It’s been a chaotic summer for my family, as we packed up our lives and moved from the city to the suburbs. My kitchen disappeared into cardboard boxes during the weeks prior to our move, and as I started to whittle down the stores of food in our fridge and pantry, I found myself preparing far fewer home-cooked meals than normal. That is, of course, unless a bean and cheese quesadilla counts as a “home-cooked” meal.
Dining out so frequently has been stressful and challenging for me, as a dietitian who devotes significant time and energy to planning and preparing balanced family meals. Restaurant kids menus are notoriously populated with junkier foods and completely devoid of veggies or fiber. But when you’re paying a premium for a restaurant meal, I certainly understand the appeal of a kids menu. These foods, after all, are almost certain to be accepted.
If you’re a parent who struggles with finding the middle ground between healthfulness and acceptance when dining out with your children, perhaps some of these strategies I employed this summer will help you as much as they helped me:
Order appetizers and sides off the main menu as kiddie entrees. Portion distortion means that today’s appetizers are generously sized enough to serve as entrees for most kids (and many adults, too). So I always scan the apps menu for kid-friendly real food — such as Mexican black bean soup, crispy Brussels sprouts, steamed artichoke with butter sauce, tempura tofu bites, guacamole, hummus, chicken or tofu satay, lettuce wraps, beans and rice or bruschetta — to see if I can assemble a respectable meal for my littles without having to resort to the kids menu.
Split an adult entree with your child. Given how enormous portions have become for both adult and kids menu items, I find we waste so much food when we order individual entrees for everyone at the table. That holds true even when everyone eats and enjoys what they’ve ordered. As such, I’ll sometimes split an adult entree with my somewhat finicky kindergarten-aged son.
This tactic has worked especially well for us at simple French bistro-type restaurants that offer classics such as roast chicken and potatoes, steak frites with haricots verts (skinny green beans), roasted salmon with lentils or a goat cheese and herb omelet with side salad. While I’m still the one who winds up consuming the salad, my son has recently started asking to taste the different colored lettuce leaves. That’s progress!
Request Parmesan cheese. Just as alcohol greases the wheels for adults in unfamiliar social situations, Parmesan is a mealtime social lubricant for the under-21 set. It makes veggies, soups and pretty much any unfamiliar food far less scary to try. If you’re attempting to stray from your tried-and-true kids menu items, why handicap yourself by doing so without the benefit of Parmesan cheese?
Seek out ethnic cuisines. You’re far less likely to encounter chicken fingers and fries at, say, a Japanese restaurant. And you might be surprised to find a few kid-friendly gems at your local sushi joint. An edamame starter, some cucumber rolls and an entree such as chicken yakitori or salmon teriyaki are all simple dishes that many children enjoy. With white rice available as a fallback, at least you know they’ll eat something. So don’t be afraid to go for it.
If Chinese is more your style, try a simple stir-fry of chicken with snow peas or broccoli paired with brown rice; or order an interactive dish like moo shu, whose sweet plum sauce and pancake rolling requirement may distract young eaters from the fact that the dish is essentially a pile of shredded cabbage and mushrooms.
If you just can’t stray from the kids menu for some reason, there are still some ways to make sure children eat healthy fare:
Add a side order of greens to the kids menu item, as an appetizer. Even if it’s destined to be a pasta-with-butter-sauce night, I’ll always order my children a side of vegetables from the adult menu. Whether we’re eating at home or dining out, my policy remains the same with regard to veggies at meals: I always offer them, because a child can’t eat veggies if they’re not served. And it’s my job to teach my children what a balanced meal looks like no matter where they’re eating it.
Many types of restaurants offer some sort of cooked broccoli, sauteed spinach, buttered green beans, asparagus or roasted Brussels sprouts. If these aren’t available, I’ll opt for a veggie-heavy soup, such as split pea or lentil, to fit the bill. If you’re at a burger place where such items typically aren’t served, you can often at least swap in sweet potato fries for the regular fries to increase the nutrient density of the meal.
Recently, I’ve also started instructing the wait staff to bring the side of veggies to our table first, as an appetizer, so my still-hungry kiddos are more likely to engage with it. I picked up this trick when dining at Percy Street Barbecue in Philadelphia, whose custom it is to bring carrot sticks and ranch dressing to the table while you await your food. When my famished kids pounded this appetizer while awaiting their dinner, I knew we were onto something.
Opt out of the meal deal. Just because the price of a kids meal includes a juice or soda and a dessert, that doesn’t mean you have to order it. Eating out is already a treat, and a restaurant kids meal is indulgent enough. Water is perfectly adequate to wash down those salty fries, and if no one else at the table is having dessert, the kids can pass on it, too.
More from U.S. News
Easiest Diets to Follow: in Pictures
13 Tips for Getting Kids Health-Ready for Back to School
8 Ways to Start an Urban Garden
Skip the Kids Menus: Making Dining Out Healthy for Children originally appeared on usnews.com
