Removing Mom Guilt + Redefining Convenience Food for Kids
Motherhood demands convenience!
So why do so many of us feel guilt or shame around reaching for those cute and crinkly packages, that offer a reliable crutch and a consistent product we know our kids will eat (without a fuss)?
Because, convenience foods are most often associated with those foods found in convenient stores, like chips, cookies, candy, and other highly processed options. Now, why these are easy to grab, they can make it increasingly difficult to help create healthy habits with when not used properly.
That's why, in this episode, we are highlighting how to redefine convenience foods as busy moms. By simply adjusting our expectations and becoming more intentional about what snack foods meet our criteria for convenience, we can begin to find more functional ways to fuel our kids without demanding time and energy we may not have.
SHOWNOTES:
Get your FREE cheatsheet with 72 of my favorite healthy kids snacks on my Level Up Snack Guide here.
Want to get on the waitlist for Mealtimes Made Easy Method? Sign up here for more info when registration opens in June.
Check out the YouTube video of this episode here.
Ready to take the next step in improving your family's meals and snacks? Schedule a free 30-minute strategy session with me here.
Full Episode Transcription
Please note this a raw transcription. If something doesn’t read correctly, toggle to that timestamp in the show so that you can listen in on what was actually being said!
[00:00:00] As moms, oftentimes we're pulled a million directions. We all know that. But the reason I see us often need convenience food is because we want to reduce the mental fatigue.
[00:00:13] And so if we reach for something that's convenient, it didn't require us to put a lot of physical energy or mental effort into coming up with an idea. And that's one of the reasons why as we go into summer, I've been promoting my Level Up Snack Guide so much is because I know firsthand as a mom, even as a mom trained in this, working with families each and every day on how to do this in the day in day out demands of motherhood.
[00:00:40] I still feel a lot of mental fatigue about the meals and snacks that I feed my family. So my desire for convenience really comes down to my need to lessen mental clutter.
[00:00:52]
[00:01:37] The fourth and final part of this series on why your kid's snacks may be perpetuating picky eating and poor nutrition relates to that of convenience. If you followed the first three parts of this four-part series, you know that we talked about consistency,
[00:01:53] we talked about crutches,
[00:01:54] we talked about cute and crinkly packaging, and now we are talking about convenience. Convenience is a part of life and for most of us, especially those of us who work in or outside the home, or as a stay-at-home mom, have our hands full with kids all day. We know that there's a need and a place for convenience foods in our life.
[00:02:12] And so this episode is not here to vilify the place of convenience food. Rather for us to better identify where convenience food fits, so that we aren't relying excessively on the consistency that such packaged food offers, or using it as a crutch, or reaching for those cute and crinkly packages out of convenience and an autopilot action instead of something that's intentionally adding to our family's feeding environment and the well-rounded, balanced nature of the foods that we offer for our kids.
[00:02:44] So with that, I want us to come into this with a realistic vantage point. Literally as I record this right now, my daughters are outside about ready to leave for swim team. My husband's on his way home to take my son to soccer, and we're in the midst of the hustle and bustle.
[00:03:00] There is absolutely a place in our own life that we need convenience foods and we use those. That said, the reason I thought that this was an important component to include as the fourth and final C in, Why our kids' snacks can be perpetuating picky eating is because when we always assume we need something convenient, we're not really ever going to branch out.
[00:03:22] And what I mean here is as moms, oftentimes we're pulled a million directions. We all know that. But the reason I see us often need convenience food is because we want to reduce the mental fatigue.
[00:03:37] And so if we reach for something that's convenient, it didn't require us to put a lot of physical energy or mental effort into coming up with an idea. And that's one of the reasons why as we go into summer, I've been promoting my Level Up Snack Guide so much is because I know firsthand as a mom, even as a mom trained in this, working with families each and every day on how to do this in the day in day out demands of motherhood.
[00:04:04] I still feel a lot of mental fatigue about the meals and snacks that I feed my family. So my desire for convenience really comes down to my need to lessen mental clutter. So if I can delegate even just one snack or one meal that I have to offer my kids to something that's easy, aka convenient, it's one less thing I have to think about.
[00:04:29] And so as we go through today, what I want you to be thinking about is, Where is your need for convenience food the greatest? Because the seasons are shifting as kids wrap up the school year and get into summer. The way your schedule and routine looks is going to be different. So the way that you need convenience food to serve your family is going to show up differently.
[00:04:49] And if we're not intentional and proactive about identifying the place that convenience food does fit for our family, we can really easily reach for convenience foods again, and again, and again and again, and do so in such a way that's an autopilot, that it does limit our ability to expose our kids to new foods, offer additional variety, and improve their nutrition.
[00:05:15] So as we look at the definition of convenience food, and as we give convenience food, a little bit of a redefinition in this episode, I want us to think about, How do we define convenience? Because for each of us, that's going to look different. I know even between my husband and I that looks different.
