4 Healthy Meal Plans To Follow For Kids (Including Picky Eaters!)

It can save a lot of time. The same concept applies when it comes to planning your kids’ meals. Keep in mind that oftentimes, they just want to be in control of what they put in their mouth.

Because of this, the kids may reject the balanced meal that you carefully prepared, and quickly whipping up an alternative comes to play. How do you not fall into this trap? 

Making a new batch of food is quite a hassle especially if you have limited time. This is where online meal prep services, such as Hello Fresh, will come in handy.

Hello Fresh offers kids-approved recipes to their customers, providing them with prepared ingredients for meals that can be cooked within a few minutes.

This service is easy to sign up for and the meals are varied every week while maintaining the preferences of the customers, especially the kids.

Meal prep will be very easy with these services. To be better at planning meals, learn and see more here.

1. Achieve a balanced meal with meat and veggies

Most of the time, children become picky eaters because the food feels bland and repetitive.

So, they may choose to stick to their favorite food and make little effort in eating a balanced meal.

A solution to this problem is to add variety to their meals. By showing them other types of food, their interest in eating may perk up a bit. 

For starters, you must know what type of food your kids love the most. Most kids have a sweet tooth, so try adding vegetables and fruits with natural sweetness to their meals.

Some examples of naturally sweet vegetables are corn, carrots, sweet potatoes, onions, and squash.

These vegetables are versatile and can be added to a wide array of dishes and can also be paired with meat products such as chicken, pork, and beef.

Finish the dishes with a sauce that will complement the flavor of the meat and vegetables.

Meat stock, soy sauce, and cream are excellent sauce bases for these types of dishes. Experiment with these ingredients to create different types of dishes!

By pairing these vegetables with meat products, you can create a balanced diet that they can enjoy without the food being repetitive and bland.

How to Prepare Healthy Meal Plans for Kids and Picky Eaters

Not all kids are food receptive at mealtime. Most of them refuse to eat certain veggies and fruits due to texture, color, and taste.

Putting varied and balanced meals on their plate can be quite a challenge. Most kids would prefer sweet foods or fried food, which are not very healthy if taken most of the time.

At this age, it is important to persuade them to eat a healthy, balanced diet because these are formative years for the body.

Preparing food is an important yet tiring task to keep up with every day, especially if the kids are picky eaters.

Luckily there are meal prep plans and apps that can help you decide what to prepare for your kid’s daily meals.

2. Ever heard of meal prep?

Meal prepping is the idea of preparing whole meals ahead of schedule. It’s pretty popular amongst busy people because

A healthy and balanced meal with meat and veggies.

3. Pair oatmeal with nuts, fruits, and low-fat dairy products

Breakfast is one of the trickier meals to plan out for kids because most of the time, they would go for the classic cereal and milk.

While this type of meal would provide them with proteins and carbohydrates, it would also come with a lot of sugar.

To add more variety to their breakfast, try out a combination of other dairy products with whole grains and fruits.

An easy meal plan would be to create a mixture of dairy products, oatmeal, nuts, grains, and fruits.

This meal would be a great way to cut sugar that comes from commercially-made cereal products.

Oats are high in fiber, which helps digestion, while a variety of nuts are packed with good fat and essential oils.

The fruits added to this meal plan can either be fresh or dried. If you want to add fresh fruits, you can choose to add strawberries, blackberries, apples, and bananas.

For dried fruits, you can go with any type of berries, dried mangos, raisins, and dates. You can even add some honey to this meal.

The addition of fruits provides the vitamins that are important for growth and strengthening the body’s immunity.

Finally, you can choose to add fresh low-fat milk or yogurt to the mix to add a source of proteins and additional vitamins.

If you can prepare a wide variety of ingredients to add to your oatmeal, the kids can create many combinations and enjoy the different flavors and textures in their meals.

Fill your oatmeal with fruits and nuts to create a healthy breakfast.

4. Make sandwiches with meat and veggies

A sandwich is a common sight item in a kid’s lunch box because this meal is easy to prepare and takes little time to make.

When talking about sandwiches, you would think about the classic peanut butter and jelly sandwich or the ham and cheese sandwich, but these sandwiches contain little nutrients and may not be a healthy option for your kid’s lunchbox.

For a better and healthier option, you can always make a sandwich with a filling of meat and vegetables.

Choosing the ingredients for the sandwich starts with the bread. White bread is the most available option in the market but whole wheat bread is a lot healthier.

This is because the flour used in whole wheat bread contains more fiber and fewer calories compared to the flour used in white bread.

The taste of whole wheat bread also pairs well with meat and vegetables.

For the filling, you can add lean meat from either chicken or beef. The vegetables that pair well with meat are lettuce, tomatoes, and onions.

Adding pickles also helps cut the saltiness of the meat and adds more acidity to the meal.

Having this type of sandwich allows your kid to take in protein, vitamins, and minerals which are lacking in the classic peanut butter and jelly sandwich.

Whole wheat sandwiches are packed with fiber, proteins, and vitamins.

Preparing meals for your kids is an easy task as long as you know your kid’s tastes. Focus on their preferences and try to look at healthy food groups that have similar flavors.

By carefully planning healthy meals, you can be assured that they will grow healthy from the food you have prepared for them.

A meal that has been prepared with a lot of thought and care will always be the best food that you can give to your kids.