By now it is very well known that artificial food colourings are linked to kids behaviour problems. So why not give our kids the best start in life and avoid artificial additives as much as possible. It’s not only food colouring bottles that we need to throw away, but also to start to look at the ingredients lists and eliminate artificial additives as much as realistically possible. The post Food additives: What is your daily dose? explains food additives in more details and the Food Additives Table in pdf format there is free to download .

How to make natural pink food colour

The nature gave us foods in so many beautiful colours, yet somehow it became a norm to colour it artificially to “enhance” the appearance, especially food marketed towards kids. Often colour is used to make food more appealing as there are no ingredients of natural origin. My personal preference is to skip any colourings and let the fresh and natural ingredients show their true colour.  Exception, however, is our kids birthdays or special occasions. In that instance, I give in, but take time to make homemade, natural and often organic food colours. As we have a gorgeous girl, pink is a favourite and easiest to make.

Homemade natural pink colour: step-by-step with photos

Beetroot is one of my favourite veggies: it’s loaded with nutrients, can be eaten raw or cooked and has vibrant colour – perfect for food colouring.  Beetroot juice is also great for colouring homemade natural playdough.

Here’s how to do it:

Finely grate cooked or fresh beetroot (on the photo below the beetroot is cooked)

Press through a fine sieve to extract the juice.

I’ve used it here to colour royal icing

Add a small amount of beetroot juice.  You can always add more if necessary. The royal icing will turn from stiff peaks to soft.

If you need runny royal icing for “flooding” add more beetroot juice or water if you happy with colour depth.

Here I’m using it to make white and pink butterflies.

And let them dry… For the assembled butterflies see the top photo.

The cake and cupcake icing below are also coloured using beetroot juice. The pink is slightly different as it’s mixed with yellowish crème patisserie producing a vintage shade of pink.

Colours other than pink

Our son isn’t that much into pink, so there are other natural food colours:

• yellow: turmeric
• gold: turmeric and cocoa
• green: powdered green tea
• reddish pink: raspberries (can turn blue or gray if food you’re colouring is acidic)
• purple/blue: blueberries, blackberries
• brown: cocoa or chocolate

There are other possibilities, like spinach and avocado for green, but suitable for savoury dishes.  Or use flowers (as above) and herbs (mint, parsley) for a nice contrast.

Please share with us your favourite ways of using nature’s rainbow!

During their childhood, kids use a large amount of glue. Most of them are chemical mixtures with no ingredients listed on the packaging. You can only imagine what’s in there.

Preschoolers love pasting and collage, as well as tasting anything that comes close to their mouths. Besides the awful taste, shop bought glue might not be the perfect substance for their tummies. School kids have (hopefully) learned not to lick the glue, but having it on their skin and, occasionally, all over them, isn’t good either as we know that our skin absorbs anything that’s put on it. Try this old trick to prove it: rub a clove of garlic onto the soles of your feet and after a while you’ll feel the garlicky taste in your mouth!

Whether you would like to avoid a chance of your kids digesting chemical glues, make your house greener and as chemical free as possible or just want to avoid buying stuff and reducing wasteful packaging, the recipe above is a sure winner. There are many natural glue recipes around, but this one is the simplest to make with only 4 ingredients you most probably have on hand. I’ve tried it and it works, not only for paper, but also for gluing chunks of wood.

How to make non toxic homemade glue

• For the ingredients needed, see the recipe on the photo above.
• In a saucepan mix 1 cup of flour with 1/3 cup of sugar.
• Add half of the water required and mix into a thick paste without clumps.
• Pour in the rest of the water and combine till the paste is smooth.
• Pour a teaspoon of vinegar and put on medium heat until the mixture starts to thicken.
• Cool and transfer to jar or an airtight plastic container.

This glue will keep for a few days. Refrigerate to prolong the shelf life (the jar in my fridge is 6 months old).

Vinegar in this glue recipe acts as a mild natural preservative. You might use grapefruit seed extract or tee tree oil (5-10 drops) instead of vinegar to naturally preserve the glue. Stick with vinegar though if you have small kids – not only is this glue non toxic, but perfectly edible too!

This glue needs more time to dry, but when dried, the bond is really strong.

P.S.  At Christmas time I use this glue for card making and add a few drops of anise or cinnamon essential oil to give the cards a nice scent.  If adding dark essential oils or ground cinnamon, bear in mind that the glue will have a slightly brownish colour unlike plain one that becomes almost transparent when dry.

Engaging kids in the organic gardening from an early age has many benefits: it teaches them about nature, sustainability, environment, patience, to appreciate food, etc.  When they are older, gardening will become second nature to them.  By doing it themselves and watching the plants grow, kids learn faster than any other way.  Above all, gardening with kids is heaps of  fun.

