“I’m hungry!” is Master5’s catch-cry. He’s been hungry since he entered the world, kicking and screaming for a feed. He was the only kid at daycare who needed two lunch boxes. Master5 is hungry when he watches television, hungry when he plays on swings and he comes home from prep starving. He’s even scavenging around for something to nibble on after he’s eaten a meal that rivals his 18-year old brother. At the age of two, on my wife’s birthday, our youngest son raced into our bedroom and greeted Tracey with,”Happy Birthday, Mummy! Get up, I’m hungry!”
So we had to find a way to satisfy not only his stomach, but everyone else’s as well. The answer was fruit. It’s healthy, it’s relatively cheap (when you buy in bulk), and there’s variety.
I know a bloke who goes to the fruit & veg markets a few times a week. This means we often get our main fruit each week at around half the cost of supermarkets. And it’s super fresh.
Better still, our kids can eat as much of it as they like. No more arguments about ‘who ate the bananas? I was saving them for something!’
And it’s not only apples, bananas and oranges. We usually treat ourselves to a box of lychees once a year, and a couple of boxes of strawberries and mangoes, and my wife goes nuts on peaches, nectarines and cherries at Christmas. Plus we can buy potatoes by the nine kilo bag and they last us weeks.
If you don’t know a bloke who goes to the markets, don’t panic. You can buy boxes of fruit from most green grocers at a considerable saving, especially if you’re a regular. It will be well worth it. Get to know one well enough and you’ll find them calling you when they’ve got a particularly good special on, or throwing in a few extras when they can.
An apple a day may keep the doctor away, but a box of apples a week will keep their hunger at bay, and that’s just as important if you want to maintain your sanity.
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