No argument here that pasta and potatoes are cheaper than meat and veggies, but it comes down to a matter of priorities. Are you willing to give up a few hours of free time to see that your family is fed healthy meals?
I see a lot of people making a fuss about how expensive it is to feed a family, but then they eat out at McDonald's 2+ times a week (no time to cook, they say). For my Family of 4, I can count on it costing at least $15.00 per trip if we eat at McDonald's; multiply that by twice a week and that's $30.00. What can I buy for $30.00 at the grocery store? Well...this week I could get chicken thighs or a frozen hen turkey for 79 cents a pound (about what you pay for a pound of pasta), pork roast for $1.19 a pound, fresh baby carrots, spinach and broccoli for $1.00 a pound and frozen veggies for 88 cents a pound (one bag will feed the four of us one meal). Basically, I could buy enough meat and veggies for the 4 of us for the next week at least for that same 30 bucks I spent on two meals at McDonald's. Now you tell me what the smarter purchase would be, not to mention which is healthier. Short on time? Utilize that crock pot gathering dust in the basement or spend a few hours on the weekend cooking for the week ahead.
Find school menus scary? Pack your kids a lunch. But I should also add that no matter how healthy a lunch you pack your kids, you can't prevent them from trading it for something they'd rather have.
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For one thing, today's working parents don't prepare meals like they used to. Parents themselves mostly grew up eating in the microwave, ready-to-eat, fabricated food generation.
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Speak for yourself. We didn't even own a microwave until I was in high school and then it was used primarily for reheating leftovers. I myself cook dinner 28 out of 30 nights out of the month (we eat out twice a month). My kids eat breakfast at home and pack a lunch to school (and my DH and I pack a lunch for work...leftovers).
Yup, we're a fast food nation, but let's not lump all families into the same category. Some of us are actually paying attention to what we feed our families.
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Then there's the other extreme: Parents who find an eating lifestyle that suits them and then FORCE it on their children.
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No matter what you choose, unless you choose to just let your kids eat whatever they feel like, you will be 'forcing' some type of eating style on them. The question then becomes, how are you going to feed them?
I choose to have my kids follow controlled (not LOW) carb with a minimum of junk food and plenty of protein, healthy fats, veggies, dairy and fruits and very moderate amounts of whole grains. They're honor roll students, both of them, with 3.8 and 3.9 grade averages. Yesterday, they spent nearly 4 hours playing outside with the neighborhood children after spending 1 1/2 hours at martial arts training, so they're obviously not lacking in energy, either. Neither of them is overweight and they are both healthy and growing as they should according to their pediatrician who, BTW, gives mom a thumbs up and an 'atta mom!' for how they eat.