Making my kids eat more vegetables? Ideas?!


Question: Making my kids eat more vegetables? Ideas?
Alright, so my kids are to the age where they're being picky about what they eat. Any ideas about how I can sneak veggies into the food they like? My oldest likes meatloaf but without chunks of veggies. Would it work if I were to put veggies in the food processor before mixing it into the meat so there aren't noticable chunks?

Answers:

Processing the vegetables would definitely make them less noticeable. Also you can try buying new vegetables....not everybody likes broccoli....and have a veggie tasting dinner where the kids decide what they like. My mom did that when we were kids and it ended up being a lot of fun. She started buying zucchinis and radishes...ha ha. Just an idea. Good luck!



Zuchinni chocolate cake. Makes it super moist, can't taste them, can't see them. I LOVE this cake.
Carrot muffins, also very moist, and very yummy. :) Banana muffins are delicious as well.
What if you did a stir fry? You're not hiding the vegetables, but it's mixed in with chicken or beef, and also rice. Can be veeery good.
Try cooking carrots in a brown-sugar glaze. Super good.
Smoothies! Usually made with fruit, but they're still healthy.
Would your kids eat vegetables if they were roasted? Or what about frozen, or raw?
Make some chicken noodle soup, but add some chopped up carrots and celery as well. Adds nutrition and flavour.
Corn is usually a favourite. Corn on the cob, creamed, or grilled especially.
Breads! Banana breads, raisin bread, apple bread...
Banana's or strawberries are good breakfast fruits. They're sweet, and go good with almost everything.
Try adding them as pizza toppings. Can be easily eaten if they're coming on sauce, dough, and melted cheese.
Make a potato or pasta salad. These often incude red pepper, cauliflower, and celery, and have a great, refreshing taste. Or make a regular salad, and include things like red onion/cabbage.
Mince the vegetables up very finely, and add them to hamburger patties, or meatballs. Or, like said earlier, to the meatloaf.
Hope I helped!



When I was a kid, I wasn't a fan of vegetables, and neither were my siblings. I can remember lots of fights around the dinner table of "Eat your vegetables, they're good for you!" I think children don't have the tastes that adults do. It was only when I was a teen that I came to like vegetables a lot. One thing I did like as a child was soup with vegetables--as long as vegetables were in a broth with meat and I had crackers to eat with it, I was fine. A lot of kids like carrots, onions and potatoes in a pot roast. And most kids like corn and potatoes in some form or another. If you're worried about your kids' health, V-8 fusion drinks provide servings of fruit and vegetables, and there are multi-vitamin pills. My brother, who never ate veggies as a child, is 6'7", over 40, and healthy.



im a fourteen year old for starters, but when i was around 11 or 12, i started to expand my horizons, so, what i found out is that what i like is pretty much any kind of canned beans, but my personal favorite is lima beans with plenty of salt. if they dont like any beans, i would say get a potato, and i am aware this sounds odd, but, chop it in semi large chunks, salt it, then eat it raw. that way it has more nutrients than when cooked, is easy to do, and it tastes good. frozen pot pies also are full of veggies and taste absolutley great. hope i helped.

experience



When I was a kid I thought I hated veggies. I would literally throw up if they were on my plate. I didn't want to throw up, in fact, I hated it. I couldn't control this reaction. Then I discovered something remarkable. When I tried some vegetables at certain restaurants when we were eating out, I liked some of them. What I discovered was: MY MOM DIDN'T KNOW HOW TO SEASON AND COOK VEGETABLES. It wasn't her fault, really, since she was never trained by her mom how to cook well. Boiled vegetables without any seasoning were revolting. I still think so. A little salt, pepper, and butter/margarine can go a long way to making them palatable. Some parents may object to salt and butter on health grounds, but that's not picking your battles very well. Do you want them to eat veggies or not? Start with veggies that are more easily accepted, like sweet corn kernals, creamed corn, peas, or whatever they can tolerate, then always season them and taste before serving. Resist the urge to "pass off" your mistakes for the kids to eat "anyways." It's your mistake, not theirs to eat. All it takes are a few bad experience to put kids off of veggies. That's what caused the problem for me, I found out later. I had so many bad veggie experiences that I associated their smell and appearance with it, causing my stomach to revolt uncontrollably in response. Even the smell of Brussels Sprouts from down the street could set me off. There was no need to hide the vegetables, and my mom tried this approach, but it never worked. I could always tell when the recipe was off in just one small taste. Worse, the attempts to hide the veggies cause me to mistrust REGULAR food that she cooked. She frequently tried badly chosen substitutions in recipes, that turned out poorly. I had to tell her to please, please, follow the recipe.

But the upside is that I learned how to cook many things for myself at a very early age.

