Getting your kids to eat vegetables is a tough thing to do. Here are some creative ideas to make vegetables look appetizing to children.
Raw Veggies: Raw vegetables have the most nutrients and do not lose any in the cooking process. Try putting together a colorful salad for lunches or a side salad at dinner. Add tomatoes, carrots, cucumbers, and any other colorful veggies you can think of. Here are some other ideas to put together with raw vegetables.
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Veggie People: Get creative for an after school snack or an everyday snack. Try making people or animals out of veggies you have. Use bright colors and add other things like cheese or any salad dressing you have.
Veggie Gardens: Kids love flowers and plants, try creating a wonderful garden out of fresh produce. Make a beautiful garden scene or beach scene or anything else you can think of. Use colorful veggies to add attraction to your idea.
Roasting Veggies: Roasting is a great way to get your kids to eat veggies. Roasting makes the veggies turn sweet and gives them intense flavor. The oven does all the work for you and makes your house smell so good that the kids will be interested in what you are cooking.
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Stir – fry Veggies: This process takes more time but is quite worth it. Throw together any veggies you want with sauce over rice or pasta. This will help you put together an awesome meal that your kids will love.
Steamed Veggies: Steaming your vegetables is a great way to cook them. If you do not overcook them and add just the right amount of seasonings, your vegetables will be perfect for your kids to enjoy. Some people even add oil, vinegar, or spices once they are done but it all depends on what you have cooked. Make sure you fork your vegetables so they are not too hard or too soft.
Funny. Vegans are always told how unhealthy our diets are, yet our kids are the ones eating vegetables without having to do a bunch of fancy knife work. Our kids eat all the things everyone else always tries to get their kids to eat.
I’m thinking if people really want their kids to eat more plants, the kids should be raised vegetarian.
After being told how unhealthy it is to raise my children vegetarian, I get asked what they eat. Mine eat everything. Mexican food, Ethiopian, Indian, Pakistani, Afghan, Moroccan (although, I cannot put raisins in tagine because my daughter hates them), Vietnamese, Thai, and Chinese foods. After I list what they eat, I get told, “Oh, my kids would NEVER eat that. Daddy never eats it, so mine won’t touch it, either.”
I mentioned bok choy with almonds and mushrooms once, and a mom said, “I would never eat that one, how could I expect my kids to try it?”
I feel for parents who cannot get their kids to put down a slice of pizza in favor of something more healthful, but really, rather than resorting to trickery, parents need to be more mindful of what they are willing to eat and make changes to their own diets.
Like I said, those of us who live on plants NEVER have trouble getting our kids to eat them. Ever.
Aside from hiding veggies in dishes that they love, these are awesome tips. Another factor would be how you plate it. The more color, the more interested they’ll be, and of course, it helps when they see the whole family enjoying it as well.
It seems getting kids to eat their veggies is an age old problem. But I find it you steam them, eat them raw or roast them, they retain their flavor and are more palatable, especially for picky eaters.
I love making rainbows with the veggies that I use. I try to use multiple colors so that my kids don’t judge 😉
Roasting does work for me in some cases. I like raw veggies here, but the kids…not so much.
I know when my children were young, something as small as using a decorative cutter to cut the vegetables up made a big difference.
I agree, you need to a bit creative to make sure your kids take vegetables properly. I love the ideas of raw veggies as they have the best nutrients available & steaming them is also a good idea as many kids love it.
These are great tips. Surely kids will love all of these. For us, it works great when we tell them that eating such veggies can make them strong like they favorite superheroes.
It is so tough to get my kids to eat veggies. I have to sneak them into their food!
These are absolutely a great tips, I’m sure my kids would loves to eat veggies
Wow, this is awesome. I try so hard to sneak veggies into different meals, and I swear my kids sniff them out. Thank you for the great tips!
These are such great ideas! Luckily I always loved veggies even when I was little and still do, but these are going to come in handy for my SIL – haha!!