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If you're worried about trying to strike the healthy balance between good nutrition and allowing your children freedom around food choices, you are not alone. Catherine Jeans, aka ‘The Foodie Know-It-All’, is a family nutritionist who is sharing her top tips to help your kids make the right choices when it comes to snacking and meal times.

Catherine's tips

Put healthy food in their eye line

If your kids tend to help themselves to whatever is in the cupboard, fridge or worktop, put healthy foods and snacks in their eye line so it’s easier to make the right choices. This way, you are empowering them to feel in control of their food.   You can put a fruit bowl on the worktop, some chopped up veggies or low sugar yogurts in the fridge or nutritious cereal bars in the cupboard.   Whilst sugary foods can be enjoyed as an occasional treat, try not to put these on your regular shopping list. This way, they won’t be in the house and accessible all the time.

Let them make a meal choice

Each week, let your children make a meal choice. This gives them ownership over their meals and gives them a chance to explore and learn about nutritious food.   Give them the choice between healthy meals like spaghetti bolognese or chicken curry, baked cod and jacket potatoes or falafel, wraps and salad.    By getting involved in the kitchen, children are more likely to embrace healthy foods. Let them chop up the vegetables, or even make a meal from scratch with you assisting as they grow in confidence.   Children are much more likely to tuck into something they have helped prepare!

Use positive language around food

Tell your children all about the great things they can eat, and why they are good for them instead of talking about ‘bad foods’ they need to cut out.   For example, if broccoli is a struggle, tell your kids that it’s packed with iron which will give them bigger muscles!  Model healthy eating yourself too by tucking into vegetables with your meals. Children learn eating habits from parents and carers so it’s important to show them this.

Meal prep

Meal prepping can save you money and time if you are too busy to make fresh meals on a daily basis.

Start with your weekly shopping list. Try to plan out what meals you will have throughout the week and only buy the ingredients you will need for them. This will save money, reduce any potential food waste and save time spent on deciding what to make for tea.

Next, you can chop and slice the vegetables you use most often and keep them in an airtight container in the fridge or freezer. That way, you’ll be able to grab a handful of veggies quickly when preparing meals throughout the week.

You could also dedicate a couple of hours to preparing full meals for the week and keep them fresh by popping them in the freezer and defrosting when required.
 If some of your family members have different food preferences, you can make one meal with different variations. Start with a food that you know everyone will like - this might be the protein like chicken or salmon. Build from there, making a small variety of carbohydrates and vegetables that the family can pick and choose from.  Preparing healthy food doesn’t have to be expensive. Switching to wholegrain foods like brown bread, pasta or rice, will keep your children full for longer which may help to reduce snacking between meals.  If they don’t like wholegrain alternatives, you can start with the 50/50 versions and combine them with plenty of protein and vegetables. These slow carbs and protein are released gradually by the body, keeping us fuller for longer.

Hide the veggies

If your children do not like to eat vegetables no matter what you try, there are many ways to hide them so that they have no idea they are there - genius!

You can grate carrots and courgettes using a lemon grater to make them super small. They can be added to spaghetti bolognese or shepherd's pie.   You can also blend vegetables to make sauces. For pasta sauce for example, you can cook some onions, garlic, tinned tomatoes, carrots and pepper and then blend together.   Sometimes, children prefer salad instead of vegetables so whilst you’re serving up the main meal, make a plate of salad that they can pick on.

Activities to try at home

Have a 'rainbow food challenge'

Each family member has to cook a recipe, and see if they can sneak in as many colours of the rainbow as possible with the vegetables and fruits.    For example, you might try home-made burgers with coleslaw, adding grated carrot, apple, purple cabbage and fennel to the coleslaw, and some kidney beans into the burgers?  Or how about blueberry muffins, with added pumpkin seeds?  Or a carrot cake, with added raisins and walnuts?   Whoever adds the most colours wins!

Make 'superfood chocolate bark'

A great way to use up excess amounts of Easter chocolate is to melt it all down, and make it into Superfood Chocolate Bark!  Melt the chocolate in a bowl over a pan of boiling water on a gentle heat – once melted, take it off the heat, and then allow your children to stir through some of their favourite healthy ingredients like dried fruits, raisins, almonds, pumpkin seeds or puffed rice.
 Then pour into a lined baking tray and allow it to set in the fridge to look like bark from a tree! You’re instantly adding goodness to their favourite sweet treat!

Catherine's video

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