How can we encourage the kids to eat vegetables?

Answer 1

DON'T make an issue of it. If you start saying things like "You have to eat all of X before you get Y" you are just teaching kids that Y is a reward and X is a punishment.

Be the good example, always finish your veggies, snack on fruit or veggies. Serve vegetarian meals a few times a week. Have lots of healthy food and little junk in the house.

Also don't just heat up frozen veg or boil up some carrots. Make veggies interesting -add spices and sauces. Cook them in things. Serve spaghetti squash with spaghetti sauce, instead of pasta and sauce. Curried squash, roast veg in the oven with garlic and herbs, roast whole cauliflower with a little salt, pepper and paprika (you'd be amazed how much different it tastes). Make lasagna with layers of zucchini or eggplant.

Fall is here: roast stuffed squash, parsnips (with brown sugar if you like), beets roasted or pickled. Beet soup (borscht).

Explore foods from around the world, most other cultures use far more veg than we do, particularly Asian cuisine.

China:
*Lion's head soup
*Beef with broccolis (chinese broccoli if you can get it, or rapini)
*Vegetarian egg rolls
*Eggplant is a large part of Chinese cuisine prepared many ways
*Green beans with pork (very small amount of ground pork or bacon and soy sauce)


Thai:
*Fresh rolls


Japan:
Tempura
Avacado salads with fish or seafood
Veggie sushi
Daikon with miso or soy


Greek:
Babaganoush
Moussaka

Africa:
Egusi Spinach and Egg
Veggies in peanut sauce
Chick peas and okra
Fresh fruit with mango cream

Indian food, sooo many vegetarian dishes with soo many wonderful spices I wouldn't even know where to start!
Vegetarian Samosas (great cold for lunches)
Vegetable Kashmiri
Aloo Saag (spinach and potatos)
Chutneys



And don't forget dessert/afternoon snack or tea:
*Apple crisp -much nicer than plain apples and a little oat topping never killed anyone
*Fried plantain with honey or plantain chips
*Fruit compote
*Mango pudding
*Pineapple slices
*Fruit filled Crepes

Answer 2

Have you head of that mother who has a cook book about how to "hide" the vegetables in foods, so the kids who don't like will eat it? You might do a search for it and buy it.

MY daughter luckily will eat almost anything we put in front of her - so far. But one thing I do: when I make chili and spaghetti sauce, I see what veggies have been sitting in the fridge a while and end up food processing them, or chopping them really thin and adding them to the sauce.
I've done it with spinach especially, carrots, brocoli, etc. Most of the time if they ask what it is, tell them that it is a spice/herb that is in the dish and they don't know any difference because it is so small.

Answer 3

The best way to get a toddler to eat more of anything is to have them help you prepare it. It doesn't always work, but whenever I allow my daughter to help me cook something, even if it's just to dump the can of peas into the bowl, she's more apt to try it. Also, whenever it's time for a meal or a snack, I only give her two options (would you like a banana, or carrots with ranch dressing?). That way she feels like she's making the choice herself, and I'm happy. And if she says neither, I say, "That's okay, you don't have to eat, but you can't have anything else." Even during the worst pouts, she's eventually given in after a few minutes and picked something.

Also, if you find that your child likes something in particular (my daughter loves corn on the cob, since she has her own "handles" for the cobs), try to make that as often as possible. She only likes two or three different kinds of veggies, so I serve them all the time. Its normal for kids between the ages of 2 and 5 to not have a wide range of foods that they really like. So stick to what they do, and try to not to force them to eat anything they don't want to (because then it's NEVER going to work, trust me). Just make sure they're taking a multi-vitamin, and work on your patience! It'll come in handy...good luck, honey!

Answer 4

The easiest ways to get children to eat veggies are:
1) Let them pick a veggie at the store to try
2) Leave a veggie tray with dip(you can work up to healthier dips) on the table they will eat them
3) Try a ticket system. Give them each a ticket for the number of veggies you want them to eat a week and when they have used them all they get to pick a side dish for the next meal.
4) Try sticking to mild veggies at first avoid: peppers, cucumbers, asparagus, cooked cabbage and other strong veggies if they aren't accustomed to eating them.

Answer 5

Maybe get them to make things out of vegetables
or even put a vegi platter plate out at lujcn time and eat in front of them to encourage them

Answer 6

Eating them yourselves, helps alot, but you can also try the gross out factor if your kids like to do things you think are gross. Taste your veggies and then say their so awful and tell them they won't eat them because their so bad, only works with small kids usually, and can back fire on you. Tell them if they'll try the vegetables, you'll try a food they pick, make a game out of it. My mom always told me that carrots would give me great eyesight(like a super hero I thought), and I was told that Spinach would make me strong like Popeye.

Answer 7

Dont make it a big issue. I have 3 kids, come from an italian backround so i knew
weird veggies were in their future. when they were growing up people were amazed that they loved things like eggplant and artichokes. Its all about the flavor! breaded okra, fried yellow squash, artichokes with some garlic butter,yummy if you make it a big deal then it will be!

Answer 8

I used to make designs on their plate or make animals or faces out of them and some of the ones they didn't really care for, I would sneak them in stews chopped up really tiny so they couldn't really see them. It worked for my kids. Also I introduced them to vegetables very young they didn't have too many that they didn't like.

Answer 9

Don't stress them about it. offer lots of veggies at meal time and snack. eventually they'll eat them. my 3 love to dip theirs. so I make a veggie tray for snack time with ranch we call broccoli little trees and they love. I always gave fruits & veggies since they were babies. so know when they want a snack its normally a fruit or veggi. I have found my kids like theirs raw verses cooked.

Answer 10

Try several raw vegies on a plate with ranch dressing, my kids eat that up.