Family Feeding Tips and Products

Edamame is a good source of protein and fiber, so I like to keep it in the house for snacking. Costco has bags in the freezer section that you can steam in the microwave, but we also really like crunchy roasted edamame from "The Only Bean" because it comes in different fun flavors and is easy to pack for school snacks.

Post-workout, my teen likes to make himself a glass of chocolate milk.

Deli turkey is a good protein food that we usually have in the fridge. My kids will just roll up a piece and eat it for a snack.

Have your kids look at cook books or online recipes, write grocery lists, go shopping with you, let them pick out any produce item that they want to try. When kids are involved they are more apt to eat!

When it comes to picky eaters I try to veer away from making multiple meals only because I want my children to actually try something before just deciding "they just don't like" something. I have also found different ways to make meals and hide certain ingredients/foods they may not like and it definitely works. There are also times when I decide to "cave in" and just give that specific meal just to assure my picky eater is actually eating. Either way I'm learning to just be patient because children's appetites or what they may like changes as they grow.

I don’t have the time or energy to make extra meals so if they don’t like what I make, my kids have a choice to have peanut butter on bread (PB is a complete protein) so at least it’s something! They are asked to sit at the table with the meal I’ve prepped. Sometimes, their curiosity gets to them and they end up trying (and liking) what I’ve made 🙌🏻

Try making "build your own" meals. Put out a bunch of components and let each person pick and choose what they want. You're only making one meal, but it's customized for each person. We do build your own salads (greens and veggies, beans, chicken, cheese, croutons) or rice bowls (protein, rice, cheese, salsa, avocado, beans, mango) and these go over really well with my kids and their different food preferences. Picky eaters can enjoy their dinner "deconstructed" if they don't want their food touching.

My husband and I try to plan 3-4 meals for the coming week before the weekend is out, so we can make a plan for grocery shopping and actually cooking. We often invite the kids to each pick one meal for the week as well - they tend to eat it better when they've been involved in the planning in some way!

We have a binder of "greatest hits" recipes that we use almost exclusively for our family dinner rotation. My weekly meal planning involves picking recipes from the binder each weekend to meal plan for the week ahead, and I go to the grocery store once. I just have too many new recipe failures to bother wasting my time with trial and error on our busy weeknights. I'd rather cook something tried and true, and my kids would much rather eat something they already know they love. On the rare occasion that I cook something new and the family loves it, it gets printed out and added to the binder.

Yogurt!

Smoothies. But not ones made with too many seeds :)

Olives are braces friendly snacks! Trader Joe's sells small individual serving packs of pitted olives that are good for taking on the go.

Hummus and soft pita

Cheese quesadilla

Chicken nuggets

Cereal

Fish sticks

Banana

Sweet Potatoes

Baby oatmeal

Avocado

Peas and diced up onions for texture. Or, broccoli florets.

In a separate pan, saute onions, warm up Cream of Mushroom and add canned tuna. Mix this back into your cheddar macaroni and cheese for a "tuna casserole."

In a separate pan, saute onions in vegetable oil later adding a spoonful of tomato paste. Finish this with a pinch of cayenne pepper. This adds a warm kick to the mac.

Crumbled bacon and sliced green onions sprinkled on top, and minced chipotles in adobo stirred into the boxed mac and cheese for those who like spice!