I wouldn’t call my daughter a picky eater exactly. She has always been great about eating fruits and vegetables, but it was always on her terms. She would rather just play than actually sit and eat. What’s worst, she used her hunger as a bedtime stalling tactic many times in the past. Her eating preferences resulted in a lot of wasted food, time, and money over the past few years. Thankfully a few adjustments to our rules helped transform meal time and ultimately saved us money, so let me share those with you.

Limit Snacks

When I first read, Karen Le Billon’s “French Kids Eat Everything,” I disagreed wholeheartedly with the “no snacking” rule. It seemed impossible since my slim preschooler snacked all day. Slowly, though, I stopped buying certain snacks, which led to less snack-wanting. I then noticed that the less she snacked, the better she ate at each meal. Obviously, I am still a human, and snacks still find their way into some days. However, when I make the conscious effort to eliminate snacks and enjoy each sit-down meal with her, I am amazed by how much food she eats.

Water Only

I never understood the purpose of giving kids juice. Not only can daily juice eat up your grocery budget, but what benefits does it really have for the kids? When I give my daughter even the better quality juices that are supposedly stuffed with vitamins and vegetables, it still leads to a few issues. First, since she drinks it quicker than she would drinks water, we must be near a bathroom for the next…

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