Grocery Shopping With Your Children
Getting your children to try new foods, especially the ones you wish they’d eat the most, can be one of the most frustrating parts of parenting. There are a lot of different tricks and methods to get your children to sample new foods but we want to focus on an often overlooked part of the food journey. By involving your children in grocery shopping and the planning of meals they’re automatically more likely to try what you cook. While nothing is a fool-proof method this strategy also has the added benefit of making grocery shopping a more enjoyable experience. Check out the following meal planning tips and then print out the complimentary grocery store “bingo” game to take with you to the store.
Meal planning with your kids:
. Look through cookbooks, Pinterest boards, or online recipes with your children. Listen to their input and suggestions. If they hate curry for example suggest a spice swap before hand.
. Give your children responsibility by telling them what to include in a healthy well rounded meal and let them make choices of what to include.
. Give them two or three colors and help them choose vegetables that match and then create a meal around them.
. If you find a recipe that you want to make but your child dislikes some of the ingredients deconstruct the meal into its separate parts and serve them individually.
Grocery store BINGO.
This is a very open ended game and we’ve given you suggestions but feel free to make your own table and add your grocery list to all of the squares or adjust for age. Use the squares as talking points when you’re doing meal planning and explain any new concepts.
You can play traditional 5 in a row or blackout bingo. And as far as winning goes the prize can be nothing more than the satisfaction of playing, a special outing, or something small they’ve been wanting. We recommend not rewarding with food as it can contribute to a negative relationship with food.
A fruit or vegetable you’ve never tried | A breakfast food that’s not cereal | A red fruit | Your favorite healthy snack | An orange vegetable |
A food for dinner you’d like to cook | A fruit that’s in season | A snack with less than 5 grams of sugar per serving | A protein that’s not meat | A food with vitamin C |
A healthy protein | A food with high levels of omega 3’s | Free Space | Something green | A food that starts with the letter of your first name |
A dried fruit or vegetable | A food that contains 10% or more of your daily iron | A fruit larger than a baseball | A vegetable you’d like in your lunch | A dairy product without added sugar |
Purple Produce | Something frozen that’s healthy | A yellow vegetable | A food with whole grains | A dip or spread for veggies |