Love your food and eating! Series: Post 2

Dinner time is one of the most valuable teaching and learning opportunities in daily life.  To do it well requires organization, planning and precise execution!  It makes sense then to include our kids at a young age in every step along the way, from menu planning to meal preparation, eating together and of course, cleaning up!  Every Monday for 4 weeks I will delve into each of these steps offering some great tips and strategies to make eating healthy a joyful experience for the whole family!    

A joyful dinner experience begins days before with menu planning.  I can tell you from experience that I have bypassed this step only to be left in the lurches, scrambling to think of something last minute to make!  Undoubtedly, this leads to me preparing the meal in a state of chaos and much less likely to enjoy what I eventually put in front of everyone.  On a more positive note, most of the time I do begin with this step and then find it so easy to consult my plan and know I have all the ingredients on hand to make the meal stress-free.  Also, note that the menu does NOT need to be pretty or take much time.  It just needs to be written down!

To make our planning all-inclusive, we have separated the week into one night per person.  We have six people in our family with the youngest being three years old and yes, even she gets a night!  She may not be all that helpful yet but she is excited to be involved.  When kids are excited about the process, they are more likely to love the result, greens and all!  We each get to choose our meal, keeping in mind that there must be veggies, grains and protein.  Note that veggies come first as they should be the largest portion on the plate.   We also do not allow repeat meals on back to back weeks.

Each person then figures out what ingredients are required and checks the pantry and fridge to see if it should be added the grocery list.  David Bach, author of the "Finish Rich" series of books, says there is much money to be saved by simply knowing what you have on hand, making a grocery list for what you don't and following that list at the store.  By doing this you will also be much more likely to use everything you buy, putting an end to wasted food (and money)! 

At the store, the family contribution continues.  Sometimes we split the list up and give each of our ten-year-olds their own to fulfill.  The youngest ones stay with us but are given an item to be on the lookout for.  We read ingredients together, analyse cost differences and discuss the impact each product might have on the environment via growing methods, shipping, and use of pesticides and hormones.  I know some people can hardly imagine shopping with the kids but I promise you that by engaging them in the process, they will be better behaved!  Our children are learning in this process WHY we are eating the food we do so that when they leave home someday, they will have the tools to continue to eat well. 

Usually by the time we get home from groceries, the last thing I feel like doing is unpacking , let alone preparing the produce for later, however, doing it at this point makes it easier to use in the future and more likely that it will all get eaten.  The kids can help here too.  We wash and cut carrots and celery, enough for a large container that we can easily grab for dinner prep as well as several small containers that are easy to grab for a healthy school snack.  The fruit all gets washed and put in the fruit bowl on the table so that when the smallest ones are hungry and dinner is not ready yet, they can quickly grab a snack without my help!  Once everything is neatly put away, with the week's menu proudly displayed on the fridge, I can sit back and relax, knowing that the week ahead is planned and everything is ready! 

It takes some time to follow these steps but in the end saves time and money, and most importantly, develops healthy life skills in the kids and deepens the family bond.  I am the first to admit that this is very idealistic but it is possible and I have done this many times and found it to be very successful.  Could you see yourself adding one or more of these steps to your family routine?  Are you already doing something else that works well for you?  I would love to hear other tips and anecdotes!