Welcome to Season 2 of The Family Dinner Project Podcast! In each of our episodes, Content Manager Bri DeRosa and Executive Director Dr. Anne Fishel will talk through tough topics related to family meals. Pull up a chair and grab a plate — we’re serving up real talk about family dinner! You can get caught up on older episodes here.
Grocery prices are a hot topic these days. With prices on some items, like beef, at an all-time high, it’s becoming more challenging to afford family meals. On this episode of The Family Dinner Project Podcast, Bri and Annie invite their colleague, Dr. Lauren Fiechtner, to share her perspective as a pediatrician and the Senior Health and Research Advisor at the Greater Boston Food Bank. Together, they discuss the food bank’s research into the scale and implications of rising food insecurity; how families can access help as needed; what more could be done to help bridge the gap for struggling families; and how all of us can try to save more money at the store right now.
Key Takeaways:
- Go to 7:22 for a discussion about the nutritional impacts of food insecurity on families
- Go to 10:14 to learn what the Greater Boston Food Bank has found about the community and civic impacts of food insecurity
- Go to 16:50 for ideas about how to save money on groceries
- Go to 32:20 for food, fun, and conversation you can take back to your dinner table
Related Links:
- Podcast Episode 6: Table Trauma
- Podcast Episode 4: Picky or Problematic?
- How to Get the Most out of a Roast Chicken
- Dinner Tonight: Budget Friendly
- The Price Is…? Game
- Easy Pesto Recipe
- The Greater Boston Food Bank
- Feeding America
- Click ‘n’ Cook
Full Episode Transcript:
Bri DeRosa: Hello and welcome back to the Family Dinner Project Podcast. I am Bri DeRosa, and with me today is Dr. Anne Fishel.
Anne Fishel: Great to be with you, Bri.
Bri DeRosa: Great to see you Annie, as always.
And we also have with us today our friend and colleague, Dr. Lauren Fiechtner, who’s the Senior Health and Research Advisor at the Greater Boston Food Bank.
She is also a pediatrician at Mass General Hospital, an associate professor of pediatrics at the Harvard Medical School, and she has a research program focused on the prevention and treatment of childhood obesity and a clinical program focused on those with feeding and growth difficulties. Lauren, it is great to see you and thanks for being with us.
Lauren Fiechtner: Thanks so much for having me. I’m excited to be here.
Bri DeRosa: We are excited to have you. And the reason that we have Lauren joining us today is grocery costs have been a huge part of the national conversation for quite a while now, and it doesn’t unfortunately look like that trend is going to come to an end anytime soon.
In our most recent newsletter, we actually delved into some of the latest facts and figures that have come out. And the short story here is it doesn’t look great in terms of, um, the cost of feeding a family right now. And we wanted to bring Lauren into the studio with us to talk about some of the ways to manage the grocery budget and make the most of family meals, but also to talk about some of the ongoing work that the Greater Boston Food Bank is doing and others like them to help with food insecurity, not only in Massachusetts, but across the country. And what we all need to know about food insecurity and its impact on families.
So it’s a lot of things that we really wanna dive into. I wanna just say, Lauren, this is probably obvious to most of us, but the higher the prices go, the more families are going to be squeezed pretty uncomfortably, and the more people might potentially get pushed over the edge into food insecurity. So can you tell us a little bit about, first of all, how many families do you serve at the Greater Boston Food Bank?
And what are some of the trends that you’re seeing in terms of any shifts that might have occurred in the past several months? Is this a worsening problem?
Lauren Fiechtner: Yeah, so the Greater Boston Food Bank serves 190 towns and has over 600 distribution sites, so. We’re basically like a big food warehouse. And then our sites are local food pantries in these 190 towns in Eastern Massachusetts, and we’re one of the largest in New England, so we serve over 600,000 people per month, which is incredible and that’s why I decided to go there as a pediatrician and nutrition researcher. What incredible reach this program has, and their focus on really high quality nutrition is also has been incredibly important.
So over 95% of what we distribute are green or yellow, which, those are foods that are low in salt and saturated fat and sugar and focused on produce, protein and dairy. So it’s an amazing organization, I’ll just say that. And, and that’s why a pediatrician goes to a food bank and plays that role. And I in fact, sit in a warehouse one day a week, um, which I don’t think many pediatricians do.
