Recently, we've been hearing a lot of great meal planning tips from WIC parents and caregivers. In this post, we'll share a few of them! Use these tips and fresh ideas to make meal planning work for your family. After all, meal planning saves time, money, and can improve nutrition for your household.
"I recently stumbled upon something called jackfruit. It’s really interesting. It tastes like chicken (lol) and it shreds like BBQ. I’m making the switch to becoming vegan and I’m not there yet because I absolutely lovvvvvve cheese. Jackfruit comes canned and ready to go. I’ve used it in sloppy joes, tacos, and in place of pulled pork, and it is a great meat substitute. It takes on the flavor of your seasonings and I literally made taco Tuesday come to life in ten minutes. It cuts meal time down drastically (another reason I love vegan meals). Google some jackfruit recipes. The kids couldn’t tell that it wasn’t meat and neither could my spouse. (Major win)" - Janaya, mother of 3
Arianna says: Keep the process the same every time.
"We choose a dedicated time and place for meal planning. In our house, that means Sunday mornings, at the kitchen table, right after breakfast when we’re all well-rested and well-fed! Before we begin planning, we always gather the sales ads for our local stores and our coupons. The first step is making a food inventory. The inventory is a list of foods we already have on hand. After that, we check out what's on sale. Then we ask the kids what they might like to eat this week. Then we write up the menu and create the grocery list. Now that our meal planning is well-practiced, we move through the process quickly and easily. The best part is, with our family-centered plan, the entire week goes more smoothly. Taking the time to create and learn a good structure sure has proven worthwhile for our busy family of six!"
- Arianna, mother of 4
"Whenever I talked with other parents I would ask: 'What kinds of foods do your children like?' Most of the time, I learned that the children always wanted to eat the same food. Often they only wanted to eat pasta, pizza, fries, or rice. I thought my daughter was the only one with picky eating habits, but now I see she is not alone. How do you meal plan for a child who has some picky eating habits? I say, keep trying different types of food. The idea is they can learn to eat a variety of food. Even when they don't want to eat it all, at least they are trying new flavors and textures."
- Guadalupe, mother of 1
If you liked these tips from WIC parents, try our new free lesson, Making a Meal Plan!
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