Nutritious choices made simple ®
Another school year is upon us. Before sending their children to school, parents will weigh the pros and cons of participating in school lunch versus packing lunch at home. In addition to cost and convenience, nutrition is an obvious factor in this decision.
When most people think about summer vacation, they imagine care-free children enjoying their freedom away from school. However, many children who rely on school meals struggle to get enough to eat during these months at home. In fact, it may be the hungriest time of the year for families that rely on food assistance. Let’s discuss what already exists to help, how many children are reached, and what we can all do to support these families in our communities.
Want to really get kids excited about cooking? Invite them to participate in a junior chef competition! On March 15, 2018 the Bethel Public School district in Connecticut held their annual Future Chefs All-Star Edition cooking competition sponsored by Sodexho.
At age 11, Sophia Carpenter is already a champion of the Guiding Stars Program. Sophia and her father visit our Hannaford store every Monday to stock up on nutritious foods for the week and check out the Manchester, NH store’s demo, led by Hannaford Dietitian, Marilyn Mills. While many of us struggle with weekly meal planning and serving our families nutritious choices throughout the week, Sophia has this covered. Sophia comes to the store every week equipped with a detailed meal plan and shopping list that includes delicious choices and is packed full of items that earn Guiding Stars. Marilyn helps out by offering new recipes, ideas, and offers a taste of a product for folks in the region to try out. Sophia compiles all of this into creative recipes to enjoy throughout the week. A true inspiration and amazing role model, we are so thankful to have folks like Sophia to champion the use of the Guiding Stars program in their own home!
We’re pleased to partner with Partnership for a Healthier America and Hip Hop Public Health to offer one lucky person the chance to win a copy of their new CD! Songs for a Healthier America has 19 songs that encourage healthy eating, drinking and exercise for kids and features songs from all genres including hiphop, pop and country. Each track has a fun, positive and encouraging message, and the album is a great way to keep kids dancing and moving inside as the weather gets colder.
Child Health Day is October 7th, and while of course we should be concerned with the health of our children all year round, it’s nice to have a special day to focus on things that we can do to help improve the well-being of our nation’s little ones. One initiative that presents lots of ideas for promoting healthy lifestyles for children is called 54321Go! Here’s a little information on this popular, nation-wide program.
Packing a bagged lunch is one great way to send your child to school with nutritious foods you know they’ll want to eat. Even if your school has a healthful and delicious lunch menu, there are plenty of scenarios where packing a bagged lunch for your child is necessary or just makes more sense. A study done by the University of Texas shows very clear evidence, however, that sticking an ice pack in your child’s lunchbox is not enough to keep their food safe and free of harmful bacteria. Don’t let the evidence stress you–there are some very simple things you can do to make sure your child’s bagged lunch stays safe.
Yuck. Kids love this word. Especially when it comes to describing how they feel about vegetables. So how do kids make that transition from yuck…to yum? As a mother who loves to shop for vegetables and even gets a kick out of serving salad to the masses, it’s a challenge to have a toddler who doesn’t choose to eat them. I often wonder how we’re going to get some of that salad on his plate without hearing yuck. Enter the school garden.