Planning a Meal? Include the Family
Most people recoil at the thought of sitting down and planning a meal a few days in advance. However, taking a couple of hours a week to plan a menu, jotting down your grocery list, and going to the store can you save you much more time over the week.
Arrange an evening or a weekend day to sit down with your family with a calendar. Attempt to do this at the same time each week to turn it into a family ritual. It is a good idea to include the whole family in this planning process for a number of reasons.
Your kids will not learn how to prepare and make nutritious, healthy snacks and meals unless they are taught from an early age.
Organising a journey to the local grocery store uses many skills that can be beneficial to children as well as planning ahead. They can learn about budgeting their money, managing time, storage management, bargaining and negotiation skills.
A lot of parents are already too busy. By getting the whole family involved, the workload can be shared out and the family gets a chance to spend some quality time together while performing an important chore for the upkeep of the family.
When children get involved from the beginning in the planning and selection of nutritious, healthy meals, they feel empowered and proud when their food choices make it onto the weekly menu. They will be more susceptible to trying new, healthy food when they have been involved in the selection process. Also, they will be learning good eating habits that will hopefully stay with them all their life.
This time spent together by your family will give you the chance to explain to your kids why you are making the changes to the menu, and why they are important for your and their general health.
