This post has been written by Neha Savla
As parents, we have enough to worry about but come monsoon vegetable prices shoot up and are a concern for every household. Over the past few weeks, I’ve been spending more time at the bhaji market, choosing vegetables that are less costly and switching to different vendors to shop for vegetables that are priced low as compared to the big grocery stores.
The soaring vegetable prices have forced me to think of ways to keep the kitchen budget intact without compromising on the nutrition value in my child’s meals. So as a solution, I decided to make some smart changes in my kitchen menu by replacing vegetables with other wonder foods that offer similar health benefits.
Here are 6 ways to pack in nutrition in your child’s meals when vegetable prices hit the roof
1. Switch To Sprouts
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Sprouts like moong, kidney beans, black chana, peas, wheat, ragi are superfoods and a powerhouse of protein, fibre and vitamins. But if your kids don't like to eat plain sprouts or don't care for it much in salads either, then there are other ways of sneaking sprouts in their meals! Use sprouts for texture in sandwiches or even as make dosa. Make sprout based dips or hummus or add sprouts to rice or soups. You could even add dry sprouts powder in porridge recipes (sathu maavu) for babies.
2. Protein-packed Pulses
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Luckily superfoods are not just limited to vegetables and fruits, even lentils, peas, soybean, chickpeas (chana), kidney beans found in your kitchen cabinet can provide plenty of protein and fibre to your diet. So put together a variety of daals like tuvar (yellow lentils), masoor daal, urad daal to make a delicious, colourful mixed daal curry, The different lentils lend an interesting flavour and aroma to this recipe. Other recipe ideas to add more pulses in your meals includes rajma (red kidney beans) with rice, rajma stuffing for tacos or parathas. We have a great post on different ways you can serve lentils to your kids without them complaining. Check it out there!
3. Give Grain Alternatives A Chance
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Wheat is a staple in every Indian cuisine but other grains like jowar, bajra, rice, ragi are some of the healthy alternatives to wheat and contain high nutritive properties. There are different ways to include a variety of grains, cereals in your everyday cooking, like eating oats with milk for breakfast, making bajra chapatis, jowar bhakris, multi-grain bread or using ragi flour in baby porridge, dosas, idlis or upmas.
4. Choose Cheaper Seasonal Substitutes
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One of the best ways to beat the rising vegetable prices is to pick affordable seasonal produce. For example in the winter buy sweet potatoes, in the monsoon buy corn etc. All of these provide an excellent base for making delicious recipes like Makai khichdi, baked sweet potato soup that your kids will enjoy eating.
5. Include More Dairy In Your Meals
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Milk, yoghurt, cheese, paneer are naturally full of important nutrients such as calcium and protein and there are many ways to ensure your kids get enough dairy products each day. Start with a healthy breakfast milkshake or smoothie, include a paneer paratha or an egg wrap in their lunchbox, serve curd rice, khichadi or plain curd with their favourite paratha for dinner.
6. Don't Forget Dry Fruits And Nuts
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Almonds, cashews, walnuts, dates, pistachios are a factory of essential vitamins and minerals required for a growing kid. The best part about serving dry fruits and nuts to kids is that it can be eaten straight out of the box as an on-the-go snack, you can also mix a spoon of dry fruit powder to their glass of milk or serve this homemade almond milk that's really simple to make.
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