[00:05:32] What is convenient to me would be considered extremely inconvenient to him. What is convenient to him is not something that I find convenient to me. So each of our threshold of what qualifies as convenient is going to look different, but I want you to define it for you and maybe have a discussion in your family or with your spouse --
[00:05:50] What does feel convenient?
[00:05:53] What does save us physical energy?
[00:05:56] Because Merriam-Webster defines it as this: convenient is suited to personal comfort or to easy performance; suited to a particular situation or an affording accommodation or advantage; it may be something that is near at hand or close; or something that's considered suitable and proper.
[00:06:17] So I want you to ask yourself, how do you define convenient food in your family-
[00:06:23] specifically as it comes to snacks.
[00:06:25] There's obviously space and a conversation to be had about convenience food as it comes to breakfast, lunches and dinners. But for the context of this series, we're really honing in on how convenience in the snacking realm can prohibit our children making progress in branching out to try new foods and improve their nutritional variety.
[00:06:46] So I want you to ask yourself what snack options are suited to personal comfort or offer something easy in your family?
[00:06:56] What convenient snack foods are best suited to a particular situation in your home?
[00:07:03] Which snack foods afford you an option or an advantage on a different day or at a different time, or with a particular child?
[00:07:13] Which snack foods are convenient and you choose to keep close or near at hand?
[00:07:20] Which snack foods do you deem suitable or proper?
[00:07:24] Each of these things are going to be defined differently for each of us. But something that I think we all can redefine collectively in the definition of convenience foods is seeing where can we redefine convenience in a way that we see it reducing our physical effort and minimizing mental energy. To me as a mom, that's really what I'm looking for. Because there's different convenience foods that I can very quickly be drawn in by the cute crinkly package, that I can lean on as a crutch, or that my kids can favor because there's such consistency between item and item.
[00:08:00] But as a mom, my real need for convenience, my real desire for a snack to be suited to personal comfort, or that adds ease, or that's suited for a particular situation, or affords us some sort of an accommodation that I want to keep near at hand or close are those that save me mental energy or physical effort.
[00:08:23] And so, we first want identify what foods fall into that category. We may identify those that we know right now are close at hand, that they're in our home, that we're leaning on as those crutches, and those crinkly cute packages as options for snack time.
[00:08:39] But we also may be able to realize
[00:08:41] What are the scenarios that they play into?
[00:08:44] What are those particular situations that we're reaching for these items in?
[00:08:47] Because we may be able to quickly identify that our definition of convenience is not entirely met in and of that one single snack option. But the definition, the redefinition of convenience, of minimizing physical effort in minimizing the mental energy we have to put into coming up with that snack option could be defined in a lot of different ways.
[00:09:09] And so that's where I want you to think about, whether you use my Level Up snack guide and the visuals shown there, or something like my Combination Cards in the snack edition where I'm showing you, are you investing more time? Likely not. If you want something convenient, you're probably reaching for something
[00:09:25] that requires less time and is more convenient. It's more easily within reach. It minimizes the amount of effort and energy that goes into it. But with either of these you can see, some of these could easily be interchanged as a convenient option if we redefine what convenience looks like.
[00:09:43] So often we think convenient snacks are those available at a convenient store, and those are kind of those prototypical snack options that we may feel are limiting our child's nutritional wellbeing or impairing their eating habits. When in reality, we can see that there are convenient options that can improve our child's eating habits and boost their nutritional status simply by redefining the nature of the word.
[00:10:10] So as I look through my Combination Cards, I can see those that are more and less prep. And as I redefine convenient, I see those that are less prep are going to require less physical effort and less mental energy. However, with my Combination Cards and with the Level Up Snack Guide, I see visuals! So automatically as a mom and as the creator of this freebie and of these Combination Cards,
[00:10:33] I don't just have these on the tip of my tongue or on the forefront of my mind all the time. Because, as moms, we are being torn a lot of different ways and we are thinking about a lot of different things. And so when it comes to our kids being hungry and needing a snack, it is so much easier to reach for the thing that is visibly right there in front of us than having to come up with an idea.
[00:10:55] So if you can have a tool like my Combination Cards or this free Level Up Snack Guide where you can see the visuals right then and there, it requires little to no mental energy to come up with these ideas. They're right there in front of you, and it's a tool that your family can quickly learn how to not only use, but even more so to implement in exchange for reaching for that convenient option.
[00:11:18] So I want to encourage you, as you redefine what convenience looks like for your family, begin to find even just one alternative to what you're currently reaching for in those particular scenarios or situations.
[00:11:30] What are those scenarios and situations that you find yourself needing convenient food?
[00:11:34] Then, what is one viable, convenient solution that might accommodate your family or might offer you a snack food that is suited to be a personal comfort or easy option in those scenarios?