Help me (as a FT working Mom) to eat better and provide healthier food for my family!

[Anonymous]

I eat badly. I know I do. I can't start the day without coffee. Then I don't feel like eating. As I am driving my two little ones to daycare, I start to get hungry. I sometimes do well at the beginning of the week and have a Stonyfield Super Smoothie while driving (10 grams of protein, but also 230 calories and 38 g of sugars). I am not usually hungry before leaving the house. Lunch is a salad or something very unhealthful from the work cafeteria (italian sub, cheesesteak). Dinner for me includes very little veggies. I told you I'm a mess.

Dinner for DS is so boring, but he is a picky eater (grilled cheese, etc).

Please help me figure out foods that are healthier for me to eat on the run and dinners that DS will eat! Favorite crockpot recipes? Thank you!

[Anonymous]

First, kudos to you for wanting to make changes - that's the first step! For easy, healthy dinner ideas, I suggest getting the cookbook The Six O'Clock Scramble, by a local author Aviva Goldfarb - no, I am not Aviva nor a relative The meals are really simple but healthful and with each recipe she always suggests an even more simple side dish. She also has tips peppered throughout the book on healthy snacks (I'm not sure if she covers breakfasts), school lunches, what it's worth to spring for in the organic section, etc. I have a picky eater, too, and I'm not going to claim that he eats everything in the cookbook but I have found a handful of staple recipes in the book that he will eat that I use over and over. And every so often I try a new recipe, hoping he'll eat it.

Invest in a George Foreman grill - it makes grilling a piece of chicken or fish for dinner very easy. I keep some bottles of marinade from Whole Foods in the cabinet for this purpose. Then I add a basic veggie (like broccoli steamed in the microwave). I was raised in a meat/starch/veggie household so I always want a starch with the meal, and for that I'll make something basic like brown rice or Near East cous cous. My picky child will eat all of this (I realize that every child has his/her own variation on pickiness).

For breakfast, I suggest trying to wake up 10 min earlier and having a bowl of high fiber cereal, with skim milk and fruit in top if you can - fast, easy, healthy and virtually no clean up. If that is just not appealing to you, what about a piece of whole wheat toast that you can eat in the car - you could put some peanut butter or sunflower seed butter on it to add protein.
Good luck!

[Anonymous]

OP, how much time do you have to make dinner at night? Do you have any time before you leave for work? Do you cook during the weekends? Do you have a DH who can cook too? What sort of ingredients are you currently using, and are you ok with increasing your grocery budget to expand that? How old are your children?

Sorry, no answers, just questions that might help you get more advice.

[Anonymous]

My best advice is to plan seven days' (or at least 5) worth of meals, and shop to that list.

[Anonymous]

Plan your meals. It's a real super pain at first, but it really helps. Healthy doesn't have to mean 100 percent organic, home-made from scratch. Think pasta and frozen veggies. Rottisee chickens. Crockpot meals (prep the night before). Pizzas made with whole wheat tortillas. Cut-up fruit. Stir-fry (there are frozen kits you can buy if you don't have the energy to chop).

Eat breakfast. Your kids are watching you and learning from you. Even a few spoonfuls of yogurt or a bite or two of bagel or cereal.

If possible, pack your lunch. It makes healthy eating so much easier. I tend to cook enough at dinner to make leftovers. Store-bought lunches are an occasional treat. If you can't do this, focus on the healthy options. Salads, low-fat soups, lower fat sandwiches (turkey - no mayo).

And if all this is too much, you do it in steps.

[Anonymous]

Just wanted to add that I hated our George Foreman grill. What works much better for me is a toaster oven that is designed to be a convection oven also. Much easier to cook smaller meals, almost as quick, and much better tasting (to me).

Meals:
Black Bean Tacos - heat up a can of black beans, add a little cumin, garlic, and dried onion. Serve with tortillas, cheese and salsa. add rice and corn on the side. My kid will eat all of the items separately and sometimes togethor.

Crockpot - google 'crockpot lady" and you'll get a site with tons of recipes and reviews. I prep the crock the night before (put in the fridge). Or at least chop up anything that needs chopped.

Stir-fry: I have a rice cooker with a timer and I buy chicken in bulk and cut up and freeze. So I can make stir-fry really fast (I pull out the chicken from the freezer and put in the fridge the night before). Use frozen veggies to avoid chopping. Not as good, but worth the time. I like hoison sauce, but just try various combinations of sauces.

Chicken Tenders: Take chicken breast or tenders, dip in egg, then a mixture of bread crumbs, parm cheese and oregano. Bake at 400 for about 15 minutes. Serve with dipping sauce. I love this chopped up in salads. My son loves with the dipping sauce. I add fruit and veggies on the side.

Frozen fish: We vary between salmon and fish sticks. Its the only way I will cook fish (becasue I hate touching raw fish).

Whole wheat couscous - easy to make. Great side dish. My son loves it. Trader Joes has it. Safeway used to. I think Harris Teetr has some.

Combine take-out with home-made. I buy Peruvian chicken and take it home to eat with freshly cooked rice and veggies.


Check out some cookbooks from the library (they have a ton on easy meals). Test out the meals. Copy the ones you like and return the book. I suggest only trying one new recipe a week. When I do more than that it wears me out.

[Anonymous]

My friend just started a health fast cooking blog called goodbetterbestfood.blogspot.com

Check this out as there are some good recipes on there.

[Anonymous]

I second the idea of eating the high fiber cereal - I love the Kashi Heart to Heart honey cereal. It keeps me full almost till lunchtime. Sometimes I add a banana which helps too. I usually drink my coffee at work after eating the cereal b/c you're right - you'll feel full from coffee and not want to eat the cereal.

[Anonymous]

I don't plan meals. I throw stuff in the crock pot in the morning. My best advice: buy tons of frozen, pre-cut veggies. I also buy cut up fruit at Costco and eat that in the car or for a snack (we all do). Whatever meat is on sale and veggies go in the crock pot. I don't season until it's on the table so my kids generally like it. Brussel sprouts simmered in the crockpot with chunks of beef are really good. So meat and veggies in the crock pot, a side starch (which I try not to eat) and a salad: you're eating much healthier at dinner. The smoothie does sound good but if you can bring apples in the car instead, or at least with, you're also making a great choice.