Getting kids to eat fruits and vegetables can be a challenge. It doesn’t have to be though. Today we’re continuing our partnership with HuePets and sharing 10 Fun Ideas that’ll turn this parenting challenge into a parenting triumph!
Hi, I’m Jennifer, a mother of three young children, a contributor here at 5 Minutes for Mom, and the blogger behind The Life of Jennifer Dawn. And those three kids I just mentioned? They couldn’t be more different when it comes to what they’ll eat. My oldest would choose raspberries over chocolate any day. My middle child has a sweet tooth like you wouldn’t believe. And my youngest? Well, he has Sensory Processing Disorder which makes eating a challenge for him in general. I’ve made fresh fruits and vegetables a priority in their diets though. And even though it can be hard to get kids to eat healthy, we’re sharing several fun ways to make it a whole lot easier.
Fun Ways to Get Kids to Eat More Fruits and Vegetables
1. There’s an app for that!
Have you heard of the HuePets app? With this app, kids scan pictures of the fruits and vegetables they’re eating. Then they’re able to feed them to a virtual pet–a HuePet that grows and thrives off those healthy foods.
Kids can also play with their HuePet on this colorful, fun app. As the parent, you can set rewards for your child to work towards, track their progress, and receive notifications when they reach their goal.
The best part is that you’re able to use technology to encourage your kids to eat their fruits and vegetables. It’s a great way to motivate them to make healthy choices.
2. Put it on ice.
Freeze your fruits for a whole new level of delicious fun. When I was growing up, frozen grapes were a favorite childhood treat. It doesn’t get much simpler than filling a cup with grapes and placing it in the freezer. Seriously, you have got to try it.
Blueberries dipped in yogurt are another treat that’s delicious when frozen.
Homemade smoothies, popsicles, and fruity frozen yogurt bark are more frozen treat ideas that kids love! Keep a stash of frozen fruit in the freezer so you’ll always have ingredients for smoothies.
Simply toss the frozen fruit into a blender with a few other ingredients of your choice like juice, yogurt, milk, honey, and even a handful of spinach leaves or carrots. Yes, smoothies are a great way to add extra vegetables into your child’s diet too.
3. Dress them up.
Use cookie cutters to make fun shapes with fruits and vegetables.
Thread produce onto skewers to make colorful kabobs. Mix up a delicious dipping sauce for those veggies. There are countless ways to “dress up” those fruits and vegetables up in a way that’ll entice kids to try them.
4. Hide and sneak.
Here’s a sneaky mom hack for you! Can’t get your kids to eat enough fruits and vegetables? Sneak some more in.
While you want kids to get excited about eating fresh fruits and vegetables as well as those cooked and served in a variety of ways, adding in extra fruits and veggies whenever you can always helps.
Remember those greens I suggested adding to the smoothies. Well, here are few more ways to fortify their food with extra healthy nutrients…
- Add vegetables to scrambled eggs.
- Make muffins with fresh fruit and other healthy ingredients.
- Use fresh fruit to make homemade popsicles.
- Make a pudding or dessert with an avocado base.
- Use a spiralizer to make vegetable noodles.
- Add extra vegetables to your pasta sauce.
- Add veggies into casseroles.
- Prepare quesadillas, encilladas, or tacos packed with vegetables.
- Bake them into fries or chips.
- Load up homemade pizzas with veggies. You can even make fruit pizzas with cream cheese and a crust of your choice.
- Disguise vegetables in your mac and cheese, soup, or even chili.
- Put them in bread–banana, pumpkin, zucchini, blackberry…
- Use pumpkin in your pancake mix for delicious pumpkin pancakes.
5. How does your garden grow?
Every year the kids and I plant a garden. This is not only educational, but it’s also a great way to encourage them to eat the organic produce we’ve grown ourselves.
There’s something so rewarding about eating the fruits of your labor.
6. Let’s go shopping.
I have a little trick I use every time I go shopping.
As I’m walking through the produce aisle, I always “shop the rainbow.” Red could be apples, strawberries, or even red peppers. Orange is an easy one with mandarin oranges, carrots, sweet potatoes, and peaches. Yellow is usually bananas, but yellow squash and corn frequently make the cut too. Then comes green, blue, and even purple with plums, purple grapes, and eggplant.
The produce we purchase varies depending on the season, but we always make sure our shopping cart is filled with a rainbow of colors. The kids see it as a game and will help me hunt for fruits and vegetables in each color category.
I’ve found that using this little trick not only gets the kids excited about eating fresh fruits and vegetables, but it also ensures that I’m providing my family with a variety of nutrients.
Encouraging kids to eat a variety of colors is important to HuePets too! That’s why kids earn points for eating a well-balanced diet of different colors. And their HuePet grows healthy and strong right along with them.
7. Just one bite.
As the Daniel Tiger song goes, “You’ve got to try new things because they might taste good!” This is a rule that I hold my kids to.
One bite–that’s all I ask.
They have to try one bite before they decide they don’t like something. Sometimes they still aren’t a fan, but other times they find out they actually love that new green thing on their plate.
There are even times when we’ll walk through the produce aisle to find a new fruit or vegetable to try. Have you ever eaten a pomelo? We hadn’t either until a few weeks ago, but they’re delicious.
8. Now we’re cooking.
Involve the kids in the chopping, peeling, prepping, and cooking. Kids are much more likely to eat something if they’ve had a role in making it.
9. Set the example.
You are your child’s most important teacher and role model. If they see you eating something, they’ll want to follow your example. No further explanation is needed on this one. You already know how much your kids adore you and look up to you.
10. Make them available.
We don’t have a candy bowl or cookie jar in our house, but we do have fruit bowls and a drawer filled with fresh produce.
When my kids start foraging in the kitchen for food, the fruits and vegetables are what’s readily available and accessible. My youngest is always grabbing an orange or apple to eat. It’s become his go-to pick for snack time.
Your Turn
Have you tried out the HuePets app?
Download it today. It’s available in both the Apple App Store and on Google Play. HuePets truly is a fun, motivational tool that might just have your kids saying, “More fruits and veggies, please!”
