Healthy Meals

Serving healthy meals is one of the most important steps to developing and maintaining healthy eating habits for children and adults alike. Whether you are feeding toddlers or teenagers, eating at home or at a restaurant, mealtime is the perfect way to ensure they have the opportunity to eat a wide variety of healthy foods.

Studies have also found that when children sit down to family meals, they are more likely to be better students, have healthier overall diets, develop a more diverse vocabulary and are less likely to be overweight. As a parent, if you want to develop healthy eating habits for your family, start with the gift of family meals.

Healthy meals don't have to be complicated. Start by making sure that one food from each food group is included, and pre-washed baby carrots or frozen peas and glasses of milk count! Read on for more tips and tricks from registered dietitian nutritionist moms.

Breakfast Tips + Ideas

Healthy Breakfast

These articles provide tips for a healthy breakfast, along with quick and easy breakfast ideas.

Lunch Ideas

Whether it's back-to-school time or the middle of the school year, figuring out the best things to pack in your child's lunch to make it healthy, tasty and quick can be overwhelming for even the most organized parent! Here are some tips and ideas to freshen the lunchbox.

How to Plan Meals in 4 Simple Steps

1. Get Ideas

Children involved in meal planning When children are involved in the planning process they'll be more likely to eat what is prepared. Ask your children and other family members what foods they would like to eat during the week. It will also be easier to get help with the meal preparation and clean-up process if their food preferences are considered. Search for delicious recipes to get more ideas.

2. Plan by Personality

Cooking by Personality Do you combine fresh and convenience foods to make the meal faster? Is cooking something you enjoy and don’t mind spending time doing? Do you prefer to cook from scratch or do you rely on frozen and canned foods such as frozen broccoli or, canned tomatoes or beans to make the meal easier to prepare? Take the Food Personality Quiz to determine your cooking style, then get recipe recommendations and personalized shopping lists.

3. Keep Healthy Food On Hand

Keeping healthy food on hand Adding meal staples to your shopping list makes it easier to create quick meals on busy nights. Make sure your pantry, cupboards, refrigerator and freezer are stocked with healthy foods from all of the food groups like milk, cheese, tomatoes, garlic, onions, apples, bananas, bread, cereal, pasta, rice, tortillas, beans, etc. Remember, the food you have on hand will determine how healthfully you eat so, choose wisely.

4. Shop Once For the Week

Family shopping Once you’ve made a list of the recipes you’re planning to prepare, including snacks and staples, make a list of all the ingredients that you will need to prepare these meals. Make sure your list includes nutrient-rich foods from all the food groups, then check your pantry and refrigerator to see what you may already have on hand. Make adjustments to your list and take your list to the store.

prev next

Search All Recipes

What's Your Food
Personality?

Take our quiz to find out!

Take Now!

Tip Sheets

These handouts have useful tips on how to feed your family healthy meals.

HealthyEating.org, brought to you by Dairy Council of California, is committed to elevating the health of children and families through the pursuit of lifelong healthy eating habits.

This site is best viewed in Firefox v.18, Chrome v.24, Safari v.5, Internet Explorer v.10 and mobile devices. Some features on this site require popups to be enabled.

Web Site Search