Key Takeaway: Plan Prepare Pack is a powerful tool to save time and money while making delicious and healthy meals for your family. This is truly a game changer for parents!
Ensuring our children maintain healthy eating habits can be challenging amidst busy schedules and the allure of convenient, but often less nutritious, food options. However, with the right approach, parents can instill lifelong habits that promote health and well-being. One effective strategy is the Plan, Prepare, Pack method—a simple yet powerful trio that empowers families to make healthier food choices. In this blog, we’ll delve into the benefits of Plan, Prepare, Pack and explore practical tips for implementing this approach to support your child’s nutrition.
The first step in fostering healthy eating habits is to plan ahead. Planning meals and snacks in advance allows you to make thoughtful choices and ensures that nutritious options are readily available. Begin by creating a weekly meal plan that includes a variety of fruits, vegetables, whole grains, lean proteins, and dairy or dairy alternatives. Involving your children in the planning process can make them feel invested in their food choices and more likely to embrace healthier options.
Benefits of Planning:
- Promotes Balanced Nutrition: Planning meals in advance helps ensure that your child receives a balanced diet with the necessary nutrients for growth and development.
- Reduces Impulse Eating: By having a plan in place, you’re less likely to resort to quick-fix, less nutritious options when hunger strikes.
- Saves Time and Money: Planning meals ahead of time can streamline grocery shopping and meal preparation, saving you time and money in the long run.
Once you’ve outlined your meal plan for the week, it’s time to prepare ingredients and meals in advance. This step not only saves time during busy weekdays but also increases the likelihood of following through with your healthy eating intentions. Set aside some time each week to wash, chop, and portion out fruits, vegetables, and other ingredients for easy access. You can also prepare some protein, like chicken or fish, that can “multi-task”. You can have chicken with vegetables one day and the a day or two later, you can shred up the leftover chicken for chicken tacos or chicken salad. This way you’re preparing fewer types of foods, but able to use them in multiple ways.
Benefits of Preparation:
- Encourages Healthier Choices: Having prepped fruits, vegetables, and other healthy snacks readily available makes it easier for children to choose nutritious options over less healthy alternatives.
- Reduces Stress: Preparing ingredients and meals in advance can alleviate the stress of mealtime decision-making and minimize last-minute scrambling to put together a meal.
- Builds Cooking Skills: Involving children in meal preparation can teach them valuable cooking skills and foster a sense of independence and confidence in the kitchen.
The final component of the Plan, Prepare, Pack approach is packing nutritious meals and snacks to take on the go. Whether it’s for school, extracurricular activities, or family outings, packing meals and snacks ensures that your child has access to healthy options throughout the day.
Benefits of Packing:
- Promotes Portion Control: Packing meals and snacks allows you to control portion sizes and ensure that your child receives appropriate servings of different food groups.
- Provides Convenience: Having pre-packed meals and snacks on hand makes it convenient to grab and go, whether you’re heading to school, the playground, or a sports practice.
- Fosters Independence: Encouraging children to pack their lunches or choose their snacks empowers them to make healthy food choices and take ownership of their nutrition.
A few Practical Tips to keep your family eating healthy include:
- Involve Children: Encourage your children to participate in meal planning, preparation, and packing. Let them choose fruits, vegetables, and snacks they enjoy increasing their investment in healthy eating. Farms and green markets are a great place for kids to see lots of different foods “straight from nature” without all the packaging at the grocery
- Teach Children About Nutrition: They are never too young to learn about different nutrients in foods and ask them “Carrots help which part of your body?” and other age appropriate questions.
- Use Colorful Containers: Invest in colorful and fun containers to make packing meals and snacks more appealing to children. Bento boxes or compartmentalized containers can help keep different foods separated and visually appealing.
- Use Fun Utensils: Kids love to eat in different ways – try chopsticks or with your fingers “for regionally appropriate dishes” Also use cookie cutters to cut foods into fun shapes. It can be much more appealing to children
- Experiment with New Recipes: Explore new recipes and cuisines together as a family to keep meals interesting and exciting. Encourage children to try new foods and flavors to expand their palate and culinary repertoire.
- Read Fun Books About Food
- Get Your Hands Dirty, Together: Start a small garden or grow herbs in small pots on your window sill
Incorporating the Plan, Prepare, Pack method into your family’s routine can be a game-changer when it comes to fostering healthy eating habits in children. By planning meals, preparing ingredients in advance, and packing nutritious options to take on the go, parents can set their children up for success and instill lifelong habits that promote health and well-being. Remember, it’s never too early to start teaching children about the importance of nutrition and healthy eating—it’s a gift that will benefit them for years to come.