• Healthy Snack/Meal Ideas

     

    Menu Planning

    Review these tips about eating well on a budget and planning your shopping trip to avoid extra purchases. Then check out the recipes in the Free Cookbooks (listed below) to help you with your menu planning and grocery shopping!

    • Stretching Your Food Dollar - great advice from Oregon State University Extension

    • 102 Tips! about planning, shopping, and buying healthy foods on a budget from the Alabama Cooperative Extension System

    • SNAP-Ed offers a great list of resources with ideas for planning a weekly menu, saving money at the grocery store, and how to stretch your dollar!

     

    Free Cookbooks

    • You can browse for recipes or build a cookbook using this SNAP-Ed Recipe Finder

    • As part of their Children's Power Play! Campaign, the Network for a Healthy California put together this kid-friendly cookbook - The pdf includes both the English and Spanish versions!

     

    How much should my kid eat?

    • This article helps you figure out how much your child should be eating based on his or her age

     

    Portion sizes

    • The sizes of meals seem to keep getting bigger and bigger! What does that mean for you and your family?  Check out this video to learn more about “portion distortion”

    • Serving Size Handout from the Dairy Council of California

     

    Book Suggestions

    • Fearless Feeding, Jill Castle and Maryann Jacobsen

     

    GREAT Blogs for Nutrition Advice and Healthy, Kid-Friendly Recipes

    All but one of the following are written by Moms who are trusted dietitians:

    1. Smart Eating for Kids - Great advice for kids of all ages from many contributing nutrition professionals. There are also some fun, healthy recipes!

    2. Raise Healthy Eaters - Recipes - A great list of yummy, healthy recipes!

    3. Real Mom Nutrition - This blog focuses on recent nutrition topics and is written by a widely published RD/Mom

    4. Jill Castle's Blog - Great advice with some tasty recipes, especially for picky eaters! Check out the side bar for a nutrition topic that interests you

    5. Healthy Eating for Families - Great advice and recipes for the whole family!

    6. Holly Larson's Recipes - Fun and adventurous recipes!

     

    Reading Labels

    Nutrition labels can be REALLY confusing. Here are a few resources that make nutrition labels SO easy to understand.  

     

    Eating Out

    Did you know that most restaurants post their nutrition facts online?  This is extremely helpful for those nights when you don’t have time to cook at home or for when you are dining out for a special occasion.  It’s helpful to look at the menu before you go and see what healthy options are available so you are ready to order when you arrive and don’t make a last minute decision based on how hungry you are!

    • Check out this website for healthy options at your favorite restaurants in your zip code
    • Healthy Eating Out Tips from MyPlate
    • What you eat or drink, how much, and how it’s prepared matter a lot when you dine out, according to MyPlate, and highlight these suggestions for making better choices.