Feeding Kids: 120 Foolproof Family Recipes. The Netmums Cookery Book - Netmums

...food alternatives.

Feeding Kids, which was published in 2007, seeks to be a resource for parents in this ongoing battle. It's a nice-looking hardback book, produced by the popular Netmums website in association with nutrition expert and author Judith Wills, which does pretty much exactly what it sets out to do: 120 simple, nutritious, no-fuss recipes which can be produced quickly without (thank goodness) the need for cordon bleu cooking ...
...advice on healthy eating and feeding your family on a budget, etc. "Diet Detective" Judith Wills has written many healthy-eating type books (she has sold more than 2 million books worldwide with titles such as The Food Bible, The Diet Bible, etc etc) and has her own website, www.thedietdetective.net; she also has her own slot on Netmums where members can send in their dietary queries regarding children of six months plus and receive a personal ... more

It's the perennial problem (well, it is in our house - I don't know about yours) - what can I cook tonight? What will everybody eat? (In our household, comprising two adults, a teenager and a toddler, the answer to the latter question is usually Not Much.) Hence, I'm always on the eagle-eyed lookout for new recipe ideas.

With the increasing problem of childhood obesity and the proliferating junk-food culture in which we live, children's nutrition is more of a concern than ever, an issue which has been highlighted by campaigners such as Jamie Oliver. Many parents struggle either to cook or to persuade their children to eat nutritious meals, feeling continually undermined by the easily available and heavily-advertised junk food alternatives.

Feeding Kids, which was published in 2007, seeks to be a resource for parents in this ongoing battle. It's a nice-looking hardback book, produced by the popular Netmums website in association with nutrition expert and author Judith Wills, which does pretty much exactly what it sets out to do: 120 simple, nutritious, no-fuss recipes which can be produced quickly without (thank goodness) the need for cordon bleu cooking skills. Many of the recipes are provided by Netmums members, and all are tried and tested.

The book reached Number 3 on the Amazon bestsellers list the week after it was published, and is still in the top 200 books a year later.

~The authors~

Netmums.com (a "national institution", according to the Daily Telegraph) is a useful website providing a wealth of information for parents, both on a general level - advice on food, holidays, shopping, childcare etc - and specific to the local area (you can enter your own postcode and search for resources, classes, activities etc near you). The "Food" section is particularly helpful, featuring recipe ideas, advice on healthy eating and feeding your family on a budget, etc. "Diet Detective" Judith Wills has written many healthy-eating type books (she has sold more than 2 million books worldwide with titles such as The Food Bible, The Diet Bible, etc etc) and has her own website, www.thedietdetective.net; she also has her own slot on Netmums where members can send in their dietary queries regarding children of six months plus and receive a personal reply. There's also an archive of these questions and answers for reference.

~The book~

According to the publishers, "This book will help your child enjoy good food. By that we mean food that is of good quality, tastes good and does them good too."

Feeding Kids is a really nicely presented, user-friendly book, illustrated with photographs, which contains a lot more than just recipes. The first "Survival Guide" section (thus titled because "the advertisers' cosy portrayal of family mealtimes is often a world apart from the reality…"), features, for example, the Top 5 Netmums Tips and the Top 10 Netmums Questions and Answers. These are things like "How can I get my child to try new foods?", "Can my child be healthy on a very limited diet of just a few items?" and "How do I get my child to eat vegetables and other healthy foods?" - all the types of issues which do concern very many parents.

This is followed by a section which is basically a crash course on the basics of healthy eating for kids. It's well laid out and easy to understand, and most people, however well-informed, will probably find some new information in here.

Moving on to the recipes, these are subdivided into various sections: Easy Teas and Simple Suppers, Winter Warmers, Summer Suppers and Outdoor Eating, suggestions for packed lunches, etc. Netmums states that "You know how everyone has a favourite fall back recipe…. The one thing you know you can cook quickly and easily, that never lets you down and that everyone likes? This book has a selection of over 120 of our members' favourite fall back recipes". In addition, many of the recipes have variations so that you can easily substitute ingredients.

I've made quite a few of these recipes, and will certainly be trying more. The beef stew and the sweet sausage casserole (involving butternut squash, sweet potatoes and carrots - very tasty) have already become staples in our house.

The book features easy, quick recipes for home made chicken nuggets, burgers and fish fingers (home-made beefburgers in a home-made bun have also become a regular occurrence in our house) along with classics such as fish cakes, shepherd's pie and simple casseroles.

All the recipes have age guidelines - suitable from 6 months, 9 months, 1 year or whatever, and a "traffic light" system to indicate levels of fat, saturates, sugar and salt.

There's also a weekly meal planning section, indispensable for avoiding "what on earth are we going to eat tonight?" syndrome. I'm not the most organised person on the planet, but I do find planning for at least a week ahead - preferably more - and shopping accordingly makes a massive difference to how easy life is on a day to day basis. Packed lunch planning is also included in this section.

Finally, there's a user-friendly index which allows you to find recipes by ingredient, so if you have, for instance, a whole load of carrots which need eating, you can easily identify carrot-containing recipes.

I like this book a lot. It's really well presented and user-friendly. My only issue would be that all the serving quantities are geared towards children: "serves 4 children", etc. As I don't want to cook separate meals all the time, I would have preferred it if adult quantities were also indicated, at least for the main meal suggestions. However, it's not hard to judge how much you need for the whole family.

Recommended reading for mums (and dads, and anyone else who's regularly cooking for children).

Published by Headline, 224p. Cover price £14.99, available new from Amazon for £8.24. 

...less