Is ham on the menu this Christmas? It is at our place and I’ve got my order in for one that’s been happily trotting around green New Zealand paddocks. I know…it’s a rather idealistic image, blissfully divorced from the reality of how it gets from the paddock to my plate. I prefer to keep it that way so I can enjoy a few slices of free range ham this Christmas.

When I was the nutritionist for Woolworths supermarkets in Queensland, Australia the meat manager insisted I visit their freezing works. Have you ever heard the saying ‘Bleeding like a stuck pig’?

Toddlers who eat fruit as a snack rather than with meals are three times more likely to have iron deficiency. “But I thought it was healthy to give my child fruit as a snack,” commented the health professional sitting near me. “It is,” replied Dr Clare Wall, one of three child nutrition experts speaking at a seminar I attended this week. “But it’s also important for toddlers to eat fruit with a meal because it increases iron absorption from that meal.”

One in six Kiwi toddlers are iron deficient and around two-thirds don’t eat enough iron to meet the recommended daily intake. For most, it’s not bad enough to cause anaemia but it is bad enough to affect their behaviour and brain

No one in the world has the same fingerprint as you – or exactly the same mix of talents and tastes. You are designed as a ‘one-off’ which is wonderful – until you try to get a family of individuals to eat the same meals. It’s a common cry that I’ve come across a few times lately: “My husband likes meat but I want vegetables” “One child wants cheese on everything and the other can’t bear cheese but wants tomato sauce” “My child hates soup” “My children love soup but only if it’s smooth” How can you get everyone in the family to eat well without force-feeding or becoming a restaurant catering to individual tastes. Here’s a few ideas.

My husband wants meat and doesn’t like vegetables, I want vegetables and don’t like much meat

Solution: Stir fry meat and vegetables.  Beef or chicken salad

We love soup but the kids hate it

Solution: Serve soup on pasta as a pasta sauce with grated cheese on top

We always have left-over rice when I make stir-frys

Solution: Add milk, sliced banana and a sprinkle of brown sugar or syrup for a quick rice pudding

I like to put wheatgerm on porridge because it is so healthy but no-one else will eat it

Solution: Make oatmeal pancakes with wheatgerm

My children won’t eat plain yoghurt

Solution: Make a smoothie with banana or berries, reduced fat milk and yoghurt. Make raita – chopped cucumber and mint mixed with yoghurt – to serve with Indian curry

My husband won’t eat lentils

Solution: Add a handful of red lentils to beef casseroles and mince. It helps thicken the meal, makes the meat go further and provides soluble fibre to fill everyone up and help help control cholesterol and diabetes.

The only beans my family will eat is baked beans.

Solution: Baked beans are great but for variety add red kidney beans to mince with a bit of chilli to make chilli con carne. Make minestrone soup with a mix of brown and white beans (I like borlotti and haricot). Try a bean salad.

If you have a great food solution to your family’s varied taste preferences, we’d love to hear it! ..c