6 Steps To Eating Healthier As A Family

　　Eating healthier as a family is tough at any time of year. But let’s face it, during “back to school time” it can be extremely tough. However, it doesn’t have to be.
Here are 7 tips that the RenegadeDad family has recently put into place, so they can skip the take-out food, and start eating healthier as a family.
Step 1: Plan Ahead
The 5 P’s (Prior Proper Planning Prevents Poor Performance) apply to eating healthy, just as much as they apply to being more productive.
At the end of a busy day, the last thing most families want to do is try to decide what they are going to make for dinner.
So, save yourself some frustration (and money), and plan your dinners together as a family once each week.
Brainstorm some healthy foods your family enjoys eating, then plan healthy snacks and meals you can create with those foods.
Step 2: Create An Electronic Shopping List
Now that you have planned your meals for the week, it’s time to create the shopping list.

Try creating the list on your computer, in a program like Excel or Word. People typically buy the same items over and over again each week, so why not save yourself some time by creating a list that you can use more than once?
If you have an iPhone, Droid or Blackberry smart phone, you can save your grocery list using an app like Our Groceries to store and synchronize your list with your spouse’s phone.
Step 3: Involve The Whole Family
Eating healthier as a family is much more effective when your whole family have “bought into” the foods that you will be eating.
Kids love to be part of grown up things, so let them help in selecting healthy fruit and vegetables. They’ll look at it as a fun little adventure, and it will help them to develop their own healthy eating habits.
Step 4: Prepare Ahead Of Time
When you return home from the grocery store, it’s time to do some quick prep work.
Combine similar tasks to make this process even faster. Wash fruits and vegetables at the same time, then move on to slicing and dicing.
Pre-marinate meats and fish in plastic containers, or plastic storage bags. You can store the meats and fish you will eat later in the week in the freezer.
Step 5: Store In Airtight Containers
Now that you’ve got all those fruits, veggies, fish and meats ready to go for the week, make sure they stay fresh by storing them in airtight plastic containers.
These not only help preserve the freshness, but they also make it easier to store in the refrigerator.
Step 6: Focus On Getting The Routine Down (Not Perfect)
Now that you’ve come up with your meals and snacks for the week, and you’ve pre-pared the ingredients, all you have to do is mix and match to prepare your meals.
Don’t worry about perfection. Health is an investment, and each time you prepare a healthy meal, your expertise will grow exponentially.
The important thing is that you are building a healthier family together. And, if dinner turns out to be really tasty… well, that’s just gravy on top!