There are a lot of benefits of eating meals together as a family. Read about some findings.
Make Mealtime Family Time
A free downloadable set of conversation cards.
The Kids Cook Monday provides examples of kid friendly recipes and video demonstrations along with nutrition and safety tips—making it easy for families to cook and eat together every Monday.
Plan your meals for the week with this print out.
HealthLink BC
Food poisoning affects hundreds of British Columbians every day. This document lists ten steps to make food safe.
Angela Wilkes and Fiona Watt
Roz Denny
Abigail Johnson Dodge
Isabella and Olivia Gerasole
Community Kitchens Publishing
Rob Seideman
Judith and Evan Jones
A program run by Vancouver Coastal Health (Garratt Wellness Centre in Richmond, BC) for families with children aged 9–12.
A hands-on cooking program that targets at-risk school children and their families and assists them with daily issues surrounding food, including dietary quality, accessibility and affordability. The program complements school breakfast and lunch programs by involving parents in activities and discussion about the link between nutrition and health.
A free mobile hands-on cooking program created particularly for cooking groups that serve Aboriginal, Punjabi, new immigrant and low-income families. The six hands-on kitchen sessions cover healthy food choices, safe food handling and storage, meal planning, healthy snacks, nutrition education and a shopping tour. It is guided by a trained facilitator with cooking and nutrition expertise. Ingredients, workbooks with recipes and shopping tours are provided free of charge.
The Project CHEF team comes to schools for a one week period to teach four or five lessons to students in grades four and five. The program is designed to support student learning outcomes from B.C. Ministry of Education Integrated Resource Packages (Health and Career Education, Science and Language Arts). The program focuses on teaching children knowledge, skills and attitudes to promote healthy cooking and eating and emphasizes the development of cooperative learning skills.
This website offers a wealth of information related to community kitchens in BC, including toolkits, funding ideas and other resources.
Spatulatta teaches children to cook with free step-by-step videos. It encourages children to take pride in their accomplishments in the kitchen and to understand the connection between farm and dinner table. It also encourages children to ask their family members and friends for recipes and to cook those dishes together.
Jamie Oliver
Ministry of Food is all about getting people cooking again. It shows that anyone can learn to cook—and that it’s fun, cool, can save you money and help you, your family and friends to live a healthier life.
Heart & Stroke Foundation, Yukon & BC
This webpage addresses two common obstacles to family meals: time to cook and hectic schedules.
EatRight Ontario
This webpage features helpful tips to make cooking with kids a big family hit. Tips are organized by children’s ages. Ten simple recipes are provided.
Bernard Roy and Judith Petitpas, The Vanier Institute of the Family
This report explores the concept of “family meal” and eating habits from a sociological perspective.
Innocenti Report Card 7, UNICEF
This report looked at how well children and teens fare in various countries. Data was collected for 15-year-olds from 25 countries, including Canada. The report analyzes six dimensions: material well-being, health and safety, education, family and peer relationships, behaviours and risks, and sense of being loved, valued, and included in families and societies into which they were born. When looking at the best measure of family relationships, UNICEF used the marker “percentage of students whose parents eat their main meal with them around a table several times a week.”
Jill Rhynard, Interior Health, BC
This newsletter issue discusses the benefits to both children and adults when families eat together, provides tips for great family mealtimes and ideas for kid-approved quick and easy meals.
The Center for Mindful Eating
This newsletter series provides tips for enjoyable meals and introduces families to mindful eating.
Ellyn Satter, Registered Dietitian
Several issues of this newsletter provide guidance to families on how to have positive experiences at the dinner table. Note especially in the Archived newsletters the following issues: Focus #4: Family Meals Are Essential, Focus #5: Helping Family Get Back to the Table, and Focus #8: Answering Parents and Professionals Questions about Meals: Family-style meals.
