Pleasing Kid Meals: EZ in No Time
Satisfy Picky Eaters With Minimal Prep
Make a weekly menu plan together that will allow for one-time prep for a multitude of ingredients.
— Jackie Keller, professional health coach and executive chef
Whether you're shuttling your kids to soccer practice or helping them with their homework, cleaning up messes or doing mountains of laundry, you've probably wished you could clone yourself just to get it all done.
And that's before you've even started cooking dinner.
If your attempts to make meals that appeal to the kids just leave you exhausted and frustrated with your children's reactions, a quick fix is on the horizon. These simple tips will allow you to serve your kids nutritious, delicious meals with minimal prep.
Add a Healthy Kick to Your Kids' Favorite Meals
No one likes to spend time they don't have. Even worse is spending it in the kitchen creating a fabulous and healthy meal that your kids just push away with a grimace and a request for "something good" -- which usually means a nutrient-lacking kid's classic like mac 'n' cheese.
It is, however, possible to fix meals children typically like and make them healthy for the entire family, says Jackie Keller, professional health coach and executive chef of Los Angeles' NutriFit, a premier health food company. Start with dishes you know they love, then kick up the healthiness factor. In other words, if you already know your little ones prefer to eat mac 'n' cheese, peanut butter and jelly or some other basic for every meal, use these foods as a starting point, and then add healthy ingredients.
Children tend to like enchiladas, for example, Keller says, "all kinds -- particularly chicken." So cook up some easy enchiladas for the kids, but think smart and mix in veggies and reduced-fat cheeses. It can speed things along even further if you buy precut or frozen vegetables to help scale down the prep time.
Make the Freezer Your New BFF
Make easy-prep meals in advance and store them in the freezer for a quick serving on a busy school night. Consider making turkey or lean beef chili. Try to use less meat and more beans to make it healthier, suggests Keller.
Even if you haven't already made a meal and stored it, the freezer is still your friend. Head straight to it for the fastest sort of meal prep, recommends Rania Batayneh, a San Francisco-based nutritionist and the author of "The 1:1:1 Diet."
"You can make an entire meal from freezer items, such as meatballs paired up with a frozen veggie-topped pizza," Batayneh said.
Better yet, try to use the same base protein or meats in different ways to speed up the preparation of family dinners. For instance, cook several pounds of ground turkey at the beginning of the week, then freeze it to make tacos, spaghetti meat and even chili for your weeknight dishes. All you'll have to do is add a few veggies and some spices to the meat, and your meals will be ready for the dinner table within minutes each night.
Use What You've Already Bought
Leftovers can be made into delicious meals your kids will love, too, said Bridget Swinney, Texas-based registered dietitian and author of "Healthy Food for Healthy Kids." Save some marinara sauce from Monday night's spaghetti dinner to make pizza the next night with a premade crust. Use leftover or canned chicken from Wednesday night's meal to wrap as quesadillas or enchiladas for Thursday night. And leftover tuna salad from Friday's sandwiches is easily mixed into a tuna casserole for a Saturday meal. Make these quick-and-easy meals healthier by adding pineapple to chicken salad or using wheat-based pizza crusts and bread.
Make One-Pot Meals
One-pot meals or slow cooker recipes can make the prep simpler, too. Think ahead, and while your children are chomping on cereal in the morning, you can toss cooked or canned chicken breasts, water and cream of mushroom soup in the slow cooker for dinner. Within four to six hours, you'll have a healthy and delicious kid-friendly meal that can be served over white rice or cooked noodles. Or get your gourmet game on by combining beef stew meat with mushroom soup and your choice of veggies. After eight to 10 hours of cooking in the slow cooker, mix in cream cheese and sour cream for a zesty beef stroganoff.
Plan Ahead
In the end, though, there's just no avoiding it: planning is a parent's best resource when aiming to speed up mealtime preparation. "The most important step to saving time and money is to plan ahead and pre-prep," said Bridget Swinney, Texas-based registered dietitian and author of "Healthy Food for Healthy Kids." Plan your meals in advance, at the beginning of the week, so you can arrange your pantry ingredients in the order they will be needed. Chopping an onion for one meal? Chop extra and refrigerate for the next meal. Making pasta or rice? Double up and freeze the extra.
Reduce the stress of trying to please the entire family by involving your children in the planning for weekly meals. "Make a weekly menu plan together that will allow for one-time prep for a multitude of ingredients," Keller said. Have your children suggest menu items and write down the ingredients needed for each meal. "Kids can contribute greatly to meals, and they learn a lot in the process," said Swinney. "Plus, it's quality family time."
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