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Do you spend time making cute food?
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Do you like to make cute food for your kids?
I make bento boxes  
 13%  [ 4 ]
I use pancake molds  
 0%  [ 0 ]
I cut up food into shapes  
 23%  [ 7 ]
other  
 63%  [ 19 ]
Total Votes : 30



Mommastuff




 
 
    
 

Post Mon, Jan 21 2019, 8:31 pm
I want my kids to be less picky but since that isn't happening too soon, I'd like to make the food more enticing. Just wanna hear if you take time to make creative looking options for kids. What do you make? Please post other ideas as well!

thank you
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happyone




 
 
    
 

Post Mon, Jan 21 2019, 8:37 pm
none of the above. playing with those would only feed into the pickiness in my opinion.
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amother
Yellow


 

Post Mon, Jan 21 2019, 8:42 pm
I address pickiness by being picky myself, and being very open about it.

"When I was little, I didn't eat pizza because I didn't like tomato sauce. Later I tried it again and now I love pizza! I don't eat the carrots from the chicken soup, but I like the potatoes. If you want it, you can try it. I don't like the salad, but Tatty does - maybe you will too!"

We have a rule in our house: If you don't like it, you don't have to eat it.

We do not subscribe to the clean plate club.

The ONLY food battle I ever have is when kids take a huge amount of a food without regard to how much they actually intend to eat, causing unnecessary wastage. (I still don't force them to eat it, but I do lecture!)

That being said, cute food can be fun to make!

Some of the "cute food" stuff I've done (for fun, not to dispel pickiness):

Using 2 colors of cheese on melted cheese toast to make a smiley face or letter
Heart-shaped pancakes
Ketchup faces on plates of pasta
Wacky spaghetti (poke raw spaghetti into hot dog chunks and then boil - comes out very cool!)
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amother
Sienna


 

Post Mon, Jan 21 2019, 8:57 pm
I have cut the gefilte fish into shapes and used the carrot for accents to get my kids to eat it. I wish I could have photographed my masterpieces.
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amother
Lilac


 

Post Mon, Jan 21 2019, 9:08 pm
Not to get my kids to eat new foods, but I do sometimes make the food they like look more playful. BH they aren't picky, but it takes one extra second to arrange the sliced vegetables into a smiley face, and it makes them giggle. I also have cookie cutters that I allow them to use to cut their own toast/ waffles/ melon. I have a rule that they need to eat the scraps afterwards too, otherwise it becomes wasteful. But they enjoy being fun and creative and I'm happy for them to do so.
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amother
Olive


 

Post Mon, Jan 21 2019, 10:05 pm
amother wrote:
I have cut the gefilte fish into shapes and used the carrot for accents to get my kids to eat it. I wish I could have photographed my masterpieces.


What's so nutritious about gefilte fish that you're going to such great lengths to get your kids to eat it? It's mostly binder and sugar.
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seeker




 
 
    
 

Post Mon, Jan 21 2019, 11:12 pm
Gefilte fish is easy and has protein. Not saying it's ideal but if you can get a kid to eat it who isn't big on eating real food in general, it's a good enough choice.

I like to do cute good but realistically only do it once in a long while. They do appreciate it and now that they have the concept they sometimes do it themselves. I can get away with just putting out a bunch of vegetables and they'll design a platter and then eat it.

I've done sort of bento style boxes for school/camp lunch at some stages, but for convenience more than cuteness. I don't think they're especially cute but they basically work, are about the same effort as any other packaging, makes portioning easy, and helps the kid see their whole lunch at once.
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lucky14




 
 
    
 

Post Tue, Jan 22 2019, 12:32 am
I always wanted to do the cute food stuff once in a while just because it looks fun but I'm just not creative.
I don't cut food into shapes because then what do you do with the extra scraps? Throw them out?
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Ruchel




 
 
    
 

Post Tue, Jan 22 2019, 2:29 am
are you for real
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cuties' mom




 
 
    
 

