4 Ways to teach your child not to waste food
Does your little tyke waste food? Cutting down on food wastage is something all households should be doing.
It’s dinnertime, and after playing with their food (poking, taste testing, and squishing it), your child decides they are no longer hungry. You end up throwing good food away. No one likes wastage, especially considering the price of food nowadays and the number of impoverished children who go to bed hungry each night.
Did you know that one-third of all food produced for human consumption is lost or wasted worldwide, amounting to approximately 1.3 billion tonnes per year? And this is despite the fact this, 21 million people worldwide go hungry every day.
Today, reducing food waste at the household level is critical. Here are four ways to teach your child about food wastage.
Tell them where the food comes from
Teaching children about the origins of their food is the single most effective way to raise food-savvy children. Bring them to your local butcher and greengrocer (or even a nearby farm) to see how much work goes into producing food. Begin a kitchen garden and teach them how to grow simple things like bean sprouts. The act of watching a seed transform into something edible is a powerful lesson in the value of food. When possible, involve them in the cooking process. It can be a fun activity that gets them interested in the meal.
Serve smaller portions
We frequently overfill children’s plates, only to have the majority of their meal thrown away. Begin by serving your child small portions; you can always serve them more when they’re done. It also allows you to easily store their leftovers, saving you time when preparing child-friendly meals.
Meal planning and batch cooking
Plan your weekly meals carefully. Yesterday’s pasta can be transformed into today’s mac and cheese, and batch-cooked dishes like bean salad and fruit crumble keep well in the fridge, ensuring you have healthy meals on hand for days. If you’ve over-catered, you don’t have to eat that lasagna all week: freeze it in portions to avoid ordering takeout the next time your fridge is empty.
Pack clever lunchboxes
Keep an eye on what is left in your children’s lunch boxes and make adjustments as needed. To reduce waste and plastics, use reusable containers for food and drinks, and turn leftovers into lunches. If they keep returning with half-eaten fruit, try cutting it up to make it more easily consumed. According to studies, offering sliced apples to children increases their likelihood of eating them by up to 61%.
