My main motivation in writing this blog is to help make natural & healthy living easier for other families so that together we can improve the future for our kids. Certainly, this job is easier said than done, and getting kids to actually eat the healthy foods we prepare can be difficult (here are some of my tips and food rules for getting my children to eat real food).
I’ve also found that having kids help with acquiring the food (through gardening and shopping) and preparing the food (with kid-appropriate tasks like chopping with a crinkle cutter, stirring food, or helping serve) goes a long way toward helping my kids want to eat the food I prepare.
Kid-Friendly Meal Plan
I’ve been meal planning for years because it helps me save time and money in the kitchen. I have seasonal meal plans for spring, summer, fall and winter that I rotate with the seasons, but I try to let my children get involved in the meal planning each season so they have a vested interest in eating the food.
This time, they also got to help with the blogging, since they all helped pick the recipes for this meal plan.
Here is a kid-friendly meal plan that was hand picked by my kids.
Monday: Beef and Broccoli Chinese Stir Fry
Tuesday: Healthy Homemade Meat Based Pizza- Meatza! (sounds weird, but you will like it!) with salad
Wednesday: Grilled Citrus Chicken Salad with Egg, Cucumber, and Apple
Thursday: Crockpot Barbecue Ribs with sweet potato fries and homemade coleslaw or salad (Note: this meal needs to be started in the morning for eating in the evening so they can be slow cooked)
Friday: Curried Shrimp and Vegetables
Saturday: Stuffed Peppers with Guacamole and Salad
Sunday: Healthy Shepherd/Cottage Pie
Healthy Meal Plan Shopping List
This shopping list contains all the ingredients for the above recipes for 2-3 people for a week. Double or triple for a bigger family. I usually double dinner recipes to have leftovers for lunch, and buy a lot of lettuce and spinach to make salads with lunch. Make sure you have enough eggs on hand and you’ll have easy leftover omelets for breakfast each day. Or try these homemade breakfast muffins!
Meat
- 3-4 lbs beef ribs (or roast or stew meat)
- 4 (or more) lbs ground beef
- 1 lb ground sausage
- 2 (or more) large chicken breasts
- 1 lb flank steak (or more)
- 1 lb fresh or frozen shrimp (no tails)
- 1 package bacon
Produce
- 4 or more large bell peppers
- bag of onions
- 2 (or more) medium sweet potatoes
- 1 cabbage or shredded coleslaw bag mix
- bag of grapes
- 2 heads fresh broccoli (must be fresh)-for snack salad
- bag of apples
- mushrooms (optional)
- 1 orange, lemon, or lime (optional)
- 1 (or more) cucumber
- 1 medium zucchini
- avocado or pre-made guacamole (check ingredients!)
- strawberries (optional)
Frozen
- 2 bags frozen broccoli
- 3 bags frozen cauliflower
- 1 bag mixed veggies, no corn
Dairy
- 1 pound butter (organic is best)-or more
- mozzarella cheese (optional)-but for pizza
- 3 dozen eggs (not dairy, I know, but in the same area)
- 8 ounces or more plain, full fat unsweetened yogurt
- carton of unsweetened coconut milk (or can get in can)
Other
- snack foods of choice
- olive oil for salad dressings if desired
- 1 can or jar diced tomatoes
- curry seasoning (optional)
- 1 (6 oz) can tomato paste
- big jar of tomato sauce (or can) no seasonings added
- jar of pasta/pizza sauce (check ingredients)
- honey or molasses (optional-for barbecue sauce)
- can of coconut milk (or fresh)
- lemon juice
Snack options: nuts of choice, more eggs for deviled eggs, avocado, or guacamole (highly recommend), tuna, canned wild caught salmon, almond butter, celery, apples, cream cheese, cucumbers, etc.
What are you cooking this week? Going to try any of these recipes? Tell me about it below!
I love this! I am a huge meal planner too. Thanks for these kid friendly ideas!
This is amazing! Thanks!
Katie, my kids are so picky it’s hard to get them to eat anything. I’m going to try some of these recipes as they sound very tasty and see how it goes. I used to have a set meal plan when I was married to their father based on what he liked to eat but once we separated, then divorced, those meals often went uneaten because the kids didn’t like them. I was the only one eating. I’m also not one who ventures into cooking anything new and different. I’ll eat it when others cook but I’m not very creative in the kitchen. Prayerfully this jump starts our dinners and we enjoy dinnertime and it’s not a dreaded time anymore. Looking forward to more fast and easy recipes as my 3 children are real busy in sports and church so we are always on the go.
I hope you all like them!
would be nice if you can include calories, fat, protein, carb, fibre, vitamins and mineral info.
If you go to http://www.fitday.com you can sign up for a free account that allows you to track the ingredients in your recipes. It’s great! You could also search for other sites that do the same.
Hi Lisa! These meal plans are just sample ones and are not customized to family size, seasonal produce, etc. The subscription ones will change weekly with new recipes and use seasonal produce whenever possible for more nutrients and better price. I’ll also be posting some digital cookbooks in the member forum with recipes that aren’t posted on the blog.
Wellness Mama, how come you’re not vegan? Im not slamming your choices or anything, just simply curious! 🙂
I feel like the healthiest diet for me and my family, according to my personal research, includes animal products.
What a great system! Do you have any tips for maintaining this sort of shopping system at home? Simple pulling various recipes and then building the shopping list has always been a hassle for me, and there are always a couple of things that you only need for one recipe. This system seems much more efficient.
Unfortunately, I don’t know a much more simple way to do it. I just keep recipes on index cards with a shopping list on back and then tally the ingredients to make the list. That way, I can arrange the cards and mix it up week after week. I also just rotate a months worth of meals for the different seasons, trying to use what is most seasonal (cheapest!). Hope this helps some! Maybe a post on this sometime soon… Thanks for reading!