Raising children to be healthy eaters is a challenge. In a perfect world, every child would love fruits and vegetables, and we'd have a giant salad bar in our kitchen to offer amazingly healthy and delicious choices all the time. Sounds like a dream, right? In Melanie Cade's home, however, they're living this dream every day.
Cade, 37, is a mom of nine who wanted to ensure that her kids had the best, freshest food choices available at all times. With that in mind, she and her husband purchased an industrial salad bar, just like the kind you see in restaurants, and installed it in their home. It has been life-changing for her family, and we won't lie: We're jealous.
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It looks positively delicious.
Cade shares about her life on her Instagram, and people are often amazed by how organized she is. Kids often equal chaos, but at Cade's house, she's got it under control. When it comes to healthy food choices, her salad bar is swoon-worthy. She recently posted a video with answers to followers' most frequently asked questions about her food prep.
Cade noticed that foods were becoming too convenient.
She told Today that the pandemic made her really want to make changes.
"I run a tight ship," said the homeschooling mom. "My kids eat cookies and chips but during the pandemic, I saw an unhealthy dependency on pre-packaged snacks because they were readily available."
She added, "I saw my kids developing bad habits that were convenient and easy for both them and myself."
Her salad bar looks delicious.
According to her viral Instagram post, she fills the salad bar at least once, maybe twice a week, depending on how much the family eats from it. She keeps it stocked with everything from fresh fruits and veggies to proteins, dressings, and even cold plates. This momma thought of everything.
She explained in the video's caption that having many choices helps when kids don't like what's on the menu, "If one of our children doesn't care for what we have planned for lunch or dinner, he or she is welcome to partake from the salad/sandwich bar."
People love this mom's kitchen.
It's no surprise that people are going crazy for the salad bar. At least one person wants to move in. "Would you like to adopt a senior child… housebroken, late 30s?" the fan asked.
Cade even impressed a professional kitchen designer. "Ok I've designed over 200 kitchens and nobody has EVER asked me for a built in salad bar. I might need to start suggesting this… " the person commented.
"There's mom's and then there's PROFESSIONAL Mom's. CEO of Mom's," someone else wrote.
"What an amazing idea!! When I prepare these things and make them easy and available my kids will eat them before junk too. Thanks for sharing sister," another person agreed.
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You don't need an industrial salad bar to incorporate Cade's ideas.
In her post, she added that prior to buying an actual salad bar, she used the same techniques in her fridge and said anyone could do what she is doing.
"As a reminder, before upgrading to this stand-alone salad bar, I incorporated the same concept in a drawer in our fridge using plastic containers from Walmart. This is totally doable, you just have to be a bit creative with your own space and budget," she explained.