Our garden isn’t really big.  We gave up more than half of it to our chickens and started container gardening.  Kids love it because it is more accessible than our veggie patch.  Two most exciting moments for them are when the plants sprout from the seeds and harvest.  From my experience, children are more likely to eat veggies they’ve grown (see the pictures and comments below).

Last weekend we pulled the last beetroot: time to eat cool weather veggies that are remaining and make space for summer crop:

Our chickens got the leaves (young leaves can be tossed into salad) and we had a simple yet very delicious salad of grated fresh beetroot, carrot and Granny Smith apple only seasoned with a bit of lemon juice.  Colourful and yum!

We’ve planted a few sprouting spuds a couple months ago and here we’ve dug up the most delicious new potatoes.  I boiled them and the kids ate them all before they could make it to the plates!

Beautiful pink colour!

Snow peas are also ready for harvest.  I was surprised how quickly they grow.  While picking,  our daughter ate a few raw.  After a brisk boil,  they’ve been eaten in a minute, our son declaring them as delicious!  He wasn’t keen to try snow peas before

Whether you have a huge garden or a few pots on the window sill, get your kids into growing their own plants.  It’s a fun activity, gets the kids outside and let them be responsible for what they’ve planted, from watering to harvest!

After a two-week break, it’s back to school/kinder for our kids tomorrow.  That brings up the old question: what should I pack for school lunch?  Ideally, something healthy and nutritious, easy to eat, quick to prepare and, very important, something that kids will eat.  Does such food exist ?

Well, some kids are easier to prepare food for than the other.  We have both ends of the spectrum:  our son’s choice of sandwich fillings ends with number 3, while our daughter is rather a gourmet eater.  But thanks to the Funtainer my life got easier in the last several months!

For quite a while I was looking for a stainless steel food container that looks like a food jar or bowl with wide opening.  All I could find in the shops was either a narrow thermos for liquids or plastic jar containers.  The latter ones  were out of question because of potentially containing Bisphenol A (BPA), the chemical present in some food and drink containers, that can leak into the food and drinks, especially when food is hot or heated (I’ll write about this issue more).  Anyway, I turned to online shopping and found Funtainer.  Our US readers are spoiled for choice, while in Australia Target and Kmart started to stock them recently.

During the past winter our 8yo tested the food jar and like it very much.  He finds Funtainer easy to open and close and not heavy or bulky.  He had many warm, delicious lunches like pasta, soups, casseroles etc., a refreshing change in between sandwiches.

Why do we like Funtainer food jar:

• It’s stainless steel!
• Easy to use
• Keeps food warm for up to 5 hours (cold up to 7 hours)
• Leak proof – important
• Easy to fill and eat from
• Light (312g / .69 lbs)
• Cool to touch outside
• Easy to clean
• Unbreakable
• Looks cool
• Just the right size (12cm x 8.5cm / 4.73in x 3.35) and capacity (290ml / 10.35fl oz) for kids – the measurements are for model we have
• Stable, doesn’t tip over or slip easily.

The drawbacks:

• Inside of the lid is plastic, but BPA free.
• The price (food jar should last though)
• Not widely available in Australia

To keep food warmer for longer, pour some hot water into the food thermos and let it stand for a while.  Pour the water out and immediately put hot food inside and close the lid.  For cold food, put the Funtainer in the fridge (empty or with the food) the night before.

Born in Europe, my husband and I were brought up without the fast food chains, on homemade and often home grown food.  I watched my grandma and mum cooking and that experience definitely influenced my love of homemade food.  Feeding our kids nowadays has so many challenges:  food specifically marketed towards children is mostly over processed, laced with numerous, potentially dangerous and unnecessary food additives and has little nutritional value.

Since having kids, my interest in nutrition grew.  One day while our first child, then a baby, nibbled on a dry biscuit, I read the ingredients on the packet and searched on the Internet for the food additives listed there.  A whole new world opened for me.  I couldn’t read enough about the food additives, preservatives, artificial colours and flavours.

Checking the labels and ingredients lists while shopping was a must for me and many products were crossed out.  It took a while to finish my shopping initially, but in the long term I narrowed the products I buy and it helped me do the shopping quicker.  Having said that, the food our family consumes isn’t completely free from food additives and preservatives.  It is unrealistic to eliminate them all, especially when you have kids.  Explaining to a 4 year old that bright coloured lollies are bad for her is a complicated task.  Not to mention the birthday parties junk food bonanza.  But whenever I cook at home from scratch using fresh, natural ingredients, I know I’m reducing the amount of additives we consume.

