“100 million people are starving. 1.3 billion tons of food is wasted every year. We do not need to produce more. Instead, we need to act different.”
–Chef Massimo Bottura
https://www.threeoclockproject.org/post/teaching-kids-about-food-waste
If you are a parent, you would relate to this topic and you would want to find a solution to this problem. We can notice that in a household, it is the kids who waste the most food, mostly because of their smaller stomach capacity. Being children, they also want to eat everything they see even though they would not want the whole thing. So, they take as much food as they possibly can and end up not eating more than half.
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Most kids are fussy eaters and they will refuse to eat almost all the food you offer them. Kids’ food preferences also keep changing every few weeks. Some food that they enjoyed the last week may not interest them the coming week and you would have to keep buying whatever it is you think your child is going to enjoy. Yelling at your kids to not waste their food is as effective as telling a plant to grow on the other side of the path. You have to move the plant or show your child the right way.
You can’t exactly explain to your kids that the food they waste can have a big impact on the environment in a way that they can understand. So, how is it that you teach kids to stop wasting food? There are a few methods that you could try to show your children that food is not something that we can take for granted, or a toy to play with and throw around.
https://closeronline.co.uk/family/news/fussy-eaters-family-wasting-food/
- Teaching kids about food: One of the best ways to make sure that your kids clean their plates is to show them the source of their food. It might be a good idea to take them to a local butcher or a farm every once in a while so that they can see the hard work that is put into getting their favorite food. You can even have a vegetable garden in your house and lets your kids help out every now and then. You can even let them help you cook some easy snacks so that they can appreciate the taste of what they cook themselves and will not be tempted to waste it.
- Combat fussy eating:It is a fact that most kids don’t like vegetables and get fussy when you try to force-feed them. Some parents have taken refuge in distraction from the TV. It is a known fact that most kids don’t even realize what they are eating when they are watching their favorite show on TV. They are so immersed in the show that they don’t even notice a difference in taste when you replace their potato chips with a carrot stick. Of course, it is not exactly an option that is recommended because most parents don’t want their kids to be too addicted to the TV. So, you could make food-time fun for your kids. Even though we have learned that it is wrong to play with our food, it can also be helpful if you arrange the vegetables in a cute design and feed it to your kids like an airplane. If it gets your kid to eat then why not?
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https://www.respectfood.com/article/5-ways-to-stop-kids-wasting-food/
- Start with smaller portions:Most kids want to load up everything on their plate and they end up not even eating have of what they have. We have to reason with and assure them that they can start with a little bit and they could have more later if they were hungry. This way, you don’t have to toss out the remains of what they eat. You can also give your kids the leftovers after a while when they are hungry this way.
- Plan and batch cook meals:It is better to plan ahead as to what to cook the entire week. You can even experiment with different foods. For example, if you have some leftover rice, you could always mix it up in gram flour batter and deep fry it, making an easy snack for your kids. If you made too much food, you could always freeze it and heat it up if you suddenly realize there is no food at home. This is especially useful if you have made large batches of lasagne.
- Pack smart lunchboxes:Checking your child’s lunchbox will give you an idea of what they are eating and how much of it they consume. Some kids come home with half-eaten sandwiches or apples, mostly because they find it hard to eat when they are at school. Cutting the sandwiches into small triangles or other fun and interesting shapes can make the kids eat more without wasting. Chopping up the apples and other fruits into smaller pieces was found to be more popular among kids rather than just sending the whole fruit as it is.
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https://angenoy.com/fun-lunch-ideas-kids/
- Rewarding your kids:If your child has managed to eat all of what is on their plates, you can always reward them with a candy bar or a few ‘M&Ms’. This way, they will know that there is something to look forward to if they finish their whole meal and will be motivated to finish their food.
These are some of the few methods that many parents have used to get their kids to finish what is on their plate without wasting anything. When we hand over the world to the future generation, we have to make sure that they understand the value of what they eat and how there are those less fortunate so as to not even have proper access to food. They should also be aware of all the waste going and piling up on landfills just because they refused to finish their dinners. It is better to teach your kids not to waste food before it becomes too late and they become too old to start new habits.
“Throwing away food is like stealing from the table of those who are poor and hungry”
-Pope Frances
-Sharon Ajith -21/06/2021
Tags: #Combat fussy eating, #eting, #food, #fussy, #getgreengetgrowing, #gngagritech, #greenstories, #household, #kids, #vegetables, #waste, #wastingfood
