How can I encourage my family to eat more home cooked meals?

Gemison

Season your food well and don't be afraid to use spices and herbs to add flavor to foods. This can make all the difference with how your food tastes and how well it is accepted by your family.

11 years ago

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jeffreyjose48

You really have to make mouth-watering meals. You must study how to prepare delicious meals. You can watch from YouTube how to do it. Then just imitate what you have seen.

6 years ago

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Take some foods you know they love. Pizza is a great example, to create something completely different and incorporate it to be a family event. Take several empty pie pans, and have your loved create their own personal sized pizza's. You can split up the dough accordingly, then have them build it themselves. It's very fun and wayyyy more affordable!

*Note: Plus you can make a bunch of them to freeze (uncooked) so you can have them on the go!*

11 years ago

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Violet

Just don't buy fast food. And, that might sound simplistic but over time your family will become more accustomed to your home cooking rather than the very high fat, high calorie fast foods that you might be buying now.

11 years ago

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twilight

You can always sneak some cooked veggies in things, such as cooked cauliflower in homemade mac and cheese.

11 years ago

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Beverly

Take some foods you know they love. Pizza is a great example, to create something completely different and incorporate it to be a family event. Take several empty pie pans, and have your loved create their own personal sized pizza's. You can split up the dough accordingly, then have them build it themselves. It's very fun and wayyyy more affordable!

*Note: Plus you can make a bunch of them to freeze (uncooked) so you can have them on the go!*

I love making homemade pizza, this is a really good idea and I like how you can control the toppings and ingredients in this way. Also, I like piling mine with cheese, though I don't know if that's the healthiest option. Still it has calcium and tastes really good.

11 years ago

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mandy

You can always sneak some cooked veggies in things, such as cooked cauliflower in homemade mac and cheese.

What a great idea. And I bet that it does not make the taste much different.

11 years ago

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elladavidson

Add peas into tuna and noodles. It tastes great and they are getting their veggies in.

11 years ago

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angie828

Encourage your family help you cook then they might want to eat more of it.

11 years ago

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tionna

Allowing them to help with the meal plans might get them interested.

11 years ago

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ralph101

Let them each plan a night of the week as to what they want to make.

11 years ago

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Beverly

Let them each plan a night of the week as to what they want to make.

Smart idea! My daughter always enjoys dinner when she helps prepare it. We will do this more.

11 years ago

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stevexavior

You can make their favorite dishes at home.

11 years ago

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Michaela

Don't offer your family any foods other than what you want them to eat. I know it sounds harsh but if you offer snacks and candies then that is what they will eat. You have to be tough and offer only healthy choices and that is what they will eat.

10 years ago

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Justin

Don't offer your family any foods other than what you want them to eat. I know it sounds harsh but if you offer snacks and candies then that is what they will eat. You have to be tough and offer only healthy choices and that is what they will eat.

However, that is likely only true for younger children, whose food options are limited to what you serve or have in the house. The older a child gets, such into teen years, the more likely they can just as easily get their own food or snacks from a store and do their own shopping. So then you don't have as many options for dictating what your child eats.

10 years ago

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Beverly

However, that is likely only true for younger children, whose food options are limited to what you serve or have in the house. The older a child gets, such into teen years, the more likely they can just as easily get their own food or snacks from a store and do their own shopping. So then you don't have as many options for dictating what your child eats.

At this point, I'm the primary food shopper for the house. Though my daughter influences what I buy and I always ask if there is a specific snack that she wants. I believe that she knows what snacks she likes best.

She has very particular tastes. And, she gets that from me. I was always very picky about the food that I served her when she was two and three years old and so now, all her food has to taste a certain way or she won't eat it.

She is very sensitive to food taste differences. Just yesterday I bought a new brand of chips from the store as her favorite brand was out of stock. She cannot stand the flavor of the chips, though I cannot taste a difference between this brand and the other one. To me, they both taste the same though she says they do not.

10 years ago

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Justin

At this point, I'm the primary food shopper for the house. Though my daughter influences what I buy and I always ask if there is a specific snack that she wants. I believe that she knows what snacks she likes best.

She has very particular tastes. And, she gets that from me. I was always very picky about the food that I served her when she was two and three years old and so now, all her food has to taste a certain way or she won't eat it.

She is very sensitive to food taste differences. Just yesterday I bought a new brand of chips from the store as her favorite brand was out of stock. She cannot stand the flavor of the chips, though I cannot taste a difference between this brand and the other one. To me, they both taste the same though she says they do not.