Cooking from scratch using organic ingredients whenever possible  is an important part of sustainable living.  In our busy lives when families have little time to sit and eat together, when food outlets are at every corner and shops are full of readymade meals, many are asking: why bother cooking?

Some benefits of healthy home cooking from scratch:

• Eat delicious, freshly prepared food
• Cook using all natural ingredients
• Avoid or reduce food additives
• Avoid or reduce food preservatives
• Avoid or reduce artificial flavours and colours
• Support sustainable living
• Enjoy nutritious food
• Cut on over processed food without nutritional value
• Avoid packaging
• Set an example for children
• Enhance the health
• Control ingredients
• Save money

Of course, there are healthy takeaway options and home cooked meals could be quite unhealthy, too.  However, when cooking from scratch there is definitely less food additives and preservatives in there, if any at all.

Food additive categories

Food additives are divided into categories and assigned a number for easier identification internationally and I guess, to shorten and hide the long and in some instances scary chemical names behind those numbers.  In Europe the numbers have E in front of them.  The categories are:

• 100-182 Colours
• 200-297 Preservatives
• 300-385 Acidity Regulators, Anti-Oxidants, Mineral Salts
• 400-495 Vegetable Gums, Thickeners, Emulsifiers, Stabilisers, Gelling Agents
• 500-586 Mineral Salts, Anti-Caking Agents
• 620-641 Flavour Enhancers
• 900-1521 Thickeners, Vegetable Gums, Humectants, Artificial Sweeteners, etc.
• Flavours, natural or artificial, are not regulated and thus don’t have any numeric identification

Not all food additives are made same:  some are natural and ok to use, others, however whether natural or artificial are unsafe for consumption, and have been banned in different countries.  While researching the food additives, I came across several food additives tables that listed potentially unsafe additives.  Every source was different so I decided to make a table of food additives for myself as my personal shopping guide.

I divided food additives into two groups:  green – ok to consume and red – avoid if possible.  The additives in green are either natural, regarded as safe for use or derived from natural ingredients.  However, some could be either derived from a natural source or made artificially like citric acid 330 or turmeric colour 100.  The additives in red have either been proven as unsafe, connected with health or behavioral problems, have not enough information about them or have been added recently to the approved list.  My motto here is: if there is a question mark – it’s red.

The black numbers are the worst offenders. They are either banned in Australia or in other countries, or are suspected carcinogens!  Just few of them are:

• 102 Tartrazine – Colour. Linked to hyperactivity, skin rashes, migraines, behavioural problemss, thyroid problems, chromosome damage. Used to colour drinks, sweets, jams, cereals, snack foods, canned fish, packaged soups and a dye for wool and silk. Banned in Norway, Austria and Finland. Restricted use in Sweden and Germany.
• 249 Potassium nitrite – Preservative.  Linked with behavioural problems, asthma, breathing difficulties, headaches, dizziness, possible carcinogen. Typical products include processed , cured and smoked meat and fish, root vegetables. Not permitted in foods for infant and young children.
• 621 Monosodium L-glutamate or MSG – Flavour enhancer.  Should not be permitted in foods for infants and young children. Some of health problems MSG is linked with include asthma, hyperactivity, depression, mood changes, sleeplessness, nausea, migraine, linked to infertility. To be avoided especially by pregnant women, children, elderly and people with heart disease. Commonly found in potato and corn chips, powdered soup stock, snacks, crackers, sauces etc.
• 951 Aspartame – Artificial sweetener. Present in more than 7000 products worldwide.  Linked to many health problems:  cancer, asthma, nausea, depressions, hyperactivity, seizures, breathing difficulties, memory loss and many others.  It is believed to be the most dangerous food additive on the market.  Sold as Equal®, NutraSweet®, Canderal®, Benevia® and Spoonful® sugar substitutes.  Commonly found in cordials, juices, snacks, deserts, vitamins, diet and low calorie drinks, and many others.

Sustainable Eco Food Additives List – Free Download!

Disclaimer: I compiled this table from different sources (some listed below) for my personal use.  The content is not intended to constitute professional advice nor it does include all information about every additive.   If you find this Food Additive List helpful, you are welcome to download it for your personal use.

