First, start with the basics.

Get everyone involved in the planning

Before the weekly shopping expedition, over a meal get everyone to contribute to the list with what they’d like to eat that week (and any special foods for a particular day – like when they need a quick meal because they won’t have much time, or someone is playing sport so need high energy foods). 

Don’t shop alone

Whether your kids are small, teenagers or older, there’s no reason not to involve them in food selection at the shops. Not everyone needs to go every week, but shopping doesn’t have to be left to one family member all the time according to Brigid. And shopping is a great time to instil some budgeting skills as well!

Whether it is a trip to the supermarket, the fruit shop, the deli, the butcher, the fish shop or the growers’ market, make it a time to identify the best seasonal ingredients, introduce new foods and start reading labels.

If you can, shop where they offer tastings – delis, some fruit shops and growers’ markets are great for this and help encourage kids to try something new.

Think Seasonal

There’s an overabundance of fresh fruit in summer – all the berries, mangoes, peaches, plums, bananas – so it is the perfect time to encourage greater consumption of these. Get everyone to cut up their favourite fresh fruit, then either blend into Jalna Yoghourt On The Go and freeze for a quick snack, or serve a platter of fruits with an array of Jalna Yoghourts as a great breakfast, snack or dessert.

Another way of including more seasonal fruit (or vegies) is to blend them with any Jalna Yoghourt On The Go (Strawberry or Wildberry) or Vitalize drink and a dollop of your favourite Jalna Yoghourt – this way you get all the benefits of the nutrients in the fruit, plus the calcium and aBc cultures in the yoghourt and drink. A perfect quick snack to encourage the kids to try different fruit combinations.

And with the heat, bananas ripen quickly so get the kids to use them to make a banana loaf (see our easy recipe made with Jalna Low Fat Yoghourt – and you can try different varieties for different flavours).

During the year, try different varieties of oranges, apples, pears, strawberries, pineapples, avocadoes as they come into season and see if the kids can taste the difference and decide which variety they prefer and why.

Alternatives

Think about some alternatives to the traditional sandwich, like savoury muffins or corn cakes (click on our recipe) where you can throw in extra ingredients like seasonal vegetables or fruit you may not usually be able to encourage the family to enjoy.
 
If the kids know about different foods, then select and prepare them themselves, they’re more likely to eat them.

Make extra

If you can make it a family activity, preparing food for the week can be fun. Make double the quantity of mini muffins or corn cakes, freeze individually wrapped and dated. These can be defrosted in the microwave for lunchboxes or a quick snack after school or for older students who often have classes at odd hours and are looking for something to keep them going. You can also make packet cake mixes with Jalna Yoghourt On The Go instead of milk, and cut, wrap and freeze slices ready to go. 

If you cook a favourite meal for dinner, cook extra and think about serving it in a different way in the lunchbox the next day. For example, tandoori lamb with couscous and a yoghourt dressing served hot at night can be served in a wrap for lunch the next day with a green salad.

Make it yourself!

No, it’s not the despairing plea from the family’s overworked cook. Why not make it a game to get everyone involved in filling their lunchbox with a variety of nutritious foods everyone rates – the person who scores the highest wins their favourite meal on the weekend. Set up a scorecard and allocate points for nutrition (high in fibre, good variety of foods from a range of food groups, different colours and textures, low in fat, tastes good).

So, how do you keep up the enthusiasm as the year goes on? Lecturing the family about ‘healthy’ food isn’t the way, according to Brigid Treloar, but perhaps applying the relevance of better nutrition to the particular age group is. To get them started, and for younger kids especially, play a ‘nutrition game’ instead to interest kids in why particular foods are good for them.

We’ve included a few quick quiz ideas below, to get you started, but simply stretching everyone’s imagination about different foods means they start to think about what they are eating. Before you start planning meals, or when you are making up lunchboxes, test the family about who knows the most about what they are eating. A little competition to see who’s the best informed can encourage friendly rivalry – not to mention impart a little practical knowledge about good food choices along the way.  

Quiz The Family

Test how much everyone knows. Here’s just a few as a guide.

What’s in season?

December-February: mangoes, strawberries, peaches, plums, apricots

March-April: avocadoes, chokos, fennel, apples, berries, figs, grapes, kiwifruit, nashi, passionfruit, pawpaw, pears, quinces.

May-August: celery, cauliflower, celeriac, chestnuts, custard apples, mandarins, rhubarb

September: asparagus, broad beans, beetroot, peas, pomelo, tangelos

October: blueberries, mulberries, youngberries, carambola (star fruit), loquats, artichokes

November: raspberries, cherries, zucchini flowers, sweetcorn, snow peas. 