So what we’ve seen unfortunately over the last few months is that the, um, increase in need has gone up and our food pantries are seeing more clients and we’re again, needing to get more food out. So this all started really in the pandemic, where we saw this real increased need. And these, I think everyone remembers that the prices for groceries was, that’s when they started to skyrocket. And that warehouse became incredibly efficient in getting food in and food out as fast as they possibly can.
And really, their efficiency became incredible and the amount of food they’ve been getting out has been a lot, but we just haven’t been able to keep up with their rising grocery prices and prices, the rising rates of food insecurity in this state. And so we started the annual statewide study on food access and equity, which were, we just finished our fifth year of data collection.
So what I can tell you in the state of Massachusetts is food insecurity has gotten worse for households overall. But actually the good news is that food insecurity for households with children has gotten better. But I, I think that’s because of universal school meals, really in the state, which has been a real win.
And then our WIC, which is Women Infant and Children’s, a supplemental nutrition program for. Pregnant women and children under five, that enrollment is incredibly high in our state too. So those are big pushes across the state from amazing organizations who really work together to help in these situations.
Anne Fishel: Just in terms of scope, I think I had read, or you had told me that one in three families in Massachusetts experiences food insecurity.
Lauren Fiechtner: Yep. That’s correct.
Anne Fishel: And can you just define that for us, what that means?
Lauren Fiechtner: Yeah. So food insecurity means access, um, by all people at all times, to enough food for an active, healthy life.
So this could mean that someone’s really worried about can they afford tomorrow’s food and they’re worried about their budget. Or it could be to the very extremes where families are skipping meals or not eating for an entire day. ’cause they don’t have access to food. Those are measured both at the household level and the child level, whether a child’s skipping meals or not eating for an entire day because there’s not access to food.
And so I think the real win of policy and advocacy and universal school meals is that we know children aren’t having to do that because they have access to school meals.
Bri DeRosa: And so can we just talk a little bit about it, the nutritional impacts here? Because when you talk about people skipping meals, you talk about people not having regular access to enough food for an active, healthy life, I think, you know, this is not just about calories, right? This is not just a question of are you actually able to eat enough calories to sustain your body? This is a deeper level that we’re talking about in terms of people being able to get the kind of nutrition that supports health and activity and longevity and, in children, growth and development, right?
Lauren Fiechtner: Yeah. So we know that this is in our survey every year, we ask families what kind of coping mechanisms they use in order for their family not to go hungry. We know that 85% of food insecure households will swap the cheapest food available, which is most often unhealthy or ultra processed foods versus healthy foods.
So that in itself impacts not just the individual, but society and communities because families who are having to bear more chronic medical conditions, which we evaluate also on the statewide site, are missing work because they’re sick or they’re going to the emergency room or are being hospitalized.
And so it’s not just at the individual level. We’re worried about this nutritional quality, but in a societal level for us to be high functioning and employed individuals and also students, kids also, when we know their nutrition quality is worse, they’re not gonna be as engaged or as focused. As Dr. Fishel can tell you, or their mental health may suffer because of food insecurity as well.
Bri DeRosa: Annie, I wanna turn to you because as Lauren just pointed out, we are always talking about the psychosocial benefits of the family meal environment, but what does this do to family meals, the interactions between family members, the type of welcoming and nurturing environment that we are looking for families to be able to provide?
Anne Fishel: Yeah. Well, I mean in times of adversity and struggle. Having a reliable time to catch up, to tell stories about the day to connect. It’s like a life raft, and it’s true whenever a family is feeling particularly stressed or overwhelmed, the time to connect and bond is so protective. But that said, when there isn’t enough food for everyone to eat and there’s anxiety about that, it’s a little hard to focus on connection and bonding. And so it’s a sort of another downstream effect of food insecurity. That food insecurity will erode a family’s ability to feel relaxed at mealtime and to focus on other things than the food.
And you know, it’s one of the reasons why food pantries are so important, because they not only provide the food, but they give families an opportunity to keep the social and emotional benefits going, of eating together.
Bri DeRosa: And Lauren, following up on that, I know that the food bank has also studied some of these broader social implications of food insecurity. So what can you share with us about those findings?
Lauren Fiechtner: Yeah, I think, um, you know, and being able to invite other members to eat with you too, and other members of your community, if you had the food. That is what we heard, actually, when we said, if you had an unlimited grocery budget, what would you do with it?And so I think that they would invite friends, they would share their food, they would be more involved and be more socially connected. So I think there’s definitely room for, um, opportunities there.