Oh, last I heard: MEATLOAF DOESN'T HAVE CHUNKS OF VEGGIES. Sorry, I gotta say that for all the kids in the world who are subjected to this nonsense. Try making good meatloaf, for a change. Use a recipe with ketchup on the top, like Alton Brown's recipe. His recipe has onion, garlic and carrot, all nicely chopped up in the food processor, not to hide them but because they make the meatloaf taste better. There's your veggies. If you complain about the sugar and salt in the ketchup, I think you're a nincompoop. Make your veggies great, and stand by them. Let everyone else who wants them to enjoy them and give you complements for them, or eat them yourself, since you made them. Be proud of your veggies. Don't hide them. Win their hearts and their minds. Trying to "make" your kids eat things is evil manipulation. Give them an opportunity to try a small spoonful bite on their plate, for them to test out for themselves without pressure. You will rejoice inside when you finally hear them ask for more. That's a victory with honor. Trying to fool them into eating stuff they don't like is a traitorous act. Might as well be truthful about it afterwards and say "ha ha, I fooled you into eating a vegetable you hate", instead of hiding your guilt by remaining silent. You think they don't know what you're up to? They know.



There are alot of ways to convince kids to eat their veggies.One way is getting a juicer mixing diffrent vegetables and have them drink it trust me they wont notice.Or if you don't want to spend money on a guicer then just buy V8 drinks.Or just give them the vegetables but just cook it.One of my favorite way to make kids eat their veggies is to mash up cooked califlower sprinckle cheese and gravy on it and it taste just like mashed potatoes



Their little taste buds have to develop just like the rest of them so they may not be ready to eat some of the vegetables we eat as adults. Mincing the veggies is a good idea as long as they cannot detect a strong taste. My kids liked their peas in a cream sauce or broccoli in a cheese sauce. Carrots and sweet potatoes can be hidden under brown sugar, honey or butter.



yes, absolutely putting veggies in the food processor is a fabulous idea. You could also maybe try cooking the vegetables in a different way than you normally would, to make them taste different.



Blending them into a smoothie with fresh fruit, frozen berries, and a little juice works. This is a good way to get them to eat carrots, spinach, kale, broccoli, etc.



Well perhaps u want to just tell them if u do not eat ur vegetable i will not buy you anything that you want but also do not promise that ok just or just blend it or perhaps do they like dressing on their salad and also make them eat fruits as well



Yes, you can grate carrots into meatloaf or meat sauce.
Broccoli, peas, or corn, can also be incorporated.



That would work. You can also add pureed vegetables to pasta sauce.



try lasagna you can bake veggies in



You can sneak all you want, and yes, smaller pieces or purees are a good way to do it. You can also add more fruits and stress a little less about vegetables, they often have much of the same nutrition. But more than any cooking trick, I encourage you to approach the whole problem differently. In all matters with your kids, you can set up the boundaries and then they will make their own choices within the parameters you set.

Where food is concerned, you can control the items you bring into the house, the things they order in restaurants, and the times food is offered, and how often or if they get goodies. If all their available food is healthy, then they will eat healthy food. You don't have to freak out or even worry. Never battle your children over food and never lower your standards for the quality of the food that you want them to have.

Some other things:

1. Get them interested in gardening. You can do something very small like an inverted tomato plant on the patio or a pot of herbs on the kitchen window sill. If they help tend their plants they will be naturally interested in using the food that comes from them.

2. Get them interested in cooking. Make it fun and creative, experimental, in a way that gives them a responsibility and a role in the provision for the family...big kid stuff that they are contributing, not like a chore but that their help is important and welcome. This is an excellent way to supervise your children, interact with them, and build memories at a time of day that can sometimes be very crazy. Allow/expect them to help you instead of trying to juggle everyone occupying themselves during dinner prep.

3. Role model good vegetable eating with your kids. They will do as you do a lot of the time, esp when they are young.

4. Cook for your kids in a way that is respectful of their tastes. Not everything certainly, but kids can't understand really advanced flavors, and they can't tolerate a lot of heat, they don't need huge portions, and many kids don't like their foods all mixed together. You can also try cooking different ways (roasting, boiling, steamed, broiled, grilled, baked, as well as raw. Allow strange groupings...whatever foods are allowed in your house, if they enjoy eating them in a weird way...it's okay isn't it?

Sorry for the soapbox, I just get all lathered up about this kind of stuff. hahha!



Here's what you should do: If your kids don't eat vegetables, condemn them. There's a simple route, and a more complex route. If you want to be simple, yell at your kids every time they refuse to eat vegetables and force them to sit on the ground in the corner of a room, facing the wall.

The more complex route involves getting some friends involved. If your kids act up, take them to your friend's house while the kids are sleeping, and persuade your friends to act as though your kids are actually their kids. Have them act like parents. And make sure it's with a friend that has no kids and is relatively stern.




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