The best way to ensure your kids to have well-rounded, nutritious meals when you’re not the one physically meal prepping or putting dinner on the table is to create a weekly meal plan for your nanny to follow. When you take a little bit of time to plan now, you and your nanny will have more time with your kids when they need it later.
When the dinner hour strikes there’s already a lot on everyone’s plates, so it’s not ideal to attempt a full-on recipe or to try a new culinary technique that takes your nanny’s attention off your little ones for a long time. You want to look for meal ideas that are quick and kid-friendly. The goal is to put dinner on the table fast, while remebering kids need to eat protein, healthy carbs and fat at every meal.
When you’re building your nanny meal plan, focus on ways to creatively plate the foods. By getting the kids involved in plating, you’ll be encouraging healthy eating choices while cutting down on cooking time and prep. These kid-friendly weeknight dinner ideas can help get you and your nanny started:
1. Kid-made kebabs
There’s just something about food on a stick that gets kids excited to try a bite of something new. Kebabs are usually assembled and then cooked, which totally works, but it’s just as fun for kids to skewer already cooked meat and veggies onto a stick. To pump up the flavor, try using a teriyaki marinade, let kids sprinkle on sesame seeds, or dunk their cooked kebabs into a tasty dipping sauce.
2. DIY tacos together
The world loves a Taco Tuesday, but really kids love picking out their toppings any day of the week. Even more appealing to the younger set is being able to spoon it all onto the plate themselves. Put down the placemats and just let ‘em do it! Remember, choices are everything, so bring on the tomatoes, black beans, avocados and more. The more you expose kids to foods, the more likely they are to try it at some point. To help kids keep their tacos together, teach them how to pinch it shut with a chip clip. Kids love a good hack as much as the rest of us!
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3. Throw pasta on the table
Pasta can be quick and easy meal, but you need some healthy mix-ins to make it balanced. Problem is, kids don’t usually love being served a bowl of pasta with a ton on top. TikTok’s table spaghetti trend is the answer. Cover your table with placemats then top it with a plastic table cloth before you dump a pot of drained, cool pasta on top. Add the sauce and scatter the cooked veggies around the outside of the pile before you hand everyone a spoon to dig in!
4. Make personal pizzas
If you want to truly make this an activity, hand kids a rolling pin and show them how to roll out the pizza dough. If you’re tight on time, try a ready-to-bake pizza crust and cut straight to sauce, cheese, and toppings. If no veggies are making their way on top, remember they just have to make their way into their mouths! Serve a “kids’ crudite” of their preferred veggies so they can nosh on something nutritious while you wait for the pizzas to cook.
5. Create your own rice bowls
This twist on stir fry is another way to help kids branch out and get more healthy foods into their bellies. Start with your kids’ favorite rice, then set out serving bowls filled with one or two protein options and a range of veggies–and don’t forget dipping sauce. When they start to build their bowl, challenge kids to try at least to new things and see who’s bowl looks most like a rainbow.