Post Tue, Jan 22 2019, 3:51 am
I don't do it to get my kids to eat; if they're hungry, they'll eat, and I don't believe in forcing kids. However, when my kids were younger, we used to write with ketchup or draw smiley faces with ketchup. Both of my kids get OT, so I used to do it to help ods learn to write the letter of the week when he was in pre-1a, and back when yds was more interested in drawing, I did ketchup faces to teach him that a face has eyes, a nose, and a mouth.
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amother
Chartreuse


 

Post Tue, Jan 22 2019, 4:40 am
Nope. Haven't got the headspace nor the inclination. And I certainly haven't got the creativity. My kids have asked for it from time to time and I tell them I'm just not that kind of mom. I can do different kinds of fun things for them.
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amother
Sienna


 

Post Tue, Jan 22 2019, 4:59 am
amother wrote:
What's so nutritious about gefilte fish that you're going to such great lengths to get your kids to eat it? It's mostly binder and sugar.


It's our minchag that fish is eaten at the sudar. I am a creative person by nature, and it became fun to surprise the kids with the shapes.

Plus you are wrong that it is mostly binder and sugar.

A &B's ingredients are:

Pike, White, Mullet, Carp, Potato Starch, Fresh Eggs, Onions, Sugar, Canola Oil, Water, Salt & Spices.
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ectomorph




 
 
    
 

Post Tue, Jan 22 2019, 5:10 am
Ruchel wrote:
are you for real
haha! The only mother I know who do this have one or two children and don't plan on having anymore kids.

I personally think that not only does it waste food & makes your kid refuse to eat it except for in that shape
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ectomorph




 
 
    
 

Post Tue, Jan 22 2019, 5:11 am
And I agree gefilte fish is healthy. My kids love it and I'm so happy they do.
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Mommastuff




 
 
    
 

Post Tue, Jan 22 2019, 6:32 am
I was thinking about making shapes just for fun, too. Not all my kids are picky. I'd make pancake shapes (with a pancake mold) once in a while because, why not? You don't need to be creative to use a mold!

And fruit scraps can be made into a fruit salad or fruit smoothie. Vegetable scraps can be used in a salad or stir-fry, etc

Obviously, it's not for when you're in a rush.

I wanted to know if people patchka.
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Israeli_C




 
 
    
 

Post Tue, Jan 22 2019, 6:51 am
No. 4 kids under 3 years old. No time for this nonsense.

Don't want to eat? Then you're going to bed hungry. I don't pander to pickiness.

Other kids not so far away are starving and I should be cookie cutting their sandwiches?
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amother
Cerulean


 

Post Tue, Jan 22 2019, 6:59 am
Israeli_C wrote:
No. 4 kids under 3 years old. No time for this nonsense.

Don't want to eat? Then you're going to bed hungry. I don't pander to pickiness.

Other kids not so far away are starving and I should be cookie cutting their sandwiches?


shock
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ectomorph




 
 
    
 

Post Tue, Jan 22 2019, 7:07 am
Israeli_C wrote:
No. 4 kids under 3 years old. No time for this nonsense.

Don't want to eat? Then you're going to bed hungry. I don't pander to pickiness.

Other kids not so far away are starving and I should be cookie cutting their sandwiches?

I agree with the caveat that my child with feeding issues required medical help to eat. (ironically is now my less picky)
after ruling out medical causes its fine.
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ectomorph




 
 
    
 

Post Tue, Jan 22 2019, 7:08 am
Mommastuff wrote:
I was thinking about making shapes just for fun, too. Not all my kids are picky. I'd make pancake shapes (with a pancake mold) once in a while because, why not? You don't need to be creative to use a mold!

And fruit scraps can be made into a fruit salad or fruit smoothie. Vegetable scraps can be used in a salad or stir-fry, etc

Obviously, it's not for when you're in a rush.

I wanted to know if people patchka.

I would say very few people patchka in real life. Mostly the instagram types
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shabbatiscoming




 
 
    
 

Post Tue, Jan 22 2019, 7:39 am
Nope, never, not in a million years. I hate spending time in the kitchen. I make meals that go into the oven in 5 minutes prep and less.
If my child doesnt want to eat something, then dont eat it. There is always salad with the meal. Thats how we role here.
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