Planning Meals for Children
According the the USDA guidelines, children need anywhere between 1000- 2000 calories a day to meet all their nutritional needs. That is aged from two year olds through preteen age. You might get overwhelmed thinking about how to provide for those nutritional needs without overspending. It seems like healthy foods are more expensive than convenient non-nutritive snacks, but I can assure that it can be done if you are keeping your eye out for the deals. For example, this week at my grocer, pears and apples were on sale so I bought those for my children's fruit servings, but there are weeks when none of the fresh foods are on sale and on those occasions, we go for the canned or frozen foods. Whole grains are often a very inexpensive healthy option as well as dried or canned beans. We get creative with our meal planning to work around what is on sale. Here is a sample menu that I created that follows the USDA recommendations. For your convenience, I will list the cost of the meals based on the sales I found this week.
Breakfast:
Cheerios with milk
banana
$0.84/ child 307 calories
Snack:
celery stick
raisins
1 tbsp peanut butter
$0.36 186 calories
Lunch: For smaller children make a half sandwich
Peanut butter sandwich on whole wheat bread
apple
carrots
milk
$1.15 584 Calories
Snack:
Stove-top popcorn
$0.20 150 calories
Dinner:
Burrito
yellow rice
milk
$1.54 504 calories
Total cost per child is $3.67
Total calories per child is 1731
The calories per child can easily be adjusted by giving smaller portions to smaller children, and the larger portions to larger children.
This is giving your children:
3 servings of dairy
3 servings of fruit
3 servings of vegetables (including beans)
4 servings of whole grains
and a healthy serving of fat with the peanut butter and vegetable oil
The peanut butter, milk, and beans offer a good source of protein.
This is a vegetarian type meal plan, but meat costs a significant amount more than plant based sources of protein. If you are on a strict budget, then beans, peanut butter, potatoes, and whole grains are great staples to keep in your home for healthy meals.
If you would like more information about nutrition or how many calories are suggested for the age of your children, click on the link below.
https://www.choosemyplate.gov/how-much-does-my-preschooler-need
https://www.choosemyplate.gov/kids
https://www.askdrsears.com/
Breakfast:
Cheerios with milk
banana
$0.84/ child 307 calories
Snack:
celery stick
raisins
1 tbsp peanut butter
$0.36 186 calories
Lunch: For smaller children make a half sandwich
Peanut butter sandwich on whole wheat bread
apple
carrots
milk
$1.15 584 Calories
Snack:
Stove-top popcorn
$0.20 150 calories
Dinner:
Burrito
yellow rice
milk
$1.54 504 calories
Total cost per child is $3.67
Total calories per child is 1731
The calories per child can easily be adjusted by giving smaller portions to smaller children, and the larger portions to larger children.
This is giving your children:
3 servings of dairy
3 servings of fruit
3 servings of vegetables (including beans)
4 servings of whole grains
and a healthy serving of fat with the peanut butter and vegetable oil
The peanut butter, milk, and beans offer a good source of protein.
This is a vegetarian type meal plan, but meat costs a significant amount more than plant based sources of protein. If you are on a strict budget, then beans, peanut butter, potatoes, and whole grains are great staples to keep in your home for healthy meals.
If you would like more information about nutrition or how many calories are suggested for the age of your children, click on the link below.
https://www.choosemyplate.gov/how-much-does-my-preschooler-need
https://www.choosemyplate.gov/kids
https://www.askdrsears.com/
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