Food for children: me-sized meals
You may know more than you think you do! But being sure about your child’s health is not something that comes easy to everyone, particularly new parents, or something that should involve guesswork.
The Everyday Portion Planner helps remove the guesswork and will provide you with three options for children’s portions – toddlers aged 1-2 years, children aged 4-11years and children aged 11-18 years. But you will still need to use your judgement to ensure you serve the right amount for your children as the serving sizes are for ‘average-sized’ children.
Getting it right just needs a little more thought. If you think of the term ‘Me-sized’ meals, this will help you to consider who will be eating the meals you are preparing. Is your child taller or shorter for their age, are they active e.g. just about to take part in a sporting activity etc? You then just need to adjust the ‘average’ size portions accordingly. Take a look at the NHS Live Well site for further guidance; teenagers, young children.
“These days larger portion sizes are more readily available, which means it’s easy to eat too much. A good rule of thumb is to start meals with small servings, and… if they’re still hungry they’ll ask for more.” Source: Public Health England
Resources on food for children
Before you embark on any major changes you must consult with registered health professionals e.g. GPs or practice nurses, particularly if your child has any existing health issues or is very overweight.
Simple changes such as serving the right amount, of the right food, every day also has other benefits like helping your children to grow and develop, have more energy throughout the day and better concertation during school.
There are various sources of information you can read:
Our portion calculator will provide you with guidance on how much food you need for each person, for each meal. It’s simple to use as we’ve calculated the typical serving sizes for you!
Simple hacks for serving perfect food portions
Look after yourself and those you care about by getting the healthy serving size right.
