Feeding my teenager nutritious food sucks...mostly because he doesn't want to eat it.
It's not uncommon to come home after work to find that :
1. A box of cereal is gone along with 2 liters of milk
2. There is a pizza box in the recycling
3. There is a McDonalds take-out bag in the recycling
To which I comment that I'd already made a healthier option and put it in the fridge to be heated up.
Yeah.... riiight.
Needless to say I'm grumpy because the food he ate is of questionable nutrition. The food I made went to waste. Take-out is expensive. Box of cereal $5, Pizza $10. Mcdonalds: Burger, Large Fries, Large Drink $12. 2L of milk $3.
$30 in one day gets expensive on a monthly basis! Especially when I can get that same nutrition for the same price per month.
What's a Dad to do?
Well... find a less expensive, more nutritious, no prep required, teen friendly diet plan.
Yeah.... riight.
Okay. I know my nutritious choices aren't going to work. My tasty well balanced meals are going to get ignored. So I give a big sigh and try to find something that will keep him alive and not too malnourished until such time as he figures out eating healthier.
What's the result?
The Milk 'n Cookies diet!
Why?
Well, my son will eat cookies if they are in the house. He will also drink milk if its available. Usually together late at night while I'm sleeping!
However, these are whole wheat okara based sugar cookies.
Do I tell them I'm using Okara? Nope. I just tell them they are sugar cookies with extra protein (which is sort of true).
Is it cow milk? No. It's Soy Milk. To my son its white and goes well with cookies so I'm covered there.
How does the diet work?
Easy.
1 .. Make Soy Milk
Curious how to do that. Here's a link to a previous post.
@tergan604/making-soy-milk-from-dried
2 .. Make Okara Sugar Cookies.
Don't know how? They are super simple cookies.
A. Mix together
..... 2 large eggs
..... 2/3 cup Canola oil
..... 3/4 cup of white sugar
..... 2 teaspoonful of baking powder
..... 1/2 teaspoonful of salt
..... and 2 teaspoonful of vanilla.
I use a whisk and it goes together quite nicely.
B. Once that's all whisked together then add
..... 1 cup of Whole wheat flour
..... 1 cup of Okara (leftover from making 2L of Soy Milk)
C. Drop cookie sized amounts (tablespoonful?) on cookie sheet
D. Bake at 400F for 8-10minutes
Now.... Give my son a daily multiple vitamin and let him eat cookies and drink milk all day. Feeding son duty done. (Only gets about 3/4 of a batch of cookies
However, I'm sure all the mom's, nutritionists, body builders, and everyone else who cares about nutrition are screaming "That's a Terrible Diet!". I fully agree! However, if he is paying $30/day to eat terrible food then I might as well pay $1.50/day to feed him slightly less terrible food.
In reality I'll be working to get him to eat actual nutritious food but if I have to have something in the house in the mean time it may as well be this.
How do the numbers work out for nutrition?
He gets his 2000 calories a day.....Check (2787 Calories)
He gets his daily requirement of protein.....Check (96g /day)
He gets his daily requirement of essential fatty acids.....Check
.....Canola oil has Omega 3 and 6... Omega 9 can be synthesized by the body
Macronutrients covered.
As for vitamins...Well, that's why I'm giving a multiple vitamin! There are a lot of vitamins and minerals in this batch but all of the following are deficient. I'll work on addressing that in the Milk 'n Cookies diet version 2 .. [big grin]
Vitamin A, B3, B5, B6, B12, D, Calcium and Potassium
(all are there but all are insufficient, so keep the multivitamin)
How about cost?
Total per batch : $1.72 (2700 calories)
Total per day : $ 1.23 (2000 calories)
Total per month : $37.02
Beans : 45 cents
Sugar : 21 cents
Eggs : 65 cents (note to self change to Chia seed next batch)
Flour : 11 cents
Oil : 30 cents
Want the numbers for me to prove it has at least a little merit?
Here we go:
Total Ingredients for 2L of Soy Milk and 1 Batch of cookies:
1 Cup Dried Soy Beans**
Cost 24c/100g or 45 cents
1 & 1/4 Cup of Sugar
(1/2 cup in Soy Milk, 3/4 cup in cookies)
Cost $10.49/10kg or 21 cents
2 Large Eggs
Cost $3.89 / 12 eggs or roughly 65 cents
1 Cup of Whole Wheat Flour
Cost 8.99/10kg or roughly 11 cents
2/3 Cup of Canola Oil
Cost $8.99/3L or roughly 30 cents
A little quick math:
Total Calories : 631+408+148+770+830 ==> 2787 Calories
Total Protein : 68+12+16 ==> 96 grams
How about vitamins?
Vitamin A, RAE20% (egg) ... short
Thiamin [Vitamin B1]136% (soy)
Riboflavin [Vitamin B2]124% (soy)
Niacin [Vitamin B3]19% (soy), 37 (wheat) ... short
Pantothenate [Vitamin B5] 30% (soy), 14 (wheat) ... short
Pyridoxine [Vitamin B6]4 % (egg), 41 (soy), 29 (wheat) ... short
Folate [Vitamin B9] 174% (soy)
Vitamin B12 [Cobalamin]42 % (egg) ... short
Vitamin D12 % (egg) .... short
Calcium .................40 % (soy), 4% egg, 3% (wheat) .... short
Copper ...................342 % (soy)
Iron .......................162 % (soy)
Magnesium .......... 124 % (soy)
Manganese..........204 % (soy)
Phosphorus..........105 % (soy)
Potassium..........71 % (soy), 3 (egg), 9 (wheat) .... short
Selenium .......... 60 % (soy), 57 (egg)
Zinc .......... 83 % (soy), 11 (egg), 28 (wheat)