Food for the School Years - NDR-UK

Food GroupsFruit and vegetablesAlways try to offer fruit andvegetables with the majority of mealsand snacks. Fruit and vegetables giveyou Vitamins A and C, fibre and someare good sources of iron. Generallyfruit and vegetables do not containmany calories and can be quite filling,therefore always try to offer highcalorie foods at the same time.Calorie boosting tips:● Margarine or butter can be meltedover vegetables. Vegetables can also beroasted in oil as an alternative to boiling.● Try grating or melting full fat cheeseover vegetables.● Serve a cheese sauce (made withfull fat milk and full fat cheese) withvegetables e.g. cauliflower cheese orbroccoli bake.● Sticks of raw vegetables can beserved with a dip or hummus.Salad oils or dressings can beadded over salad vegetables.● Add vegetables to soups.Double cream can then beadded to increase the caloriecontent.Eating a combination of foods from each food group will give your child all the nutrients they need,but extra calories are needed from foods which are higher in fat and sugar.● Vegetables can be added to pizza butmake sure extra cheese is added on topas well.● Try to serve fruit with another highcalorie food e.g. bananas and cream orfromage frais, stewed fruit with full fatcustard or evaporated milk, apple crumblewith custard or ice-cream, fruit dipped inchocolate e.g. chocolate coatedstrawberries.● Avoid overcooking vegetables becausethis can destroy some of the nutrients.Don’t soak vegetables in water, as someof the nutrients such as vitamin C will beleft behind in the water.Bread, other cereals and potatoesServe these foods with all meals.These foods include breakfast cereals,bread, chapatti, pasta, rice, couscous,millet, potatoes, yam and greenbanana. Foods made with flour e.g.pizza bases, buns and pancakes arealso included in this group.These foods will give your child plentyof starchy carbohydrates needed forenergy. They also provide B vitamins,fibre and some iron and zinc.Calorie boosting tips:● Encourage vitamin and iron enrichedbreakfast cereals e.g. Cornflakes, Rice-Krispies, Shreddies, Weetabix. Serve withfull fat milk (extra cream can be added tomilk to increase the calorie content).● Spread butter or margarine thickly ontobread, hot toast, chapatti, pitta bread,plain biscuits, crackers, fruit loaf, bagelsor crumpets.● As well as spreading these with butteror margarine - spread with jam,marmalade, chocolate spread, lemon curdor cheese spread to give even morecalories.● Butter or cheese can be melted overpasta and served with meat, tomato or acheese sauce.● Extra butter, cream or cheese canbe added into potatoes or yam.● Try having potatoes that areroasted or chipped. Left overpotatoes can be fried.SampleMeat, fish, eggs,dahl, pulses and nutsOffer your child foods from this group atleast twice a day. These foods provideprotein to help your child to grow. Theyalso provide iron, zinc, B vitamins andvitamin A. Some also provide good sourcesof omega 3 fats.Calorie boosting tips:● Avoid using lean meats and cutting offvisible fat before cooking to help maximise theenergy content. Chicken and turkey skin has alot of fat so leave the skin on when cooking.● Try to fry meat dishes rather than grilling orbaking e.g. sausages, beef burgers, fish fingers● Tuna (preferably in oil), cold meat, pastes,pates, mashed sardines, hummus or peanutbutter* make great sandwich fillers or use ontoast that has been spread with butter ormayonnaise.● Fish is quick and easy to cook – fish in batterwill provide more calories. Fry fish fingers orserve fish in a white sauce.● Eggs can be fried or scrambled (with extracream added). Omelettes or eggy bread aredifferent ways to serve eggs and are also fried!(Extra cheese and cream can also be added tothese).● Many children prefer meat to be soft &moist. Shepherd’s pie, meatballs, spaghettibolognaise or lasagne are popular. Be sure tomelt extra cheese on top.*See notes about nuts on page 2Foods high in fat and sugarThese foods will provide the best source of calories, although theyhave fewer nutrients. When using fats and oils, choose ones with ahigh content of omega 3 fats, for example olive oil, walnut oil andrapeseed oil.Foods in this group include cream, butter, margarine, cooking andsalad oils, mayonnaise, chocolate, crisps, sweets, biscuits, cake,ice-cream, pies, pastries, fizzy drinks, jam, syrup and sugar.Calorie boosting tips:● Spread butter or margarine thickly on bread, hot toast, crumpetsand pancakes.● Spread butter, margarine, chocolate spread or peanut butter* ontoplain biscuits such as crackers.● Cream can be added to full fat milk to make an extra creamy drinkor poured over breakfast cereals, used in porridge or instant oatcereal.● Cream can also be stirred into puddings e.g. custard, rice puddingor yoghurts, or whipped and added to hot chocolate drinks.● Always offer a pudding after a meal e.g. chocolate cake, biscuits,jelly and ice cream, fruit pies or crumbles.● Try to add extra sugar to drinks, puddings and sprinkle over cereals.● Encourage pastry foods e.g. apple pies, sausage rolls, steak pie andquiches.● Instead of grilling, baking or steaming foods - fry them in oil ormargarine to increase the calorie content e.g. fry sausages, burgers,fish fingers and eggs. If possible fry chips rather than using ovenchips.Milk anddairy foodsOffer your child three servings of milk, yoghurtor cheese each day.As well as giving your child extra caloriesthese foods provide protein, calcium, Bvitamins and iodine.Calorie boosting tips:● Milk is a very nutritious drink. Use full fat milkrather than semi-skimmed or skimmed milk asthis contains more calories.● Adding cream into full fat milk will provideeven more calories. You can add ice-cream to aglass of full fat milk to make a milk shake.● Choose full fat yoghurts, yoghurt drinks,fromage frais, and thick and creamy varieties, orready to eat desserts, as a pudding or snackbetween meals. Extra cream can also be added tothese.● Cheese is very high in calories and verynutritious. Try grating cheese into scrambled eggs,mashed or baked potatoes, pasta and savouryflans or use it in a white sauce to make macaronicheese, cauliflower cheese or broccoli bake. Softcheese can also be added to some of these foods.● Grated cheese, cheese spreads or cheeseportions can be used as sandwich fillers, on toastor as a snack. Cheese can be added ontohamburgers or extra cheese added on top ofpizzas.● Avoid cheese which is labelled low fat orcottage cheese, as these are lower in calories.● Use paneer in curries or serve a curry with fullfat yoghurt.Sample