Back to school - Suppertime survival

By Lynn Roblin

After the lazy days of summer and casual eating, picnics and barbecues, it'll soon be time to get organized to deal with back-to-school schedules and providing more regular and nutritious meals for your family. Eating well is important to ensure children get the energy and nutrients they need to grow and develop properly as well as perform well in school.

Making sure that supper is easy to prepare as well as nutritious can be a daunting task, especially when children's activities interfere with the supper hour. A little advance planning can help you get a balanced meal on the table in a snap and may even help with those picky eaters!

Deciding "what's for supper" can be one of the biggest challenges of the day. What you decide to make for supper depends on two important things ... how much time you have to prepare a meal and the foods you have on hand.

MAKE A PLAN

This helps avoid the mad panic at suppertime and reduces the need to turn to highly processed prepared meals or fast foods. Planning ahead does not need to be complicated or time-consuming. Follow these tips:

Check your family schedule and decide a few days or a week in advance some of the meals you would like to make. Write your shopping list at the same time as you plan your meals to ensure you have the ingredients on hand and to avoid last minute trips to the store. Plan to cook enough food for two supper meals. Planned-over meals in the fridge are like money in the bank. Double recipes for soups, casseroles, and baked pasta dishes and store in the fridge for 2-3 days or freeze the extras for a quick meal on a busy night. Take items that need to be defrosted out of the freezer the night before and let them defrost in the refrigerator. Leaving frozen food or meat on the counter to defrost during the day is not a safe practice and may cause food poisoning.

STOCK A SURVIVAL KITCHEN

A pantry stocked with a variety of healthy choices can make the difference between a nutritious meal and a not-so nutritious meal on a busy night.

Stock up on foods from each of the four food groups including: whole grain bread, tortillas, rice and pasta; fresh, canned, or frozen vegetables and fruit; milk products; meat, poultry, fish, eggs, beans and lentils. Keep basics such as flour, oatmeal, canola and olive oil, condiments, herbs and spices stocked as well. Shop smartly! The nutritional quality of your meals depends on how successful you are navigating the aisles in your grocery store. Remember - the foods you buy and bring home are the foods your family will actually eat.

Use the "Nutrition Facts" table on food packages to choose foods that are high in fibre (at least 4 grams), low in fat (3 grams or less), free of trans fat (less than 0.2 g trans fat and less than 2 grams of saturated fat and trans fat combined) or reduced in sodium. Use the "% Daily Value" to see which foods are higher or lower in certain vitamins or minerals such as vitamin C, calcium or iron. All of the information is based on a specific serving size or amount of food. Save dollars and your family's waistline by passing up on the high calorie, low nutrient extras such chips, cookies and sugary beverages.

MAKE DINNER ONCE

Avoid being a short order cook by serving meals that you know are acceptable and appeal to the majority. Have a family planning session where everyone gets to pick one meal. Children are more likely to eat a meal they have chosen and helped prepare. If some family members get home after everyone else has eaten, put their supper on a plate and keep in the refrigerator to reheat later.

DEAL WITH PICKY EATERS

If your child won't eat foods that are mixed together a different presentation may be the answer. For example, for a stir-fry, set aside some of the vegetables and cooked meat, before adding the sauce, and serve with plain rice. That way your child can enjoy basically the same foods as the rest of the family. Serve part of supper before supper! Preschoolers often can't wait until suppertime to eat and school-age kids are often hungry when they get home from school. Healthy snacks are acceptable and can even help boost nutrient intakes. Cut up pieces of fruit, a veggie platter with dip, or a fruit and yogurt smoothie will disappear quickly when children are hungry, and helps get more of these nutrient-packed foods into their day.

When children say they don't like a certain foods, offer a small sample of new or disliked foods on their plate whenever you eat it. Sometimes a child may not accept a new food until he or she has been exposed to it a dozen or more times. Avoid forcing your child to eat a food or reward them with something they like, such as dessert. This may decrease your chances of having them accept that food.

Suppertime Survival is available to order online at www.suppertimesurvival.com and at selected bookstores listed on the website. Suppertime Survival is also available as a fundraiser for schools, sports groups and other organizations. Visit the website for more details. Cost $29.95.