8 Tips For Cooking Healthy
and Delicious Family Meals
Healthy family meals set the stage to boost health and well-being for the entire
family. Put these few tips into action to prepare easy, quick, and healthy family
meals that taste delicious!
1. Aim for balance. Create healthy,
balanced meals by using MyPlate. Fill
about half your plate with vegetables
and fruits, about ¼ with whole grains
and ¼ with lean protein. Be sure to
also include some calcium-rich food
or drink, like milk.
2. Start simple. If you are just learning to cook, set yourself
up for success by choosing simple recipes that require
just a few ingredients. You can find some ideas at
choosemyplate.gov and pinterest.com/myplaterecipes.
The recipes not only taste great (and are easy to follow) but
also meet nutritional guidelines. If you already know how
to cook, give your meals a health makeover. See if you can
decrease the sugar and salt in your recipes and pack in
more fresh ingredients, vegetables, and fruits. Compare your
meals with the MyPlate meals. Are there any opportunities
to add more color and visual appeal by adding in vegetables
or fruits? Perhaps you can liven up favorite recipes by
experimenting with different substitutions and additions.
Your local library, food bank, cooperative extension, career
tech, or YMCA may also offer classes, workshops, recipe
books, and other resources to help you.
3. Go easy on the add-ons. Sometimes meals start out
healthy but then lose ground with the addition of flavorenhancers like butter, salt, oil, dressing, and cheese. While
these add-ons may help a meal taste better, they also
add calories, fat, and sodium. Rather than ‘pouring it on’,
measure out these ingredients so you know exactly how
much you are using. Use the smallest unit of measurement
(like a teaspoon for oil and butter or one shake or twist
for salt) and aim to use the smallest amount possible. Or,
consider substituting healthy ingredients for the lesshealthy ones. For example, substitute nonfat Greek yogurt
for sour cream and dried herbs for salt.
4. Use healthier cooking methods. Choose healthy
cooking methods most of the time. The healthier cooking
methods include steaming, boiling, simmering, stewing,
poaching, braising, roasting, baking, broiling, sautéing
in broth or consommé, and grilling. The not-so-healthy
cooking methods include sautéing in butter or oil, panfrying
and deep-fat frying.
Learn more at HealthierGeneration.org
5. Blend in healthy foods. Make every meal a nutritional
powerhouse by blending in nutrient-packed foods like
spinach and kale to a fruit smoothie or puree carrots, squash
or zucchini into spaghetti with meat sauce. This not only
packs a nutritional punch but may also help kids start to like a
previously rejected food when it is a part of a favorite meal.
6. Focus on taste. Kids are more likely to eat a food if they
think it will taste good. And a lot of kids say they don’t like
vegetables because they think they don’t taste good. Help
them change their minds by giving them opportunities to
try these new foods on their own terms. For example, how
about having a “tasting party” where the kids dress up and
sample these ‘fancy hors d’Oeuvres’? Or visiting a local
farm to see how the plants are grown and tasting them
on-site? Or having your own vegetable or herb garden?
Or, stopping by a farmers market to try out fresh and local
vegetables and fruits? You can locate a farmers market at
search.ams.usda.gov/farmersmarkets. Also consider
adding herbs and spices to your recipes to spruce up taste
and create an appealing aroma which will make kids more
interested in trying the foods.
7. Involve the kids. Kids are most likely to eat what they help
make. Involve the kids from the get-go including shopping,
meal preparation, serving, and clean up. This helps get kids
excited about healthy eating and begins to develop life-long
habits of choosing the healthy stuff. Kidseatright.org is a
great resource full of cooking tips, recipes, and videos to
help you get started. You might also consider help the kids
start a garden—even if it is just herbs in the window sill. Kids
love to eat what they help grow!
8. Make cooking fun! Have fun experimenting with new and
unfamiliar ingredients and recipes. Ask the kids to come
up with the recipe ideas and then make them as a family.
You might choose a new country to “visit” to learn about
the cultures and customs, including the foods grown there
and traditional meals and dishes. Then together prepare a
dish from that country. Not only will the kids become more
adventurous eaters—and savvy about foods and their origin
countries—but cooking together also inspires great mealtime
conversations and family bonding, a key benefit to preparing
family meals in the first place!
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