Making Food More Fun With Kids

With all the hectic things that are going on in our lives - one thing is for sure - every day we have to eat - sometimes even three meals a day, plus snacks - crazy talk, I know.  With a house full of kids and time at a premium - one thing that helps things get a little less hectic is when I get my kids to actually help with dinner.  We try to do a rotation and every week one kid gets to decide the menu and make the food (with as much help from me as they would like). We have some rules, like they can't plan dessert for dinner, and they can pick what they prefer to eat (one actually picks beef and broccoli, one picks pasta, etc).

There are so many benefits of allowing them to plan and make their own food, since they get to help serve it, they get the pride of ownership and enjoy the food.  It requires a little prep (tell me on Sunday what you want to make for Wednesday night), so that all the ingredients are in the house. This method requires giving the child the appropriate amount of responsibility. If cutting skills are not yet there, then all cutting should be done by the adult, in advance or as the child is working on something else. The more the child helps in the kitchen for a particular meal - the more they are likely to eat it.  The meals have come out really well - and there are a ton of learning opportunities (be careful of fire, what do we do when things do not go as expected, etc) and quality time that takes place is truly priceless.

Another great idea is taking every opportunity to engage you kids in the food process. I find I can incorporate educational opportunities - like math skills - if we cut up these five potatoes, and we have ten potatoes - how many are left? There's history/geography - I am constantly (despite the eye rolling) sending my kids to our old set of encyclopedias to look up questions that come up regarding food.  Which state produces the most watermelons (Texas), and did you know they are 92% water (they are). And in Africa they grind up the seeds to make flour, and dry the flesh on prickly bushes.  As with life - food can be fun, educational, and relationship building.

Tips for making food more appealing to kids:

• Toothpicks/skewers:  Something about food being on the end of a stick (does it remind people of marshmallows?) really does something for making it more edible.  
• Dips: if the veggies are cut up and on the table with a bowl of hummus - they will eat that as a snack without batting an eye.  Cherry tomatoes, stalks of broccoli/cauliflower (either lightly boiled or defrosted from frozen), baby carrots, celery, cucumbers cut into spears - are all go to options. If you want to make your own bean dip - take your bean of choice and puree it with either some water, tehini, salt and pepper, and you'll have a protein packed dip in moments.  Your kids can pour the ingredients into the blender and hit the puree button - and voila - they made their own dip. 
• Cut up fruit: no dip needed - just cut up melon, washed grapes, cut apples, etc and have them available on the table. 
• Be an example: Kids will eat what you eat (generally speaking). What? If I say I only have two portions of the most delicious thing ever (whatever it is) - without question my kids will want to eat it.... In addition - studies have shown that kids are paying a great deal of attention to what the grown ups are doing (as opposed to what the grown ups are saying) - so if you're not eating any vegetables - they'll notice that.

Have kids help in the grocery store: ok, this one is tricky for me - sometimes I just want to get the grocery store shopping done quickly (or better yet online!) - but you can make a special trip to a specialty store and have them pick out unusual fruits/vegetables that they've never seen or tried.  Did you know that the most popular eggplant was originally white? (Hence the name - because it looked like an egg).  You can head to your local Asian/Ethnic/Farmer's market and find new things.
Choices: everyone likes choices - if you can offer two choices, "do you want an apple or a banana?" Sometimes this works (not always, and if you offer two choices they hate, that's not going to work) but the goal is to have them more involved in the process of eating.

Make fun food nights: You can have a color theme - everyone has to wear blue, and eat blueberries, blue potatoes, blue corn chips. Or orange: yams/sweet potatoes, orange peppers, orange juice, etc. Increasing the fun, increases how much they are engaged (and it makes family time fun time!).
Avoid Junk Food: the best way to have your kids not eat junk food is to not have it in the house. If it's in the house, there's a good chance they're going to eat it. Just saying.

I hope you have many successful meals together - and would love to hear your tips of how you get your kids to eat.  And remember, the real goal is to raise wonderful children - the food is just to give them energy to allow them to be their wonderful selves.

Join our email list for more recipes, plus news and discounts on Sweet and Good Catering and Portioned Meals.  Email: Bshor@sweetandgoodcatering.com with the word JOIN. Bracha Shor is the owner and chef of Sweet and Good Catering.