Greetings from Southern Queensland

[Russell]

Hi All,

My name's Russell. Let me start off by saying our family are not yet Thermomix owners.

We have a son with Aspires & ADHD and want to try the FAILSAFE diet to see if food intolerance may be a contributing factor. We've known about the diet for years, but the difficulty of spending so much time on preparation in the kitchen has given us excuse not to try it. While browsing around the Fed Up website, I found a reference to someone else doing the diet using a Thermomix, and how much easier it made it for them. Well, this was about 3 days ago, and I'd never heard of a Thermomix.

Since then, I've been doing lots and lots of reading, and I must say, I'm impressed. Even without having had a demo, I'm practically sold. It's just that one minor sticking point about whether the money is better spent elsewhere or not. The fact I've signed up here and started contributing I think will give some money of my indication on that, but we do still want a demo. We've contacted Thermomix through the web site about having a demo, but haven't heard back from anyone yet.

If it works as well as it seems for everyone else, I think it will be a godsend in more than just meal preparations for us. If we can identify any food intolerance in our son with this diet, and stop the years of stress and heartache we've been going through, any amount of money is worth it. Before seeing what the Thermomix can do to simplify preparing food from raw ingredients to finished products, so quickly and with minimal mess, I would still only be thinking about attempting the diet. Instead I've ordered the Fed Up book and the FAILSAFE cookbook, and it's just the final decision on the Thermomix left to go.

In the meantime, I'll lurk here and enjoy looking at some of the scrumptious recipes you're all preparing, and gathering whatever other info I can on the Bimby

Russell.

[Ceejay]

Welcome Russell!

There are plenty of us SQ'ers on the forum.

Some even like myself who have an ASD/ADHD child as well!  He is definitely much easier to cope with whilst on his diet so for us it sure worked.  That said, it's been 8 years since we started the elimination diet.. but only 8 months since the TMX came to stay. 

It has cut down my day to day cooking time to around a third of what it was.. and now also includes more diverse recipes for my other 3 kids!

Here's to you finding your way soon!

[judydawn]

Welcome to the forum Russell.  Here's hoping you find every perceivable way of helping your son and if that includes buying a TMX and making all your own food from scratch then you've certainly done the right thing by finding us and the Thermomix. We have so many wonderful parents on this forum who are doing the right thing by their children with allergies etc - not only does it help the children but it has to make parenting so much more pleasurable as well.  Good luck with your efforts.

[achookwoman]

Welcome Russell,  just ask whatever you need to know and the good people here will try and help.

[cathy79]

Hi Russell

Hope you're enjoying your lurking.  This thread will give you some indication of the results some of us have seen from changing the diets of our children.   I hope you find it helpful, and give you some ideas of things to try.

Where in Southern Queensland are you?  There are quite a few owners around the Darling Downs region.

Fire away with any questions you have so you can make an informed decision.
Cathy

[Nay-nay]

Hi Russell - I'm a consultant who does cooking demo's. I'm in yarraman are you anywhere close?? I too am a fan of Sue Dengate and read her book after my first child - that's nearly 12 yrs ago!! If you noticed the 'nasty food awards' given away to slush puppies last year - that was me that nominated them - that's my claim to fame! LOL  Anyway you'll have plenty on here to keep you busy reading for a while. All the best! 

[Russell]

Where in Southern Queensland are you?  There are quite a few owners around the Darling Downs region.

Thanks all for the welcome.

Cathy, I'll check out the thread. We're just 10 minutes west of Cunninghams Gap, 30k east of Warwick. Sorry Nay-Nay, a bit far from Yarraman

We moved out here 2 years ago to get away from the hustle & bustle of living in Brisbane. Unfortunately, I still work in brisbane during the week as I'm in I.T. and there's not much call for that in Rural areas yet.

Ceejay, thanks for your reply. Finding someone in a similar situation to ours and hearing how the TMX has helped is really what we need to know just now. Wow 8 years hey? That's a long time. We actually did try the diet about 6 or 7 years ago I think it was, but at the time my wife & I were both working, and there just wasn't enough time in the day to do everything, so we gave up before we got too far I'm afraid. Now my wife is not working anymore, and we have a new home with a big well laid out kitchen, as opposed to the shoebox we had back then, we're hoping it'll be easier.