Download The HuePets App
Free Coloring Book
Get your kids even more excited about eating healthy food with this free printable coloring book from HuePets.
Click here to download your copy…
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Disclosure: This post is sponsored by HueTrition™.
Written by Jennifer Dawn, contributor here at 5 Minutes for Mom, and the blogger behind The Life of Jennifer Dawn.
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smoothies and having them prepare food they love trying what they cook
puree the veggies and put them in stuff like puree cooked carrots and blend and mix them in with spaghetti sauce most the time its the visual of them being on the plate and hiding them in things they love they don’t notice
I mix veggies in a casserole and they seem to eat them better that way. My kids seem to eat fruit pretty good.
I always put toppings on veggies and dips for fruits that are good for them too
We usually give my nephew a few options for fruits and veggies when he is here. I bought the Sneaky Chef books. I love the carrot and sweet potato puree to add to pasta sauce for added nutrients.
My tip for getting my kids to eat fuits and vegetables is to incorporate them into their favorite recipes so the flavors become part of their diet.
I like to let my kids help me make the fruits and veggies, they love making what they prepare!
I let them pick out the fruits and we make fruit salad
Make a design out of it with them
My kids love their fruits and veggies, but they also love to pick what ones they eat! I think having them have an input in what they eat helps a ton!
The best way to get veggies down: put them on pizza! We can get tons of veggies and pair them with a few bits of meat on top of a pizza and it’s hard to get our kids to STOP eating them. LOL
Smoothies sounds like a good option.
We cut fruit and vegetables into kid size bites and fun shapes.
May not be the most fun but how I get mine to eat them when they don’t want to is to tell them no extra food until they finish everything on the plate. They tend to wanna eat the entree and get second without eating their sides.
Make it fun for them by letting them help you prepare fruits and veggies in recipes or make them in fun shapes. Kids love helping!
I would hide the things they didn’t like in a soothie!! They never knew…
Start them off with good food while still in the belly and they eat good food after they are born I was born loving pickles carrots and bred my mom had pickled carrots and toast every day.
If it’s too late make it fun and involve them in the preparation of the food desert and other incentives can work as well
My mom used to put some sugar on our strawberries or added fruit to our ice cream.
we make plate designs as a technique to help make it fun! Thanks so much for the chances to win.
There are so many fruits available these days, and kids love to be involved in picking one out. It isn’t like when I was a kid and it was always, apples, oranges, bananas or grapes.
My kids love smoothies! They don’t have to know that I sneak some spinach in there too 😉
My kids will eat a lot of veggies with Ranch or cheese.
Let the kids see the adults enjoying them too. Keep cut up carrots in the fridge. (Mine didn’t like the “outside” of the carrots – peeled made them much more attractive.)
We just make it part of our routine and so far it’s worked
I include them on the grocery shopping and let them choose what they put in their salads. It is amazing how much more they want to eat something when they get to choose it
Putting a sauce or giving a dip with fruits and veggies makes getting the ones shes doesn’t like in her diet easier.
My advice would be to keep offering it! They will eventually eat it!
My kids ate just about anything you put in front of them so I never had a problem getting them to eat fruits and veggies. My tip would be to start them out at a very young age eating good foods, then that’s what they grow up knowing.
I’ve never had a problem with kids eating fruits or veggies they actually like them
They always eat them more willingly when served with some sort of dip
I would involve my boys in preparing dishes that included veggies. For example Ratatouille, they always ate what they prepared.
I don’t have kids. I love fruits and vegetables!
I cut them up bite size and serve them with a healthy dip.
My son loves fruit but a lot of vegetables I sneak into pasta, if there’s sauce on it he doesn’t really notice.
I have never had a problem getting them to eat fruits and veggies but when I do, I make smoothies or at fruit to oatmeal
Make them look fun during plating. That always helps.
I find that eating fruits and veggies in front of them makes them more interested in eating them too!
Hide it their food. Soup or grated to hide in meatloaf.
They like to make thier own fruit or veggie kabobs. We make several for the week. A grab and go.
I TRY TO MIX VEGGIES IN W/OTHER FOODS SUCH AS PUTTING BROCCOLI IN THEIR MAC AND CHEESE 🙂
veggies with guacomolie.
I would always set fruit in a bowl on my table and never set out candy. It went over well with my son.
I think having ranch dip on hand for cut up veggies makes it more appealing, and fruit is sweet so it is already easy by itself.
I have my kids pick out their veggies at the store, and they wash and cut them with.me! The more involved they are the more likely they are to eat it!
Be a good role model! Have your fruits and veggies with them!
Drizzle the fruit with honey and use Ranch dip for veggies.
My kids always liked fruits and veggies, but making smoothies is a good idea fro those children that don’t like them.
I try to mix some veggies in their smoothies. I have one kiddo that doesn’t like the surprise, so he helps me put them in.
Add chocolate to the fruit !
My kids love fruits, vegetables we usually have to give them raw with ranch dressing and they will eat them or we will throw some in with fruit for a smoothie.
I lead by example. I know it sounds corny but it’s worked for us. I always have veggies and dip out to snack on and fruit to curb the appetite until dinner. I serve veggies in tasty recipes and ask for my kids’ thoughts on new dishes.
I find it helps to have a tasty yogurt dip or hummus to go with the veggies.
It isn’t so easy, but making a smoothie usually helps a bit.
I make smoothies or blend veggies or try to hide them in something else. The kids aren’t too picky.
I don’t have much trouble getting my kids to eat fruit but veggies on the other hand are a bit difficult.
My Mom had a song called “Clean Plate Club” on us
My kids all are great fruit and veggie eaters. However we started from the beginning and I don’t eat very much meat so they really don’t know any other way to eat. One great place to ad veggies though is desert. There are some great brownie and cake recipes that hide veggies in them.
No children here, but when I was a kid I loved fruit so my mom would always just give me the fruits she knew I liked instead of making me try different ones.
Sadly we don’t have any children….but if I did I’d probably whip up a fruit smoothie for them with veggies “hidden” in it too. Thanks and God Bless!
