Home » A Parent’s Guide To Cooking With Kids
Technology and fast food chains have brought about a transformation that has not only changed the way people interact, but also the way people live their everyday lives, which has caused people, including kids, to unknowingly live an unhealthy lifestyle. The last thing you’d want, as a parent, is to watch your kids hogging junk food on a regular basis and living a lifestyle that’s surely going to take a toll on their health.
As discussed here, one of the best ways to make kids understand the importance of having healthy eating habits is to get them involved. When you lead by example, kids tend to imitate your behaviour and indulge in observational learning. Observational learning plays a huge role in the growth of a child. It’s exciting and life affirming.
Cooking with your kids is also a great way to teach kids that veggies are our friends, not foes. They tend to be more inclined towards veggies and fruits, which is a win-win situation for any parent. They get to learn how to cook easy healthy meals, thereby making them self-reliant and unleashing their creativity.
However, an important question that comes to mind is how you can go about it. It isn’t easy to make kids stay at one place for a long time. We, as advocates of healthy and tasty food, have a variety of cooking ideas for kids, including breakfast, lunch, and dinner ideas for kids, but what’s more important is that we understand how to go about it. So, we intend to share some tips with you on how you can conveniently go about this combination of kids & cooking.
Get your kids involved in the process of finalizing a recipe and make sure you start off with easy and quick recipes because the process doesn’t only have to be about fun and learning, but also safe. So, ensure the recipe you choose doesn’t involve any process that isn’t safe for kids, like handling a knife or frying something that splatters or handling red spices. Understand what they want by asking them questions, like what kind of topping they prefer? What kind of sauce do they want? Let them feel like they’re anchoring the process. Pick a recipe that is a perfect blend of taste and nutrition, for e.g. Baked Beans Sandwich, which is rich in protein and fibre.
For a baked beans sandwich, you need baked beans, bread slices, oil, chopped garlic cloves, chopped onions, capsicum, salt, black pepper powder, tomato ketchup, cheese slices, and Nutralite Mayo. So, make your kids gather the ingredients and arrange it properly on the slab or table, and tell them about the importance of all the ingredients, especially fruits and veggies. For e.g. what does capsicum look like? How does it benefit your health, like improving your metabolism and immunity?
Now guide them on how to make the recipe step by step. For e.g. the first step of making a baked beans sandwich is to create the base by spreading scrumptious butter spread on the bread slices. So, teach them the first step, then the second, then the third, and so on and so forth. For a healthylicious result, be sure to check out our Exclusive Nutralite DoodhShakti Probiotic Butter Spread, with probiotics that support your gut health and immunity.
Since kids are involved, there’s bound to be a mess. So, don’t panic around them. Giving them freedom will make them confident and make them learn how to get rid of the mess.
This is another useful tip that can turn their experience of cooking with you into a lifetime learning experience. Cooking with kids is a great way to teach your kids kitchen etiquettes like keeping the kitchen clean, washing dishes, and throwing the trash in a trash box. Such etiquettes also give one or two important lessons about life and shape who you are as a person, so your kids are bound to be responsible and well-organized.
Enjoying a meal together is a great way to spend quality time with your family and celebrate the result of the efforts that went into making it. So, once sandwiches are ready, get together with your kids and the rest of your family and devour them with our yummy Nutralite Mayo and some garlic green chutney.
Here are some more easy, healthy snacks ideas that you can enjoy with your kids:
All these recipes are available on Nutralite’s recipe section, and there’s no doubt that each of these recipes will taste more heavenly with a healthy butter spread or mayo. Check out our product range HERE!
So, start cooking with your kids, if you want them to naturally understand the significance of a healthy lifestyle and happily opt for it faster and easier without compromising on the satisfaction of their taste buds. The tips mentioned above will not only help them learn the therapeutic art of cooking, but also make the procedure more convenient, fun, and satisfying for you, as a parent.