Feeding kids and food waste

[Anonymous]

I think one key to getting your kid to be less picky is to not have separate dinners. My kids were picky from age 2-6/8ish and now as teens are great eaters. Make adjustments/accommodations but not separate meals.

One difference between a meal and a snack is just amount of food. If your dh wants a meal for dinner (I sure do!) then give your kids smaller portions of it instead of just cheese and crackers and fruit. Maybe have “snacky meal” once a week as a fun night

[Anonymous]

Give them your entree plus a small amount of frozen vegetable like corn, peas, or carrots. Plus something like a cheese stick or yogurt. Plus a fruit option. Applesauce, fresh fruit or something like canned pineapple. They may eat minimal entree so don’t cook huge portions of that. Shop and cook like it’s just for you and your spouse, and supplement the kids with the additional items.

Frozen and canned fruit and veggies are easier to use a small amount of and then save/store. This minimizes food expense and waste.

Over time with this approach they will also gradually start to eat more of the main “entree” because the other foods take the pressure off needing to eat it.

[Anonymous]

I don’t understand this problem. Kids eat when they’re hungry. If they’re not, it’s because you’ve taught them you’ll throw away leftovers and make or buy something new. If you want to stop throwing away food, eat the food and stop throwing it away. This isn’t rocket science.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:We don’t do kids dinners, they eat what we eat or they don’t eat. I do try to incorporate at least 1 item I know they’ll eat but otherwise I’m not catering to them.

Not exactly answering the question. What do you do with the food they don’t eat?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I don’t understand this problem. Kids eat when they’re hungry. If they’re not, it’s because you’ve taught them you’ll throw away leftovers and make or buy something new. If you want to stop throwing away food, eat the food and stop throwing it away. This isn’t rocket science.

So what do you do with the leftovers on their plate? Put it in the fridge? Tell them they HAVE to finish it?

[Anonymous]

I plan the menu. I present it to them, and compromise. I post the menu. We don’t waste food. Sometimes, we have half a cabbage or turnips left over, so I’ll say ok we need to eat those before we move on with menu. They have the option of suggesting how to incorporate those leftovers.
When I try a new recipe, they get to mark it as “approved”. Not everyone like the same things, but there is give and take.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I don’t understand this problem. Kids eat when they’re hungry. If they’re not, it’s because you’ve taught them you’ll throw away leftovers and make or buy something new. If you want to stop throwing away food, eat the food and stop throwing it away. This isn’t rocket science.

So what do you do with the leftovers on their plate? Put it in the fridge? Tell them they HAVE to finish it?

NP, I serve family style. My kids take a small portion, or none if they don’t like the food. If they do like it they take another portion.

I don’t keep what’s been on their plate, but because they only put a little bit at a time, and they only put things they want to eat, it’s not much.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:We don’t do kids dinners, they eat what we eat or they don’t eat. I do try to incorporate at least 1 item I know they’ll eat but otherwise I’m not catering to them.

Not exactly answering the question. What do you do with the food they don’t eat?

Food is served family style and nobody really puts food on their plates unless they plan to eat it. Kids know to take small amounts and can have more if they want it. So they don’t really waste much, maybe a bite or two and it gets tossed outside to the squirrels and raccoons. I always check the fridge for leftovers before making lunch and dinner and just make it work. Large amounts of leftovers get served again, small amounts usually get incorporated into something else or maybe added to the soup pot.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:We don’t do kids dinners, they eat what we eat or they don’t eat. I do try to incorporate at least 1 item I know they’ll eat but otherwise I’m not catering to them.

Not exactly answering the question. What do you do with the food they don’t eat?

NP. I honestly don’t understand your question. Uneaten food goes as leftovers.

