My kids eat no vegetables

Sudy

Mon, Jul 14 2014, 6:20 pm

Title says it all.

My kids aged 8,7,5, and 3, do not appreciate vegetables. In the winter I usually put up a soup every week and they eat that twice a week. Now its way too hot to eat soup, so thats out. I sometimes cut up tomatoes, peppers, but they don't really touch it.

How can I get them to eat more vegetables? I need ideas and practical tips.

Typical Day:
breakfast-oatmeal, eggs, sandwich,
lunch-daycamp
snack-cookies
dinner-chicken, potatoes, rice, or kasha.

Please give me some creative ideas.

P.S. Im in my 9th month so no fancy complicated food.

zaq

Mon, Jul 14 2014, 6:35 pm

Google on "how to cheat on your husband...in the kitchen". That's to get the name of the author. I believe she has another volume on "how to cheat on your kids in the kitchen" but I won't vouch for the title. Lots of recipes in both volumes in which veggies are hidden in everything from casseroles to desserts. Spaghetti sauce is an obvious one: besides being tomato based, it lends itself to enrichment with grated/shredded veggies of all sorts. Chocolate cake is another--being dark it can hide even something like spinach.

Bruria

Mon, Jul 14 2014, 7:30 pm

If your kids eat fruit then don't worry about it that much. What's really important is getting all the vitamins they need.

Sudy

Mon, Jul 14 2014, 8:50 pm

MaBelleVie wrote:

Would they like vegetables if they had a yummy (not unhealthy) dip to eat them with?

I sometimes give them techina, but only two will dip vegetables.

FranticFrummie

Mon, Jul 14 2014, 9:55 pm

See if they will eat frozen vegetables! DD hates most veggies, but she will eat frozen bell pepper strips, green beans, peas, and corn. There's something about the texture that she really loves. She also hates fresh blueberries, but will eat a whole bowl of them if they are frozen.

Kids are weird, go figure!

chanee

Mon, Jul 14 2014, 10:21 pm

My kids and dh and myself also don't eat too much vegetables. What we eat is vegetable soup but only completely blended and that is almost every day, winter and summer in the air conditioned kitchen. Other foods made with vegetables either cooked or raw is never eaten. Only dh and one of my kids will eat vegetable salad.

invisiblecircus

Sun, Jul 20 2014, 3:51 am

Will they eat meat sauce with pasta such as spaghetti Bolognese? I brown some ground beef in a pan adding chopped onion, grated carrots and zucchini then a can of chopped tomatoes. That's 4 vegetables right there in one meal. You can also add chopped peppers or mushrooms into the mix.

Alternatively you can make a pasta sauce by cooking several vegetables together then blending them, mixing the sauce with pasta and sprinkling with grated cheese.

They key is to disguise the vegetables rather than offer them plain.

Also, make sure you're giving lots of fruit. A plate of sliced of sliced banana, pear, apple, peaches or whatever other seasonal fruit is available. One plate of assorted fruit to share between the kids, ready prepared so they can eat it with their fingers.

citimom

Sun, Jul 20 2014, 7:14 am

I also tend not to do hot soup in the summer but really there's no reason not to. Maybe go back to that twice a week so You know they got some veggies? My kids are the same way. I make carrot muffins and give them for snack. I don't call them carrot muffins, just muffins. I've heard recipes for chocolate cake with zucchini in it? Maybe google that. Smoothies with fruits and veggies and buy the v8 juice boxes.

SRS

Sun, Jul 20 2014, 4:49 pm

I would serve soup. Just make a large batch and freeze it so you aren't heating up your kitchen all the time. You can cook at night, turn off before bed, and batch in the AM when it is cool. If you make your own tomato based pasta sauces you can puree a lot in there too. Zuchinni bread or muffins is very good. And I concur with frozen veggies. Also try roasted veggies.

Blue jay

Sun, Jul 20 2014, 8:21 pm

Serve lots of fruit, whole grain bread/grains and try "fruitables" as a juice box alternative.

I bribe my kids to try veggies. "Take a one small mousy bite, and you can stay up tonight one minute later!"
Keep offtering, keep persisting and they do start to acquire a taste.
My ds eats no veggies except lettuce with french dressing. but that happened after alot of coaxing.
My youngest still wont eat veggies, but he will try some carrots to boost his bedtime up 5 minutes!
Its worth a try... Smile

invisiblecircus

Mon, Jul 21 2014, 3:38 am

Another thing to try with fruits is to puree them and freeze as popsicles. The kids might even like to help make them!