Common Cuisine |

Are your kids picky eaters? Young children are notoriously finicky when it comes to eating stuff that’s good for them, but parents and caretakers are still in a position to influence the eating habits of the next generation. I read the other day that the primary vegetable consumed by the under-5 crowd is french fries. Don’t know about you, but that gives me a bit of a shudder as I think about the future.

Here are some ideas for how you can work together with your young ones to develop healthy eating habits that will last a lifetime.

1. Plant a garden. Even something as simple as a few potted herbs in your windowsill can be a source of fascination as kids experience the thrill of planting a seed, watering it, watching it grow, and then using bits of it in meal preparation.

2. Expose children to veggies frequently. A plate of cut up strips of bell pepper on the counter before dinner may be met with upturned noses; but if no other options are given, it just may disappear into young tummies wandering through the kitchen in search of snacks.

3. If at first you don’t succeed, try, try again. Continue to expose your children to veggies and healthy choices over and over, and what was once a strange new food will eventually become familiar. Kids are not fans of new and strange, but may more readily attempt something they have seen on their plate several times before.

4. Set a good example. For some reason, my kids will scarf food off of my plate, when they have already rejected the exact same food on their own plate. When kids see you eating lots of veggies, whole grains, and plain yogurt, they are more likely to develop a taste for it themselves.

5. Build your meals around vegetables, instead of making them an afterthought. An appropriately built meal consists of half a plate of veggies, with the other half divided between protein and grain foods. Get out your spice box, and utilize that herb garden to vary the flavor and smell of your veggies.

With patience and persistence, your kids will expand their tastes and develop healthy eating habits that will benefit them throughout their lives.

Weekly sales fliers came out yesterday. I went ahead and made my list, in case anyone wants to take advantage of my time already spent.

I am going to publish my shopping list and meal plans for this/next week. If you find this useful, please drop me a line to let me know, as that will motivate me to continue it!

Monday is shopping day, but these sales are valid through next Tuesday. Items with * are on sale. Items marked with (S) are ones I will not be needing in the next two weeks, but are a good price for stocking up. Hope it’s helpful!

Sam’s Club
Bananas
Romaine lettuce hearts (unless I get to the FM this weekend)

HEB
*cucumbers
*mango
*greenhouse tomatoes
*athenos feta cheese
*(S)ground chuck
smoked sausage (w/ coupons for:)
*tortillas (free!)
*ranch beans (free!)
Kraft string cheese (w/ coupon for:)
*lunchable (free!)
HEB yogurt 4/4oz packs)

Albertsons
*seedless watermelon
*(S)Ragu sauce
*DiGiornio Pizzas (3 for $10)
*(S)ground turkey

Kroger
*pineapple
*broccoli crowns
*(S)rice-a-roni
*tortillas
*fritos
*Kroger yogurt
*artichokes!!!!!
*organic strawberries
*celery hearts
pie crust
olives
spaghetti noodles
canned mushrooms

Would you like to give yourself a break from the kitchen for a week? It’s not hard to do, it just takes a little bit of strategy.
I know that planning is the hardest part of keeping up with the family’s needs, but it really involves about the same amount of thought it takes to get dinner on the table on any given night. You just have to do a little more thinking at one time, instead of a little bit every day. If you want to really knock yourself out and cook meals for a whole month in one weekend, I’ll address that in another article; the following are just a few strategies for how to slowly build up a surplus so you can take a sanity break when you need it.

Double Up So here is what I recommend: Look at your roster of freezable dinners. If you need ideas, check out our quick lasagna, layered enchiladas, chicken pot pie, and invent-your-own casserole recipes. Plan to make one of those for your family each week for the next three weeks. When you purchase supplies, get enough for twice what you need, and when you make it, make two. It doesn’t take that much more work. Then by the fourth week you will have three dinners already made. You can take three nights off that week, or you can keep going until you have enough to take a serious break all at once.

Before beginning this strategy, take a look at your baking dishes. If you don’t have enough to keep so many in the freezer, you can invest in disposable containers or else try the lift-out strategy. With the lift-out strategy, line the pan you intend to eventually bake the dish in with a layer of aluminum foil, then a layer of plastic wrap, each with enough material to eventually wrap over the top. Make sure to spray the plastic wrap with cooking spray; assemble the dish and freeze it, then lift it out and finish wrapping it with the plastic wrap and foil. Mark the item name on the foil with a Sharpie marker, then you are ready to add it to your treasure trove of pre-made dinners!

Intentional Leftovers Another way to cook less is to make a huge dinner one night, knowing you will see the rest of it in three days. That’s the limit in my house for how soon we can repeat a meal. When I want a break and really have my act together (doesn’t usually happen at the same time, but on occasion it does!) I will make roast beef on Sunday, layered enchiladas on Monday, and some kind of baked chicken on Tuesday. Then Wednesday we have roast beef again, Thursday is nachos and the rest of the Mexican sides from Monday, and Friday we either have chicken salad or eat out and have the chicken salad for lunch on Saturday.

Recipes I recommend for this strategy are any of the freezable dinners, chicken stuffing bake, chicken zucchini bake, roast beef, and deluxe macaroni and cheese. Or use your own family favorites.

Pre-cook and Pre-portion I always watch the circulars for meat sales. I just won’t buy it at full price. We eat a lot of Italian sausage, so when that goes on sale for half price, I stock up. But instead of freezing whole links, I crumble and fry up the whole batch as soon as I get home. I divide it into small portions and freeze it that way. Then when spaghetti night comes, it’s a snap to thaw the packet for a minute before throwing it into the sauce. By the time the water heats and the noodles cook, the sausage is heated through (not to mention the salad is made, the garlic toast is broiled and we are ready to eat)!

Another excellent item to have on hand is cut up, cooked chicken. So when the roasting chickens go on sale, I buy a couple and cook them up that afternoon. It takes a little work to debone them that day, but by the time it is done I have enough cut up, cooked chicken pieces for four meals, with the same amount of work it would have taken to cook one of those meals.

Mix it up When you have full dinners on hand, you may find you have more energy to occasionally make something that doesn’t repeat as well. Ideally I like to have something like stir fry, spaghetti, jambalaya, or even a big salad on a regular basis so we don’t get burned out on freezer fare.

All you have to do is choose one item from each of the following categories, and you’ve got a basic meal. Now you just have to decide how to cook it! For entertaining, add a starter, a salad, and a dessert.

PROTEIN

• Chicken or Turkey

• Ground Beef
• Beef (Roast, Ribs, Steaks)
• Pork (Chops, Roast, Ribs)
• Ham, Sausage or Bacon
• Fish or Shellfish
• Cheese
• Tofu
• 2 of 3: Beans, Rice, Corn

VEGETABLE

• Artichokes

• Asparagus
• Broccoli
• Carrots
• Corn
• Cucumber
• Eggplant
• Green Beans
• Mushrooms
• Peas
• Salad
• Squash

STARCH

• Beans

• Bread
• Pasta
• Potato
• Rice
• Tortillas
• Fruit