In the last of our series on feeding the family, Garth McColgan, resident chef at Aldi and the brains behind the Food Active summer camp, has a great family recipe. And check out his top five tips for establishing good eating habits in the toddler years. Steamed Salmon with Sweet Potato Purée by Garth McColgan [...]

We’re joined again today by Garth McColgan – Aldi’s resident chef and the brains behind the Food Active summer camp – with his top tips for feeding kids and winning over funny eaters. Recipe:    Gorgeous Green Puree Serves 6    (Baby’s First Food) Ingredients 40g Onion, peeled and chopped 15g Butter 200g Potatoes, peeled and chopped [...]

My sister Barbara was pondering what foods to give her four-month-old son Dylan, and how best to wean him onto solids, so she asked me for some advice. But what do I know? Thankfully, our regular guest columnist Garth McColgan – he of Aldi and Food Active fame – came to the rescue. All week, [...]

Whether you’re in Dublin, Limerick, Galway, or Wexford, it can be hard to find child-friendly eateries. Today, we’ve joined by Jill Holtz of mykidstime.ie with this very handy guide. www.mykidstime.ie is a free resource for families. With a full range of listings for activities, classes and clubs for children of all ages, as well as [...]

If your kids are fed up with ham sandwiches, Aldi‘s resident chef, Garth McColgan of Food Active, has some handy tips and tricks for a healthy school lunchbox, exclusively for CheapEats. They’re not bad as snacks for adults either! By Garth McColgan 1. Banana and Nutella Sandwich There is an amount of refined sugar in [...]

An aunt of mine only drinks Coke. One of my 10 billion nephews refuses to drink anything but “juice”, which is actually just a sugary diluted drink like Kia-Ora, Ribena or Robinson’s. Like all the tastiest stuff, these are little more than sugar-delivery vehicles.  Loaded, overflowing, and fizzing with tooth-melting, waist-expanding, heart-killing sugar. But how [...]

Jon Ronson, one of my favourite journalists, wrote a short piece for the Guardian Word of Mouth Blog recently about his young son being turned away from a half-empty restaurant that had a No Children policy.  The piece is ranty in a kind of tongue-in-cheek way, and it caused the most almighty scrap in the [...]

My wonderful, almost eight-year-old little nephew Jacob is the fussiest eater I’ve ever met. Or at least he was, until a few weeks ago, when his preferred diet consisted almost of sweets, potato waffles, spaghetti, sausages, and cleverly mashed up root vegetables. His parents tried everything but to no avail. Last year, I took him [...]

Gotham Cafe has been on South Anne St for donkey’s years and has always maintained a strong level of popularity.   The new website MummyMaps recommended Gotham as a good place for kids, so I suggested it when two friends and I decided to take our little girls for Saturday lunch.  It has an extensive menu, [...]

This week, our Bloggers Recommend tips come courtesy of Kate from MummyMaps.com, a new Irish website for parents. About MummyMaps MummyMaps.com is a new website and email newsletter for parents in Dublin. MummyMaps.com reviews the best spots for foodies, fashion mavens, gadget gurus, and shop-a-holics (who just happen to have offspring.) As the name implies, [...]