BTW, not to thread hijack, but your point helps prove something that the prophets have been saying for decades - your food storage should be composed of the simplest foods that will sustain life. Thus the emphasis on wheat, rice, etc. I get so tired of people saying, "But I'd rather die than eat that stuff." People have been known to eat boiled boot leather when they are hungry enough. The "store what you eat" line is extremely misleading, and I think one reason why many saints don't have a year's supply, as they've been counseled to get. They've bought in to the belief that they need a year's supply of YoHo's and Mountain House freeze dried foods, and they have, at best, a month or two supply. I won't be eating a fancy diet for a year, but I'll be eating.
Arbilad said the above on the Cannibalism thread. I thought I'd better bring my response here. The context was being starving hungry, like after 4 days of no food, who can say what one might consider.
I do agree with Arbilad, mostly. However, I do remember an article at Meridian (which I haven't been able to locate in their archives just yet,) that talked about a phenomenon that takes place among children and the elderly. The basic gist of it was that those two groups will sometimes let themselves slowly starve rather than eat foods they don't like. I do have one child that I know for sure is capable of this.
So, while I do agree that basics are important, I also can state that careful application to your own circumstances is also important.
-- Edited by hiccups at 08:26, 2007-07-10
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"The promptings of the Holy Ghost will always be sufficient for our needs if we keep to the covenant path. Our path is uphill most days, but the help we receive for the climb is literally divine." --Elaine S. Dalton
I have a child who seems to do this on a daily basis. He's skin and bones and he complains of being cold a lot... and it's because he's so dang picky he'd rather not eat than eat something he's not in the mood for. I worry about the day when we have to eat stuff he's not thrilled about because there is nothing else...
Bok, yeah, my oldest does the same type of thing. I have to accomodate that in our food storage. Oh, and he's also the poster child for why it's important to not forget multivitamins in your food storage.
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"The promptings of the Holy Ghost will always be sufficient for our needs if we keep to the covenant path. Our path is uphill most days, but the help we receive for the climb is literally divine." --Elaine S. Dalton
The short answer is, get them used to basic foods as much as you can. On the sort of budget most people have to work with, you are never going to have a year's supply of banana flavored twinkies. The long answer is that child pickiness is a complex and difficult subject. I have a picky eater, but I have been finding food storage recipes that he at least grudgingly eats, such as corn dodgers. A lot of it is in how you prepare the food. Indian fry scones, for instance, are in consistency and taste sort of like doughnuts, although they're considered healthy and a meal. They're made with flour, salt, baking powder, and sugar (I actually use honey). It uses very basic ingredients, but is palatable to a large number of people. So that is one key, I think; find recipes using basic foods that they actually like. Another is to actually introduce food storage type foods slowly into their diet. It's a good idea even for non-picky kids. For instance, if you introduce whole wheat suddenly into a child's diet, they can have gastro-intestinal problems. You can, for instance, switch to Roman Meal from Wonder Bread. Roman Meal has much of the same consistency and taste as Wonder Bread, but it also has some whole wheat in there. Our older son was very adamant for a long time that he only wanted white bread, but we eventually switched him over using this method. Now he'll regularly, for instance, eat dark rye bread. What do picky children in third world countries do? Surely there isn't a percentage of them that die simply because they won't eat the only food available in that country. It seems to me that the problem is that there are children who simply refuse to change diets suddenly, perhaps even dieing in preference to such a drastic diet change. That would explain children in Africa; you may be genetically predisposed to want to eat only hostess cupcakes, but if all you've known is corn gruel, you will continue to eat corn gruel. That's why I recommend a slow switch. I've seen it work, you work down their resistance bit by bit. After all, whole grains and rice is better for their health anyway, so you might as well switch them to a healthy diet. A slow switch works where a sudden and drastic one would not. Besides, can you realistically get a year's supply of only foods that your picky eater will consume? Say you have a child that will only consume potatoes in the form of tater tots. I don't see a way to store a year's supply of tater tots. If the power went out, they'd defrost and spoil, unless you had a generator and a year's supply of fuel for it.
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If ye love wealth better than liberty, the tranquility of servitude than the animated contest of freedom, go from us in peace. May your chains sit lightly upon you, and may posterity forget that you were our countrymen! - Samuel Adams
We keep quite a bit of that Bear Creek soup stuff. The kids really like it a lot. There's quite a few things that are the "just add water" type that my kids seem to like. Soup seems to be one of the easiest things that we've been able to get the kids to eat that may contain different things (boot leather - ) and they don't know exactly what's in it but they're not scared to eat it. When the weather's not so freakin' hot, we have soup night once a week.
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Life is tough but it's tougher if you're stupid. -John Wayne
I cook from scratch a LOT. I can't remember the last time there was a twinkie or hostess cupcake in the house. The problem with this kid is that he changes what he likes. He'll eat chicken for weeks and then - doesn't like chicken any more. So he subsists on whole wheat bread, fruit, and the daily force fed vegetable.
I suspect that pickiness is largely a function of plenty, kinda like obesity (only the opposite problem). What's interesting is that kids in the same family can have different levels of pickiness.
Bok, that reminds me, for some reason, of a family in one of the wards we were in. One child loved tater tots, one loved french fries, and another preferred a different form of spud. The poor mother would prepare each child's preference for each meal. That would drive us nuts. We love preparing from scratch, like you do, but I just cannot see preparing a separate meal for each child.
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If ye love wealth better than liberty, the tranquility of servitude than the animated contest of freedom, go from us in peace. May your chains sit lightly upon you, and may posterity forget that you were our countrymen! - Samuel Adams
I make an effort to try to have one dish on the table that each person likes, but they are required to have the vegetable and at least a taste of everything. We've weaned the other picky eater in the family that way. I'm just waiting for this boy to grow out of it. I figure (hoipe) once he gets his pubescent growth spurt, everything will work itself out.
) and they don't know exactly what's in it but they're not scared to eat it. When the weather's not so freakin' hot, we have soup night once a week.