BC Medical Association
Heart and Stroke Foundation
This sixteen-page colour booklet provides simple tips and tools to help busy parents plan meals and make healthy choices with their children. It includes a helpful meal planner, a mix and match food group chart, grocery tips and kid-friendly recipes for family meals and recipes. It also includes activity tips and simple solutions to everyday challenges.
Healthy U, Alberta Health and Wellness
This colourful twenty-eight-page booklet provides parents of toddlers and preschoolers with healthy eating tips and activity ideas to encourage their children to eat healthy and be active. It stresses the importance of families enjoying meals and activities together and parents modeling healthy eating and active living. Issues addressed include constipation, food allergies, food safety, picky eating, meal and snack planning, and healthy body image. It also includes a chart to map out the family activity plan, a sample menu plan and a list of activities to do.
Nutrition Education Network of Washington
This webpage features a kit that includes a research summary, brochures and strategies used in the Washington State initiative to promote family meals. Families can submit their successful family mealtime experiences through the 'Share your favourite family meal' feature.
Healthy U, Alberta Health and Wellness
This colourful twenty-four-page booklet provides parents with healthy eating tips and ideas to encourage their 6 to 12 year-old children to eat healthy and be active. It stresses the importance of families enjoying meals and activities together and parents modeling healthy eating and active living. Issues addressed include creating healthy places and spaces, choosing and planning the right activities, meal and snack choices, eating out, food safety, food struggles, and healthy body self-image. It also includes a quiz to help families identify areas they can improve, a list of activities families can enjoy together, a chart to map out the family activity plan, a list of foods to choose from, a chart of school lunch ideas, and a list of snack ideas.
Dietitians of Canada
This webpage provides ten tips for planning healthy family meals.
BC Medical Association
This document outlines the benefits of eating together at home.
Farm tours are a fun family activity, great for giving kids (and adults) an idea of where their food comes from. There are some really wonderful places to go in the Lower Mainland and other parts of British Columbia. Here are some suggestions. Let us know if we missed any!
Beth Marshall
A 4"x5" set of cards that includes some simple games.
Cattlemen's Beef Board and National Cattlemen's Beef Association
Simple, friendly conversation starter cards with three age groups in mind: toddlers, school-age children and adolescents.
Iowa State University
A set of 40 cards that comes in a 5"x7" plastic bag. Each card provides a conversation starter in both English and Spanish.
Adapted from Alberta Milk
Ideas for quick meals.
Stephanie Alexander
Nicola Graimes
Mollie Katzen
Rozanne Gold
Alice Waters
Maria Helm Sinsky and Williams-Sonoma
Hugh Fearnley-Whittingstall
Emeril Lagasse
Marion Cunningham
Emeril Lagasse
Jack Canfield, Mark Victor Hansen and Antonio Frontera
Robert Surles
Eat Right Montana
More mealtime conversation ideas.
Cheryl Apgar
Dietitians of Canada
HealthLink BC
This webpage gives helpful tips on how to approach different eating scenarios with small toddlers.
Healthy Eating and Active Living for Your 1 to 5 Year Old (NEED LINK TO PDF)
A colourful 28-page booklet that provides parents with healthy eating tips and activity ideas for the 1-5 year old age group. Some of the issues tackled include constipation, food allergies, food safety, picky eating, meal and snack planning, and healthy body image.
Healthy U, Alberta Health and Wellness, February 2008
Healthy Eating and Active Living for Your 6 to 12 Year Old (NEED LINK TO PDF)
A colourful 24-page booklet that provides parents with healthy eating tips and activity ideas for the 6-12 year old age group. It addresses topics such as creating healthy places and spaces, eating out, food safety, and healthy body image.
Healthy U, Alberta Health and Wellness, February 2008
Heart Healthy Eating Guide for your Family (NEED LINK TO PDF)
A 16-page booklet that provides simple tips and tools for busy parents. It includes a meal planner, a mix-and-match food group chart, and grocery tips.
eart and Stroke Foundation, June 2008
