10 tips for encouraging kids to eat more vegetables
1. Vegetables first
After taking on a challenge from Eat Your Veg, an organisation designed to encourage UK families to add more vegetables to their diet, I’ve realised what works best in our household for ensuring Baby Boy and Big Girl eat lots of vegetables and try new ones is to serve vegetables before the rest of the meal. Everyone’s hungry and the vegetables are in great demand!
2. Grow princess hair
Last year a friend told Big Girl she would get princess hair if she ate lots of vegetables, and she still remembers and continues to mention how gorgeous her hair is because she eats lots of vegetables. Princess hair it is!
3. Snack with the teeth in mind
The dentist in our family has reminded me of how good it can be to serve vegetables instead of fruit as snacks. Great habit when thinking about little one’s teeth too!
4. Educate with NutriKids books
I recently reviewed NutriKids books by nutritional therapist Sam Bourne, and these little picture books teach children about healthy eating and benefits of vegetables and fruit. A useful resource for under 7s!
5. Add secret goodness
The other weekend Daddy T was the perfect husband, suggesting he could cook a lasagne we could freeze and have for dinner on a weekday since he knows how much I struggle to cook dinner while looking after Baby Boy and Big Girl. We all love lasagne, and I particularly like lasagne and pasta bolognese because it’s easy to include grated root vegetables without upsetting any fussy eaters. Eat Your Veg suggests courgette, carrots, leek and celery to supercharge the bolognese
6. Prepare early
With a busy lifestyle and regularly rushing around, I love having vegetables prepared in advance and I keep containers in the fridge with carrot sticks, cucumber sticks, broccoli, peppers and courgette. This means we have something ready to add to a curry, or simply some vegetables that can be enjoyed raw with some humous or taken out as a snack. Easy does it!
7. Get everyone involved
Whether it is choosing pizza toppings and make a homemade pizza or packing a lunch box, three-year-old Big Girl loves getting involved and I like giving her choice and letting her choose what she likes. If she is offered vegetables for creating smiley faces on sandwiches for a lunch box or on a pizza, she will most definitely like them!
8. Grow your own
One of the things I remember from my own childhood is the excitement of growing lettuce and carrots in the garden, and I can’t wait to get Big Girl involved in growing vegetables at home too. Tomatoes can be great to start with for us, as they can grow in a pot.
9. Taste the difference
Big Girl and Baby Boy have always loved tomatoes, but when we bought Natoora Sicilian Datterini Tomatoes from Ocado they ate more than ever before. They taste delicious and I can’t wait to order them again!
10. Keep up the good work
I thought one-year-old Baby Boy didn’t want to eat lettuce, but yesterday he suddenly stole a chicken sandwich from me with tomato and lettuce. It reminded me how important it is to keep trying and offering a wide variety of vegetables
The Eat Your Veg website is packed with resources and tips on how to get kids to eat more vegetables, including activity sheets and a six-week programme plan. I received a gift card from Eat Your Veg to take part in the campaign
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