And then this was our first year where we looked at social connection and then also how safe they felt in their neighborhood. And food insecure families were much less likely to be engaged in community and civic engagement, including actually voting a lot less. So that was really shocking. We saw that, um, food insecure households were voting about 52% of, like 52% of them voted in the last year versus food secure households, was in the eighties.
And so I think that is one thing when you feel, so you’re running around trying to afford food and trying to get food on the dinner table and also feel really disconnected and socially isolated, and that maybe the systems have not been in your favor. Why would you go vote? So I think that is something we all need to think about, and I think food is love in so many ways, and I think we need to really embrace that.
One in three of our neighbors are, are experiencing food insecurity and why is that? And what are the uproot causes of that in order to improve both social emotional engagement of families and also food insecurity, nutrition and health and, and all of those things?
Bri DeRosa: That’s so fascinating, the idea that food insecure families are also not engaging in community life or civic life, and I, you know, I would imagine that there are additional barriers there, right? If you’re a food insecure family, you may be relying on multiple jobs, multiple shifts, that may limit your opportunity to even get to a polling place, or to volunteer, or to…right?
What are the solutions that we can share with people who are feeling like, you know, we’re getting really close to the edge here?
Lauren Fiechtner: Our goal has been to decrease food insecurity over time, and that has been hard. Certainly there, you know, we have universal school meals. WIC has been great. We had this enrollment, I think states could learn from Massachusetts, to be honest.
So. When you enroll in Mass Health or Medicaid here in Massachusetts, when they, you can click a button that says automatically share my information with the Department of Transitional Assistance so I can be enrolled in SNAP. So just as the families are working all these jobs, there’s transportation issues, all of these things that are barriers to a family with food insecurity. How are, well, none of us like to fill out paperwork for programs, so, and it’s all very complicated. And so I think that was one real big solution that we saw. And when we would, I would go to national conferences and compare our SNAP enrollment rates compared to others, ours was incredibly high in the pandemic and we saw this huge, huge boost.
The other thing I think families should know is that food pantries are available to you. You would have, there’s no requirements whatsoever. You do not need to show them documentation. You don’t need to tell them your name or where you live, and that you should access them.
And I think people are really often surprised that food pantries provide fresh produce, that we receive money from the Massachusetts Emergency Food Assistance Program, which is funded through the state, and so that actually we buy 50, over 50% from local farmers in Massachusetts. So I would, I would just say like, please use them.
We don’t want you to be shy. We want this food to be available to all. We wanna reach you. You can look up the entire country. There’s a network of, uh, food banks that’s overseen by the organization called Feeding America. So you can check it out there and then find your local food bank and their local sites.
For our area, you can look at GBFB Need Food and that, and that can be something. Also, I would say enroll in SNAP and WIC. We just talked about the paperwork, but it can be simple and there can be folks who can help you. In fact, most food banks have a SNAP associate that will help families enroll in SNAP. So definitely look on those food banks, organizations, websites to fill those out.
And then I think WIC is another really good opportunity that we’ve seen really great health benefits for pregnant women and children, and I think that what we see in our data is that most of the trade-offs or these financial trade-offs are in that young family pocket of these mothers with new infants and toddlers. And that can be a really challenging time. So I would say before, even if you start to worry about your budget or just if you’re eligible, please, please, please sign up for all the opportunities you can. And if you’re frustrated in the process, please ask your pediatrician, um, or your OB how to enroll in those programs so that we can make this easier for you.
Most people are, think they’re taking stuff from another person, they are not. So that, that is one of the biggest common misperceptions, that they think someone’s suffering more than themselves. And so they sacrifice these benefits. And I would please say that’s not true. There is no limit to these benefits.
Like, we’re not gonna run out of these benefits if you’re eligible. So please, please, please enroll in all the things that you’re eligible for and please come to the food pantry. The more we see clients, the more we fundraise, the more we, um, advocate for more funding for the food pantry. So please just use the resources that are there.
Bri DeRosa: And don’t, don’t wait until it’s dire. Right? I think that’s like such a huge part of what you’re saying is like, don’t wait until you’re stretched so thin that you’re gonna break. Right. We don’t want people. missing meals, so that their kids can eat. That’s, that’s never the goal.
