Making the most of mealtime
Whether you work or stay at home, it seems like mealtime is always a struggle with little ones. These tips will help you minimize struggles, save time and energy, and provide your family with nutritious meals that you can feel good about.
1. Investment cooking – a little advanced planning when you do have time can help you put a home cooked meal on the table when you don’t.
a. When you have extra time, cook extra. We all know to make extra spaghetti sauce and meatballs, but there are more ways to invest in your mealtime future. Browning a pound of ground beef for something? Brown an extra pound or two. Freeze in 1 lb bags and pull out when you need it.
b. Make meatloaf in a muffin pan. Freeze the muffins. Pull out one or two for a child’s meal. Freeze cooked pasta. To thaw, pour boiling water over it. To portion, freeze in a muffin pan. Pop out the frozen portions and put in a large Ziploc bag.
c. Make extra waffles and pancakes. Mom’s frozen waffles toast just as nicely as the ones from the grocery store.
d. If you think about your weekly meals ahead of time, the leftover roasted chicken can be used for chicken pot pie later in the week. Chop vegetables one day for a casserole and save some for tomorrow’s stir fry. Thinking about use of leftovers ahead of time can save money and keep your family from thinking they are eating “used food”.
e. Make extra soup, chili, etc. Freeze in freezer bags in portions you will use. Maybe a few individual portions as well as one for the whole family. Freeze cornbread to go with it. Slice into squares and freeze on a cookie sheet covered in parchment paper. Once frozen, place squares into a freezer bag.
f. Bake an extra chicken breast. Chop up later in the week for chicken quesadillas, quick chicken soup, chicken salad, etc.
g. When you make cookies, freeze extra for later. Freeze fully baked cookies or freeze the dough balls on a parchment paper lined cookie sheet. Once frozen, pop them in a freezer bag. When you want a few freshly baked cookies, take a couple out and bake. That way, you won’t go through them all in a day.
h. Think ahead. Chop extra veggies and freeze in ice cube trays. Pop them out and add to casseroles. Freeze homemade applesauce in small disposable containers. Take one out the night before and give your child homemade applesauce with breakfast, lunch, or dinner.
2. Creativity
a. When you use a melon ball sized scoop for your ice cream, you can offer your child 3 scoops of ice cream instead of one. Cookies will all be the same size, cutting down on sibling squabbles. You can portion out tuna and chicken salad, one ice cream scoop to a portion or 3 melon ball scoops to a portion. Make jello jigglers in a well-greased muffin pan. All treats are the same size.
b. A sandwich can be cut in half in a variety of ways. Be creative with it. Cut with cookie cutters to make shapes. Make reindeer sandwiches at Christmas. Zigzag cut a sandwich that has been bitten by a shark. Use a tortilla to roll a sandwich into a rollup. Cut the crust off fresh bread, spread with cream cheese or PB&J, and roll up. Slice into “sushi” and serve with carrot and celery sticks. Cracker sandwiches are a fun treat. Cut up cheese, offer tuna and sliced ham, serve on saltines. Give your child the pieces, and they can create the meal as they like.
c. Dips! Kids love to dip! Make an easy peanut butter and honey dip by mixing the two to taste. Serve with pretzels, apple slices (Keep them fresh after slicing by placing them in orange juice), celery. Serve sliced veggies with ranch dip. Make a taco dip: ground beef and taco seasoning, mix with sour cream, tomatoes, cheese, or whatever you want. Serve with tortilla chips.
d. Add (hide) veggies in all sorts of things! Shredded carrots mix well in tomato sauce. Shredded zucchini add flavor to meatloaf. Some say kids eat more veggies when they are pureed. Blend cooked broccoli or cauliflower, cream cheese, and spices. Cooked carrots can be blended with a little butter, salt, and maybe even some cinnamon. Don’t give up on a vegetable after one try. It takes 10-15 tries before a true taste is developed, and sometimes, it just takes a different presentation. (Take a tip from Jessica Seinfeld and add vegetable purees into much of your food. Deceptively Delicious)
e. Make spinach pesto! Blend baby spinach, fresh basil, olive oil, parmesan cheese and pine nuts (try pistachios, too). When you have achieved your desired consistency, toss with pasta or use as an alternative to red sauce on pizza. Freeze in an ice cube tray and pull out one or two cubes for a quick meal.