I didn’t write the names of the food additives because it would make the table too long. You can see the food additives names listed alphabetically here:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_food_additives

or listed by numbers here:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_food_additives,_Codex_Alimentarius

Manufactures have the choice of listing the food additives as a number or they can print the full name.  For example monosodium glutamate or MSG can be identified on the ingredients list as: flavour enhancer (MSG) or flavour enhancer (621).To find out more info about a specific food additive by number or by name go to:

http://www.additivealert.com.au/

Food flavourings

Food Standards Australia New Zealand, FSANZ, states three types of food flavourings: natural, nature-identical and artificial.  FSANZ definitions of last two:

“Nature-identical substances means flavouring substances that are obtained by synthesis or isolated through chemical processes, which are chemically identical to flavouring substances naturally present in products intended for human consumption. They cannot contain any artificial flavouring substances.

Artificial flavouring substances means flavouring substances not identified in a natural product intended for human consumption, whether or not the product is processed.”

Unlike other food additives, flavourings aren’t assigned code numbers.  They are listed simply as flavour or flavouring because as per FSANZ “It would neither be realistic to require, nor meaningful to consumers to be provided with the chemical names of the individual flavouring substances present, even if they could all be identified.”

To illustrate why it is unrealistic to list all the ingredients the artificiall flavours contain, please read the ingredients list for artificial strawberry flavour:

“amyl acetate, amyl butyrate, amyl valerate, anethol, anisyl formate, benzyl acetate, benzyl isobutyrate, butyric acid, cinnamyl isobutyrate, cinnamyl valerate, cognac essential oil, diacetyl, dipropyl ketone, ethyl acetate, ethyl amyl ketone, ethyl butyrate, ethyl cinnamate, ethyl heptanoate, ethyl heptylate, ethyl lactate, ethyl methylphenylglycidate, ethyl nitrate, ethyl propionate, ethyl valerate, heliotropin, hydroxyphenyl-2-butanone (10 percent solution in alcohol), a-ionone, isobutyl anthranilate, isobutyl butyrate, lemon essential oil, maltol, 4-methylacetophenone, methyl anthranilate, methyl benzoate, methyl cinnamate, methyl heptine carbonate, methyl naphthyl ketone, methyl salicylate, mint essential oil, neroli essential oil, nerolin, neryl isobutyrate, orris butter, phenethyl alcohol, rose, rum ether, g-undecalactone, vanillin, and solvent.   Yummmmy!”  Source: http://mbm.net.au/health/guide.htm

One example of different wording: Pear yoghurt should contain pears, but pear flavoured yoghurt doesn’t.  I usually buy plain yogurt and mix pureed or chopped fruit in.  The best bet is to avoid flavoured products.

But wait, there is more!

There are two instances where food additives aren’t required to be listed:

• 5% loophole: additives in the ingredient that makes up 5% or less of the product.
• Processing aids – not listed although might have traces of it in the food. Example: enzymes used to pump up the bread.

Even if the label isn’t listing any food additives, we might be eating unknown substances.

Next time you go shopping or reach for processed food, please read the ingredients.  Arm yourself with the knowledge about the food additives and don’t wait for the food regulation body in your country to ban or declare an additive unsafe.  Be your own judge.  Very often the authorities play down the research results linking specific food additives with health problems like asthma or hyperactivity.  Also, the research is frequently concentrated on one additive at the time.  But what happens when we eat dozens of them at the same time as a toxic cocktail, in doses well above the daily recommendations?

My main concern in regards to food is health of our kids and how to reduce the chemicals and additives they eat.  The strategies I use range from buying organic whenever possible, growing some of our food, cooking from scratch to reading the labels and limiting the “bad” food, plus risking the cross looks, complaints and occasional tantrums.  Hope, our kids will appreciate it one day!

As said previously, to eliminate all food additives, chemicals, pesticides etc. is not a realistic task in 21^st century.  But with one step at the time, everyone can steer towards healthier food choices.  And as a final word in this post: preparing fresh meals shouldn’t be regarded as a chore. It’s rather a way of looking after your health and wellbeing.

P.S. On 10  June 2009 ALDI announced it will  reformulate all its exclusive branded food items to remove the six food colours (102, 104, 110, 122, 124, 129) which have been proven to cause hyperactivity in children.  Read more: http://aldi.com.au/au/html/company/8821.htm

References:

Eady Julie; Additive Alert – Your Guide to Safer Shopping

Hanssen Maurice; Additive Code Breaker

Wilkinson Giselle; The Conscious Cook

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Today is World Environment Day. This year’s theme for the WED is ‘Your Planet Needs You-UNite to Combat Climate Change’.

To celebrate the WED our kids planted the seeds of a beautiful native weeping red bottlebrush tree.  The seeds pack is a promotion of the Melbourne tram company.  See the pictures below:

Eco kids – Planting seeds:

Seeds planted – great addition to our urban garden:

Watering:

Mission accomplished, minor misspelling

I write this post from a perspective of a mother: what I think is a thoughtful mother’s day present that many other mothers would like too.

