You may have heard of family meal planning or perhaps have been wondering what the fuss is all about.  Well, to put it simply family meal planning means planning your family’s meal to help you save time and money.

But beyond saving time and money there are some other great reasons for family meal planning.  By planning your meals and doing your shopping ahead of time, it’s easier to make sure your family eats healthy and balanced meals. 

It’s too easy to reach for the phone and order a pizza when everyone’s just gotten home from soccer practice and your fridge is empty. 

Fun Presentation – Kids love fun and colorful food.  Cut up some carrot sticks, cucumber rounds, sliced cherry tomatoes and sliced bell peppers and arrange them all in a plate.  You can make a face using the cucumber rounds for the eyes, carrot sticks for eyebrows, cherry tomatoes for nose and mouth and arrange the pepper strips to form the face.  Serve with hummus and cut pita bread on the side.

Make it Routine – Try to serve at least one veggie with each meal your child has.  You can alternate between salads and cooked or cut veggies but always serve at least one with each meal.  Your child may not eat them at first but if they see that veggies are a standard part of meal times they may just start trying them.

Set a Good Example – This one goes without saying.  Just like making veggies a routine part of meals it will also help kids to see mom and dad eating their greens.  Show your kids how nice veggies can be by filling your plate up.

Get Creative – Okay this is a little sneaky but definitely works.  Most kids love spaghetti so place some veggies such as broccoli, cauliflower, peppers into a food processor and whiz until liquid.  Add the mixture to your spaghetti sauce for a nutritious meal.  But make sure you don’t go overboard and add too many veggies as this will change the taste of the sauce.  The trick is to start out slow and gradually increase the amount of veggies as your kid’s taste palette changes.

Veggie Muffins – Add a little grated carrot or zucchini to your standard muffin recipe.  Banana carrot muffins are delicious and so are zucchini chocolate chip muffins.  You can also bake pumpkin muffins or cake.  This is a great way to give your kids a yummy treat and still ensure they’re getting a good serving of veggies.

The One Bite Rule – We have a rule in our house.  Even if the kids don’t like the look of the veggies they must at least try one bite.  If they actually don’t like it then they don’t have to eat it.  This avoids a lot of meal time tantrums and a lot of the times the kids will actually like the food once they taste it.  Try it you may be pleasantly surprised at how many different foods you kids will actually eat.