It was a busy weekend, with Thanksgiving with multiple families, we have’t been home since Thursday moring. So, I don’t have my act together yet, and Meal Monday is just going to have to wait until next week. I trust that everyone will survive this momentary delay.

Instead, today I’m sharing all of the foods that I feed the kiddo, but would never, ever in a million years touch myself. It’s true that most of these are things that I ate as a kid, and I turned out pretty good, so I’m not too worried about it. Yes, they are highly processed, meats, mil and other animal parts mashed together, full of preservatives and other ingredients that I can’t pronounce and don’t even want to know what they actually are. But you know what, Eli likes them, actually loves them, so in my book they are OK, in smallish quantities. The more that I think about it, this is pretty much the opposite of Meal Monday, since I don’t think that any of these “foods” actually qualify as food.

1. Hot dogs: not the all beef or turkey variety, the miscellaneous animal parts mashed up and glued together with God knows what to resemble plump, sickly colored fingers. Just thinking about it makes me gag a little. I’m actually thinking about switching to the healthier (and I use that term loosely) all beef kind, since Eli eats, on average, 500-600 hot dogs a week.
2. American cheese slices: These aren’t even close to cheese. Believe me, I would know, living in Wisconsin all of my life and having grandparents that owned a cheese store for many years. I know cheese, I love cheese, and I eat it just about every day. And American cheese slices are NOT cheese. They are slippery, sticky, oiling slices of yellow tinted nastiness. And I’m slowly trying to ween Eli off of these, I hate even having to touch them.
3. Fruit snacks. Not the healthy-ish ones made with real fruit juice, the sugar packed, unnaturally brightly colored snacks, shaped like dinos, sharks, and treasure chests. You know, things that you find in nature. Truth be told, I actually LOVE these snacks, probably just as much, if not more, than the kiddo. Between the two of us (sometimes the three of us if Dad-oo is home) we’ll go through 2-3 packs at snack time. And sometimes I’ll sneak on while he’s napping. Or looking the other way.
4. Chicken nuggets: Now, these really aren’t as bad I used to think they are. I haven’t actually looked at the ingredients, but I have tast tested them, and they aren’t too bad. But I still won’t eat them, I just can’t bring myself to do it. Who knows what is bround up in those little golden nuggets. But Eli loves them smothered in ketchup or BBQ sauce. Go figure. At least when I make them at home, they aren’t deep fried in whatever nasty oil they have at most fast-food chains.

A word about Spam. I will never, for the life of me understand Spam. It’s not meat, it’s definitley not a veggie. I’m not sure what it is supposed to be. I’m not even sure that it’s actually supposed to be eaten. But I will never, ever, ever, ever, ever feed it to Eli or any other kid. It just seems like cruel and unusual punishment. Dad-oo swears that he was forced to eat it as a kid (Grandma denies that this ever happened), and will also never eat it. Unless of course he was dared to do it, and money was at stake. Like if he was offered, say, $5.00.

Oh, and this is yet another way that I’ve failed as a wanna be June Cleaver, always making healthy meals from scratch for the kiddo. I wonder what my June Cleaver score is? It’s probably not looking too good.

What foods do you feed your kids that just gross you out? Or what foods did you have to eat as a kid that you will never in your life subject your kids to?