If you have time, have a small sheet of paper listing all the meats and all the sauces.  Have each person mark which meat and which sauce they used (one sheet per serving) and then evaluate it.  On bottom of sheet list basic evaluations such as "Great", "Not Safe to eat", "Needs less sauce", "Needs more sauce" ect. 

The meal would be like a lab test in itself.  Share some of the results.

You can set the stage by having everyone wear a lab coat (or apron), goggles, and safety food gloves.

For a week of meals, choose one part of the meal to "analyze".  One night you can have kids dip their potato chips into sauce, another a piece of fruit, a third a type of meat, a forth a cookie, and a fifth a vegetable (carrot?).

Adrianne

I love the idea of the different color jellos in a clear cups.

Don't forget the pop rocks in juice.

http://www.stevespanglerscience.com/content/experiment/liquid-nitrogen-ice-cream#

You can conduct a science experiment by making ice cream in five minutes or less by using a basic ice cream recipe and freezing the concoction with liquid nitrogen. Just remember to keep safe! Those dollar tree safety goggles will come in handy if each kid has a little bit of the concoction in a small dixie cup and stirs it with a wooden popsicle stick themselves. Add the LN2 to the mix in the cup before giving it to the child to make their own individual ice cream cup. Just be sure to supervise them closely so that they don't touch the LN2 at all while they are stirring and have someone check it before they eat it to make sure that the LN2 has all evaporated first.

I was thinking that you could use your meal as a "power up" time and introduce good eating habits with a balanced meal.  Of course, someone might be able to come with some good ideas, but this would be a good back up.

Sheriff Sue (we haven't done AR yet, still counting down the days!)

Adrianne

Fruit kabobs and skewers of lean meats with veggies and that sort of stuff look attractive as well.

Cut celery stalks and put them in water with a contrasting food coloring and let them soak up the colors into the veins. Then spread the inside with low fat cream cheese or peanut butter for a snack or appetizer.

He who works his land will have abundant food, but the one who chases fantasies will have his fill of poverty.

Proverbs 28:19

Or maybe you could cut a sandwich into fourths and push them to the outside of the plate with the corners to the middle.  Connect them with pretzel sticks, maybe something round in the middle, and maybe it could be a prism or atom or something.

Check out VBS Groupies for resources to help with the planning of your VBS.