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Food For Kids

Food For Kids

By: The Foodies
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The Food for Kids Podcast is the quick, practical solution for anyone who wants to make feeding kids easier and less stressful. If you’re at your wits' end trying to juggle kids’ food alongside everything else in your busy life, this is your podcast for practical, fun, and easy-to-digest info on raising healthy, happy, confident eaters. With bitesize episodes of around 5-10 minutes twice a week, it’s perfect for the school run, your daily commute, or whenever you’re looking for practical tips and fresh ideas to make food for your kids just a little bit easier and more enjoyable. Expect a variety of topics, including family-friendly recipes, tips for picky eaters and special diets, ideas for eating more seasonal fruits and vegetables, money saving tips, school food inspiration and much more! Hosted by Joanne Roach, creator of The Foodies Books, which have sold more than 40,000 copies across U.K homes, schools and childcare settings. Joanne has been helping kids to grow, cook and eat vegetables and fruit for over 20 years and is passionate about making food affordable, practical, sustainable – and most of all – enjoyable for real working families and busy educators who don’t have the time, budget or energy to keep up with the latest trends. Each week, we’ll feature a short interviews talking about one topic or answering one question. And there will be one short solo episode with tips and ideas for practical family food. The interviews will be with dietitians, food industry experts as well as educators who are doing amazing things in schools and childcare settings. You’ll hear real-life examples of how families and schools are fostering positive relationships with food and making mealtime a fun and stress-free experience. We also keep you updated with food in the news, so you’ll always be in the know about the latest trends and findings related to kids’ nutrition. Most importantly you'll get a short bite of something uplifting and advice you can actually use. You’re probably already bombarded with information that makes you feel guilty, overwhelmed and helpless in the face of a food environment that seems to be working against you. The idea of this podcast is to focus on practical, positive, relatable and realistic ideas that you can absorb in short bursts and then put into practice in your own time. Subscribe to download the tiny bites of food inspiration, delete the ones which don’t apply to you, and see what nuggets you can add to your family or school table. Happy eating!Copyright 2026 The Foodies Hygiene & Healthy Living
Episodes
  • FFK89: Foods in season in April in the UK

    FFK89: Foods in season in April in the UK
    Apr 2 2026

    In this episode, Joanne runs through a list of fruits and vegetables which are in season in the UK in April, and offers tips for getting children to try each of them. There is also a short list of imported foods that are currently in season.

    This will be useful if you want to increase your intake of seasonal fruits and vegetables, and want some ideas for helping to build your child's familiarity with them, whether they eat the end result or not!

    Links in this episode:

    List of foods in season in ​April - www.thefoodies.org/seasonal/​april-food-ideas/

    Printables of spring seasonal foods: https://thefoodiesbooks.com/product/spring-seasonal-food-printables

    Music "Happy Days" by Simon Folwar via Uppbeat
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    8 mins
  • FFK88: Is my child getting enough protein? With Lucy Upton

    FFK88: Is my child getting enough protein? With Lucy Upton
    Mar 30 2026

    These days you would have to live under a rock to have missed everyone trying to make you eat extra protein. There is protein added to everything. First it was just for athletes, then it was older people and menopausal women. Then it was sporty kids, and then inevitably it’s now just growing kids full stop.

    Meat and fish can be difficult textures for many kids and they will often go through a phase of not wanting to eat them, which can lead to worries that they are not getting enough protein. But how much protein do they actually need and how likely is it that your child is getting enough?

    When you’re in this phase you want reliable evidence based information so I asked Lucy Upton the Children’s Dietitian back to talk us through this topic.

    Lucy Upton, The Children’s Dietitian, is a leading UK paediatric Dietitian and author with over 15 years of experience. She’s dedicated to helping babies, children, and their families find joy and health through food, nutrition, and mealtimes while dispelling the overwhelming misinformation surrounding children’s feeding. Everything Lucy does is rooted in empathy, blending real-life mum experience with evidence-based advice.

    Links in this episode:

    Lucy's website: https://www.thechildrensdietitian.co.uk/

    Lucy's Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/childrensdietitian/

    Lucy's recent post about protein for kids: https://www.instagram.com/reel/DTQxei5DUto/

    Music "Happy Days" by Simon Folwar via Uppbeat
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    16 mins
  • FFK87: How exploring foods in school can help kids, with Jason O'Rourke

    FFK87: How exploring foods in school can help kids, with Jason O'Rourke
    Mar 26 2026

    Over the year you will have picked up that the main focus of The Foodies products and content is on building children’s exposure to food without any pressure to eat, and we have had several episodes focussing on how to do that in your own home and with your own kids.

    But today we are exploring what happens when we take that work into a group setting. So Joanne was very happy to speak to Jason O’Rourke who is a primary headteacher and co-founder (along with food writer Bee Wilson) of a charity called TastEd that gets food education into schools with that same low pressure exploration approach.

    TastEd uses the Sapere method which helps children to use all of their senses to build familiarity with a food – Sapere literally means “to know” so it’s just about getting to know a wide range of foods, in TastEd they focus primarily on fruits and vegetables. TastEd has two main rules, no one has to like the foods and no one has to try them. It is all about exploration, confidence and trust. This episode discusses why a group setting like a school can be really helpful for children to build their confidence with food.

    Dr Jason O’Rourke is a nationally recognised expert in food education, school food policy, and children’s health and wellbeing. He advises universities, government bodies and NGOs, serving on the UK Government’s School Food Standards Advisory Board, as a Project Partner on The School Meals Service: Past, Present and Future, and as the UK representative on the European SAPERE Board. He is a member of the All‑Party Parliamentary Group on School Food, a Food for Life Ambassador, and co‑founder of TastEd. As headteacher of Washingborough Academy, Jason has led nationally acclaimed work placing food education at the heart of school life.

    LInks in this episode:

    The TasteEd website: www.tasteeducation.com

    Parents' downloads: https://www.tasteeducation.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/06/TastEd-Parent-Booklet.pdf

    Jason's LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/jasorourke/

    Jason's TastEd Co-founder - food writer Bee Wilson: https://www.beewilson.com/

    Washingborough Academy's Food Education work: https://www.washac.org/our-school/our-food-education/

    Music "Happy Days" by Simon Folwar via Uppbeat
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    14 mins
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