Planning ahead for family meals will prevent you from asking the question to your family members, 'what do you want to have for dinner?' Also, family meal planning will help you to provide balanced diet to yourself and the family members.
In a family meal plan, you should try to include as many nutrients as possible in every single serving. Proteins are very important for our bodies, as they are the building blocks. They are especially important in children's diet.
Carbohydrates provide the body with efficient and accessible source of energy. Healthy fats are required by the body, they also help to keep the skin healthy looking. Two very important nutrients are vitamins and minerals, which you can get from various dry fruits, nuts, and vegetables.
Water is also an important nutrient which the body requires. Hence, try to include lots of fruit juices, fresh fruits, raw salad veggies, soups, etc. in your meal so that the body keeps getting adequate fluid.
Family Meal Ideas
All the above nutrients should be present in the right amount. This can get very confusing when planning family meal menu. A simplest way to do this is to find out the best and healthy food sources for these nutrients and try to include them as much as possible in your meal.
The amount of vitamins and minerals used for cooking should be stressed on. Hence, try to serve 4-5 servings of fruit and at least two servings of salad vegetables. Serve fruit salads or vegetable salad as much as you can, and make the plate as colorful as possible.
This will ensure that there are various nutrients present in that serving and also plenty of antioxidants. Also, include more lean protein in the meal plan and less of carbs and even lesser of fats.
When laying out a family meal planning, you should keep in mind the individual conditions; such as, if somebody in your family is allergic to specific foods, or somebody is suffering from a condition and needs to follow a specific diet. You might think that considering all these things will only make cooking very difficult. Hence, even smarter family meal chart is required.
Given ahead, are various healthy lunch options, dinner options and breakfast and snacks ideas. You can use them to make a bi-weekly family meal. You can keep these meals in any combinations. Also, feel free to make modifications according to the needs of the family members.
A standard meal plan for the day should go in this order:
Healthy breakfast
Light snack
Lunch
Medium-heavy snack
Light dinner
In between the meals, one can have healthy drinks like green tea, chamomile tea, lemongrass tea, etc.
However, if somebody in the family needs to have coffee or tea, then go for the decaf variety. Also, it is recommended for an individual to drink 2-3 liters of water everyday. So, in between the meals, water can be consumed.
Make sure you do not have water an hour before or after your lunch or dinner meal. This tends to dilute the stomach acids and makes digestion weak. So, here are some ideas on various meals and snacks.
Breakfast
Cereal with bananas and orange juice
Oatmeal with strawberries and carrot juice
Scrambled eggs with toast and lychee juice
Beans on toast and mango juice
Yogurt milkshake with veg sandwich
Pancakes and mix fruit salad
Poached eggs and mixed fruit juice
Light Snacks
Fruit salad
Fruit smoothie
Bowl of fresh veggies
Chicken salad with no dressing
Green tea with oatmeal cookies
Lunch
Mixed salad with Chicken sandwich
Macaroni and cheese with grilled fish
Sliced veggie salads with hummus
Cucumber salad with mushroom omelet and toast
Turkey salad with mix veg fried rice
Pasta salad with grilled chicken
Steamed rice with salad and grilled fish
Medium-Heavy Snacks
Lean turkey sandwich and dry fruits
Chicken sandwich and green tea
Bowl of fresh fruits and dried nuts
Yogurt smoothie with almonds
Peanut butter sandwich & mix veg juice
Light Dinner
Steamed fish with bok choy
Fresh veggies salad & chicken soup with bread
Root vegetables with lentil casserole
Lemon rice with prawns salad
Baked fish and potato salad
Chicken noodle soup and garlic bread
Mix veg salad with tuna casserole
These were the various ideas on family meals and how to go about it. So, create a weekly family meal plan and stick to it. Plan in advance and you will be able to provide a balanced diet to everybody in the family. Also, with a family meal plan you don't have to repeat the question 'what do you want to have for dinner?'