How do you get kids to eat their veggies? Whether you’re a parent, a nanny, a pre-school teacher, you may have come across a picky eater or two. Having 4 kids of my own, I know it’s not easy getting them to try new vegetables or even familiar vegetables that they have already determined they don’t like.
This year, Birds Eye has teamed up with Melissa d’Arabian, celebrity chef, mom of four, and host of FoodNetwork.com’s web series The Picky Eaters Project, to make a difference and help moms with the dinnertime dilemma. Birds Eye provides families with tasty, nutritious veggies that kids will love. Let me remind you that frozen veggies can be just as nutritious, if not more, than fresh depending on when they’re harvested and frozen. Thankfully my kids do like some frozen veggies which makes my life easier.
Step Up To The Plate is Birds Eye’s long-term commitment to reshaping kids’ veggie perceptions and getting children to like veggies for life. According to the State Of The Plate report, 9 out of 10 people in the United States do not get the proper amount of vegetables these days. So there is a lot of room for improvement! Birds Eye offers more than 40 vegetable blends to encourage families to fill half their plates in vegetables in simple and affordable ways.
Here are some more tips from Melissa D’Arabian. Her quick quinoa salad looks easy and tasty and I love her suggestion on roasting- I never thought of roasting frozen vegetables! Watch the short clip.
Being a Registered Dietitian makes it even more painful when my children shun the vegetables I’m serving, but I’ve found a few tricks that work for my family. Hopefully some of them will work for you!
Top 10 tricks for getting kids to eat vegetables
1. Get your kids involved in shopping. Let them pick out at least two of the vegetables going into your cart.
2. Incorporate veggies into smoothies. I don’t make this a big secret, in fact, I explain to them it’s green because of the kale or spinach and they marvel at the fact that you can’t even taste it.
3. Transform your vegetables. Maybe your kids don’t like tomatoes, but they might love tomato soup (like this one, it tastes like pizza sauce).
4. Let your kids help you cook. Keep it simple- let’s them pour ingredients, stir things, add pre-measured spices.
5. Keep frozen frozen veggies on hand at all times for quick fix meals. They are already cut and washed, ready to go!
6. Try cooking the same vegetable different ways. My kids don’t love kale salad, but they do love kale chips.
7. Introduce one new food at a time. Keep the rest of the meal familiar foods and your child might be more likely to try the one new item.
8. Let your kids pick the recipes. I allow my kids to pick recipes for our meal plan on occasion. Rule #1) one of the dishes must include vegetables.
9. Pair your vegetables with tasty dips. My kids are more willing to eat vegetables if they can dip it in something like hummus, salsa, guacamole or homemade ranch.
10. Don’t give up! What they don’t like today, they might love tomorrow. Tastes change so be patient.
[Tweet “Tricks for Getting Your Kids to Eat More Veggies via @nutritiouseats #ILikeVeggies #CG”]
Question: What are your tricks for getting kids to eat their veggies?
I was selected for this opportunity as a member of Clever Girls Collective and the content and opinions expressed here are all my own.
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My son is pretty good about eating new and old veggies. My daughter? Forget it. Carrots and frozen peas are the only veggies she’ll willingly eat. A veggie filled smoothie, she’ll eat even with full disclosure. Frustrating but I was the same way growing up. I’m not giving up just yet!
Angela @ Happy Fit Mama recently posted..Weekend
I hear ya, I know they will grow out of it….it’s just a matter of when?? But I always say it could be worse because at least they all eat some vegetables.
Love these, now I’ll have to try them out on my husband!
Natalie @ Never Serious Blog recently posted..Friday Favorites 10.24.14
lol, let me know if they work
I recently figured out the soup trick too – my daughter gobbles down her veggies that way! Frozen veggies have been a lifesaver for us. We can have lots of variety on hand without a lot of work! Thanks for sharing!
Joanna @Makingmine recently posted..halloween headstart + simple toddler costume
Yeah, it’s so interesting to see what they will like!
love these tips! right now, Baby D will eat anything. I’m sure that won’t always be the case!
Brittany @ Delights and Delectables recently posted..Baby Delight: 9 Months
That’s awesome! Actually baby E is the best veggie eater out of all of them so I might get lucky with her
When my nephew was younger I would take him to the farmers market and let him pick out whatever he wanted. Then we would figure out what to make with it and cook together.
So fun. We haven’t been to the Farmers Market but it’s such an inspiring place for cooking with produce!
YES I DO THAT HERE, Pam!!!
CARLA recently posted..Is OLD talk the new FAT talk?
Love that!
dips and flavoring! yes, that’s key. They need to flavor it somehow. Or hide it in a dessert. haha, right?
lol, yeah my kids never turn down dessert! But seriously dips are awesome- spinach dip, guacamole, you name it!
love love love all of these. my freezer is jam packed for frozen veggies for when i’m in a jam
Lindsay @ The Lean Green Bean recently posted..Bean Bytes 113
They really are so convenient!
Great tips Melanie! I feel pretty lucky in that my kids love eating vegetables. It’s more of an issue of getting them to try new kinds of veggies and foods. But usually pureeing works for us.
Christine @ Love, Life, Surf recently posted..Quinoa Butternut Squash Stew
You are lucky! Mine like a select few, so it could be worse.
These are great tips! I would also add not to stress and make a big deal about it in front of your kids and also, accept that your kids may just not like a certain vegetable and no amount of pressure will ever get them to eat it. Even after years of mum serving it up for dinner, I still won’t eat squash
Nina @ whats for eats recently posted..Cranberry and apple porridge