I love discovering ways to get my kids to eat more vegetables. Sometimes the vegetables are out in the open, other times they are disguised in more popular foods. The combination means that my kids are consuming more and more vegetables with each day.
Here’s a list of 25 Ways To Get Your Kids To Eat More Vegetables:
- Try and give vegetables to your kids as a snack between meals. If they’re hungry, then there’s a good chance they will eat!
- Fruit and vegetable salad can be popular. For example they may be more likely to eat tomato if it’s mixed in a colourful salad with oranges. See Orange & Tomato Salad.
- Baked treats can hide a myriad of vegetables. See A Rainbow of Healthy Muffins.
- Vegetables can easily be disguised in pancake batter. See Mini Beetroot Pancakes.
- French Toast batter can hide sweet potato or pumpkin puree really well. See Sweet Potato French Toast.
- Grated or pureed vegetables can be beaten into scrambled egg batter. See Veggie Scrambled Eggs – 6 Ways.
- Take them shopping and get them to pick vegetables themselves.
- Cook with them in the kitchen – handling, chopping and preparing vegetables may increase the likelihood that they will make the next natural step of actually eating the vegetables.
- Growing vegetables in your garden and teaching your kids about how they grow, will give them a respect for where their food comes from and they may even sample vegetables which they have had a hand in growing themselves.
- Usea cookie cutter to make enticing vegetable shapes. Star shaped cucumber is a popular favorite.
- Use skewers to make Vegetable Kebabs. You could alternate fruit and vegetables so that they have to get through the vegetable to eat more sweet fruit.
- Zucchini is easily disguised when grated into homemade burgers. You could even peel the zucchini so that they are even further disguised.
- Vegetables can be hidden in Hash browns – a popular kid favorite. See Potato & Leek Hash Browns.
- Roast vegetables make a delicious spread on sandwiches/pancakes or even sandwiched between bananas. See Banana & Sweet Potato Treat.
- You could use Bento Food Picks . Offer a plate full of vegetables with enticing food picks to draw the kids in.
- Make up stories about vegetable superheros. I tell the boys about “Broccoli-Man” – a superhero who gets his super energy from the power of broccoli!
- Talk about how different vegetables help different parts of your body grow – I tell my kids they will grow big muscles like their Daddy from eating carrots! {They are 2 and 4 years old, so that works. For now!}
- Vegetables can be mixed into a yummy dip. See 3 Ingredient Tzatziki.
- Vegetables for breakfast – plate full and offer plate back at every meal. This is a clever strategy – you simply full a plate with all the vegetables you’d like them to eat for the whole day and then start at breakfast and offer it to them at every meal until the plate is empty! For example a handful of cherry tomatoes, carrots, cucumber & spinach could be piled onto a plate and then offered again and again through the day until all of the vegetables are eaten.
- You could use Bento cups & other fun accessories to liven up less exciting vegetables.
- Soup – a bright and colourful soup with their favorite vegetables and a couple hidden ones too…
- A Smoothie with their favourite fruit and a vegetable or two hidden within. I’ve often hidden spinach leaves in my kids berry smoothies and they are none the wiser. 😉
- You could make a challenge or game of trying new veg, describing the texture & taste.
- Homemade vegetable juice – with a bit of apple or berries mixed through for sweetness.
- “Veg on Veg” – potato or pumpkin topped with grated or mashed veg for colour, texture and taste contrast.
I’d love to hear from you. What methods do you use to get your kids to eat more vegetables?
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