AMHERST, N.Y. — Keeping your family healthy is top of mind. But there can be a couple of roadblocks. It’s expensive and cooking healthy meals can be time-consuming. What if someone else did the grocery shopping for you based on pre-selected recipes? And there are tips on how the kids can help.

The Family Grocery Study has support from the White House as part of The Challenge, a nationwide call to action to advance President Biden’s goal to end hunger and reduce diet-related diseases by 2030. As we’ve shared with you before, if current rates continue, Type 2 diabetes in kids will skyrocket 700% by 2060.

Graduate student Julianna Goldsmith is online shopping.

“I go into their Instacart account and add the ingredients for that recipe,” Goldsmith showed.

Recipes like Rat-tat-tat-touille.

“Just some fun names to get kids involved,” Goldsmith said.

Participating families get four recipes each week — three for dinner, then a snack or lunch option. After giving their preferences, she’s filling carts.

“Almost every day of the week," Goldsmith smiled. 

There are 20 items from either Tops, Aldi or Wegmans.

“What we're really trying to do there is make it easier for families to make healthy choices when they're grocery shopping,” said Stephanie Anzman-Frasca, associate professor of pediatrics at UB.

Anzman-Frasca is overseeing this study, which uses an approach called optimal defaults.

“The idea with defaults is that if there is an automatic or default choice in a choice scenario, people generally stick with it,” Anzman-Frasca said, "so they don't have to agonize over the choice. We're trying to make healthy food options, those default choices.”

This study mirrors a previous one that focused on adults only, who are pre-diabetic, or diabetic, not families with young children. Seventy families are needed. Anzman-Frasca says they’re halfway there. It’s all virtual.

“People across the US can participate if they have access to Instacart and one of the three grocery chains that we are currently developing recipes with," Anzman-Frasca explained.

It’s a five-week study. Anzman-Frasca says they know groceries are expensive, and they don’t want that to be a deterrent. So, they follow guidance from the United States’ Thrifty Food Plan.

“All the ingredients for the recipe are between $10 and $15 for a family of four,” she said. “We try to also bundle recipes together in each week.”

That way, families can buy in bulk.

“I've actually looked at some of these recipes and I'm thinking about trying a few at home,” Goldsmith smiled.

If you are interested, you can head to ubhablab.weebly.com under the participate tab. You’ll see this study and others. They’re recruiting families whose children are thought to be at risk for future childhood obesity, based on some family health factors.

The recipes they’ll get, depending on what group they’re placed in, are aligned with dietary guidelines for children to promote a healthy rate of growth and healthy weight outcomes.