I wanna just turn a little bit, because this is amazing, and the work that the Greater Boston Food Bank and all food banks do is incredible. It’s wonderful that we have SNAP, that we have WIC, that we have these opportunities for families to get help if they’re eligible. But those words, if you’re eligible, mean that there are people out there who are not eligible, and we know that there are a lot of families, you know, at a larger proportion of families now, especially, who are starting to get to the point where they’re maybe not eligible for these programs, but they’re also not real comfortable when they go to the grocery store.
It’s not easy for them to come up with those meals every week in the way that it maybe was several years ago. As prices continue to rise, people are having to make decisions about, you know, can we even eat beef anymore as a family? Can we buy, you know, milk this week? Or do we need to try to let it ride?
And so I’d love for us to talk a little bit about what the three of us think is helpful for families like that.
Lauren Fiechtner: I think there are definitely ways of saving money at the grocery store. So one thing I have learned as a mom is to plan. The meals, meals ahead of time, I think really, and having a grocery list, um, ahead of time is always helpful.
So for, for us, for example, it also has helped with my selective or picky eaters of like setting up a really kind of loose schedule for the week. So Mondays are pesto pasta and vegetables. And you can really put, as Annie can say, you put really any vegetable. In pesto and probably any nut in pesto. And it would prob, it tastes pretty good. And so you, you can, that’s a simple recipe.
And then Tuesdays are my favorite day because we literally do microwave bean tacos, like it is so simple. There is no cleanup and it’s probably, I don’t know, $10 total for all of us. So we literally microwave bean black beans and have tortillas. And my kids can add what toppings they want of salsa and fruits or vegetables that we have on their plate.
And so that’s really simple. And then Wednesday we do spaghetti with meatless meatballs. I have a vegetarian, so in my, my 7-year-old. So that’s what we do. And then Thursday’s breakfast for dinner, um, and Friday’s homemade pizza. So just by having like those kind of set, um, schedules. One is, my grocery list is the same every week, so I’m not recreating it. I know what we need almost every week, and then I know what the budget is, which is helpful. My kids know what to expect. Um, and they may not like every component of every dinner, but there’s something there that each person, that’s how we created this, is like what does each of them like?
And so I think those can be really good things and it can allow children who are more picky to maybe expand. So my son, who will only eat the beans, now will eat very toasted tortillas, um, similar to chip things. So you know, you can start to expand them by the components of those pieces.
Anne Fishel: I mean, you incorporate so many great principles of meal planning. So the predictability, the shopping all at once, which is an expense saver right there.
But also creating dinners that have some flexibility in them so that they work for an eater who’s a selective eater, shall we say, and, but can expand to a more adventurous palate as well. And you’re not wasting food by trying lots of new foods, which may end up in the trash.
Bri DeRosa: Yeah. And I think that’s, that’s a point that I wanna drive home, right?
Because we know there are a lot of families out there who are struggling with more selective eating, or even may have kids with ARFID or with sensory processing disorder, kids on the autism spectrum who really have a limited scope of preferred foods and even sometimes preferred brands, which makes the budget challenge even greater, right?
If the prices are rising on the accepted food items, there’s not going to be as much flexibility for that family to be able to lower the cost of groceries. So I just wanna kind of put that out there, because I know that there are gonna be families listening to this going, yeah, great. Okay. The one brand of Chicken Nugget that my autistic child will eat is now twice as expensive, and we are really feeling the pinch. But I love the idea of the component parts and working to at least find some other additional sources of maybe expanding the palate a little bit at a time and being able to kind of reinforce new foods that will help you bring the budget in line in other areas.
One thing that we’ve been trying to do at the Family Dinner Project is we’ve been challenging ourselves to come up with as many ways to stretch things as possible, and so we just recently published something on how to get the most out of a single chicken, right?
If you, if your family eats chicken, here’s what you can do with either a rotisserie chicken from the, from the supermarket, or you can roast your own or you can do it in the slow cooker. We have all of those instructions on the site. And how do you get as many meals as possible out of that one chicken so that you can save money and put it elsewhere for your family’s needs? So that’s something to consider. And how do you stretch a bag of potatoes? How do you stretch a dozen eggs? And so those are things we are looking at as well.
But Lauren, it’s really, it’s really tricky. We talk about SNAP, we talk about WIC. We haven’t really delved into the USDA food plans and how much money actually is involved in a SNAP budget for a family, right? How much money are you actually getting, maximum, on SNAP? And when you look at the USDA, what are they saying about how much it actually costs to feed a family on the Thriftiest possible food plan and still meet nutritional needs?
