Nigel Denby says: " Just a bit of fun- but may ring some bells"
1. Do you read nutritional labels on any ready made sauces or meals that you buy?
a) Always
b) Sometimes
c) Rarely
d) I should but I’m usually in too much of a hurry
e) Never
f) I try not to buy ready-made foods
g) Occassionally in my own creations – life’s too short!
19-05-2008
2. Where do you get most of your meal ideas from?
a) Recipe books
b) I try to fit food to various festivals and occasions throughout the year
c) Magazines, but rarely get round to putting ideas into practice
d) In the supermarket or food hall
e) I give my kids what they want
f) Jamie Oliver, James Martin and Nigella
g) From years of experience
3. Do your meal choices vary according to the time of year?
a) Yes, I do more shepherd’s pies and casseroles in the winter
b) Yes, according to what I can find to celebrate
c) Not really
d) Yes, I buy a lot of pre-packaged salads in the summer
e) No, the kids have the same taste all year round
f) Yes, we do lots of barbecuing in the summer
g) No, we’re just trying out new cuisines
4. What sort of convenience foods do you most like using?
a) I like to try good quality ready-made sauces that add variety to chicken or pasta meals
b) Anything that ties in with a particular festival such as Chinese New Year
c) Ones that have healthy ingredients so long as the kids will eat them
d) Whatever I can get quickly when I pop into the food hall or supermarket
e) Anything the kids like
f) Healthy options that don’t have too much fat, sugar or salt in them
g) Ones that give me great tasting food and that I can add to my own recipes
5. Do you expect your children to be adventurous and try foods they wouldn’t usually sample?
a) Yes – I want my children to have a varied and interesting diet and to see food as a social event as well as just ‘fuel’
b) Yes – and I find they will try things if we are celebrating something about people from other cultures or countries
c) I’ve given up on that
d) I like them to try new things but don’t insist on it
e) No
f) Definitely. I think that healthy, varied food is a constant adventure
g) I’ve got no control over what my kids eat anymore!
6. What do you find most difficult about feeding your family?
a) I can’t really think of anything
b) Having to cook when I’d sooner spend more time with the children
c) When they go through stages of only being prepared to eat one thing
d) No time to cook from scratch
e) Other people telling me I should try to get them to eat healthier stuff
f) When they want to choose unhealthy options just because that’s how some of their friends eat
g) It’s not difficult anymore. I’m having much more fun with food now
Mostly As Mum Who Knows Best Mum
Mostly Bs Flora the Festive Mum
Mostly Cs Samantha The Stressed-Out Mum
Mostly Ds Tina the Time Poor Mum
Mostly Es Lindsay the Laid Back Mum
Mostly Fs Ginny The Mum Who’s a TV Cooks Fan
Mostly Gs The Happy Empty Nester
Christine Webber is a psychotherapist and lifecoach. She is also a regular broadcaster, the author of a dozen books, an agony aunt and a media spokesperson for a wide range of corporate and statutory organizations. In recent years, these have included: The Home Office, The Department for Work and Pensions, Inland Revenue, Marks and Spencer, Norwich Union, Green Flag, English National Ballet, Churchill Insurance, Gumtree, Yahoo Travel and Waitrose.
Christine has formulated the following seven typographies of mums for Uncle Ben’s. These have been drawn from research which has involved: observation, anecdotal comment, previous surveys in which she has been involved, and data collated by means of a qualitative questionnaire. This latter research was conducted during November 2007.
