What's on their menu?

MONDAY

Breakfast: Corn Flakes and All Bran, toast and a glass of milk

Snack: Fruit and sandwich

Lunch: Two lamb chops, one small potato, baby corn, carrots and sugar snap peas

Snack: Two biscuits, a bag of Tayto crisps and a Capri Sun

Supper: Home-made vegetable soup made with carrots, courgette, spinach, tomatoes and mixed beans, two slices of wholegrain bread.

Drinks: Milk, water

Emma’s notes: Leni gets her morning snack in playschool, usually a piece of fruit or sandwich or biscuit, with a glass of milk or water. The children have their dinner at lunchtime, mainly because they tend to fill up on sweets (courtesy of granny and gramps) in the afternoon.

TUESDAY

Breakfast: Corn Flakes and All Bran

Playschool snack

Lunch: Two servings of spaghetti bolognese

Snack: Granola bar

Supper: Fish fingers, wholegrain pasta, raw carrots and broccoli

Drinks: Milk, water.

Emma’s notes: Leni’s not great for eating breakfast. If she could, she’d just have some toast. The habitual “I’m hungry” as an excuse to stay up late leads to a bowl of Rice Krispies at bedtime.

WEDNESDAY

Breakfast: Porridge, raisins and honey with a glass of milk.

Playschool snack

Lunch: Sweet and sour pork with brown rice

Supper: Cracker and cheese with a yoghurt and an apple

Drinks: Milk, water

Emma’s notes: Sweet and sour pork is Leni’s favourite so she had two big bowls. When she likes something she eats a lot of it.

THURSDAY

Breakfast: Porridge with raisins and honey. A glass of milk

Playschool snack

Lunch: Salmon, green beans and pesto with brown rice

After-dinner treat courtesy of Granny: Maltesers

Snack: Rice cakes and hummus, treat-sized packet of jellies and a Capri Sun

Supper: Thursday is pizza night

Emma’s notes: I’d love to say Thursday’s pizza was home-made, but it was Goodfellas’ ham and pineapple.

Things start to get junky around Thursdays.

FRIDAY

Breakfast: Yoghurt with strawberries and kiwi, slice of toast and jam, orange juice

Playschool snack

Lunch: McDonald’s happy meal with chicken nuggets, fries and blackcurrant juice

Snack: Lots of sweets

Supper: Nothing due to aforementioned junk fest

Emma’s notes: We go to Carlow some weekends, and if the kids aren’t asleep by the time we’re passing McDonald’s, I usually give in and get a drive-thru. The excitement on their faces beats my guilt, hands down. When we arrive at my mum’s, Dad takes the kids to the local shop where they pick what they want and pig out for the afternoon. Friday night is also movie night, so even though Leni wasn’t hungry for dinner, she didn’t refuse popcorn and jellies.

SATURDAY

Breakfast: Coco Pops, brown bread and jam and a glass of milk

Snack: Oat cakes and banana

Lunch: Chicken fajitas, fruit and jelly, water

Snack: Calippo ice pop

Supper: Omelette with cheese, spinach, garlic and tomatoes Late-night treat: blue MMs

Emma’s notes: We’re suckers for tradition. On Saturday and Sunday mornings the kids pick whatever cereal they like. Usually it’s Coco Pops or Cheerios.

SUNDAY

Breakfast: Brown bread and marmalade, yoghurt, a glass of water

Snack: Bowl of blueberries, strawberries and apple

Lunch: Roast beef, potato, carrots and parsnip, broccoli and lots of gravy

Snack: More sweets (trip to the shop with grandad)

Supper: Egg and toast, cheese and a glass of milk

Emma’s notes: We possibly don’t vary her diet as much as we should. Leni’s brother Fursey is very fussy so we stick with what he likes, to save cooking two dinners. She has asthma so I try to limit her milk intake.

Ruth’s verdict:

The routine of Leni’s meals and snacks is good. Her calcium needs are covered and iron needs are covered by her intake of lamb, pork, bolognese, chicken, fish and dried fruit. Mixing a wholegrain breakfast cereal with another is a good way of getting fibre in. Wholegrain pasta, brown rice and wholemeal breads are other good choices. Try to include oily fish twice a week.

It seems there’s a regular “treat”. Everyone deserves and needs a treat, but because these are usually foods that contain a lot of added saturated fat, sugar and salt it’s best to try to keep these to twice a week of “fun” or snack size.

There is a belief among some people that consuming dairy products increases the production of mucus in the respiratory system. This suspicion has recently been reviewed, by Brunello Wuthrich in the Journal of the American College of Nutrition, and the conclusion is that milk consumption does not lead to mucus production or occurrence of asthma.

Paula’s notes:

Taste preferences and dietary habits formed in the first few years can last a lifetime, so it’s important to sow the seeds of a healthy diet at a young age. The challenge is, what snacks do you give them?

Ideally, you want to make the snacks count nutritionally. Leni’s diet contains frequent snacks, but many are high-calorie treats. These can be high in fat, sugar and/or salt, but lacking in essential vitamins and minerals. Eating too many of these foods may contribute to the problem of childhood overweight and may cause health problems later on.