Lauren Fiechtner: Yeah, it’s pretty low and it’s not achievable. So I’ll just say that.
So I don’t think, I don’t think, yeah, SNAP is unfortunately not enough. That’s what we found. So if you have SNAP and you have WIC, it really feels like those who are at the end of their rope, those are folks who are enrolling too, right? So they have very low food insecurity. And skipping meals and skipping entire days of eating before they are enrolled.
And so I think that’s, it’s a real challenge and it hasn’t been adjusted in a really long time. There was a temporary adjustment during COVID and it wasn’t enough actually to keep up with grocery inflation, is what we found in the research in terms of improving dietary quality or health. And so I think people really needed it and they really loved it and it was super helpful. Should be permanent. But, uh, unfortunately it has not been. So, I think it’s, it’s a big challenge.
I did wanna talk about ARFID and picky eating, because that’s what I do clinically and I can totally get it. We have so many patients that’s like, we will only eat this one brand of chicken nugget. Do take your child to the grocery store and see if there’s any possibility they could choose something else.
So that’s, that’s called food chaining. Going to the grocery store and finding some brand and then looking right next door to see if there’s something that they’ll choose. So even going from one brand of cracker to another brand of cracker is a huge win, and we applaud you for that. And we know, we know it’s really hard work.
And then I would say frozen fruits are actually more consistent for the picky eater because they’re not so squishy. They’re not so one sour, one sweet. They want something very predictable. For children with ARFID or selective eating, they’re, they’re looking for that chip that is the same every time versus a blueberry, which could be really, as I mentioned, soft, squishy, or sour. Yeah. Under ripe, overripe. And so the frozen, uh, foods are a really great way to stretch your budget and, and your, um, and make SNAP last as much as it possibly can. It’s just not enough.
Bri DeRosa:Yeah, I, I was looking at some numbers and I just, I kind of wanna like throw these out there.
Lauren Fiechtner: Yeah, you should
Bri DeRosa:Because I feel, I feel like everybody needs validation if nothing else. We all need validation that food is, is expensive. And so I looked at, I was looking at the USDA food plans and from June, 2025, which are the most recent ones that I was able to find. And I looked at a reference family of two parents. Two kids, elementary aged kids, because I wanted to kind of, let’s say, family of four. Right. What does the USDA think that it costs to feed that family a nutritionally viable diet for a week in June, 2025 at the thrifty level?
Remember, they do – so for those who don’t know, the USDA puts out several different levels, right. At the thrifty level, the USDA is estimating about $229.50 per week for that family of four. And there are a lot of people out there who I, I see it all the time. They’re going like, I can’t believe that I’m spending $200 a week for my family of four at the grocery store. We can’t afford this. Well, guess what? The USDA thinks you need to be spending more than that, even at a thrifty level, to be able to meet your child’s nutritional needs.
That’s a lot of money. And I know that different places in the country certainly have different, uh, food costs and different prices at the grocery store. But that’s a lot of money for pretty much anyone. And then if you look at, I was looking at SNAP for that reference family, if that reference family with the two kids in elementary school got the maximum benefit – Maximum benefit – they would not get $229 and 50 cents per week. They might, if they’re very lucky, they might get $220 a week. Which doesn’t sound like a big shortfall, but every dollar counts. And that is the absolute maximum snap benefit. Most people are not getting that much.
Anne Fishel: I think at the Family Dinner Project, we are trying to come up with a week’s worth of dinners for a family of four, um, at about $70. Right? For the week.
Bri DeRosa: Yeah. At just under $75 a week. Yeah. And we, we arrived at that number, um, largely by looking at, okay, if you got that maximum average snap benefit, what would that break down to per person, per meal? And then if you allocated it, you know, equally across three meals a day, you’d come up with, uh, between $2 and $2 and 80 cents per serving for your meal, right? And so we took that number, put it against a reference family of four, and said, okay, so that means you have maybe at best, $70 to $75 for the week for seven dinners for your family of four.
And how can we make that work? And yes, Annie, you are teasing this for, for our listeners. Which I love, but we are working on that to try to come up with some potential grocery lists, dinner plans, seven days of dinner. And I also have to say it requires kitchen skills, which is something else we haven’t really gotten into.
But the unfortunate thing that I’m gonna have to say here is that if you have access to a kitchen and you have some cooking skills and some time to cook, it’s a lot easier to keep your grocery bill in check.