Health & Beauty Quiz

Q. 1  What food makes your nails stronger?

a. Protein rich foods such as dairy products, yoghourt, lean meat & nuts
b. Calcium rich foods such as dairy products and yoghourt
c. Zinc rich foods such as meat, seafood and oysters
d. Iron rich foods such as meat, dark green leafy vegetables, iron supplemented cereals

Q 2 Which food makes your hair shinier?

a. Fruit
b. Vegetables
c. Chocolate
d. Spinach

Q 3 Which food is not important for healthy skin?

a. Fruit
b. Vegetables
c. Protein rich foods such as dairy products, yoghourt, lean meat & nuts
d. Fried Foods

Q 4 What one or two things can you do to lose weight more easily?

a. Cut out as many carbohydrates as possible and avoid fruit
b. Reduce fatty foods like fried foods and increase non-starchy vegetable intake
c. Increase exercise, take up a new sport and walk instead of being driven
d. Both b & c

Q 5 How much exercise do you need each day?

a. Less than 15 minutes
b. You do not need to exercise if you eat healthy foods
c. Around an hour each day with 3 days a week of more intensive activity such as running or bike riding
d. You need to exercise more than 2 hours per day

ANSWERS HEALTH & BEAUTY QUIZ

Q 1 All of these answers are correct. Strong nails need a healthy diet. There are other things that can reduce the strength of nails such as your hands being in water with strong detergents for a long time and biting them, but you will have stronger nails if you eat a healthy diet.

Q 2 d. Spinach which is rich in vitamin E will help your hair shine. Having a diet rich in vitamins and antioxidants will also help and these are plentiful in highly coloured fruit and vegetables.
 
Q 3 d. Fried foods will not help your skin but they are not the cause of acne. Healthy skin needs the same food as healthy hair and nails. Drinking enough water is also important. Many people worry that they should avoid chocolate to avoid acne but there is no evidence that chocolate or any other food cause pimples.

Q 4. d. Both b & c

Q 5 c. Around an hour each day with 3 days a week of more intensive activity such as running, bike riding, gym work and weights. You need a variety of exercise including exercise that causes your heart rate to increase (improves heart and lung function) and weight bearing exercise (improves muscle strength and endurance). Any exercise will help with weight control and general well being.

Food Quiz

Q 1 Which of these foods has the most calcium?

a. Slice of  watermelon
b. 200 g serve yoghourt
c. small cup fruit smoothie with yoghourt
d. 90 gram serve grilled steak

Q 2 Which of these foods has the most fibre?

a. Apple (medium)
b. 90 gram serve grilled steak
c. 250 ml fruit smoothie all fruit
d. 2 slices wholemeal  bread

Q 3 Which of these foods has the least amount of sugar?

a. Apple (medium)
b. Can soft drink
c. small cup fruit smoothie banana non fat milk
d. Large serve green salad

Q 4 Which of these foods has the highest amount of fat?

a. Aussie style hamburger
b. 100  gram ( 1/2) packet savoury biscuits
c. Poached chicken breast (no skin) and green salad plus small multigrain roll
d. Large fruit smoothie non-fat milk or yoghourt

Q 5 List these drinks from highest to lowest in kilojoules

a. Coffee latte (large 375  ml)  2  with teaspoons sugar
b. 300 ml carton flavoured milk
c. 600 ml bottle cola
d. 250 ml Jalna Vitalize Drink

ANSWERS FOOD QUIZ

Q 1 200 g serve yoghourt = 380 mgrams calcium
Slice of  watermelon = 10 mgrams
small cup fruit smoothie with yoghourt = about 80-100 mgrams
90 gram serve grilled steak = 5 mgrams

Q 2 2 slices wholemeal  bread = 5.2 grams fibre
Apple medium = 3 grams
90 gram serve grilled steak 0 grams
250 ml fruit smoothie all fruit = 5 grams

Q 3 Large serve green salad = less than 2 grams sugar
Apple (medium) = 17 grams sugar
Can soft drink = 40 grams sugar
small cup fruit smoothie banana non-fat milk = 50 grams sugar

Q 4 Aussie style hamburger = 33 grams fat
100  grams (1/2 ) packet savoury biscuits = 11 grams
Large fruit smoothie less than 10 grams if made with low fat milk or yoghourt
Poached chicken breast (no skin) and green salad plus small multigrain roll less than 7 gram fat

Q5 250 ml Vitalize Drink = 900 K Joule
300 ml carton flavoured milk = approx 930 K Joule
Coffee latte (large 375  ml)  2  with teaspoons sugar = 950 K Joule
600 ml bottle cola = 1080