Serving Up Food That Goes To Waste

Here’s what my daughter Lucy is eating almost exclusively these days: Stonyfield Farms YoBaby Organic Whole Milk Banana Yogurt.

I suppose I am exaggerating a bit – she’s eating other things, too, but  some days she’ll eat as many as three little tubs of the yogurt. That’s one 4 ounce tub as a go-to supplement served during each meal of the day, when she’ll be offered other tasty and relatively healthy foods that never leave her plate.

Many times, that third serving of yogurt is left partially uneaten and goes to waste. We hem and haw about opening it up for her, knowing that she might not finish it but wanting her to eat something nutritious and substantial during the day.

Wasting food while trying to get a toddler to eat is a fairly common problem, or so I assume. But this stuff isn’t cheap: Wegmans in Hunt Valley charges $2.19 for a four-pack of YoBaby, and I’m pretty sure that’s the best price in the neighborhood, because I’m one to shop around.

It’s about more than wasting money or food; while we certainly want Lucy to learn about being conservative with our family’s resources, we also want her to learn about healthy eating. It seems like no matter how hard we try to set a good example by, say, serving a vegetable at every meal and eating with animated gusto ourselves, it is an uphill battle. Just like with , some things just can’t be forced.

For the moment, like so many kid-related things, I’m just trying not to worry about it. Thankfully, we are lucky to have a very healthy 3-year-old on our hands who isn’t wasting away while her food goes to waste.