Lauren Fiechtner: Yeah, I think for sure. The other thing I would say is, please again, use your food pantry to supplement this because again, there’s no eligibility requirements and that can be really helpful to stretch the $70.
And then we have a recipe, online recipe website called click and cook.org, that has most of the food pantry items that you can, um, receive. And you can pick what, you know, three different items that you might have received at a food pantry to figure out how to cook because it, it’s true, it’s very difficult.
And then absolutely the lack of access to kitchens is, is very, very challenging. And so I will also just say that canned, you know, fruits and vegetables are also an option for people who don’t have refrigerators or don’t have other means of cooking as well.
Bri DeRosa: There are also some other ways that we maybe can encourage people to get a little bit creative in terms of if they’re not accessing a food pantry right now, or they’re not plugged into those resources.
Some other things that I see happening in my community are like local, buy nothing groups. Where people are connecting with their neighbors and in the buy nothing groups, people are giving away food. You know, they’re saying like, Hey. I bought this and my kids didn’t like it. Is there anyone in need who wants to take this?
I, there’s a lot of exchanging of food happening in our particular local buy nothing group, and I think it’s a really nice additional community resource.
Lauren Fiechtner: On SNAP also, you can buy seeds to grow things, so you can do a potted plant garden for those people who live in warmer climates or during the summer, and I think that’s a really good, another option.
And then there’s also the healthy incentive programs, which at Farmers’ Markets, SNAP will count for more for produce. So some other ways to stretch that very small SNAP budget.
Bri DeRosa: I love that you just said that about the seed program. I had no idea. I knew about farmer’s market programs. I didn’t know that SNAP would allow you to buy seeds as well, and that’s a really cool benefit.
I’d love to hear from you, Lauren. What are your hopes for closing the gap? Here we’ve got this high number of food insecure adults and children. Where should we really be putting our energy and our advocacy and our time to try to make a difference there?
Lauren Fiechtner: Yeah, so I think we do need to advocate for continued funding for WIC and SNAP.
There are also 1115 Medicaid waivers across the country, which have been doing all this food as medicine work and showing that Medicaid when covering food, food is medicine and food is health, and we can prevent disease and we can prevent hospitalizations and ER costs, which is actually quite shocking how much we can attribute food insecurity to these extra emergency room visits and hospitalizations.
So I think that’s something we as a community can advocate for. I think as pediatric providers and providers in general, I think we need to de-stigmatize food insecurity. It’s so prevalent and many people are suffering and it is not their fault. Faults of much higher systemic issues. So I think as if we can make people feel welcome, that’s food pantries and enrolling in WIC and SNAP and letting them know they’re not taking benefits from others.
I think that’s a really important step. And then I think we all need to know our neighbors are also in this position and so, can you volunteer at your local food pantry? Can you donate whatever, you know, even $5 is great. Those can be really helpful and I think lots of people do can drives and things and those can be helpful.
But really actually the one kind of interesting thing I learned at the food bank, as they have purchasing power, they can buy things at much lower cost. And actually our lowest cost thing to buy is produce. We’re able to stretch our dollars further. So if you can donate to your food bank, um, they’re likely able to stretch your money for further than can drives.
So I, that’s another good tip.
Anne Fishel: That is a good tip.
Bri DeRosa: Yeah, that’s a fantastic tip. Absolutely.
I would love to turn our attention to our usual wrap up where we do food, fun, and conversation for families to just kind of put a button on the episode and give you some inspiration to bring back to your family dinner table.
So Lauren, I’m gonna put you on the spot and ask you if you could– I love your like, microwave bean burrito or bean bean taco thing. Like that’s such a good one because it requires so little of the cook, and that’s amazing. But do you have any other little gems that you might wanna throw out here in terms of food for families?
Lauren Fiechtner: Yeah, so I think pesto is the, probably the biggest hit for my kids. And, um, they get really, really into it. Of course, it requires like being able to afford a blender, a processor, but they, even when they were toddlers, they loved to push that button and see those things going around. And I think them putting the ingredients in can be really fun.
And then I even have one child who prefers one pasta shape, one who prefers another pasta shape. My husband wants something else. And so it was getting very crazy. And so with the pesto, if we can all just decide one pasta shape, I think that can be really helpful, and you can use that to get them to try a new pasta shape, even dipping it into that pesto they love.
