Family Strategies for Healthy Eating

Be the Role Model

Family adults are in charge of the food that comes into the house. We face many decisions every time we go to the grocery store, and they affect the whole family's total health. Each time we visit the grocery store we must stop and think, "What will we bring home this week?"

You might ask yourself:

• How many fruits and vegetables go into the cart? 
• And what about carbs? — bread? rice? pasta? cookies?
• What dairy products will we buy — cheese, yogurt, milk?
• How about ingredients for home baking — flour, sugar, baking powder?
• Maybe some snack foods too — chips, popcorn or nuts?

All of these choices will shape your family's diet for the next several days. Healthy choices at the grocery store set the stage for healthy eating at home. Need a snack? What's in the cupboard or the fridge? Time for dinner? What's in the house for Mom or Dad (or Grandma) to cook and serve?

When families stock up on healthy food at the grocery store, everyone wins with a diet that keeps us strong.

Written by Harriet Shaklee, an Extension family development specialist and professor.

You can find useful resources to help plan and create shopping lists (PDF), as well as spending worksheets (PDF), right here on our page. You can also find classes to attend in person all over Idaho.