Low-cost healthy food recipe boxes will be handed out to parents across Nottinghamshire as part of a new healthy eating scheme targeting children before they start school.
The boxes will contain recipe cards and ingredients for at least two family meals a week, and be priced at £3 to £4.
The pilot scheme will target families of pre-school children aged from six months to five.
The boxes will be available to buy at children's centre across Nottinghamshire which are funded by the county council and run by the Nottinghamshire Healthcare NHS Foundation Trust.
They are expected to be available to buy next year and the boxes could also potentially be used by childminders.
Some parents backed the project, saying many placed importance on convenience and cost rather than the healthiness of a meal.
Nik Jones, 28, an account manager, of Arnold, has three young children: Isla, five, Alastair, two, and Cameron, who is four-and-a-half months.
"It's a good idea," he said.
"The challenge for parents with young kids is that often the focus is on convenience and cost, and healthy dinners don't tend to hit both criteria.
"I think there is a general skill challenge for some parents in what they are able to produce, so buying convenient frozen food or ready meals feels like their only option.
"It sounds like the council will be covering these gaps quite well if these new ideas do come to fruition."
Childminder Lyndsey Phillips, 30, of Chilwell, who looks after children before they reach school-age, said: "It would just be nice to have inspiration of different things to cook.
"It's a really quite useful idea when you are stuck for ideas to cook and then to keep the recipe cards to make it again."
Cyrilyn Moore, 41, of Chilwell, a mum who has four children aged eight to 15 and helps to run a charity, said: "I would say anything that the council are doing to promote health and children has got to be a good thing.
"Some people work incredibly hard and really struggle to meet the needs of their growing families."
Statistics show that almost a quarter of Nottinghamshire children are already overweight or obese by the time they reach reception age, showing that many of the current school age initiatives are too late to make a difference.
Nottinghamshire County Council has become one of five local authorities to receive Government funding to test new and innovative ideas to tackle healthy eating.
The council will receive £100,000 a year for three years.
As part of the scheme, the council would like Healthy Start vouchers - part of an existing, national scheme for families receiving certain benefits - to go towards purchasing the recipe boxes.
The programme, which starts next month, will also involve extending the council's school meals to early years childcare providers.
Additional support will be available to early years and childcare workers across the county to provide chef time and nutritionist support and promote consistent messages.
The programme will target areas where obesity in reception age children is currently higher, including parts of Bassetlaw, Ashfield, Mansfield and Newark and Sherwood.
Councillor Tony Harper, chair of adult social care and public health committee, said: “This isn’t about telling families what they should or shouldn’t be eating, but it aims to remove some of the existing barriers that are currently in their way.
"We will put a range of options in place to help people learn about growing, preparing, cooking and eating healthy food in a way that is available for everyone.”
Public Health Minister Seema Kennedy said: “Every child deserves the best start in life – communities need to come together to play their part in helping the next generation to be healthy and active.
"Prevention is at heart of our NHS Long Term Plan, but a one-size-fits-all approach does not work in public health.
"These pilots are rightly rooted in the needs of the communities they serve and I look forward to seeing what benefits this grassroots approach has on our nation's obesity problem."
The Department of Health and Social Care will share learning from these programmes with local authorities across the country.