Sorry no children
My son loves fruit, but I let him help me cook the vegetables so he can get excited about trying them.
my nephew loves apples but hates apple peels so we peel them for him and he chows down lol
I find that selecting the produce and then helping prepare it assists in the desire to taste and eat and enjoy it.
When I pack lunches, the snacks are easy fruits or veggies. The more unhealthy snacks are given in smaller doses so to fill up, they have to eat the whole fruit or veggie.
It’s never been much trouble, my daughter loves fruits and veggies. I do let her help me pick out the fresh fruits and veggies when we are shopping.
As long as I have them cut up on a plate , out on the table, they will grab it. The other way is making them yummy fruit and vegetable slushies!
I cut them in cute shapes
My little one prefers fresh fruit and veggies, however I have never given a bunch of junk except on special occasions
My 18 month old is going through such a crazy stage, one day she can’t get enough of something and the next you would think I was trying to poison her by giving her the exact same food she was inhaling yesterday! I try to sneak in grated zucchini and carrots in muffins or spinach in her scrambled eggs when she’s being extra picky.
I raised my children to eat a very diverse diet of fruits and veggies. I never really had to use any tricks they loved them.
I usually make a soup they love and shred or puree veggies in. I make cheese quesadillas with VERY small diced veggies. They love fruit but getting veggies in their diet requires some work.
My tips are:
Cut fruit into funny shapes with cookie cutters
Dress up sandwiches with faces & shapes made from vegetables and fruit
Have veggies with every meal, fruit with every dessert
As to fruit, it has never been a problem in my house. As to vegetables, my kids love salads, so I try to have the ingredients on hand. And, I have been known to hide vegetables in some of their favorite dishes.
I usually slice fruit in a bowl and add whipped cream.
Keeping things fun by letting the kids help in the kitchen
One tip for getting my kids to eat more fruits and vegetables is to only have those on the plate during meals or snacks. I always put a smaller amount and make them finish that before they get anything else… If they do not want to eat those they do not get anything else.
I liked to make fruit salads for my kids with some cool whip now the veggies were a bit harder but they did love corn on the cob
I add fruits and vegetables into my baking projects.
Mix, blend or stuff them into or onto foods that they already like. Sometimes they won’t even notice they are there. Eat healthy!
I have one kiddo who will eat everything and one we have to hide in smoothies and in foods. I like to puree and add to sauces and he doesn’t seem to notice.
I put veggies on pizza and she eats fruit easily.
Let your kids help with food prep and cooking. They will have fun and they get excited about trying something they helped create. Planting a vegetable garden is also a great family activity and your kids will love eating food that they grew.
When my kids were little, I didn’t give them ice cream and cookies for desert. They got Fruit for desert and they loved it.
My son loves dipping veggies in Ranch dressing.
We have a rule that you must try something before you decide that you don’t like it. I add fruit and veggies to smoothies.
i put veggies in everything i cook so that the kids get their veggies. fruit is our favorite snack option. i use it all the time as a snack. it is a simple way to get fruits and veggies to the kids.
I buy the V8 infused! Fruits and veggies in one drink!
fruit was never an issue, but veggies were pureed in pasta sauce a lot!
I don’t have this problem…yet. BUT…when it does happen, I have a cookbook that has healthy recipes where you can hide veggies in them. 🙂
just got lucky mine loves fruits and vegetables.
My daughters never gave me any issues eating vegetables and fruit. They prefer ranch dressing with their veggies and really like salad already pre made (which is kinda expensive).
I have found that she likes veggies as long as they are seasoned well.
my boys love dips for there fruits n veggies, I also love making them smoothies!
I like to mince mine really small and hide them in my sauces. I also like to use them to decorate food. When it looks fun, they eat it. Also, fruit and veggie pizza is always a hit in my home.
Fruit smoothies are a fabulous way and I found that growing veggies seems to help them want to try what they have worked so hard to grow. They are proud of it so want EVERYONE to try them.
My tips for getting kids to eat their fruits and vegetables include taking them grocery shopping. I let my child pick out items. We talk about trying new things. We are curious about items we don’t recognize and buy them. We have the 2 bite rule. And I realize taste buds change so I encourage my child to try something again every couple months. I offer the choice of whether my child prefers veggies raw or steamed or mashed.
I make a pasta sauce that has a lot of “hidden veggies” in it.
I hide veggies in smoothies and soup.
I blend them into desserts
I sneak them in muffins or smoothies. Add them to our pastas and casseroles
My top tip is to model the behavior I am trying to encourage. I love fruits and veggies and eat a large variety of them, so my kids tend to do the same!
Cook the vegetables and put them in a blender to add to tomato sauce pizza sauce smoothie etc or cut them up and use ranch dip
So lucky, my kiddos eat anything! They like more veggies than I do.
Thanks to “Shrek” and the “Hulk”, it’s not so hard to get my grand sons interested in eating their green vegetables: I simply come up with fun names for them. I’ll give you a tip- Anything not a “baby Vegetable” should be diced and used for soup or pureed for stews and sauces.
I no longer have to feed children but I used to try to incorporate things they did not like into dishes they really did.
I sneak the veggies in – instead of water with my taco mix I use V8. I add shredded zucchini to my spaghetti sauce.
I make sure I have several options available and leave them out
We have them for afternoon snacks, they love them. We also pack different fruits in their lunches.
I always serve them at dinner time. They love them raw.
My grandson will eat veggies if he can choose a dip for them, ranch of course but he also likes pizza sauce, ketchup and bbq.
I do not have this problem. I have always given my kids since a young age fruit and veggies. My son (7) will ask for salad and eat a large mixing bowl. My 18 month old loves veggies and fruit too.
I guess one thing I could say is have your child help with cooking and also growing. My son has tried so many veggies because he grew it.
On a side note: masking veggies with ranch or butter is only teaching them that they “have” to have it on it. Season other ways if you need to. We are conditioned to think that veggies can not taste good on their own.
I make sure I have several options available and leave them out so that the kids will see them and eventually they usually try them 🙂
We make frozen slushes with fruit and juices for snacks.