My favourites aren’t really material things and wouldn’t cost a cent: kisses and hugs, a flower from the garden, a Happy Mother’s Day written on a notebook paper and a pretend coffee and a playdough cake.

Explaining to our children that presents aren’t always “things” is a bit challenging in our consuming society.  However, my husband and I are trying to teach them the importance of giving as well as simplicity.  The emphasis though should be on thoughtfulness when selecting a gift rather than on a price tag.

There isn’t one-size-fits-all mother’s day gift.  Think about what your mum (or wife if having little kids) likes and needs, what are her interests.  A mum of small children might need one night of uninterrupted, good sleep and some pampering.  A mum of grown up kids living in another state might love some time spent together, a good talk and a lunch with her son(s) / daughter(s).  Maybe a phone call is the only thing a mum wishes:  it’s sad that so many children don’t keep in touch with their mothers and fathers.

Tips for thoughtful mother’s day gifts:

• Flowers: the classic, can’t-go-wrong present.  However, check that they are  organic and fair-trade!
• Eco gifts: homemade or organic body care products
• Plants or a fruit tree,
• Gift vouchers for organic, Oxfam and/or fair-trade shops
• Time spent together – good one for mums of busy, grown-up children
• As mentioned above, something that is really appreciated and matches mum’s needs and likes
• Subscriptions to a favourite magazine or web site
• Something handmade
• Avoid gifts like appliances that everyone will use more that mum herself
• Think about the environment: avoid presents with excessive packaging, lots of plastics and hard to recycle stuff
• And don’t go overboard with gift wrapping.  Check the post on environmentally friendly gift wrapping for some ideas.

On mother’s day kids always wake up very early and come to our bedroom. They can’t wait to bring the present and /or mother’s day cards they made at school and kinder, their eyes beaming proudly when I praise their lovely artwork.  Then we laugh, cuddle and talk for quite a while before my husband gets up and prepares the breakfast. These mornings I’ll always remember and treasure.

I would love to hear about your memorable mother’s day gifts and moments!  If you would like to share them, please do so in the comment box below.

During the holidays, as many parents know, kids expect you to entertain them from morning till dawn.  Unless the day is action packed, it’s a “boring” day and “I don’t have anything to do” day.

On one of those days, we made a batch of homemade playdough (play dough).  In summer, we tend to spend more time outside and kids didn’t play with it for a while.  Not only  did the playdough keep them occupied for hours – to mum and dad’s delight, but also there is an educational element to it: development of fine motor skills, blending colours, exploring senses like touch and feel, to name a few.

Instructions on how to make homemade playdough:

This is a simple no cook playdough recipe which you can make within minutes.

Ingredients:

• 1 cup flour
• ½ cup salt
• 1 teaspoon cream of tartar
• 1 tablespoon oil
• 1 cup boiling water
• natural or food colouring (eg. beetroot, turmeric powder), optional

Note:  Increase the above amounts two or three times for more playdough which can be divided and coloured differently.

In a bowl mix all dry ingredients.

Add oil, liquid colouring and boiling water (warn kids if they are helping!) and stir until it all comes together.

This is a proper way. As you can see above, I usually put dry and wet ingredients all at once and then stir. Here I added a bit of beetroot juice, but, oops, forgot to add oil.  Still it came good.

Tip the dough out onto a lightly floured surface and knead it until it becomes smooth. If the playdough is still too hot to touch, leave to cool a bit.

Divide into several portions and add different colouring few drops at the time to each. Knead well into the playdough.

Store in an airtight container after play time.  It will dry out quickly otherwise.

Last step, but not the least, have fun and play with your kids (for a little while)! It’s very therapeutic for adults, too, as you can see in the picture below !

On the McKenzie’s Cream of tartar packet there is cooked playdough recipe if you prefer this method:

2 cups four

4 tablespoons cream of tartar

2 tablespoons cooking oil

1 cup salt

food colouring

2 cups of water

Mix the above ingredients in a saucepan, and stir over medium heat for 3-5 minutes, until the mixture congeals.

Few more tips:

• For a textured playdough, add some oats, dried lavender or herbs.
• Add a few drops of natural cooking essence like orange, peppermint or almond for a nice smell, but omit if that will tempt small kids into eating the playdough – it IS natural, but way too salty.
• If the kids manage to eat some, don’t be alarmed, it won’t hurt them, they’ll just be very thirsty!
• Be alarmed if they eat commercial playdough – it is full of chemicals, with a weird sweet smell.
• Once the playdough starts to smell rancid, dries out or gets very dirty, it’s time to make another batch.