Meet Lynsey MacFadyen

"Children watch what you eat more than you realise. I was noticing Summer take on some of my bad eating habits and I knew I needed to change this. She used to always ask for ready meals but now she asks for fresh fruit and homemade recipes for tea."

"I want to prove to my friends that it doesn’t have to be difficult or expensive to cook things from scratch. A lot of people I know just make ready meals for dinner because they don’t think they’re capable or that it costs a lot of money, but I’m living proof that it can be done."

"Although Summer can be a fussy eater at times, I think the key is getting her to try new things. I’ve found Summer is much more likely to try something if she’s directly involved in the preparation and cooking process. I give her one of those safe-knives which she uses to help me prepare and chop fruit and veg. I also involve Summer into the cooking process as much as possible. I’ll ask her what she wants for dinner because I know that if she has a say in what we plan to eat that week, then she is more likely to eat it."

"Summer will eat all kinds of fruit, but she has always struggled with trying new types of vegetables like mushrooms.  To overcome this, I blend veg like mushrooms, peppers and tomatoes into Summer’s favourite recipe, spaghetti Bolognese. Summer doesn’t know the difference. Summer also never used to like eating cauliflower so I blend and boil the veg to make cauliflower rice."

"I’ve attended a lot of cooking classes at the local church, and sometimes I’ll bring my daughter along. I’ve learned how to make a variety of different recipes including stir fries, burgers and pizza bases. I love knowing how to make a meal from scratch like a Chinese stir fry. The cooking class taught me how to make the sauce for this recipe and it’s great to know that it’s cheaper and healthier than the takeaway alternative."