The kids go shopping with us and pick out their favorites, like tomatoes and bananas.
As long as they have hummus to dip their veggies in they are happy to eat veggies, so find some kind of dip they like.
My best tips for getting kids to eat their fruits and veggies is consistency and variety. My oldest was always stubborn about trying new foods, and my youngest loves trying any and all fruits and vegetables. The one thing we did differently between the two is giving the youngest all sorts of foods from the start (there was less variety for my oldest), plus she wants to try anything I am eating so that helps too.
When my son was a child, I added applesauce to muffins, pancake and waffle mix. My sister used to make her own vegetable noodles and give us as many as we needed. I also had a juicer and added carrots and beets to apple juice. We also put veggies in soups too. You had tons of great ideas and I hope I will be able to use them if I ever have any grandchildren. Thanks for sharing all of your creative ideas!
Usually I mention how her favorite TV characters eat them.
I mix vegetables in my salads and meals and use them for baking.
The kids love pasta, so I dice veggies up and put them in the sauce. They also love dipping vegetables in low fat ranch dressing.
It has never been much of a problem in this family, although they do have definite preferences about which ones they will eat the most.. I do try to keep some ‘finger’ ones on hand for easy snacking (carrots, cherry tomatoes, etc.).
I add pureed fruits and veggies to my baking.
When you involve kids in the kitchen preparing the food they will eat, they will be much more likely to eat it because they participated in cooking. It is fun for them and the anticipation makes them want to taste the food. Also, letting them help pick out fruits and vegetables at the market will make them want to try what they buy. Do not limit them to the usual apples and oranges. If they want to try star fruit or plums, let them. Our son grew to love fruits and vegetable that were unconventional in other houses. I would also give him a salad for lunch. In packing, for example, a Caesar salad, I had little containers for all the ingredients and would put them in a zip lock bag together with the lettuce in a separate container. He would add all the ingredients at lunch time and liked ‘making’ his own lunch. He always got his teacher to shake it, lest the top should fly off if he did it! Also, putting sandwiches on kaisers are a cool alternative to butter and can be healthier too.
When my kids are in the kitchen helping me make their snack & meals, it makes them try more things!
My tip is putting them in soups and pastas. This is the only way I have found they will eat them.
Leave them raw and don’t try forcing veggies you know they wont like.
Leave veggies raw – boiled & mushy vegetables aren’t appetizing to kids. Experiment with lots of healthy dressings too! I loved cumin on my veggies when I was young.
I find that when I let them pick out the produce at the store, come home and wash/prepare/cut it then they will eat it! So when they are involved in the entire process they show more interest and actually eat their fruits and vegetables.
I always serve dinner with a vegetable so they have to eat some of the vegetable to try it. My kids love fruits so that’s never been a problem.
They get to go to bed a little bit later if they eat their fruits and vegetables.
The easiest way to get our little guy to eat lots of fruits and vegetables is to give them to him for his snacks & pair them up with his favourite foods, eg fruit & berries on his waffles & pancakes. He really enjoys eating raw vegetables as snacks (tomatoes, peppers, carrots, broccoli, etc) plus in salads, but doesn’t like them cooked.
I think it comes down to offering them often. If they are included with each meal, they will be expected.
Easiest way to get my boys to eat veggies is to make a smoothie. Tastes great for them ad it’s nutritional.
I always offered fresh veggies with hummus, peanut butter or anything that worked at that moment.
My kids don’t have a choice, if they want dessert
what i do is mix veggies into meals! i add them into pancakes.. breads and even into lasagna! the kids are getting veggies and have no clue!
I cut them into fun shapes
I add a bit of salt to it, Salt is his weakness.
By only having those as snacks in the house.
I steam vegetables in sticks and serve them with dips like hummus. My son likes the dipping.
So many awesome tips. I really like the cookie cutter one – my little one would love star shaped fruits. My tip is to get them started at a young age, and to get them involved (like you said, have them pick out fruits and veggies). My husband has my little one “help” him out with making green juice too.
My tip is to give them a tiny amount of a new vegetable & encourage them to try it. Many times, they decide they like it.
Smothies or drizzling in chocolate works great for me!
The kids love broccoli and cheese and if you get a little caramel they’ll eat the apples. Thanks so much.
I put vegetables in the food processor and use them in burgers, meatloaf and smoothies.
I have never had any issues with my kids eating fruits or vegetables. In fact if you ask any of the 5 of them what they want for supper, it will usually begin with “Brussels Sprouts, Green Beans, Cabbage, Apples and Pineapples” ! The best advice I have is start them off young with vegetables and then fruits. Let them eat what you are eating. Make food an adventure and exciting. If possible (even if it is just in a window seal) let them grow their own food!
Pureed fruits and veggies added to smoothies and soups is my suggestion.
I start them out eating raw fruits and veggies daily as soon as they are old enough. I also keep a drawer of healthy snack options, mainly fresh fruit and veggies that they can eat from any time they want. I try to model healthy eating for my kids too.
I hide veggies in everything, except cereal hahaha! Even when boiling water for pasta, I cook veggies in it, strain them out, set aside and cook my noodles. I try to be very creative!
I was fortunate that my kids always liked fruits & veggies (probably much more than I did). But we’d try to make them fun…making faces, animals, etc with them!
I hide my veggies in soup.
I cook the veggies my kids love to eat and they love having dressings to dip them in.
well i have been through it all with my picky 4 year old and the ONLY thing that seems to work is a delicious fruits.veggie and slight chocolate smoothie !! perfect to let them help you prepare it and then enjoy it
Since kids do what we do not what we say. I try to eat mine as an example.
I would cut them small and let them dip them in yogurt or give them
fruit juice as part of their fruit serving.
I usually try to hid veggies in other things like sweet potatoes in muffins
Being a good example is probably the best I can do to get my kids to try new things.
Start them early, the younger the better, my children always love both fruit and veggies.
The kids in my life love fruit so it’s not hard. Veggies are a little more tricky. I just tell my niece I didn’t eat veggies and that’s why I’m short. It scares her straight.
apples are great sprinkled with cinnamon & sugar
I like to hide veggies in sauces and smoothies.
