Do you restrict your kids food intake for financial reasons?

amother

↑ Rose ↓

Fri, Apr 05 2024, 4:20 am

I don't think I'm restricting for financial reasons. I made supper which had enough for a normal sized portion for each person according to how much they usually eat. If one kid is more hungry than usual, they need to take something else. I am not going to start making dinner again. And when I make dinner in the first place, I'm not going to be making unlimited quantities. That is a waste. My kids don't like leftovers either.

↑ Comptroller

Fri, Apr 05 2024, 5:39 am

amother Rose 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.

If your family is lactose intolerant or allergic to milk protein, that's something else. However, this information would have been relevant when you said that milk is not a priority for you.
I am talking about people who can process milk. If you can't, you can't.

Where I live (not the USA), it's not allowed to pump cows with hormones. But, by the way, pumping animals with hormones is more of a problem with meat. In the USA, they do it to make the animals grow quicker, and that's definitely mostly an inyan when they want to slaughter them for the meat. And yes, you can say that the kosher meat industry is not a pioneer in organic products.

amother

↑ Celeste

Fri, Apr 05 2024, 6:05 am

amother Trillium wrote:

I don’t place any limitations on junk food or desserts. Since it’s not special my kids will help themselves to one cookie and move on. I always have leftover cake after shabbos. Half my kids don’t even like candy at all.
I grew up the opposite way and I can’t stop myself from stuffing myself with cookies whenever they’re out because I’m used to the thinking that now’s my chance to eat them and who knows when my next time will be.
Bh my kids (ages 2-17) have such a healthy mindset around food.

I really don't agree with this premise that always gets brought up eventually - that if you don't don't restrict candy, your kid won't be interested. Worked fine with my oldest two who obviously didn't have much of a penchant for sugar.

My third would literally eat candy all day if he could. It's a type, not just about being restricted or not.

amother

↑ Rose ↓

Fri, Apr 05 2024, 7:48 am

Comptroller wrote:

Even if we weren't intolerant so many health professionals say milk is not important or especially good for you if you can find other sources for the nutrients. (I've had to research dairy free diets for my kid with the allergy.) Now plenty of kids can't because they're picky and don't want to eat things like sardines. Meat isn't the greatest either, but IIRC the meat we personally buy is pretty healthy.

I also have a theory that milchigs (especially with being frum and fleishigs making you wait) messes up the kids taste. My kids that had milchigs are much worse eaters than my kid that's allergic. My allergic kid eats real food and isn't always begging for cheese and yogurt. I'm hoping now that we cut that way down that my not allergic kids will also start eating better.

amother

↑ Denim

Fri, Apr 05 2024, 7:55 am

amother Gladiolus wrote:

Yogurt is less than half that price in town, cholov yisroel.

I just checked online, a 5 oz yogurt can be gotten for 79 cents. Around the same price as an apple or orange. Or a bag of potato chips. Not sure what the big deal here is.

Not everyone lives in town
Can you imagine paying $3.19 knowing in-town it’s 0.79
Plus by me all brands are the same price

Food is expensive
If you download the app to my out of town grocery store you can see the prices for yourself

amother

↑ Coral ↓

Fri, Apr 05 2024, 8:07 am

amother Rose wrote:

How are cheese and yogurt not real food? Obviously if the yogurt is sugary, it's not a good choice, but if my kids want cheese or plain yogurt I'm happy to let them have. It's real food, not junk.

amother

↑ Oleander ↓

Fri, Apr 05 2024, 8:11 am

Id like to comment as the mother who was raised in a very food restricted house and now struggles with my relationship with food and metabolism.
There's a huge difference in the two scenarios

1) mom prepares chicken (or meatballs or hamburgers or whatever) according to what her family normally eats, maybe with a dot extra. A child asks for more than they usually eat and there's not anymore so the child takes extra of the starchy (cheap) sides

2) mom deliberately preparing smaller than usual protein portions. (1 drumstick per person, or 3 meatballs when an average portion is 5, etc) And deliberately preparing larger portions of the starchy cheap sides expecting that the family fills up on doubles and triples of that.

#2 is what I'm strongly against and I believe messed me up. Where a meal was 1 drumstick and then triples of rice and peas. Or 3 meatballs and multiple servings of spaghetti. Or a tuna sandwich with just a thin scraping of tuna, so it was necessary to eat 4-6 slices of bread to feel full.

