Awesome that two other mamas also replied and I feel we're all on the same page. Love all the details and suggestions mountainmoma. It's great to learn these things from the experts =D There are things there for any new mam who might be reading to learn about.

> It's also trying desperately to avoid getting your hands dirty by, ugh, touching and preparing food like some peasant.

This made me laugh Teresa, I spend a lot of my time living like a peasant and getting my hands wet or dirty . . . so unfashionable. It's good in a way to notice that I have already made some progress in living a down to earth life compared to what is still 'mainstream' and very normal in the industrial world. What you say makes so much sense -- I have wondered how on earth the mams with the long acrylic nails get anything done -- I guess it's like the old style long fingernails on chinese men, am I remembering that was a thing in history books? These families are probably using disposable wipes to clean, all the food comes out of packets, the plates go in the dishwasher . . . it's a different world.

> They cant wait until you get to the park or make it the 15 minute drive home from school ?

Also I think that real food fills kids up longer: the stuff in packets makes you want more at the same time as being mostly empty calories that don't fill you up like real food does (veggies, traditional proteins/fats etc). So it's maybe easier for most people to snack less, apart from the toddlers who may really need their am/pm snacks, when it's normal/real food, stuff that grows in the ground or walks/swims, not processed packet food on the table.

And yeah I only tend to offer milk or water to drink, I am not convinced that sodas are good for anyone's health. I will buy a bottle of pressed juice for kids' parties, and there is even loads of locally grown apple juice in the UK as the climate's so good for apples.

I keep reading cookbooks as far back as possible. Some things are extinct or rare now but otherwise lots of suggestions for making delicious and nutritious food out of stuff which actually grows locally. It has taken me a lot of hours to learn how to do some of the kitchen skills but the time I spend on it is reducing now and the kids do mostly eat real food not packets. Still some canned baked beans and fish fingers from time to time, I'm a fan of the Pareto principle where I try to do the 80 % that takes 50 % of the effort and not worry about the 20 % that takes the other 50 % of the effort.

Yoghurt's another good snack or lunch food. Put it in a cliplock boxes, chop fresh fruit or frozen/cooked fruit in, pack spoons. I am still buying pails of yoghurt, haven't got the hang of making good yoghurt yet, the two times I tried I think I stirred the milk too much so it came out as a kind of yoghurt flavour cheese instead. But I have learned at least that greek style yoghurt really is just strained through a cheescloth, it's that simple. I might get the hang of it next time I try.

I see the job of feeding kids as I am trying to build a good gut microbiome and strong bodies, bones, teeth, nerves, as those will serve them lifelong. Strong healthy bodies don't come out of the air: vitamins, minerals, all that stuff needs to be provided. Plenty of fresh air, exercise, positive social manners training as well of course. And the more they have a palate for local seasonal traditional kind of food, the more they will want to put the effort in to grow it, raise it or find it, and prepare it for themselves in adulthood. The effort of rediscovering, and learning how to make a delicious kind of cuisine that is more local and more sustainable as well as healither for the bodies is in a way a gift to the grandkids in educating a palate for life. =D Although sometimes I worry that I have caught the unhelpful obsession with food from the mainstream of our culture . . . I'm trying to direct it in a useful way at least.

Or, a problem with kids/teens that somehow have money ?

Mine did not have that "problem" . So, the small amount of junk they could purchase with whatever they could earn, or the few dollars a week I gave them, could only ever be negligible. Otherwise, they pack for lunch what is in the house and at home they eat what is in the house.

Of course, in reality, it is not so grim ! They have helped plant the garden, they share in cooking with you so they can learn and over time of course they know why we cook certain foods for dinner rather than cake as we have taught them their whole lives. And, by the time they are 18 we want them fully trained to adults, so they have helped shop and cook many times and meal planned and have made these decisions