We make smoothies with fruits and veggies. I also make a fruit dip that the kids love to devour with fruit.
My kids loves to drink fresh fruit smoothies. I also make fruit pizza with green apple base instead of pizza dough and they love it.
I introduced veggies and fruits early on in the form of purees and juices so that they got used to the flavors and textures. Decorating the plate with veggie faces, arranging the cut peices to look like a smiley face or a tree or a teddy etc really encourages them. Also making colorful smoothies is my another way of getting my kids to eat fruits n veggies
Let them choose their own choices.
I try to lead by example by eating lots of veggies and fruit myself.
I was a single Mom raising four children and I guess I’m old school being raised by both Mom and gramma.. but when we were little we didn’t have a choice. You did what your Mom said to do, period, end of story! I use to tell my kids eat what was put in front of you or you had nothing. It wasn’t a restaurant. I also use to make it interesting to for them depending on time and my mood. I use to tell the boys whoever finished their veggies first got to pick the television show or didn’t have to throw out the garbage the other boy had too! I had two boys and two girls, but both were on different sides of the fence. The girls were 11 yrs apart and the boys were 7 yrs apart. The girls well that was way different because my baby ate all her veggies and my older daughter was picky… so the baby pretty much won all the time. It was really difficult the night of pork chops or any meat on the bone cuz the baby you had to cut her meat off the bone or she wouldn’t eat, PERIOD!!! GO FIGURE… just thought I’d throw that in for a haha! Good luck!!!
I put lots of veggies in spaghetti sauce, meatloaf and hamburgers.
I sneak fruits and vegetables into my recipes
I think growing and/or picking our own makes it more exciting to eat fruits and veggies!
I sometimes have to hide veggies, but I usually just focus on making the ones she tolerates as tasty as possible. I let her dip raw veggies in ranch. Fruit is much easier.
I used to stir fruit slices into cool whip for a snack and they would gobble that up. I would cut up grapes, strawberries, bananas and more.
I like to put lots of veggies in my meatloaf and spaghetti sauce.
Making the fruits and veggies look cute!
I TRY AND SNEAK FRUITS AND VEGGIES INTO MY RECIPIES, SO THEY ARE HIDDEN FROM LITTLE EYES!
recruiting their help in the kitchen encourages my kiddos to try more foods. their proud of helping me, and just more likely to sample their hard work
I put fruit on everything like pancakes, waffles, oatmeal and always have it cleaned and out so the kids know it’s there. Vegetables i have no problems with,my kids love them.
Some examples of what I did was put the vegetables in an omelet or fried rice, or I made cake with zucchini, carrot, or pineapple.
We cut them up in fun shapes and sprils they love that
cut them up into small pieces they can pick up with their hands
Smoothies are absolutely the way to go!
I add fruit and veggies to smoothies, sauces and in casseroles. Cut up into very small pieces they don’t even know their in the casserole.
Make the fruit in vegetables with their favorite meals. Reward them when they eat them as well as making things like Smoothies or buying food that has those items but they don’t low that either.
The kids love a cute veggie tray with dip.
The kids love a cute veggie tray with dip.
I add them to side dishes, cut them up for dipping.
I LIKE TO PLAN MY MENU MY SON HELPS ME THAT WAY HE IS PART OF THE FOOD PLANNING IF HE HELPS ME MAKE IT HE WILL EAT IT BECAUSE HE MADE IT HIMSELF
Hide them in muffins, sauces & soup!
Wow! SO many great tips that I haven’t thought of. We love to go grocery shopping together and in the morning the kids really love smoothies. They love to add fruits and veggies because they love to predict the outcome of color!
I make lots of smoothies and add Kale and other vitamin powders and if the right amount of frozen blueberries are used – they love it.
I let them dip them in ranch or cream cheese
I don’t have kids myself but my friend would tell her kids they could get a nice dessert if they ate all their fruits and vegetables.
I have always had luck getting my kids to eat fruits and vegetables by making them into something on the plate. Anything from a smiley face to a character or their name works.
Fruits are not a problem for us. We may add some cheese to a particular veggie if it’s not a favorite.
I never really had a problem getting my kids to eat anything. I think if you prepare the fruits and vegetables in a way that they like, they will eat both.
I think the first thing is to start them eating healthy from the start. The other thing you can do if your kids are fussy is disguise the fruits and vegetables by making purees or adding very fine chopped things to recipes like sauces or mashed potatoes
We make snakes with a kabob stick, both with fruits and veggies. They love that.
I used to let them put cheese or ranch dressing on their veggies. I never forced them to eat anything.
My kids LOVE fruit they would choose fruit over anything any day… but veggies are a little trickier.. they ALL love Broccoli but to get them to eat an assortment of veggies I have to sneak it into foods or put it in salads or add it to smoothies.. we love smoothies!
I let them help me in the kitchen
we play a game were they are blindfolded and have to taste food and guess what it is and if they like it, some foods they know and life others are new…its fun and silly
We make a recipe together.
Honestly, my kids have never had issues with veggies thankfully. The only thing I know that we really did was introduce them to a variety of foods— vegetables included— from a young age (not just ‘kid foods’).
My go-to method is the “hide and sneak” method as you have mentioned (like zucchini muffins, adding extra veggies into pizza, sandwiches, etc). my tip is to be creative and try different recipes to keep them on their toes and excited about their meals.
i try to make exciting recipes that kinda hide the vegetables ,they are eating them but just dont know or for the little ones i make cute shapes
Veggie cream cheese tortilla roll ups with shredded carrots and finely diced sweet pepper
I add chopped vegetables like zucchini, carrots, and bell peppers to pasta sauce. It’s our favorite way to eat pasta.
I like to add different veggies on my pizza. My kids love pizza so it’s a easy way to get their veggies in.
Smoothies are the only way I can get fruit & veggies into my kid.
I give my kids a dip…. YES… home made with yogurt, might throw in a few little mini chocolate chips, they think its dessert and voila, EATEN in minutes!