So that’s kind of probably the biggest hit in my house.
Anne Fishel: Another adaptation to pesto, which is to use kale, which is so much less expensive. And I blanch it in the pasta water and then take it out and use that instead of basil.
Lauren Fiechtner: Yeah. That’s really a smart idea. Yeah. And when you can grow basil and you can do the seeds of that is like, you know, obviously the best.
And I prepared them that I’m going to make a large amount ’cause we overgrew. Freeze it. So that’s another hot tip is I freeze the leftovers and then I, I, I mean, I thaw them and then it, it can last a really long time.
Bri DeRosa: Well, and I, I wanna, I wanna just throw out there, uh, for anybody who’s listening who’s like, I wish my kids would eat pesto. One way to sort of start opening that gate is you can give your kids, like if your kids like buttered noodles, but they don’t eat pesto yet. Start by mixing just a tiny, tiny bit of the pesto into their buttered noodles, right? And you can let them maybe help you control how much, but even, you know, just the tiniest, tiniest bit, just so they can kind of see it and let them try there.
And then each time they can start to add just a little bit. The amount of pesto versus decreasing the amount of butter or olive oil or whatever it is that you’re putting on the, the more plain noodle for them. It’s a good way to kind of build up their acceptance of pesto or tomato sauce or any kind of sauce that you wish that they would eat on their noodles.
You can just start with a little, and then let them help add more each time that you serve that dish, and eventually most kids will get to the place of, oh, I like this. Actually, pesto is really good. So that’s, that’s another add-on to the pesto conversation.
I’m gonna do the fun for this week. This is a game that we have on the site. It’s called The Price Is, and it’s loosely based on an old game show that we all love, but it’s basically a guessing game, and it’s intended to help everybody in your household understand what your food costs are. You know, those preferred items that they really like. How much of the grocery budget does that take up?
And it’s a fun guessing game, so you just need to save your grocery receipts. Again, this is on the site. We’ll link it in the show notes as well. You’re gonna save your receipts, and then you’re gonna put out a few of the items that you’ve bought recently, and you’re gonna let each person write down how much they think each of those items cost.
And then you’re gonna have a conversation about it. You’re gonna see who got the closest, who wins the prize, right? But it’s gonna help open everybody’s eyes to exactly how much these things are costing us every time we buy them. Why it’s important not to waste. And also to maybe, you know, as your kids get older, open up a little bit more of a conversation about, is that where we want all of those dollars to go? Like those crackers that we’ve been buying are a lot more expensive than this other snack. Is that something that we think we wanna try to motivate ourselves to change? So the price is, it’s on our site and it’s, it’s actually a really fun guessing game. So give it a shot.
Lauren Fiechtner: My kids love the games. I, Annie knows that they could just have more, would you rather questions?
So this one’s good. I think it’ll be a good game.
Bri DeRosa: Excellent. Excellent.
And Annie, can you finish us up with some conversation starters to go with our episode today?
Anne Fishel: Sure. So one of them is sort of a variation on a question that you asked Lauren. And the question is, if you were given the job of making sure that everyone in the world had enough food, what are the first three things you would do?
And I think, I mean, Lauren gave a kind of version of that. It’s not just about providing food, but it’s also about de-stigmatizing food insecurity, making it more welcoming for people to ask for food. So anyway, so that was one. And then, more simply, can you think of something you have that you could share to help someone else?
Bri DeRosa: I love those, ’cause they feel like two different age groups to me too.
Anne Fishel: Yeah. Right.
Bri DeRosa: So the first one feels like the one that you pull out for your teenagers or for your older, your tweens, your older elementary kids. You know, let’s engage our brains a little bit in problem solving and visioning.
And the other one feels like a great entry point for littler kids and, you know, younger elementary kids to be starting to think about giving, just in a broad sense and, and community care.
It has been an absolute joy to have you. Lauren, thank you so much for sharing your time and wisdom with us today.
Lauren Fiechtner: It’s been great to be here. Thank you so much.
Anne Fishel: Thank you. Wonderful to have you Lauren.
Lauren Fiechtner: Always great to see you, Annie.
Bri DeRosa: And friends, we’ll link all of these resources in the show notes, we’ll hook you up with the Greater Boston Food Bank and the click, click to cook. And all of these other resources that we talked about today.
If you have questions or comments, always reach out to us please. We’d love to hear from you, and we will see you next time on The Family Dinner Project Podcast.