Quick and easy nutrition hacks for busy households

6 Feb

With purse strings tightening and supermarket prices soaring, making balanced, nutritious meals for our families is getting trickier. Not to mention the time involved in cooking from scratch! If you’re looking for simple, budget-friendly ways to boost your child’s diet, we have a few handy hints for you to try.

1. Make the most of the freezer section

You’d be amazed what you can find in the fruit and veg section of the supermarket frozen foods aisle! Not only is this often cheaper, and more long-lasting, than their fresh counterparts, but they’re usually prepared, peeled and pre-chopped. You can find everything from your staples of peas and sweetcorn to more unusual ingredients like ginger, butternut squash and even pre-mixed chef’s base and stir fry veg. These will keep in your freezer for a good long time and are perfect for adding to a pasta sauce or casserole, without even dirtying a chopping board in the process. You can also find frozen fruit mixes to make smoothies and purees in a flash.

2. Consider a multivitamin

There’s a wealth of child-friendly multivitamin options on the market these days, from liquid drops to chewy gummies that you can pass off as sweets to even the fussiest eaters. These once-a-day doses of goodness give you peace of mind that their RDA of some harder-to-get vitamins and minerals are taken care of in a matter of seconds.

3. Wholegrains and pulses

We know that getting little people to eat wholemeal equivalents of their usual foods can be a bit of a challenge, but there are ways to mix in some wholegrains without arousing suspicion. Even if you mix your white pasta with a third of brown, or lentil pastas instead, it should be enough to provide some benefit without your child noticing much of a difference. Especially if there’s a yummy sauce mixed in already. Equally, 50/50 style breads with the flavour of white but the benefits of wholemeal will likely slip under the radar while still delivering a boost in fibre.

4. Make careful snack swaps

If you’re worried about your child’s salt and sugar intake, snacks can be one of the biggest culprits. Even “toddler snacks” can be surprisingly sugary once you read the labels. Snacks are a great way to make sure children’s blood sugar remains stable throughout the day, so they needn’t be eliminated altogether, but next time you’re out shopping spend some time really getting into the nutrition information on the packaging. Don’t be taken in by fruit snacks that boast they don’t contain any additives – they can still hide huge sugar levels! And avoid giving small children snacks made for adults – they are made with adult nutritional requirements in mind and are likely to be too salty and/or sugary for your little ones in the portions provided.

5. Everything in moderation

A balanced diet is just that – balanced! Treats and play food have their place in a moderate nutrition plan, and help avoid food fixations later in life. The odd slice of cake or packet of crisps isn’t going to have a detrimental effect on their health in the long run. Nor is the occasional ready meal or takeaway. You needn’t be militant about nutrition to have a positive effect on your child’s ongoing health and development. Simply aim for a balance of protein, fruit and veg, carbs and healthy fats and you’re perfectly on track. Plus, if your child is in nursery, they will be getting delicious, well-balanced, age-appropriate food while they’re under our care, taking some of the pressure off you while they’re at home.