I blend fruits and veggies into smoothies!
giving cute little rewards like stickers for eating foods they don’t like.
Try mixing them up like in a smoothie, they won’t even know what’s in there and they will drink it.
I make the food look like cute little animals
Reverse psychology, Don’t eat these vegetables …don’t do it… Works every time.
We always put small amounts on there tray as finger food.
I grate zucchini and carrots into red sauces like spaghetti, chili, lasagna. I also, mix mashed fruits into cakes and ice cream to hide them. Milkshakes can actually be healthy and they don’t even know.
My kids love fruit smoothies, sometimes you can even sneak in a veggie or two.
The thing that helped me the most when my girls were little was when they started helping with the garden. We live in an apartment complex now and my grandson and I have started talking about making a small garden here together. We don’t get a lot of sun so it will probably be an indoor garden – maybe strawberries, tomatoes, and peppers.
I love making healthy popsicles with many of the same ingredients in smoothies – I have several pop molds. For veggies, a cheese sauce works on quite a few, and I also love “sneaky” recipes, adding veggie puree to so many recipes.
Involve the children in the entire process..from selecting fresh produce from the farmers market or even growing it themselves..to assisting with kitchen prep <3.
When my first daughter was born I followed my pediatricians advice to a t because I didn’t know what to do otherwise. When it came time to introduce baby food, other than cereal that we had been mixing with formula, he told us to start with fruits because they were easier on their stomachs. So i did, which was a big mistake imo because when he told me to introduce vegetables she would not eat them at all. So with my second daughter I instituted vegetables first. They always earnest growing up and now that they are grown they will eat vegetables.
Let the kids help choose the recipes and cook together!
I guess it’s not something we’ve had trouble with? The kids just ate what we ate lol So when we ate fruit and veggies, so did they. I guess, when we made something new to try, we just had the rule that you had to give it two good bites before you decide it’s not good 😀
I’m very lucky I don’t have to play and tricks or games she loves them both already
I don’t have any kids, but when I babysat for my 2 nieces , I would treat them afterwards. They always ate them for that cookie.
It’s an oldie but a goodie: hide veggies in anything and everything! LOL I also used to try to find sweet recipes with vegetables, like glazed carrots. Hard to say no to them!
Make cute shapes
my son was always picky so what I found to work was: 1) applesauce at every meal 2) leave a bowl of cut up fruit at his reaching level for him to grab and go and 3) fruit juice (always be selective on the type for sugars and additives, but you don’t need to force them to eat, they WILL eat them and now, my son eats everything he used to not, so be patient and don’t coddle, just provide limits. easy peasy.
They will eat anything with a dipping sauce.
As long as they are raw, they love the veggies!
Luckily, my children LOVE fruits and vegetables. My children especially love to have a rainbow variety of fruits and vegetables on their plate paired with a fun dip like hummus for their veggies and yogurt for their fruit. I also bake healthy muffins with fruits and vegetables and make delicious smoothies.
I’ve honestly never had a problem with my kids eating any produce! Fresh produce is a normal thing at my house, so they are used to it!
They eat whats in front of them – telling them people all over the world are starving, so eat up.
I make smoothies and when cooking I cut veggies finely that they wouldn’t notice it’s there especially the greens.
We always offer different veggies raw with dinner
Smother them with cheese and ranch
If I buy fruits and vegetables, my daughter will eat them without problem. I often ask what she prefers, so she does feel like she contributed to the decision. I think some people just like fruits and veggies and others do not. She is one that likes them. I am not.
Smoothies are a great way since they are usually on the sweet side.
We love to shop for fruits and veggies at our local farmer’s market. The produce is at its peak so it is the best tasting. There are often a larger variety of unique produce items here to entice little eyes. They can also talk to the farmers who grow the produce. Give the kids their own small shopping bags to pick out produce they want to try. The produce is often cheaper than at a grocery store, too.
I like to make fruit salad with as many different colorful fruits that I can find. They love that!
I always had fruits and veggies on hand for them to snack on.
Having something to dip the veggies in is always helpful!
I don’t make a big issue out of it, because they get fruits and vegetables in everyday foods they eat anyway. They are both healthy with no weight issues.
We make lots of fruit smoothies and throw in some mild greens such as spinach and we also make a ton of different kinds of muffins. My LO’s fav muffins are sweet potato but she likes the beer and banana muffins too as well as some savory ones like carrot and broccoli muffins and kale/spinach muffins. We try to hide it in different foods but also serve them alone on her plate so she can get used to them that way too. Going to try cutting them into cute shapes, that’s a good tip.
We make green juices at least once a week and we make sure that they are aware that veggies are used in it so they know that even healthy foods can be tasty.
Use ranch dressing for them to dip veggies. It hides the taste and they like it
My kids love to make fresh fruit juices.
The old ant on a log-peanut butter on celery with raisin has worked for me.
Add fruit to it or just sneak it into their foods!
I cut them into fun shapes like stars or diamonds. It makes them more interested in eating healthy!
Making delicious fruit and vegetable smoothies for the kids while also repeatedly teaching them the health benefits would be a good tip.
Cutting them into smaller pieces.
Allow children to select fruits and vegetables at the grocery store
I blend veggies into soup and they gobble it up, They actually liker fruit.
I like to give them something to dip to help encourage them to eat more. My kids love anything if they can dip it in a dip.
Allow children to select fruits and vegetables at the grocery store.
I don’t have any children, but if I did, I would help them to make juice that contains both fruits and vegetables.
Fruit and even veggie smoothies.
My kids always gobbled up cut veggies when they had a dip like hummus or yogurt for them.
I started my kids off with fruits and veggies when they were young. They love them!
I like making smoothies with fruit and veggies-kids love it!
Fruits were never a problem here, now veggies on the other hand are! We let our boys use dipping sauces for the veggies and that seems to do the trick!
How i get my kids to eat their fruits & veggies is smoothies & soups and to get them to help in the garden.
