Do you often desire to make healthier meals but fear your family won’t eat the foods you then make? Or maybe you get overwhelmed with the amount of work it will take for everyone to be happy with what is being served? Maybe this is something you often say…
“My husband (or kids) will only eat (blank), how do I keep everyone happy and not cook two separate meals every day?”
Let me tell you, it is possible! But it does take some trial and error as well as some patience from both yourself and your family. The good news, it only gets easier!
Once you stick with your desired health plan and find recipes that support you, you then continue to build on with more recipes. Before you know it, you will have your own cookbook of all your favorite recipes you and your family can utilize. If you have this desire to change your eating habits as a family, here are some simple tips to start with.
Some tips to help keep everyone happy:
Find favorites – Find a couple of recipes you know everyone likes and then start to make changes to the recipe. For example, if it calls for pasta, swap it out for spaghetti squash. If it calls for wheat flour, swap it out for almond or coconut flour. Just start by taking recipe you have made before and swap parts of it out for healthier ingredients.
Utilize Pinterest. This is a great place to find recipes that fit within your diet regimen…. you can search paleo, gluten free, ketogenic recipes to name a few…. then start being playful and try new recipes that look and sound delicious as well as follow your desired regimen. You can let your husband or kids search for meals as well that they would like to try. It’s ok if the recipe doesn’t tun out, you just try another one then.
Start simple- I often feel we overthink our meals. They don’t have to be fancy. For me, I like simplicity. I find recipes that have few ingredients or ingredients that I have already and only have to buy the main staple of the recipe such as the meat or a new ingredient I will use again.
Let them choose – Have your kids or husband pick a recipe idea for one dinner each week and then make a cleaned-up version of it. Educate your family so they understand why you are eating these foods and cooking with certain ingredients. When everyone has a better understanding of the why’s, it makes meals easier for everyone.
Involve everyone – Family cooking is not only a great way to spend time together but when everyone gets to be involved, they are more open to trying new recipes and willing to help as well. And of course, have fun with it!