How to avoid the worst feeling when feeding your family.

It’s one of the worst feelings when you plan, prepare, and serve a beautiful and nutritious home cooked meal for your family... and then no one eats it!

Last night I made roasted turnips, roasted asparagus with sheep rind-ripened cheese and garlic, boneless ham cooked in maple sugar and orange juice, and bone broth and rice noodle soup. Is your mouth watering?

My kids’ mouths were not watering.

Sure, my 5yo asked for seconds with his noodles (not the broth), my 4yo ate one bite of everything, and my 1yo ate lots of tiny bites of ham and turnips and broth. But, how are they not devouring this deliciousness!?

I don’t get too worked up about it. First, life happens sometimes. Second, I do not want to create any food-related trauma in my home. Third, I know that I’m doing all the right things to foster healthy food relationships for my kids – including them in food preparation (chopping, mixing, measuring, cooking), having them set the table, visiting farms that our food comes from, growing our own food, and more.

This doesn’t mean that I don’t feel awful when my family doesn’t eat my cooking. It’s really my problem, not theirs. It adds stress to my life.

In an effort to reduce my stress, I serve the ingredients for most snacks and lunches and at least one dinner per week.

Serving the ingredients means that I spend far less time preparing food. And, as long as I’m sourcing high quality, very tasty foods, I know my family is getting everything they need.

Some local ingredients and simple foods that I almost always keep stocked for quick, easy snacks and meals are:

• Carrots
• Apples
• Hard boiled eggs
• Fermented beets, carrots, and cabbage
• Pickles
• Beef stix
• Drinkable yogurt or kefir
• Hard cheese
• Crispy nuts
• Granola bars
• Boneless ham (cooked and chilled)
• Chicken (roasted and chilled)

Do you have any tricks for getting your family to love what you cook and eat it, too? I’d love to hear from you and get to know you better!