Resources For Picky Eaters

We’ve all been there!

Our son is 3 years old. With a chef for a Dad, we tend to feed him the way we feed ourselves. He has been exposed to far more foods than Mom ever had been (before she met Dad) in his first 3 years of life, and he eats quite well but he still has his picky moments. For example, he loves octopus because we traveled to Greece when he was 2 and ate lots of it, but he will turn down simple foods like green beans.  Go figure!

It’s exciting to watch children explore food in the first year, they will try everything, and then you wonder, what happened when they start to refuse foods they used to love. It’s natural for children to begin to build preferences as they reach toddlerhood. But it is so important to continue offering a variety of foods often, even if they choose not to eat it right away, because it takes repetition for children to get used to new foods.

We have definitely been there though, exhausted at the end of the day, annoyed at our child for refusing food that we worked so hard to prepare. That is why we love the following tools we reference for advice on how to handle these tough situations! We won’t always be perfect, but these resources help us prepare for those moments better.

How To Talk So Little Kids Will Listen – A plethora of tools and suggested language here to add to your parenting tool box!

Big Little Feelings – Check out their “Eating” highlights for tips for little ones

Feeding Littles – They were even featured on GMA for their advice! We can’t recommend them enough!

Charlotte The Little Chef – Another local!  Our dear friend’s daughter has become Insta-famous for sharing toddler friendly recipes. What better way to expose little ones to new foods than to get them involved in the kitchen?

Do you have any resources you use? We would love to hear what they are!

Ready to try us out and give more time back to your family while eating nutritious meals? Request more information here.

Richard & Carissa

We finally did it! We are officially business owners. If you know Richard, starting his own business has been his dream for a very long time. He always knew he wanted to work with food at a very young age. His goal after graduating from culinary school was to own his own restaurant by the time he was 30. He met his other goals of helping someone open a restaurant and becoming an Executive Chef by the age of 26, so I knew he was going to accomplish what he set his sights on.

A couple of months ago, and Richard and I were driving to and from Dallas for a friend's wedding. I started talking to Richard about childcare and the absurd costs of daycare, and how it must be so difficult for single parents. I ideated about some kind of daycare that might give back or help lower income families. The idea stuck with me until we met my cousin for brunch before heading back home. I couldn't help but sharing my thoughts with everyone at the table. Eventually that conversation led to food that babies are eating now days in general, and my cousin joked, "that's what you should be doing is baby food."

On our 4 hour car ride home, Richard and I kept talking about that idea. We got more and more serious. We didn't listen to anything on the way back. No radio, no podcasts, no nothing. Just pure excitement and joy in talking about our idea. And thus, Family Thyme Meals started to take shape (though it wasn't named that just yet!). We started reaching out to parents we knew, offering free trials, gathering feedback and input. Now we are finally at a place where we are ready to fully launch our business!

We are truly so excited to be starting this business because we believe we will be making an impact in many families' lives. Even as a household of cooks, the idea of cooking a dinner right after work is stressful. It's a difficult time of day because Connor is the most hungry at that time and he's also the most needy because he hasn't been with us all day. All he wants is for us to hold him and yet we must somehow get a healthy meal out on the table for him.

If you have children, then you know that kids want to eat dinner between 5-6. They also need lots of sleep so they often go to bed between 6-8. If you don't get home from work until 5 or 6, that doesn't leave much time to cook, bathe, spend time with your kids and tuck them in. Sometimes they are in bed before you get home. If you cook, most of that time is dedicated to cooking and cleaning and by the time you're done it's bedtime. There is little to no quality time being spent as a family or just relaxing and enjoying time with loved ones and talking about your day. It's not just about quantity of time, it's about quality.

That is the whole idea behind Family Thyme Meals. We are taking the stress away from cooking and cleaning and giving families more quality time to enjoy one another. And we deliver the food right to your door step!

If you want to check out our website and learn more about our services and what we offer, you can shop our subscriptions. We can't wait to embark on this new journey and we hope you will share this news with anyone who might be interested. 

A few thank-yous:

• To our family, who has always pushed us to follow our dreams and supported our ideas.

• To my cousin, Dani, who created our beautiful logo and read our minds for what we wanted!

• To Nouna (Anna), who originally invested in the original idea but that rolled over into this one :) And for completing our first sale to make sure the eCommerce was working properly!

• To all of our trialers and early stage testers, for your feedback in helping the business take shape.

"Your children only get one childhood. Make it memorable."

-Regina Brett

Welcome to Family Thyme Meals! We are just getting started. Check back soon for more updates!