I don’t know if it’s because the grandkids help in the garden or that they get to pick fruit off our fruit tress but all 5 of our grandkids love veggies and fruit
I like to make eating it fun by cutting it into fun shapes. I also like to add it to things they already eat like pasta dishes.
I would get that cookbook by Jessica Seinfeld with recipes that disguise fruits and vegetables inside yummy meals so that kids don’t taste them, see them or know they’re there
I shred my veggies and add them to my pasta sauce
I make smoothies and other creative ways
start them on it as early as possible, makes it an easier transition
i just try to involve them in shopping. let them pick one fruit or vegetable to try!
Introduce fresh fruits and vegetables as early as you can.
We always make smoothies!
We like to make smoothies to sneak the veggies in.
Train them from a young age and keep the junk food out of the house .
My Chloe Pearl has always had a love for fruits and veggies. Super duper easy peasy getting her to eat them!
Grow some things in a garden together. They’ll want to try out what they grew themselves.
I like to sneak veggies into other foods. Zucchini goes well in ground beef and cauliflower in potatoes
I leave a bowl of fruit on the kitchen counter. It is the first thing my kids see and they often opt for this as a snack when they are hungry.
I make the fruit and veggie smoothies and freeze them make freezer pops they love them!
I cut and arrange the veggies in fun shapes and eat them with them
I talk with my kids about the health benefits of the various fruits / vegetables. I also talk about their interests such as soccer and how if they want to go pro one day, they need to feed their bodies the proper fuel.
Carrots in spaghetti sauce, zucchini in backed goods, lots of way to add veggies to our foods!
My children love fresh fruit and veggies they have been having them for years.
I hide veggies in my soups ans stews and even in desserts like lemon zucchini loaf.
spiralize!!!
I usually cut it in kid friendly shapes and maske the bowl or plate appealing with presentation
I usually eat first and then tell my son it’s yummy. That solves my problem
I cut fruit into fun shapes and mix colorful combinations
I make or get a dipping sauce for our veggies and fruits.
Give them dip to dip there food in.
I try to hide things in smoothies, sauces, and soups, but it’s not easy..
Great giveaway.
We are using smoothies to hide extra veggies.
I make them with almond milk, vanilla protein powder, bananas and a couple scoops of Apple sauce to sweeten.
My Kids never noticed that I sneak in a handful of spinach, even kale.
They love their Popeye Power shakes!!
One tip is to make things like zucchini muffins, carrot cake muffins, etc. Make them healthy by using applesauce and olive oil.
I like making smoothies with fruit and veggies-kids love it!
We tried to create a story to encourage all foods to be tried – reminding them that they can’t say they don’t like something without trying it. And, the food had to be displayed to work into the story.
Trying to get kids to eat fruits and vegetables, especially certain kinds, sometimes just doesn’t work out. I am thankful when they do eat what they like of them though and serve that the most.
My kids will eat just about anything with ranch dip. It’s the easiest way to get mine to eat veggies.
Back in the day (before it became popular), I would grate carrots into my spaghetti sauce. The kids never knew it was in there!
My kids love fruit and we have no problem with them eating fruit. With veggies, if they are cooked, I’ll add some cheese on some veggies. Fresh veggies, like carrots or celery, we cut up and they like those.
I find taking kids to the farm to see the fruits and veggies growing makes them more apt to try things.
I tell them you have to eat them or you die 🙂 Worked with all 3 😉
I find that modelling is the most important thing. If I eat my fruit and veggies, my kids do as well!
I blend them into smoothies
I always told the kids just try it – you do not have to like it.
This worked great for us!
Whenever I bake i use applesauce instead of oil
Put a cooler in the car when you’re out with your kids and keep it stocked with carrots, pretzels, yogurt, and water so you don’t have to rely on fast food.
We let the kids pick out a veggie or fruit from the produce aisle and let them help pick out a recipe they’d like to try with that food item in it. My kids are more open to new foods if they participate in deciding when and how to eat it.
blend it in spaghetti sauce
When making sauces I blend the vegetables before I add them. The grandchildren think they are having plain sauce.
Whenever I bake i use applesauce instead of oil, it’s not much but it helps
Baking them into muffins as been a life saver!
We hide veggies in soups and sauces
Oven bake veggies so they are crispy like fries
I secretly grind/shred up veggies and throw it into any ground meat mixture and sauces/soups…. they have no idea 😉
My daughter loves to dip her veggies in ranch dressing.
My nephew loves oatmeal so I add fruit to his oatmeal whenever I have him.
My girls love frozen watermelon. Also, I make milkshakes with fresh fruit. Vegetables we are still working on!
My kids love smoothies, so I sneak in veggies that way.
My favorite way to get my kids to eat more fruit and veggies is to have them help pick them out and help prepare them!
My kids will eat veggies as long as they have low fat Ranch to dip them in. I also mix fruit with veggies in smoothies. These are pretty common tips, but they work!
My tips for getting kids to eat their fruits and vegetables are to cut them in fun shapes and to serve them in different ways, like dried, frozen, etc.
I’m lucky that my daughter likes most fruits. For vegetables, she will eat them if she can dip them in ranch dressing;)
I bribe them.
I would make cheese sauce and pour it on cooked veggies they loved it
cutting them into cut shapes
We started at a very young age having the kids try different foods. We put the food on everyone’s plates and all take a bite. We tell them if they don’t like it after trying it they don’t have to eat it, but tell them it’s good that they at least tried it.
Veggie pancakes. Who doesn’t like pumpkin pancakes. Sweet potato pancakes are also very good.
My kids really like fruit, but there are some they don’t like. When I make smoothies I sneak those ones they claim to not like into the smoothie and they can’t tell the difference!
I hide things like cauliflower disguised as rice/mashed potatoes. My son is also a huge smoothie fan. I try to pack as many fruits and veggies in his shakes!
I let my child pick out the fruit or vegetable she likes best.
I started them young. Always had veggie platters with dip and the kids loved to eat them.
I have found that soups are a good way to sneak in some veggies to my kids. Also, smoothies, as you mentioned. I’ve been adding kale and they don’t know the difference. Lasagna is a good place to add spinach and they never fuss about it.
