Cook Healthier Meals For Your Child

In this section, you will find meal ideas and specific foods from each of the food groups to help you plan and make healthy meals for your child and family.  You might wonder exactly what makes a healthy breakfast or a healthy lunch?  We have the answers in easy to read, concise pages!

Creating meals for the family is a daily routine.  

Healthy meals include:

• Eating breakfast every morning
• Making a healthy lunch for children to take to school or eat at home
• Preparing and having readily available healthy snacks for mid-morning and mid-afternoon
• Planning and cooking the family dinner

These are each very important meals for your child to ensure they grow healthy and build a strong immune system to fight off disease.  Nutrition is the foundation to good health.  It provides the body with the vitamins and minerals needed to grow and maintain a healthy child.

The foundation for each of the meals is the five food groups:

• Vegetable Food Group - make half of the plate filled vegetables and fruit
• Fruit Food Group - color the plate with different colored fruits and vegetables
• Dairy Food Group - drink or eat lowfat (1%) or fat-free dairy products
• Grains Food Group - make at least half the grains "100% whole grains"
• Protein Food Group  - vary the protein and keep it lean!