That is not surprising that your child could detect the flavor difference, as a child's taste buds will be sharper than an adults. Also, it might have been that she was just not hungry at the time. Sometimes any snack food is good to a hungry person but one who is not hungry will be pickier about the taste. Do you think that could be the situation?

10 years ago

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peachpurple

Firstly, don't buy tidbits and store them in your kitchen. Secondly, refrain from dinning out, Thirdly, search for homecooked food that are similar to the food that your family members love to eat. If they love pizza and fried chicken, look for the easiest recipe sites for the tips and tricks. Prepare the ingredients in advance because hungry family members could not wait and they hate waiting too. Once you are able to obtain their thumbs up for your homecooked food, they won't insist on eating outside anymore.

7 years ago

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fulstaf

To make a great meal, two things you should consider, get the best fresh vegetable there is, second be generous.
For the recipe, they're tons of them, just don't take them seriously, and start to improve upon them, and improvise all time. if they're not convinced after that, just tell them that is cheaper and healthier to eat at home.

7 years ago

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JuanIbarra

Be a great cook and cook better food than ready made ones. That is hard to do but It is the most effective, another thing you can do is to let them appreciate how much you can save if you make your food at home instead of buying from outside. Also show them the long term effects of unhealthy food like obesity and diabetes.

7 years ago

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peachpurple

You are right. As long as you learn how to cook online or offline, improve the cooking skill, I am sure that kids would rather eat at home than to dine out. Unhealthy food especially fast food will increase obesity for kids

7 years ago

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felabruno

There you have two big reasons: expensive and unhealthy. You should show them how much money they can save with cooking meals at home and how healthy it is. With eating fast food often, besides the fact that it is very expensive it can damage your health terribly. For example, obesity is an awful disease and people that suffer this have to spend a lot of money on medication and visits at the doctor to try to recover their health.

7 years ago

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ColdFlameChris

As long as there's a good cook in your home, I'm sure that they'll prefer home-cooked meals. They maybe don't like to eat the home-cooked meal because no one can give them a reason. We do prefer a home-cooked meal, especially my mom's cook because it's surely delicious.

7 years ago

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wallet

The only solution is not taking them out to a restaurant, or McDonald's, KFC, etc. If they will not eat here they must eat somewhere and they can turn to your cooked meal at the home.
Of course, if your meals will be tasty they will never go out and will ask you to cook every day.

7 years ago

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gelotologist

For me, my idea would be , cooking there favorite meals and also making it more delicious and satisfying. I think this idea is enough for me to encourage my family to eat more home cooked meals.

7 years ago

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mildredtabitha

Educating the kids early or members of the family about the dangers of eating unhealthy foods can really help. When I was a kid, we used to be shown some videos of how unhealthy sugars can slowly damage some organs in our body. This made us to get scared and to choose the right thing to do and focus on eating healthy food. We now welcome healthy foods at home and limit the intake of processed foods and deep fried foods.

7 years ago

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augusta

This exact thing happened in my family then,we used to like fast food and junks outside, What my mum.did was to cook those stuff but with more healthy ingredients.

if it noodles fried them.with healthy oil and add veggie to them and a little bit of sweetener to satisfy the Taste bud and always make food available on time.

7 years ago

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TimothyAlex

In my family, my wife and I insist on family meals at least five days a week. However, sitting down at the table for a family meal is a practice that we started when the kids were young and it is just a fact of life for them.

7 years ago

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vinaya

In the morning we always hurry to go to work, therefore, we don't have time to sit and eat together, However, in the evening, we sit around the dining table and eat together all the while sharing about things happened earlier in the day. If you want the family to eat in the home, you will have to find the time when it is most appropriate for the entire members. Secondly, you should cook foods that are liked by everyone. Well different people have different taste. Therefore, the meal should include at least one dish that will be loved by the family members.

7 years ago

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Blank629

Well it is a good question because all of the people like to eat in a restaurant or fast food chain. It is more easy to eat outside than to prepare some foods in the house as they say. But for me, home cooked meals are the best. To encourage them, I suggest to make some dish, a good dish that will make them to eat more in your house. I can't recommend any foods but try to make a food that all of you like to eat. I think it is a good idea.

7 years ago

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ListingDock

How can I encourage my family to eat more home cooked meals?