Worried about fruit and veg intake - cmpi baby

[hulahoop09]

Hiya

I am a little worried about my lo intake of fruit and veg not being enough. Our shopping budget is quite tight and I am trying to stick to a meal plan and with a cmpi baby meals can sometimes be repetitive.

Breakfast - 1 weetabix with soya milk and some golden syrup

Lunch - A sandwich of some sort (ham, salmon etc) or hm chicken and veg curry, tomato pasta, turkey mince veg and potato mixed in a tomato based sauce
If she has sandwiches I also try to give her some slices of cucumber
Pudding she has a soya yoghurt, jelly or part defrosted banana mashed with some soya milk

Dinner - she has what we have so could be sausage and mash with veg and gravy, hm spaghetti and meatballs, chicken curry, chicken or fish fingers with chips and veggies or beans, chicken dinner etc etc.

Snacks - rice cakes, slices of apple and grapes, organix tomato wheels, pom bear crisps etc etc

Bottles - she has between 3-5 (mainly 4) 8oz bottles per day of nutramigen aa

I struggle with buying frwsh fruit and veg all the time as find it is so expensive so tend to buy frozen and/or tinned veg and then I buy bananas peel skin off and freeze them. Sometimes also buy snack packs of apples and grapes.

Does it sound like she is getting enough of her fruit and veg intake and a balanced enough diet as can be atm. We did start giving her cheese and yoghurt but seems it was irritating her so we have had to go back to non dairy again and likely wont be able to try dairy again until she is 18 months.

 

[summer rain]

Tinned and frozen fruits and veg are fine however in many cases stuff like apple and grape snack bags can actually work out more expensive than buying a few loose apples and cutting them up. We are on a strict budget too and its possible to buy loads of fruit and veg and not spend much at all. Some shops reduce a lot of the fruit and veg to virtually nothing if you go at the right time and there is nothing wrong with it, just the display date which is a sign for when the shops need to rotate their stock, nothing to do with freshness. There is also no need to put golden syrup on the weetabix, plain would be much healthier and your LO would get used to it if she has got a taste for the golden syrup ATM. Otherwise everything sounds fine. If you go on money saving expert there's a lot of tips on there xx

 

[hulahoop09]

Thanks hun. Its only cause the info the dietician gave us mentioned the syrup so we tried it as she wasnt keen on the soya milk. Lol. I have managed to get some fruit on offer but very little and i find it goes off quite easy in my house. Lol. I only buy the odd snack bag as one will last her one or 2 days. She does love her cucumber so i give her that when i can. Lol. We dnt drive so getting to store when things tend to be reduced tends to be rare as we get everywhere by foot. Lol. I dnt mind buying the frozen veg as lasts ages. Can u recommend other fruits i can freeze? i have brought frozen berries but dnt know what to do with them as she isnt keen on them so was thinking of mixing them with something. Lol. Xx

 

[hulahoop09]

I am gutted as the only fruit and veg shop i can get to easy are quite expensive. do you know what lidl are like for fruit and veg? i have one near work i was thinking of trying!

 

[summer rain]

I found this

https://www.ext.colostate.edu/pubs/foodnut/09331.html

It has all the fruits you can freeze and different methods for freezing most of them mention ascorbic acid powder which is pure vitamin C powder I've had a look online and it seems it can be ordered very cheaply from catering websites. Have you tried the soya milks naturally sweetened with apple juice as these may be better than adding syrup? Most lidls are really good for fruit and veg, very cheap and I remember them selling a really good range of frozen fruit and veg too xx

 

[hulahoop09]

Wow i will have to have a look at that site! Thanks hun. I have had the sweetened but not many places have it all the time, i never knew was apple juice! Thats fab. Lol.

 

[Mrs Cupcake]

i find my local lidl excellent for fresh fruit and veg. much better than sainsburys and loads cheaper. the lidl in the next town is not so good though so i think it is a bit hit and miss.

what about avocado? good sliced up or gently mashed? normally quite expensive but often on offer in lidl.

melon? you get lots of portions out of one melon.

not sure what to suggest re the frozen berries as i know they can be quite sour.

 

[claireandmax]

Hi,
Lidl is cheap for fruit and veg but so is aldi. Very similar to lidl and their own brand nappies are brill

 

[claireandmax]

Hi,
Lidl is cheap for fruit and veg but so is aldi. Very similar to lidl and their own brand nappies are brill