I’ve been reading your comments on our food processor giveaway & peppermint oil giveaway. There’s a common theme on what many moms need help these days – easy healthy meals.
As moms, you want healthy children & a healthy life for yourself. But, it seems you’re bombarded by prepared foods with little nutritional value. Or, you’re so busy with homeschooling that you don’t have time for healthy meal planning. You just use “grab & go food” that’s worth nothing nutritionally.
Can you convert to a healthy diet?
I grew up on canned fruits & vegetables. We also had frozen vegetables & fresh fruits. So, that’s how I started cooking as a young wife. Over time, I converted to mostly all fresh fruits & vegetables.
Guess what!
It doesn’t take any more time to use fresh produce, as frozen or canned & you can have easy healthy meals at your fingertips. That’s what I love about Kids Eat Real Food: How to Raise Kids Who LOVE Real Food by Vanessa Pruitt.
Before you can start planning some simple, easy healthy meals, you might need to transition your kids into a healthy diet. Vanessa tells her story about converting to more natural menus, that can work with your kids . . . so your kids are eating real foods, instead of processed foods.
Children need to try a new food 7 to 15 times before they acquire a taste for it.
In Kids Eat Real Food, you’ll learn how to offer healthier foods to your kids, so they are eating real foods. One of my favorite suggestions in this book is to garden & cook with your kids. If they plant & grow new foods, they are more likely to taste it. If they’ve cooked food, they are also more likely to taste it.
Another aspect of Vanessa’s book that I really like is making food fun. I remember making ants on a log with raisins on top of celery-stuffed with peanut butter. You’ll also discover how to make Monkey Platters, Homemade Lunchables, Bento Boxes & more ways to make food fun.
Finally, Vanessa ends with a wide variety of recipes, including breakfasts, snacks, lunches, dinners & desserts.
If you’re looking for easy healthy meals that your kids will eat, Kids Eat Real Food is a great place to start.
If you want to try preparing & eating real foods to see if it’s a good fit for your family, I recommend the 7 Day Real Food Challenge. You’ll get a 7 day menu, shopping list, plan of attack, as well as recipes for all you need to eat real food for a week.
Hey, it’s worth trying for just a week.
If you’re still not convinced that you can deal with your child’s picky habits, you should read Toni Anderson’s book, The Happy Housewife’s Guide to Dealing with Picky Eaters.
It’s short, simple & to the point. You’ll come away with PRACTICAL ways to help your picky eaters start eating healthier.
Toni offers 5 specific tips to help your kids eat healthier. Just like Vanessa, Toni suggests gardening & cooking with your kids.
But one of the simplest tips she offers is to take them to the grocery store with you. Yeah, I know. It’s a pain to take your kids grocery shopping. But, if it will help change their eating habits, it’s well worth it. Often, we overlook fruits & veggies that our kids enjoy. They’ll point it out to you.
Finally, Toni offers 10 tips for the pickiest of eaters. I’m sure one of these will help in your family.
Healthy Meal Planning
Now, on to meal planning so you have some terrific, easy, healthy meals.
When you invest in the Ultimate Healthy Living Bundle , you receive all 6 of these ebooks. If you follow what’s included in these ebooks, I’m sure you can overcome your frustration with planning healthy meals & getting your kids to eat healthier. Surely, it’s worth $30 to get on track with healthy eating.
Let’s move on, from healthy kids to healthy meal planner.
Kelly has written an excellent book to really help you get planning on your healthy meals. You can find all the great recipes in the world, but if you don’t put them into your weekly menus, it doesn’t do any good. That’s what I like about Meal Planning Made Easy! Take a look at what you’ll learn.
- Benefits of Healthy Meal Planning, including saving money & time
- Meal Planner, with sample menus
- Step-by-Step on how to make a weekly meal plan
- How to make your shopping list
- Time saving tips on shopping day
- How to schedule & fulfill a prep day
- Back-Up Plans
- How to save time in the kitchen
- How to use leftovers, not throw them away
- Group Meals
- Cook Once, Eat Twice or More!
- How to get the kids involved
- Month of Free Real Food Meal Plans (yep, 4 weeks of meal plans for easy healthy meals)
- Helpful resources
Whew, that’s a lot! If you struggle with meal planning & wait until the last minute to decide “what’s for dinner”, this book is for you.
Or, if you stand in front of the frig (around 5pm), hoping for a divine inspiration of what to cook for dinner, this book is definitely for you.
Or, if you seem to be missing 1-2 key ingredients each night, for the perfect, healthy meal. Or, you call hubby to pick up your missing ingredient every single week, you should read & implement Meal Planning Made Easy.
Sounds too good to be true?
Not sure you can really get that organized?
Meals e-Planner has every form you will need to plan easy healthy meals.
List PlanIt is one of the most helpful tools to organize all parts of your life. With their Meals e-Planner, you can really get organized & provide healthy eating for your kids.
Here are just a few of the 41 forms included in the e-planner.
- Breakfast Planner
- Lunch Planner
- Dinner Planner
- Favorite Recipes ( 10 categories)
- Meal Planning by Ingredients
- Menu Inventories (by day, by meal, by categories)
- Pantry Inventory
- Freezer Inventory (I need this one)
- My 21 Meals
- Weekly Menu & Grocery Shopping
- Grocery Checklist
- Grocery List by Aisle
- Recipe (cards)
- and much more
What I love about ListPlanIt is all their forms are customizable to YOUR family. You make them work for the meals you eat, the foods you eat, the menus you plan. Save them on your computer & print the ones you need each week. Keep a binder to stay organized. It’s all there to provide a healthy diet for your family.
More Healthy Meal Resources
Than I Have Time to Review
I’d still like to share information about these resources, but I don’t want to overwhelm you. The ebooks above are excellent & can help all of you that are struggling to provide healthy meals for your kids.
If you always go to the easy, canned/frozen foods, think again.
You can provide a healthy meal in less than 30 minutes. Rachael Ray is right. You can cook healthy meals in 30 minutes.
It just take a little planning. Use Sunday nights to create your menu & shopping list.
To be honest, I enjoy my day so much more when I already know “what’s for dinner”. And the only way I know “what’s for dinner” is when I plan a weekly menu. Use these resources from the Ultimate Healthy Living Bundle.
If you think $30 is too much to spend on the bundle, but you struggle to provide easy healthy meals for your family, consider this.
If using one of these resources helps you SAVE $30 next month (& the next month & the next month) on your groceries, I’d say you’re actually saving money in the end.
And when you skip the prepared meals or fast foods, you will definitely save money and provide a healthier meal for your kids. Your kids deserve it. Take a look at the other books included in the Meal Budgeting & Planning section of the Ultimate Healthy Living Bundle.
Today’s the last day you can get this fantastic resource right here. Don’t wait until the last minute & miss out!
NOTE:.
.Question: What struggles do you have in providing easy healthy meals? What tips can you share about healthy diets? You can leave a comment by clicking here.
