is no mitzvah to eat chicken and meat and fresh fish during the week. There are many other sources of protein out there.

There is no mitzvah to eat specifically cucumbers or mango. Apples and oranges and carrots are also nutritious.

My kids are not deprived. My kids are not suffering.

(I might be, but I'm not going to ask for tzedakah just because I'm pickier than most toddlers.)

amother

↑ Strawberry ↓

Thu, Apr 04 2024, 10:00 pm

amother Gladiolus wrote:

I don't understand this post. I don't ration food, I make enough, hopefully, so that everyone can eat to be full. Different people have different food needs.... I don't count how many pieces of anything anyone is eating. I hope for leftovers for lunch the next day... if my kids aren't eating supper, they're going to go around scrounging for junk food, which I don't want. I'd rather they fill up with healthy food.

My kids are all thin.... not sure what you mean.

I mean that a home can only contain so much food. So yeah, I prepare the amount that will normally be enough for my family for dinner plus a small amount of leftovers. But if I serve some kids and they happen to be especially in the mood of chicken that night, at a certain point they can't keep taking chicken or there won't be enough for those who didn't eat yet. So that's the point when I say, we need to save chicken for the others but you can take more of the side dishes or find something else in the fridge.

If I buy a bag of six peaches at the supermarket (among an assortment of other fruit), it's not ok for one person to eat three of them in one day. Peaches are delicious and healthy but I'm not buying fifty dollars worth at a time so that everyone can have an unlimited amount. No one needs that for their emotional health, I promise.

amother

Pearl

Thu, Apr 04 2024, 10:06 pm

I've never bought string cheese. Have I deprived my kids ( aged 14-24)? I don't buy expensive snacks because I don't find it justifiable. I do buy nuts and chocolate for shabbos yom tov. I do tell people to make sure there is enough for everyone when they take. I hope I'm making enough food. I believe I do.

WhatFor

Thu, Apr 04 2024, 10:12 pm

mha3484 wrote:

Ill make something like chicken lo mein, stir fries, fried rice. Or shredded chicken in a taco or on a bun. Anything that gives you a lot of bang for your buck. I made air fried chicken sandwiches a few weeks ago that were a winner. On a bun with different toppings and a side dish and each person was full with a boneless thigh per person.

Sounds so good! Can you please post your air fried chicken sandwich recipe?

amother

RosePink

Thu, Apr 04 2024, 10:13 pm

amother Pearl wrote:

Now that we get tomchei shabbos we suddenly have string cheese in the house for the few days after we have the delivery. Suddenly its on the kids radar and theyre upset when it runs out. Its so easy to spoil kids.

amother

Sunflower

Thu, Apr 04 2024, 10:13 pm

I restrict what I buy altogether for financial reasons. (I’ve never bought steak in 15 years. We usually don’t have chicken or meat during the week unless it’s Shabbos leftovers, or ground turkey or hot dogs sometimes. No broccoli or cauliflower…)

I teach my kids about healthy portion size for health and social reasons. They’re almost always enough for everyone, yet sometimes I’ll be the one to go without just to make sure. My husband hates when I do that, but that’s life- when I’m only buying X amount because of cost, I want to know that the rest of the family is having as much as they need.

Yes, if a food is particularly expensive it’s one per person, or less of it mixed in to a bigger dish (like a stir fry or in a taco shell.)

It would be so nice to have more breathing room in my grocery purchasing. I don’t know if my family realizes how much I finagle to stretch our money, I don’t think they feel lacking.

amother

Holly

Thu, Apr 04 2024, 10:23 pm

amother Candycane wrote:

How expensive are cucumbers that they need to be restricted?
Cucumbers are a staple in our house and my kids eat them all day. It's so much better than noshing on pretzels.

