In this episode of the Food for Kids podcast, Joanne shares simple, family-friendly meal ideas using seasonal produce available in February. The focus is on easy-to-make recipes that require minimal prep time, making them perfect for busy families. Joanne discusses three main meals, a dessert, and a quick snack, all utilizing fresh ingredients that are in season. She gives suggestions on adapting recipes to suit children's tastes and some swap ideas too.

Links to the recipes:

Meal 1 – ​Cabbage wedges with tomato sauce - ​https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dtSO3K61Q​​​

Meal 2 – ​Cheese and leek potato pie - ​https://www.bbc.co.uk/food/recipes/easy_cheese_leek_and_98782 ​​​

​​Meal 3 - Veggie burgers:

​Storecupboard bean burger - ​https://lianaskitchen.co.uk/spicy-bean-burger-recipe/#mv-creation-343-jtr ​​​

Smoky roast carrot burger - ​https://www.bbc.co.uk/food/recipes/smoky_roast_carrot_00838 ​​​

Plantain and bean burger - ​ https://www.bbc.co.uk/food/recipes/plantain_and_bean_74740​​​

Dessert – ​Apple pinwheels - ​https://www.cookingwithmykids.co.uk/apple-pinwheels/

Bonus recipe - pizza pinwheels - ​https://thefastrecipe.com/cheese-and-tomato-pinwheels/​​​​​​

Snack - Carrot cake energy balls - ​https://mykidslickthebowl.com/carrot-oat-energy-bites/​​​

Music "Happy Days" by Simon Folwar via Uppbeat

Today's episode is a fairly speedy run through of 25 practical ideas for saving money on family food.

Chances are you'll know a lot of them, but it never hurts to refresh your memory about something you might have stopped doing if you've got in a rut and you might pick up one or two new ideas to try. so pick and choose what you want and there'll be some links in the show notes to additional information for them too.

Links in this episode:

Website to find meals in your cookbooks to use things up: https://www.eatyourbooks.com/

Planner with three ingredients: https://www.bigoven.com/

Meal prep site: https://www.mealpreppro.com/

Ways to prep components: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kwpltZGCGd8

Freezable sandwiches: https://thebatchlady.com/recipe/freezable-sandwiches/

OLIO app for free food: https://olioapp.com/en/

Too Good To Go for last minute bargains: https://www.toogoodtogo.com/en-gb

Approved Food: https://approvedfood.co.uk/

Kate Hall's episode on freezing components: https://www.thefoodies.org/ffk3

Kate Hall's episode on reducing food waste: https://www.thefoodies.org/ffk21

Music "Happy Days" by Simon Folwar via Uppbeat

In this episode, Joanne runs through a list of fruits and vegetables which are in season in the UK in February, and offers tips for getting children to try each of them. There is also a short list of imported foods that are currently in season.

This will be useful if you want to increase your intake of seasonal fruits and vegetables, and want some ideas for helping to build your child's familiarity with them, whether they eat the end result or not!

Links in this episode:

List of foods in season in ​February - www.thefoodies.org/seasonal/​february-food-ideas/

Printables of winter seasonal foods: https://thefoodiesbooks.com/product/winter-seasonal-food-printables

Music "Happy Days" by Simon Folwar via Uppbeat

Today’s episode is an interview with Dr Anna Colton who is a leading clinical psychologist specialising in the psychology of food, eating, and emotional wellbeing in children and adolescents. She works with families on everything from fussy eating to eating disorders and body image concerns and recently published a book called How to Talk to Children About Food.

We have had some episodes dealing with the way we talk to children directly about food, but one of the very interesting things in Anna’s book was the psychology around how we have to be aware of our own issues with food to make sure that we don’t pass them on, that intergenerational relationship with food that can easily be transmitted subconsciously. So Joanne spoke to Anna about that, and also some helpful ideas of what we can do if our child comes to us with issues of their own around food or body image.

Dr Anna Colton is a leading clinical psychologist specialising in the psychology of food, eating, and emotional wellbeing in children and adolescents. She works with families, teens, and adults on everything from eating disorders to fussy eating and body image concerns. Her book, How to Talk to Children About Food, helps parents create a healthy food culture at home, heal their own relationship with food and break the intergenerational cycle of food and body image struggles. Her work is a powerful call to shift from crisis response to prevention.

Links in this episode:

Anna's website: https://www.dranna.co.uk/

Anna's Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/drannacolton

Buy Anna's book How To Talk To Children About Food: https://geni.us/HTTTCAF

Music "Happy Days" by Simon Folwar via Uppbeat

This episode is part of a monthly series where Joanne runs through some ideas to reduce food waste and save money by storing foods well and using them up effectively.

This episode is about root vegetables so there some ideas about how to store root veggies to make them last longer, and stop them going off. This includes how to store them in the kitchen, how to freeze them and how to dry them.

And then there are a few good ideas on how to use up leftover carrots, parsnips and beetroot either surplus from a recipe or coming out of the garden.

The episode includes our monthly Q&A with Kate Hall from The Full Freezer on how to freeze root vegetables and different ways to use them.