Russell.

[Nay-nay]

I'm sure someone will be in contact real soon! 

[Very Happy Jan]

Welcome Russell
I don't know Qld well, so not sure if anyone on this list is close

http://www.forumthermomix.com/index.php?topic=1297.0

Hope someone gets back to you soon.

[Russell]

Welcome Russell
I don't know Qld well, so not sure if anyone on this list is close

http://www.forumthermomix.com/index.php?topic=1297.0

Hope someone gets back to you soon.

Thanks. I looked at that list. There's 2 about 3 hours drive away, the rest are about 18 hours drive away There are some Demo's coming up in Brisbane at times I can't make it, so i wonder who puts them on?

I've emailed Thermomix again asking about demo, so we'll see. The MIL has waded into the fray now and thinks we could get by with the utensils and appliances we have. She wouldn't spend the money, although she agrees it looks good.

Russell.

[cathy79]

Russell, I'm not a consultant - just a obsessed cook who would love to share the joy.  If you're interested in seeing one in action, you'd be welcome to visit sometime you're in Toowoomba and have a look.  Then if it's worthwhile, you can travel to Brisbane.

[Russell]

Russell, I'm not a consultant - just a obsessed cook who would love to share the joy.  If you're interested in seeing one in action, you'd be welcome to visit sometime you're in Toowoomba and have a look.  Then if it's worthwhile, you can travel to Brisbane.

Thanks Cathy,

I've just found your thread on bulk buys in the Darling Downs - only on page 1 currently. I was just saying to Damaris (my DW) this morning that we'll need to find bulk stuff after the poor showing Woolies in warwick had yesterday when I was looking for FAILSAFE foods, so I'm sure we'll have lots to talk about

Russell.

[versaceyoyo]

Hi Russell, I'm in Toowoomba as well and you would be welcome to check out my machine any time.  In addition to controlling what goes into your son's food, I think the main attraction for someone in your situation would be time saved in the kitchen.  It really is mind-boggling how much you can achieve in such little time.  I used to find meal times stressful with a perfectly healthy toddler demanding my time - now I literally 'set and forget' and when dinner is ready, I am called into the kitchen.

Anyway, I don't want to sound like I'm trying to sell you on it (I'm just a user, not a consultant) but I gather if you're on here, you would like to hear people's experiences of the machine.  You may have tapped into a slightly biased resource, however!

[Russell]

Anyway, I don't want to sound like I'm trying to sell you on it (I'm just a user, not a consultant) but I gather if you're on here, you would like to hear people's experiences of the machine.  You may have tapped into a slightly biased resource, however!

Yes well that's one of the surprising things. The internet is renowned for portraying things in a bad light, as people usually only bother posting when they want to complain. But I've searched & searched for con's of the TMX, and found virtually nothing! So I know it's no use asking for opinions on the machine here, as it's quite obvious

I'm not sure if I'm looking for excuses to justify buying one, but I dragged out our blender/food processor (a not inexpensive model as food processors go) yesterday to try and make Cashew Butter as our first FAILSAFE replacement for peanut butter. I chucked the cashews in the blender, and it did a moderate job of pulverising them. Then when I added the butter and it almost churned to a stop, then the maple syrup, there was no mixing going on. The blades were spinning underneath it all, but the ingredients weren't moving. I had to keep poking it with a spoon to get the blades moving the mixture.

The replacement for Strawberry Jam was next - Pear jam. So I tried to blend up a time of pear halves. Same result! The pears touching the blades were chopped, but none of the other pieces were pulled into the blades. Out with the spoon again - stop-poke-start-stop-poke-start-stop-poke-start. I was getting very cranky by the end of it and telling my DW that I'm sure the Thermomix would have had this all done ages ago.

Russell.

[judydawn]

Oh Russell,  you must ditch that food processor and buy yourself a thermomix ASAP.  Take the girls up on their offer and go visit them to see how easy this machine will process things you need to make for your son.