My whole family (all my siblings) struggle with our weight and metabolism. Primarily because we have no way to gauge reasonable starch. Our instinct is 6 slices of bread with a scraping of tuna. 3 huge bowls of pasta with just a tiny bit of cheese. 2 whole platefuls rice with a tiny piece of flounder
That's the deliberate feeding that I object to.

amother

↑ Lemonlime

Fri, Apr 05 2024, 8:28 am

amother Rose wrote:

I need ideas. What else do you feed them?

amother

↑ Gladiolus ↓

Fri, Apr 05 2024, 8:53 am

amother Denim wrote:

And every time someone posts that they aren't making it financially, they are told "move out of town! Its cheaper!" Well, maybe housing is slightly cheaper in SOME out of town communities, but food is so much more expensive and so is tuition!

Life seems so much more expensive out of town....

amother

↑ Gladiolus ↓

Fri, Apr 05 2024, 8:56 am

amother Rose wrote:

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.

Milk is an important source of calcium. And hard cheese mostly does not have lactose. I am lactose intolerant and pizza, lasagna and ziti are just fine.

amother

↑ Gladiolus ↓

Fri, Apr 05 2024, 8:59 am

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.

Beans and rice is actually healthier than many other pareve meals (for example plain spaghetti) The issue for most of us is that our kids simply won't eat it. And before you say, kids will eat anything when they're hungry, my kids WON'T.

amother

↑ Coral

Fri, Apr 05 2024, 9:02 am

amother Gladiolus wrote:

Milk is an important source of calcium. And hard cheese mostly does not have lactose. I am lactose intolerant and pizza, lasagna and ziti are just fine.

Pizza, lasagna, and ziti don't use hard cheese (such as parmesan) as the main cheese. Usually it's something like mozzarella which is a soft cheese. So some people do have sensitivities to these food, but I do think there are some misconceptions about which foods can/can't be eaten with lactose intolerance.

amother

↑ Strawberry ↓

Fri, Apr 05 2024, 9:06 am

Btw my kids actually love plant based meals. We heavily incorporate legumes in our diet because my kids enjoy them so much, and I love that they're nutritious as well. My kids FAR prefer rice and beans plus a salad (a variety obviously) four nights a week over chicken, rice and salad four nights a week. I'm not doing it primarily for financial reasons but it's a major plus. And it's a lot easier to make a surplus.

amother

↑ Gladiolus ↓

Fri, Apr 05 2024, 9:07 am

amother DarkKhaki wrote:

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!

Then what do your teenage boys eat? I would NEVER EVER restrict food, snacks bags are not food, and they are limited. Even at one per person a day, that's a lot of money that adds up very quickly!

I think a lot of posters are mixing up food and junk. Food I don't restrict, ever, though I'll often buy cheaper options or fillers to make my meals stretch. But junk such as snack bags, cookies etc should absolutely be restricted. They have no nutritional value whatsoever and are expensive to boot. We all need treats now and then, but unlimited- absolutely not.

amother

↑ Gladiolus ↓

Fri, Apr 05 2024, 9:09 am

amother Coral wrote:

Look at the label. Pizza cheese does not have any lactose. At least my brand doesn't.

It's not a misconception, my stomach tells me very quickly if there is lactose in the food Smile

amother

↑ Gladiolus ↓

Fri, Apr 05 2024, 9:11 am

amother Strawberry wrote:

This should really be a S/O, but can you post recipes? I would LOVE try making beans and rice for supper if it's good Smile

amother

↑ Rose ↓

Fri, Apr 05 2024, 9:17 am

amother Coral wrote:

How are cheese and yogurt not real food? Obviously if the yogurt is sugary, it's not a good choice, but if my kids want cheese or plain yogurt I'm happy to let them have. It's real food, not junk.

It's real food, but it's not the greatest real food. If my kids didn't have issues with it, I wouldn't have an issue with them taking plain yogurt. Cheese they can actually handle better than yogurt oddly enough, so they do have some. But ziti, I don't make. Occasionally, I'll make pizza. Plain milk itself also really doesn't sit well.

I also think with myself and my kids, the combo of gluten and milchigs doesn't do us any good. Each separate is better.

amother

↑ Rose ↓

Fri, Apr 05 2024, 9:21 am

amother Gladiolus wrote:

Milk is an important source of calcium. And hard cheese mostly does not have lactose. I am lactose intolerant and pizza, lasagna and ziti are just fine.

And I get sick from those foods if I eat more than a small amount. I feel lucky I can have a small amount Wink

because my sister can't have any. And I won't bother making lasagna or ziti because 2 of us can't eat it, plus DH tries to eat low carb. Pizza I will because then I make DD a pareve mini pizza.

amother

↑ Strawberry

Fri, Apr 05 2024, 9:25 am

amother Gladiolus wrote:

This should really be a S/O, but can you post recipes? I would LOVE try making beans and rice for supper if it's good Smile

I don't use recipes but you can look up chana masala, mujadara, lentil soup, split pea soup, Moroccan chick peas, bean salads, roasted chick peas, lentil burgers...