Kid diets on vacation

I must admit we didn't take the healthy route too often on our Vegas vacation. If I had it to do over again I would have required the kids to drink milk at two out of the three meals. I don't mind desserts (we even had ice cream with our breakfast a day or two) but I try to keep the base healthy when possible.

We rent apartments when we travel so we have a kitchen and can cook balanced meals for breakfast and dinner. We go to restaurants at lunch and I encourage my children (and sometimes I have to say that I force them) to pick dishes they do not know but that I know they will like. I also make them taste our dishes. For snacks, we have local specialty snacks (our last trip was in Italy so we had gelato a gogo). They are now 7 and 10 and I am happy to say that they have become adventurous food wise over the years, mostly because of the 'you have at least to taste' approach.

I try really hard to stick with a healthy and varied diet while we are on vacation. My kids have a pretty adventurous palate, and I cook a lot of different styles of food for them (Tonkatsu and tofu soup were on the menu tonight, last night italian, etc). Because we eat a lot of organic food, if we suddenly switch to fast food for every meal, I end up with tired, cranky, and sick kids and a not-so-fun vacation. We bring along several food staples with us: self stable boxes of organic soy milk, individual packets of organic oatmeal and bowls and spoons (we heat up hot water in the hotel room coffee maker or nuke them in the microwave if we have one), granola bars, and fresh fruit. I usually spend a week or so before the trip dehydrating fruits and veggies in the dehydrator, mixing them with peanuts, raisins, and crackers for a healthy snack. I am not militant about our diets, but I know that if I am prepared, we will have a much better trip because we aren't consuming loads of junk food that our bodies are not used to processing. I try to find places with salad bars and load up on the greens, and the kids still feel like they are getting a treat by having a dessert. We also love to find places like Jason's Deli, where I know the food is high quality, inexpensive, and yummy. We also love to find local restaurants, so much more memorable than McD's.

I have one extemely picky eater and another who isn't terribly flexible, so I do my best to take along whatever is portable of their regular diet. That means the for breakfast, I pack a baggie of their chocolate milk powder and the standard multivitamins. Depending on where we're going, I may either pack or buy additional stuff when we get there, such as small jars of peanut butter and jelly, bread, instant oatmeal, granola bars, or a box of cereal that can be eaten dry for snacks. I admit that I am much more lax about it if they aren't eating properly as long as they are getting milk twice a day. Once we were at an all-inclusive resort and my picky older two only liked the fries and the cheese pizza at dinner, so when pizza wasn't available their entire dinner was milk and fries several nights that trip. Not ideal, but they loaded up with better stuff at breakfast and lunch, and we all survived! On another, the food was so far out to them that we located the McDonald's and went there once a day so they'd at least get something other than milk and bread.

Since we often visit other countries when we travel, and the kids are already out of their element, I try not to make too big a deal out of food issues. But my husband and I are pretty strict about not offending hosts, especially from other countries by rude responses to unusual food. (You know, the dreaded "EWWWW! What's THAT???") We try to preempt that by reminding them before we go somewhere, that if you don't like something, keep it to yourself! (Funny faces included!) My daughters love to have a good gross out story to tell their friends... I try to remind them of that. (You won't believe what I ate!! Awesome!)
We are big milk drinkers, many dining establishments have chocolate milk, always a hit. I always check out the sides... applesauce, sweet potatoes, brocolli, yogurt... but c'mon, chicken nuggets are what vacations are all about!!! :o)

While we usually try to balance WHAT we eat (fast food only every couple days if possible, bring lots of snacks, get real meals at grocery stores, order a salad and split the chicken nuggets...) one thing I will mention is in relation to HOW MUCH to eat. We learned early on, with a 2 year old and 4 year old, rfamily estaurant portions are HUGE and betwewen my husband and I ordering a meal each, we had plenty to feed both kids. This also allows us to to give each kid a little bit of everything on the table. This might not work for every family, but made our life way easier, and less costly for us every time. Worse case scenrio, if someone was still hungry later, it was a great excuse to stop for an ice cream or cookie!

Wow! We are totally all over the board in how we feed our kids on vacation. Lovin' your suggestions and ideas. Next time my kids are heading to someone's house for dinner, I'm totally going to tell them to store up their complaints and funny faces for retelling to their friends.

My son is a very picky eater, so he is especially unlikely to try something new on vacation. I always take pbj with us -- easy and cheap for lunch - and some tupperware to carry it in (doubles for carry breakable things home in the suitcase shoudl we have shells or something). Also take breakfast stuff -- cheerios and little plastic bags so we can eat on the run. If there is a kitchenette I take mac n chs, the kdis prefer it sometimes especially if we're in a foreign country, it is nice and easy to have something familiar. And like someone else suggested, I go to the grocery store first and replace whatever is in the mini fridge with milk, carrots, cerlery and apples to ahve as snacks. If they eat a reasonable breakfast and lunch, with milk and veggies -- I don't worry about the ice cream thrown in there. Its vacation after all!

We have one picky eater and one who's allergic to peanuts, so eating on the road can be interesting. We try to limit fast food to once a day or less and eat a better restaurant meal for the other time; also we pack our own snacks (cereal, raisins, crackers, etc.) that are easily portable. We also like hotels with kitchenettes so we can eat something healthier (and cheaper) while we're traveling. Our kids rarely have soda, so at least they drink milk in restaurants, and we usually go for the apple/raisin/yogurt options in fast-food kids' meals.

we go camping a lot so the meals are preplanned. we do allow a small amount of snacking of junk food usually once mid afternoon when away because eve meal is often a late one. If we are away and staying in hotel, we try to go to restaurants that offer healthy choices or buffets where we can monitor what our kids choose as well.