Links in this episode:

Kate’s Can I Freeze It? Video on baked potatoes: https://www.instagram.com/canifreezeit/reel/ClrFqiVoLqm/

Kate’s Can I Freeze It? Video on roast potatoes: https://www.instagram.com/canifreezeit/reel/CXn6pKqIz4C/

Kate's Can I Freeze It? video on new potatoes: https://www.instagram.com/reel/CgCqOwNo0qp

Kate’s Can I Freeze It? Video on beetroot: https://www.instagram.com/canifreezeit/reel/CcYeEwbqVh7/

Kate’s Can I Freeze It? Video on parsnips: https://www.instagram.com/canifreezeit/reel/CXn1SJwIvFx/

Kate’s Can I Freeze It? Video on chopped carrots: https://www.instagram.com/p/CXoB213IVm9/

Kate’s reel on never wasting potatoes: https://www.instagram.com/p/DHVgrkGImXd/

Kate's website: https://www.thefullfreezer.com

Episode about adding extra veg to food with suggestions for root veg too: https://www.thefoodies.org/ffk42/

Links to recipe suggestions mentioned in the episode are in the shownotes at https://www.thefoodies.org/ffk70/

Music "Happy Days" by Simon Folwar via Uppbeat

Do you need to be caring about your child's gut microbiome?

At this time of year our feeds are filled with a lot of wellness adverts and one of the things you see a lot of adverts for is probiotic supplements, and intolerance and microbiome test kits. You might be thinking it’s hard enough just keeping everyone at the table happy and fed with the food you’re putting on the plate, so should you now be listening to these adverts and podcasts and news articles and worrying about your child’s gut microbiome? And if so, how on earth do you do anything about it?

So to help us out on today’s episode I am talking to Lucy Jackman who is a Specialist Paediatric gastroenterology Dietitian at Great Ormond Street Hospital. Lucy deals with all kinds of complex tummy and bowel issues but she also posts really helpful information about general principles that parents can use to help keep little guts healthy.

Lucy is a Specialist Paediatric gastroenterology Dietitian at Great Ormond Street Hospital, where she leads the dietetic service for complex gastrointestinal (GI) allergy and motility disorders. She is also the Lead Dietitian for the NHS England-commissioned service for the diagnosis of paediatric intestinal pseudo-obstruction (PIPO).

With extensive experience in managing children with eosinophilic gastrointestinal disorders (EGID), motility disorders, and inflammatory bowel disease (IBD), Lucy is a key member of the British Society of Paediatric Gastroenterology, Hepatology and Nutrition (BSPGHAN) EoE working group. She has contributed to national and international guidelines and has authored multiple publications on EoE, EGID, pseudo-obstruction, and paediatric motility disorders.

Lucy is passionate about advancing clinical care through research and education, ensuring that dietetic interventions play a central role in optimising outcomes for children with complex GI conditions.

Links in this episode:

Lucy's website: https://www.thehappytummydietitian.com/

Lucy's Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/thehappytummydietitian

Music "Happy Days" by Simon Folwar via Uppbeat

This episode is full of suggestions for small ways that you can pack in a little extra goodness to foods that you already eat.

Over the last week we talked to Maeve Hanan about why we shouldn’t hyperfixate on the label or category that one individual food or one meal fits into, but instead we should zoom out to the overall picture of the variety and benefits of the foods we are eating across a week or a month of meals. And coming up we have an episode with a gastroenterology dietitian who will also talk about why diversity is good for our guts.

So between the two we are fitting in some ideas for how to increase that diversity and get some more wholefoods, fibre and nutrients into the kinds of meals that our children already accept. That way we can accept that in modern life we are going to eat some processed foods sometimes, but find small and practical ways to pack in lots of things our bodies need alongside or in between those foods to increase our diversity of plants and whole foods without becoming narrow or obsessive.

Joanne runs through some ideas of what to add to meals and snacks and some easy swaps to boost too. This will just be a list of some ideas to scribble on to a maybe list.

Links in this episode:

Vegan parmesan style topping: https://minimalistbaker.com/how-to-make-vegan-parmesan-cheese/

Music "Happy Days" by Simon Folwar via Uppbeat

Today’s episode is the second of our two parter talking about ultra processed foods. If you haven’t listened to the first part, I would urge you to go back and listen to that as some of the information in that will help you to understand today’s discussion more. Today we are going to talk about whether being more relaxed about some processed foods in the diet can actually help with being more consistent, and whether we should set goals about processed foods in our resolutions or not.

Maeve Hanan is a Registered Dietitian who specialises in disordered eating and food freedom. She’s the founder of DieteticallySpeaking.com, a platform offering evidence-based information, practical tools, courses, and one-to-one support to help people build a healthier, more peaceful relationship with food. Maeve advocates for a compassionate, weight-inclusive approach to nutrition, and is passionate about cutting through the online nutrition BS by sharing clear, evidence-based and practical messages.

LInks in this episode:

Maeve's masterclass: https://dieteticallyspeaking.com/product/eating-with-ease

Maeve's website: https://dieteticallyspeaking.com/

Maeve's Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/dieteticallyspeaking

Music "Happy Days" by Simon Folwar via Uppbeat