While healthy eating may not always seem fun, getting into the habit of fueling our bodies with nutritious foods is super important. It keeps us from getting sick and gives us the energy for all kinds of things like doing those never-ending household chores and hiking our favorite mountain trails.

This week’s word problems feature healthy eating options for Natalie, William and Mason. But they can apply to us too. So read the following problems and choose the one that’s the right skill level for your child. Have them give it a try. And when they feel they’ve found the answer, check their solution against ours on the next page.

Questions

Lower Elementary:
Question: Natalie prepares 16 ounces of broccoli for family dinner night. Each of the 4 people in Natalie’s family eats the same amount of broccoli, and there are 4 ounces of broccoli left over. How many ounces of broccoli does each family member eat?

Upper Elementary:
Question: William used to drink 6 cans of soda per day, but he decided to replace his soda with bottled water. If a can of soda costs $0.85 and a bottle of water costs $0.75, then how much money does William save each week by swapping from soda to water?

Middle School:
Question: A 12-ounce steak has 92 grams of protein. A 6-ounce serving of chicken has 52 grams of protein. A 9-ounce serving of salmon has 63 grams of protein. If Mason wants to cook the option with the most protein per ounce, then which should he choose?

High School and Up:
Question: A 16–ounce green smoothie with 1 scoop of super vitamin powder costs $4.85. A 16–ounce green smoothie with 3 scoops of super vitamin powder costs $5.55. Write a function of x, the number of scoops of super vitamin powder, that yields the cost of a green smoothie.

Solutions

Excellent!  Are you ready to check your answer? Look below to see if your solution matches ours.

Lower Elementary:

Answer:  3 ounces
Solution: First, we subtract the leftover broccoli; 16 ounces – 4 ounces = 12 ounces of broccoli are eaten by Natalie’s family. Since each family member eats the same amount, we divide 12 ounces into 4 equal groups and get 3 ounces in each. So, each family member eats 3 ounces of broccoli.

Upper Elementary:
Answer:  $4.20
Solution: Each soda costs $0.10 more than a bottle of water. So, each day, William saves $0.10 × 6 = $0.60. In a week, he saves $0.60 × 7 = $4.20.

Middle School:

Answer:  Chicken
Solution: If we divide the grams of protein in each option by the weight of the serving of meat, then we can compare the amounts of protein per ounce. There are 92 ÷ 12 = 72/3 grams of protein per ounce in the steak, 52 ÷ 6 = 82/3 grams of protein per ounce in the chicken, and 63 ÷ 9 = 7 grams of protein per ounce in the salmon. So, the chicken has the most protein per ounce.

High School and Up:

Answer:  f(x) = $0.35x + $4.50
Solution: First, we notice that when the number of scoops of super vitamin powder increases by 2, the price increases by $5.55 – $4.85 = $0.70. So, each scoop of super vitamin powder costs $0.35. To find the cost of a 16–ounce smoothie without the super vitamin powder, we can subtract $4.85 – $0.35 = $4.50. So, the cost of a green smoothie is $4.50 plus the total of $0.35 times the number of scoops: f(x) = $0.35x + $4.50