[Anonymous]

We have dinner as a family every night, but intentionally plan one dinner a week, usually Thursday night, as what we call “smorgasbord”, which the kids always think is a fun word to say. We pull out a large serving tray and it contains whatever is going to go bad soon in the fridge, and everyone feeds themselves off that tray. So there’s a hamburger, some Chinese noodles, a bunch of cherry tomatoes, some breakfast sausage, peach slices, watermelon, rotisserie chicken, and broccoli. Having a planned clear out the stuff going bad soon dinner really limits the food waste in our house and there is something for everyone in the weird mix every week.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Our kids are necessarily picky, but what they will eat ebbs and flows. We are really struggling with food waste and food expenses.

There are so many schools of thought: no dessert, clean your plate, no snacks etc. Nothing seems to land right, but we find ourselves with lots of leftovers and kids who won’t eat it.

They’re not big dinner eaters, but DH LOVES dinner. Should he make his own dinner, and the kids and I eat breakfast, lunch, and a “snack dinner”? Sometimes I’ll do blue apron for DH and I and “kid dinner” for them.

I’m honestly not sure what I’m asking. We are just overall frustrated with food waste and expenses.

It turns out all of us like different things and want to fuel our bodies at different times. As someone who was forced into the clean plate club and has struggled with weight, I try to honor my kids' feelings of satiety. I feel like it's my job to offer healthy foods and their jobs to figure out how much to eat (and now, when).

Turns out both my husband and I prefer the bigger meal mid day and a light snack in the evening. (By snack I just mean something smaller - usually still a bit of protein and right now, fresh fruit). But I cook real dinners for the kids. I do try to cook things I am happy eating as leftovers the next day. Tonight was "make your own taco bowl" with shredded chicken and different veggies and cheese. My kids had that and I had a hard boiled egg and some fresh peaches. Husband ate smoked salmon and bread. We all eat dinner together. I put all the food on the table and we serve family style so the kids aren't really noticing completely different meals. They want nothing to do with smoked salmon. But they were happy to eat some peaches too.

I also make Thursday night "leftover" night and we just have a mix of whatever is still good. I might add a new protein like grilled chicken, depending. But that helps reduce food waste for us.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:We have dinner as a family every night, but intentionally plan one dinner a week, usually Thursday night, as what we call “smorgasbord”, which the kids always think is a fun word to say. We pull out a large serving tray and it contains whatever is going to go bad soon in the fridge, and everyone feeds themselves off that tray. So there’s a hamburger, some Chinese noodles, a bunch of cherry tomatoes, some breakfast sausage, peach slices, watermelon, rotisserie chicken, and broccoli. Having a planned clear out the stuff going bad soon dinner really limits the food waste in our house and there is something for everyone in the weird mix every week.

We so similar in the summer especially. One night of lighter "snack dinner" with whatever we have on hand that doesn't involve cooking. One person may have leftovers and another cheese and crackers.

[Anonymous]

I would not do a separate dinner for the kids. That's how you raise picky eaters. We always served one meal. Sometimes we made accommodations (e.g., spice level, sauce on the side, raw vegetables instead of cooked) based on kid preference but we all eat the same meal. My kids are teens/twenties now and still have their dislikes but they are not picky eaters.

[Anonymous]

Kids shouldn’t be eating so much they aren’t able to eat dinner at 5:30 or 6. No snacks.

We don’t make the kids eat all of dinner but they must eat a full portion of vegetables. It was tough when they were 3 but they easily eat vegetables since then. Every once in a while we make a veggie they can’t stand like eggplant and we don’t force it.

We only give them a little dinner. The other leftovers get eaten the next day for lunches or dinner. We don’t have much waste at all.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I don’t understand this problem. Kids eat when they’re hungry. If they’re not, it’s because you’ve taught them you’ll throw away leftovers and make or buy something new. If you want to stop throwing away food, eat the food and stop throwing it away. This isn’t rocket science.

So what do you do with the leftovers on their plate? Put it in the fridge? Tell them they HAVE to finish it?

NP, I serve family style. My kids take a small portion, or none if they don’t like the food. If they do like it they take another portion.

I don’t keep what’s been on their plate, but because they only put a little bit at a time, and they only put things they want to eat, it’s not much.

This. Except something like fish which IMO doesn’t do well as leftovers. For that I buy smaller portions so we don’t waste it.