f. Make worthwhile switches. Brown rice is much healthier than white. Cook it in chicken or vegetable stock to add flavor. Why start your children off with white bread when we already know wheat is healthier? Once they are comfortable eating wheat bread, move up to breads filled with whole grains. Use half whole wheat pasta and half regular pasta in macaroni and cheese and other baked dishes. Sweet potatoes are better for you than white and make delicious baked french fries.
3. Baby food – yes, you can make it yourself, save money, and be in charge of exactly what your child eats. (refer to www.wholesomebabyfood.com for more info, but here are a few pointers). Freeze pureed food in ice cube trays. When frozen, pop out and store in freezer bags labeled with the date and type of food. One cube is about an ounce. Take out and thaw as many as you need for each meal.
a. Puree canned veggies for an easy homemade baby food.
b. When cooking vegetables for your family, cook extra and remove before adding spices and butter. Puree the soft vegetables.
c. When you make your own baby food, you can control the thickness. Rather than spending money on several stages of store bought food, you can control how pureed the food is and how big the chunks are. Once your baby is ready for more solid food, offer bite size chunks instead of pureeing. It is an easy transition.
d. Crushed cheerios make a great topping for yogurt and fruit and give your baby texture to experiment with. Roll banana slices in cheerio crumbs to make them easier for your baby to pick up. This works for many slippery foods.
e. Remember to offer your baby variety.
4. Do it myself ideas – Kids love to do things on their own. Some won’t let you do anything for them at an early age. Here are some pointers to give your children jobs in the kitchen as well as safe ways to have your child do things on his/her own.
a. Have your child spread peanut butter or cream cheese with a plastic knife
b. Let your child cut/slice canned peaches, waffles, pancakes, cooked chicken, etc. The more they can do on their own, the better. Be sure to model correct use of a knife. You can use a popsicle stick if your child is too young for a knife. Practice cutting between mealtimes using a plastic knife on play dough.
c. Washing fruit, veggies – let your child wash with a wet paper towel before you cut the fruit or veggies
d. Hand silverware and napkins to your child so they can help set the table. Children as young as two can lend a hand.
e. Set a stool by your silverware drawer and have your child help put the silverware away when emptying the dishwasher. Make sure there are no sharp knives.
f. Have your child help you do the shopping. Give him a picture list with a few things on it so he can look for the things on his list. Start this process before you leave for the store by giving your child a piece of paper and pen to “write” their own list while you complete yours.
g. Serve dinner family style so your child can learn to serve himself and portion his own food. Serve applesauce, rice, macaroni, shredded cheese for topping, etc. in a small bowl so your child can scoop it out onto his/her plate. Put milk in a small pitcher for your child to pour (remember, only pour halfway because they can always have more, and less is easier to clean up when they spill). Give children the opportunity to spread their own butter, cream cheese, jelly, etc.
h. Have a snack basket for your independent children. Stock with acceptable snacks in individual servings (raisins, cereal bars, crackers, etc.). When they want a snack, tell them they can choose one thing from the basket. If the basket is within reach, they can serve themselves after asking you when your hands are tied. Teach your child how to open pre-packaged snacks. When they head off to school, there is not always someone right there to help them open each package.
i. Have juice and milk cups or juice boxes on a low shelf in the fridge. After asking you, your child can get it out themselves when your hands are tied.
j. Relax your standards in the kitchen when your children help (trust me, this comes from a perfectionist who finds it very hard to end up with food that looks like a child made it). They can help stir, roll, measure, etc. Cooking with kids is an excellent way to help them learn math, following directions, cause and effect, and chemistry. Let them learn by mistakes and make predictions about what they think will happen.
