News
If you're eating out with kids, think twice before you place a separate order for each of them. And if you're cooking for them, know that you can waste a lot of food if you don't pay attention to how they eat.
It's so easy to routinely fix the food, put it on their plates, the scrape most of it into the garbage disposal! Worse is when you plunk down $40 or more at a restaurant, and look at the nibbled food on the plates as you leave.
That's especially the case with young children because they “graze” a lot — a pretty healthy way to eat, really!
If you remember that, your kids can eat better for a fraction of the cost if you just consider options before you order out, or open the refrigerator door.
Few people have money to throw away in this challenging economy. If you watch what you spend on food alone during the month, you'll probably save enough to pay your cell phone bill, or take a weekend trip! (Skeptical? Just track how much you spend on food for one month. The average American family wastes 40 percent of what they buy in grocery stores and restaurants).
My recommendation is to share orders when you go out, and DON'T order soft drinks! Just drink water instead. You'll save a bundle, and everyone will still get enough to eat.
I sat beside my 4-year-old granddaughter in a restaurant earlier this week. I ordered a cheese enchilada, and she had a kid's order of chicken nuggets and fries.
She ate about three fries and one chicken nugget — about 35 cents worth of the $5 order! The smarter course would have been for me to order black beans and rice with the enchilada, and then split that whole meal with her.
But that's not much for two people, you may say. However, if you include the complimentary chips and salsa and cabbage slaw, it's really plenty!
When I make sandwiches at my house, I don't give the kids a whole sandwich, but half sandwiches and fruit instead. (Chips are fine, as long as there are just a few. I never put a bowl of them on the table!)
I always have some apples in the fridge I can slice when they just want a snack.
However, they do let me know when it's time to indulge.
I happened to have some slices of chocolate pound cake that accidentally got put into one of my bags at the grocery store. (Honestly! If I had chosen it myself, I wouldn't have picked pound cake!)
When I discovered it, I embarrassed myself by making too big a deal of the delicious chocolate cake we were going to have for dessert. True to form, I talked it up WAY too much!
So after lunch, I served them each up a piece of the pound cake.
“Hey…this isn't chocolate cake,” announced the 7-year-old.
“It's just chocolate BREAD!”
Yes, I thought. That's what it is. It's chocolate bread. It wasn't the real thing.
They reminded me that there is definitely a place for an occasional indulgence in a piece of rich, gooey, chocolate cake!
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Paula M. Anderson is a local writer who has done presentations on Eating Well throughout the community. She has just published “Eat Well, Be Well,” a booklet for forming a healthy relationship with food. Contact her at aapma46@bresnan.net.
It's so easy to routinely fix the food, put it on their plates, the scrape most of it into the garbage disposal! Worse is when you plunk down $40 or more at a restaurant, and look at the nibbled food on the plates as you leave.
That's especially the case with young children because they “graze” a lot — a pretty healthy way to eat, really!
If you remember that, your kids can eat better for a fraction of the cost if you just consider options before you order out, or open the refrigerator door.
Few people have money to throw away in this challenging economy. If you watch what you spend on food alone during the month, you'll probably save enough to pay your cell phone bill, or take a weekend trip! (Skeptical? Just track how much you spend on food for one month. The average American family wastes 40 percent of what they buy in grocery stores and restaurants).
My recommendation is to share orders when you go out, and DON'T order soft drinks! Just drink water instead. You'll save a bundle, and everyone will still get enough to eat.
I sat beside my 4-year-old granddaughter in a restaurant earlier this week. I ordered a cheese enchilada, and she had a kid's order of chicken nuggets and fries.
She ate about three fries and one chicken nugget — about 35 cents worth of the $5 order! The smarter course would have been for me to order black beans and rice with the enchilada, and then split that whole meal with her.
But that's not much for two people, you may say. However, if you include the complimentary chips and salsa and cabbage slaw, it's really plenty!
When I make sandwiches at my house, I don't give the kids a whole sandwich, but half sandwiches and fruit instead. (Chips are fine, as long as there are just a few. I never put a bowl of them on the table!)
I always have some apples in the fridge I can slice when they just want a snack.
However, they do let me know when it's time to indulge.
I happened to have some slices of chocolate pound cake that accidentally got put into one of my bags at the grocery store. (Honestly! If I had chosen it myself, I wouldn't have picked pound cake!)
When I discovered it, I embarrassed myself by making too big a deal of the delicious chocolate cake we were going to have for dessert. True to form, I talked it up WAY too much!
So after lunch, I served them each up a piece of the pound cake.
“Hey…this isn't chocolate cake,” announced the 7-year-old.
“It's just chocolate BREAD!”
Yes, I thought. That's what it is. It's chocolate bread. It wasn't the real thing.
They reminded me that there is definitely a place for an occasional indulgence in a piece of rich, gooey, chocolate cake!
------------------------
Paula M. Anderson is a local writer who has done presentations on Eating Well throughout the community. She has just published “Eat Well, Be Well,” a booklet for forming a healthy relationship with food. Contact her at aapma46@bresnan.net.
