Perceived challenges and strategies to achieve Canada's Food Guide recommendation to "Cook more often": Findings from parents of young children

Amar Laila; Ana Carolina Leme; Sophia Hou; David W L Ma; Jess Haines

doi:10.1016/j.appet.2022.106413

Perceived challenges and strategies to achieve Canada's Food Guide recommendation to "Cook more often": Findings from parents of young children

Appetite. 2023 Mar 1:182:106413. doi: 10.1016/j.appet.2022.106413. Epub 2022 Dec 15.

Authors

Amar Laila¹, Ana Carolina Leme², Sophia Hou¹, David W L Ma³, Jess Haines⁴

Affiliations

¹ Family Relations and Applied Nutrition, University of Guelph, Guelph, ON, N1G 2W1, Canada.
² Family Relations and Applied Nutrition, University of Guelph, Guelph, ON, N1G 2W1, Canada; Center of Excellence in Nutrition and Feeding Difficulties, PENSI Institute, Sabará Children's Hospital, São Paulo, Brazil.
³ Department of Human Health and Nutrition Sciences, University of Guelph, Guelph, ON, N1G 2W1, Canada.
⁴ Family Relations and Applied Nutrition, University of Guelph, Guelph, ON, N1G 2W1, Canada. Electronic address: jhaines@uoguelph.ca.

PMID: 36529319
DOI: 10.1016/j.appet.2022.106413

Abstract

Unhealthy diets are detrimental to health, but home meal preparation is associated with better diet quality. Among a sample of parents of children aged 2-12, this study aimed to 1) explore perceived challenges and strategies to meeting the 2019 Canada's Food Guide recommendation of "Cook more often". From October 2019 to January 2020, 8 focus groups were conducted with 40 parents (73% mothers; 78% white) from Southwestern Ontario, Canada. Sessions were audio-recorded and transcribed verbatim. A hybrid thematic approach with inductive and deductive data analysis was used. Reported challenges included time constraints, picky eating, lacking cooking skills, high price of some fresh ingredients, school restrictions on meals at school, and the influence of children's peers on food choices, mainly unhealthy snacks. Reported strategies to mitigate some challenges included planning and preparing meals ahead of time, using technology or services to make meal planning and grocery shopping more convenient, using devices and kitchen instruments, such as Crockpot®, to make cooking faster, receiving help from spouse or child(ren), and acknowledging that foods perceived as less healthful in moderation can be included in meal preparation. These findings can help inform interventions and educational campaigns to support cooking among families with young children.

Keywords: Challenge; Cooking; Family; Focus group; Food literacy; Food preparation; Strategy; Young children.

MeSH terms

Child
Child, Preschool
Cooking*
Feeding Behavior*
Female
Humans
Meals
Ontario
Parents