There are a lot of ways you can approach this and it definitely depends on the age of your children. Here is how it works for me - right now Anna is 5 and Lucy is 3.
1. Grab a few picture heavy food magazines or cookbooks (nothing too gourmet) and ask your child to choose two things they'd love to make. My kids surprised me - I thought they'd just request fast food type meals, but they both put a bit of thought into it. (Sausages and rice was an odd request, but hey, she's 3. I'm happy to roll with it!)
2. Write their selections down on a piece of paper (like the above pic) which can then be used to stick on your noticeboard or fridge.
3. Depending on the age of your child, use your menu and get them to draw pictures of the meals they've chosen.
4. When you go grocery shopping, encourage each child to assist with purchasing the ingredients for their special meals. Hopefully this will make for a more harmonious shopping experience!
5. When the evening comes around to cook a particular meal, encourage the child who chose that menu to assist in the kitchen as much as possible.
That's it. Kids adore having ownership over their meals and fussy eaters tend to eat better when given the chance to make some choices. That is also four meals I don't have to think about and the kids will be really excited when their menu choice night happens.
If you have older children, they may be able to manage to make the majority of the meal, giving you the night off cooking. WIN!
There will be more school holiday ideas coming over the next two weeks - check out all the details here!
My 10 and 11 year old boys sometimes take it upon themselves to plan a meal. They pick out everything and then we prepare it together. It's a great way for them to learn about cooking, reading a recipe and even the concept of planning meals that the rest of the family will enjoy too.
ReplyDeleteI love this idea, especially drawing the meals! Funny she picked sausages, every time Roman stays at my Mum's he chooses sausages and corn on the cob for dinner.
ReplyDeleteWhat a great idea :) I do involve the children at a very high level in terms of what they will eat, so we have a list of about 12 things they will all eat without whingeing, I do meal plan, and shop from a list for that plan, and the children help with the shopping, but I've never sort of hooked it all together. May just try this over the holidays! Thanks!
ReplyDeleteI've recently started my blog, would be lovely to see you over at emeraldcottage.blogspot.co.uk, Jillxo
Thanks Jill! Getting kids involved in food choices is definitely the way to go! :)
Deletewhat a brilliant idea. I am going to do this weekly at my house I think - they can choose one meal each (although hot dogs will not be an option because my youngest would choose it every week!!).
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