If you rely on a nanny to provide your kids with child care during the day, chances are they are not feeding them the healthiest of options. Typically, cooking is not within the job description so they are either feeding them snacks all day or Lunchables at mid-day; anything quick and easy that they don’t have to put too much work into.
Chances of you having meals prepared in advance or unlikely as well. Life is too fast-paced to fix a single meal at night, let alone two of them. But because we are always on the go and have little time to spare, our children are not receiving the proper nutrition they should be.
It’s time to slow down, for our children’s sake. Here, we discuss some meals you can make quickly so that you are not spending your entire evening cooking; meals that are also healthy for your household employee to heat up and serve to your kids.
Chicken Spaghetti
Prepare this meal in less than 15 minutes! Using your choice of whole wheat or regular noodles (they have been shown to have similar nutritional contents), and the sauce your children prefer — and that you approve of — you can make this meal even healthier by replacing the heavier and greasy ground beef or meatballs with grilled chicken. Have this mixed together and ready to be heated for the nanny to microwave.
Pizza Pockets
Yes, you can buy these premade from the store, but those processed versions are not as healthy as the ones you can make at home. Use whole wheat dough and low-fat cheese in with a plain tomato sauce and good quality meat — chicken can work well here if you want to exchange the pepperoni typical of pizza pockets. You may need to make plenty of these, however. The nanny may end up munching on them as well.
Popovers
Popovers are a simple food to make and can have a variety of ingredients in them. With eggs being one of the ingredients, you may want to substitute them for a mixture of baking powder, water, and vegetable oil, depending on your goals for health. They can be made with salad ingredients such as tomatoes and cucumbers or filled with fruit. Thirty minutes is all it takes to whip up a batch of these. Your nanny will have to use the oven to reheat these, though. Using the microwave may leave them cold in spots and some fillings may end up burning your little one’s mouths.
Oatmeal Chocolate Bars
If you are concerned about the types of snacks your nanny feeds your children throughout the day, fix them a batch of these to munch on instead. Oatmeal has been shown to reduce the likelihood of diabetes developing, which is important considering the number of children who are obese in the United States. It also helps prevent chronic diseases and heart disease as well. The chocolate chips mixed into these snack bars are for a little sweetness to counter the flavor of the oatmeal. The chocolate you use should be a dark one, with dark chocolate also being good for your children’s hearts (in limited quantities).
Chicken Pot Pies
Once again, chicken is a major healthy ingredient in another recipe. Use it inside a covered pie of whole wheat. Filled with a variety of other natural ingredients including carrots, celery, and peas, the only thing questionable in these individual pot pies would be butter. You can replace this with vegetable oil or even unsweetened applesauce to make it a truly healthy meal for your kids.
A professional writer with over a decade of incessant writing skills. Her topics of interest and expertise range from health, nutrition and psychology.