My Kids Live on Goldfish - Barriers to Being a Healthy Chef

Every mother dreams of being able to prepare and deliver amazing, healthy meals to their families. Visions of plates full of fresh fruits and vegetables and roasted (skinless, of course) chicken dance through all of our heads. And we watch with pride as our children gobble it up and politely ask for seconds.

Ha! As if! 

Please tell me why nobody pulls us aside when our kids begin eating solid foods to tell us the reality of what feeding our littles is like. Even IF we had the time to prepare those yummy meals, would they even eat it? You all know the answer to that.

The truth is, for me, that my kids live on Goldfish crackers. Well, Goldfish crackers and chicken nuggets with some apple slices thrown in here or there. Do they eat ANYTHING healthy? Of course! With some serious crying, whining, threatening and bribing that may or may not take place.

If I am being honest here, being that role model chef, is not all that it's cut out to be, is it?

There are many barriers that us moms face when preparing meals for our families. And those barriers alone are enough for most of us to throw in the oven mitt and pull out the hot dogs.

Common barriers that all moms face:

Time - Who HAS the time? Most families have erratic schedules. Whether you work outside of the home or are a stay at home mom, it is nearly impossible to have set meal times. Between your and your spouse's work schedules, kids' homework, practices and lessons and meal preparation, who can get dinner on the table by a decent time?

Budget - Fresh fruits and vegetables and trendy "health" foods like quinoa and coconut oil are expensive! The most budget friendly foods we can find include those that are canned, frozen or come out of a box. While not the poster children for healthy foods, these types of food answer a lot of our prayers, cheap, kid-friendly and easy to prep.

Lack of Resources - Coupon clipping, recipes, the ins-and-outs of meal prep and all things every mom wants. But a lot of us don't have these tools! Yes, Pinterest is awesome, but who has the time? Yes, I would love to make steel cut oats for breakfast, but how do you make them? Meal prepping on Sundays would save so much time during the week but how is it done? Do we have to eat the same thing every night because ain't no child in my house is going for that unless it's fries and chicken fingers.

These barriers are the exact reason why we find ourselves buying the same four things as the grocery store or inventing family nights like "Pizza Tuesday" and "Mac 'n Cheese Monday". But it DOESN'T have to be this way. No it doesn't!! Stay tuned for the solutions to these common mom problems and let's get our family food habits back in track!

In the meantime, share YOUR biggest barrier!