By me they are usually almost a dollar a cucumber.

amother

↑ Calendula

Thu, Apr 04 2024, 10:27 pm

amother Carnation wrote:

You have to feel comfortable but you are doing your kids a favor but enabling them to have more variety and options for them. It’s really healthy for them to have chicken and other food choices and to not be so limited. By reaching out it can make a huge difference for your family and a mother that’s starving isn’t going to be able to mother the way she really wants to. You are doing the community a favor by reaching out as that is what it’s for. If I was the donor I would be so happy for a mom like you to reach out and have more food for her children. Either way good luck and I hope things get better for you!

↑ mha3484

Thu, Apr 04 2024, 10:28 pm

WhatFor wrote:

Sounds so good! Can you please post your air fried chicken sandwich recipe?

I coated pargiot in cornstarch then egg and then flour. I seasoned each how I like it. Then I air fried it on 400 until it was crispy and brown. I think was 10-12 minute. I served on buns with pickled onions, lettuce. Different condiments. It had a different texture then schnitzel and everyone really enjoyed.

amother

DarkKhaki ↓

Fri, Apr 05 2024, 12:59 am

amother Garnet wrote:

My parents restricted things like yogurts and cheese because they were expensive. But they still bought it and only they were allowed to eat it.

that's really really sad....
I buy certain dietetic things for myself (TAP muffins or whatever) but I buy the equivalent for the family (a baked good for Shabbos that goes on the counter) that I don't touch....

amother

↑ DarkKhaki

Fri, Apr 05 2024, 1:08 am

amother Strawberry wrote:

This thread really puzzles me. If you don't have a supermarket in your home, there will be a natural limit to the available food. There's nothing wrong with that. It's good to learn to live with limits. People don't develop issues from the chicken being finished or running out of yogurt.

yup, was literally just thinking this..
I have three teenage boys on top of my littles B'H and they can devour a grocery order (or the exciting things in it at least Smile

if they have friends over, and I don't restrict, its gone...
So from the 50 snack bags, my little kids get none?
from the hot dogs, my little kids get none?
I tell my kids, they need to always ask me (even if it's healthy- if I'm in charge of inventory, I need to know what's getting finished) and they need to keep in mind the rest of the family.
finances aside, this is menchshlicht!

LovesHashem

Fri, Apr 05 2024, 1:16 am

amother Calendula wrote:

To be restricting cucumbers and only having pareve meals seem like it’s a situation which would benefit from community resources. That’s what they are there for.

Totally normal in my places in Israel to have lots of pareve meals

amother

Rose ↓

Fri, Apr 05 2024, 1:26 am

Milchigs is optional IMO. It's relatively junky. A lot of people can't digest it properly either. In the last year, I realized that at least 2 of my kids are likely lactose intolerant, so I stopped buying yogurt even though my toddler loves it. My toddler is for sure doing much better. The other one likely has an underlying issue but at least he doesn't have a stomach ache after he finishes.

↑ Comptroller ↓

Fri, Apr 05 2024, 1:30 am

amother Rose wrote:

In general, yoghurt does not contain much lactose, but there are also lactose-free yoghurts.

I am talking non-sugary yoghurt. To me it's a household basic, it is good for gut health because it contains living acidophiles. So I would never dream of restricting yoghurt.

amother

↑ Rose ↓

Fri, Apr 05 2024, 4:09 am

Comptroller wrote:

Of course, sugary yogurts are a treat around here when we ate yogurts. I was perfectly happy to let my kids have the plain ones and bought a lot of them. But then I noticed that my toddler was having back to back dirty diapers after she ate it. IOW, diarrhea. I stopped with the yogurt and she's not having diarrhea. Maybe not for this thread, but I did buy her some goat yogurt instead to try. She likes it but it's in a big container and not nearly as convenient as the individually packaged ones.

But overall, milk (and yogurt has milk) really isn't the healthiest. The cows are pumped with hormones and antibiotics and we are drinking their milk.

I am not a health food nut at all, but it makes me feel better. I also have a kid who is straight out allergic to milk.