Food Day is upon us! That’s right, it’s October 24th, which means it’s time to celebrate healthy, affordable and sustainable food with the entire nation. Thousands of activities are taking place across the country to educate people on Eating Real. Lynn Fredericks and Mercedes Sanchez are participating with their not-for-profit organization FamilyCook Productions and are supporting the campaign, “Let’s Get Cooking With Kids”.
To help you get cooking and eating real food with your kids, we’re going to share tips to help you eat seasonally from their book, Get Your Family Eating Right!
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As a family, look through recipe concepts or your own recipes.- Choose seasonally appropriate recipes and variations for three days.
- Give preference to recipes that use produce that is only in season for a short time.
- Use vegetables from your community-supported agriculture (CSA) share in the recipe.
- Plan a trip to the farmers’ market to experience the types and variety of locally grown seasonal produce, or look for signs at your supermarket that indicate local produce.
- Don’t wait until you are starving or tired after a day at work to start preparing vegetables. Trim, cut, and chop vegetables to use later in the week. Invite your kids to assist you. Wrap the veggies in a damp paper towel and place in a plastic bag or in a humidity-controlled section of your fridge.
- When you try something new and your family loves it, take a photo, or have a youngster draw the food, then post the picture on your fridge.
- The weekly food section of your local newspaper offers great seasonal recipes. Start a family challenge. Let a different member of the family choose a recipe each week to make.
- When you go to the source, you get the best information. If there is a vegetable you love but don’t know how to prepare it, or one you cook all the time and need some new ideas for using it, ask the farmers at the farmers’ market. They are a treasure trove of ideas, information, and recipes.
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Learn to Eat Healthy for Life—in Just 30 Days!
Are you concerned about the amount of sugar, processed meals, and low-nutrient foods that you and your family consume each day? Has mealtime solely become about getting something (anything!) on the table and getting it done? Has family meal-planning become an overwhelming chore of trying to balance limited time, money, and different tastes?
If you answered yes to any of these questions then Get Your Family Eating Right! can help you reclaim family mealtime. Studies are clear. Poor nutrition sets your children up for conditions like obesity, diabetes, and other illnesses as well as poor performance in school and activities. Families that consistently share nourishing meals together are healthier and happier. You can cook a healthy dinner but how do you ensure that healthy eating becomes a regular practice for you and your family and not something that ends when you get up from the table?
Based on the award-winning program used in New York City public schools, 30 Days to Get Your Family Eating Right gives day-by-day nutritional advice, recipes, and meal concepts that are adaptable for everyone in the family–from young children to adults. Broken down into strategies such as “Prioritize Whole Food Snacks,” and “Eat All Your Colors,” and “Plan Meals Around Seasonal Foods” you and your children get healthy eating lessons that can be used to make smarter food choices at home, work, and school—today and for life. Eating better is doable and it isn’t complicated, expensive, or time-consuming.
Family nutrition pioneers Lynn Fredericks and Mercedes Sanchez give delicious recipes such as Quinoa Breakfast Cereal, Scandinavian Barley Salad with Apples and White Bean and Chorizo Spanish Stew that let you put the strategies into practice tonight, get the kids cooking with you, and your family eating better effortlessly.