I started very early on with my kids makung sure that an array of colourful veggies was just a normal part of our daily diet. Seeing Mommy and Daddy and sibs enjoying vegetables helped inspire and encourage taste tries.
Tell them not to eat it cause it is no good for them
I think the only way I encouraged my son was to make sure they were accessible. No matter if we had corn every night cause that’s what he liked and ate. Thousands of plums. lol Just washed and ready to pop!!
My oldest I’ve tried hiding it in his food, letting him pick it out, etc. I just can’t get him to eat it. My youngest will pick out what he wants and has no issues.
ours had their own veggie garden and loved to grow then eat them. raw veggies with dip or some veggies sprinkled with cheese and melted was another way.
I make smoothies which my son loves and it’s really easy to sneak some kale or sprouts into them. He loves fruit and happily drinks smoothies with mango, pineapple, berries, oranges and all other fruit. I also find he loves vegetables he helped plant and water himself in our garden.
Best thing I did was have the kids help put in a small veggie garden when they were little. They were so excited to get “their” veggies that they actually ate them. My son still likes most of his veggies raw. A snack plate w/broccoli, cauliflower,baby carrots, sweet pepper slices & some ranch dressing to dip them it & he’s happy.
I always made a point of visibly enjoying the fruits and vegetables I ate. Kids like to imitate and develop a taste for them early.
Having the kids help to cut the fruits up into a salad always works for us!
I would decorate them with candy, to hide the vegetables, and they would eat them. 🙂
I cut up fruits and veggies to make a happy face and give them a bit of yogurt or salad dressing for dipping.
When my kids were young they enjoyed fruits and veggies if they were cut up and decorated and there was dip…
Have your child help prepare the fruit and veggies, and cut them into interesting shapes.
I found that letting them pick out recipes, and having them help me prepare them, helps develop an interest in eating more fruits/veggies. They’re proud of their creations.
smoothies and always having veggies ready to snack on
Smoothies are a good method for kids who absolutely refuse fruit and vegetables. As a child I myself hated onions so my mum chopped them so fine that they practically disappeared. 🙂
I’ve found that as long as I’m eating it my daughter wants to eat it so we make sure to make fruits and veggies a consistent part of our routine and overall she loves them!
I try and add them to a main dish
When they were very small I used to introduce one veggie or fruit at a time. Now they don’t mind it.
I make smoothies with veggies and fruits
my little guy loves smoothies so i put spinach in his smoothies and keep introducing a new veggie every week to try and get him used to them. He’s quite the picky eater but we have gotten corn and cucumbers accepted so that’s a big start!
My kids love fruit salad. They will also eat more raw veggies if they have dip for them.
I make fruit smoothies, and I sneak spinach in them…They love them!
my grand children love vegetables when I sprialize them or cut them in small strips and add a dip
I cut fruits and veggies into fun shapes to encourage my kids to eat them. They also enjoy fruits/veggies in smoothies.
I find if you take them grocery shopping and let them choose what fruits they want then they will eat them, also cutting them into fun shapes helps
Offer them dessert.
Both my children love fruits and veggies, so I never had to find a way to eat them. But smoothies or mixed in food is probably what I would have done
I find getting the kids involved in making food helps a lot, liking picking veggies to put on their homemade pizzas 🙂
I incorporate it as finger food snack from a young age so it isn’t a problem wanting them to eat it.
Put them in a smoothie.. they will never know!
I don’t have tips because they love fruits.
I change the shape of fruits and veggies by spiralizing squash or cucumber, cutting pineapple into stars and putting grapes on a toothpick to make them more appealing.
I give my kids dressings and dips with fruits and vegetables and they are happy to eat them.
We hide mashed cauliflower in with mashed potatoes.
I make them fruit smoothies. And I hide the veggies in the pasta.
I usually make smoothies for them and tell the kids it’s a milk shake they love it
buying the fruits & vegetables at the farmer’s market makes it fun!
My kids have always loved fruit smoothies.
My son has special needs & the only way I can get fruits & veggies into his diet is to puree them and add them into delicious recipes! He can’t stand the texture of them so this way they are smooth & hidden inside his favorite foods!
One of my best tips is adding them to other foods while disguising them.
I think early and regular exposure is key – i.e. fruit and vegetables should be a normal part of every meal from a very young age, so that it becomes something expected and possibly even enjoyed.
A fun dip like hummus usually works!
I find that experimenting with kids adding different fruits and veggies to smoothies is a great way for them to get more interested in eating those healthy foods.
i put something i know they like with it like cool whip fat free and low cal icecream,,they will gobble that rught up along with the fruit and then tnext time i give them just the fruit
One of my best for getting kids to eat their fruits and vegetables, take them with you every week to the farmers market. When my son was little, we would go every week and he would meet the farmers and learn about growing foods.
Smoothies are the way to go for sure but a blender in general works wonders. I blend vegetables into pasta sauces too since they love pasta.
Hide the veggies in food to make it seem they are not actually eating vegetables.
Adding cheese to Broccoli and racing your kids to eat “little trees” has helped us get our kids to eat Broccoli.
I add them in smoothies or I make animal or face shapes out of them to they look interesting to eat.
I will often sneak in vegetables in our smoothies, but also having them washed, peeled and ready to go makes it easier for them!
Make tasy soups. Desserts are nice too like frozen Popsicle and smoothies.
I make my lil guy smoothies and mash some veggies into his potato. He loves it!
A good tip is to bake/cook meals that have veggies and fruits in them without being evident. For example, making mac & cheese with a cheese sauce made out of cauliflower instead of regular dairy-based sauce and pasta infused with spinach.
My kids love veggies in soup and fruit in smoothies. They also like when I let them choose which fruits or veggies they are in the mood for when we are shopping.
Cut up fruit and veggies in small sizes and make them appealing with cute designs, names and letters.
Present a new fruit 10 times or more before they’ll accept it.
The way I get my son to get his servings of fruits and veggies is making smoothies. He will actually let me put in stuff like spinach in his smoothies. He doesn’t mind if it turns the smoothie green. He says its still an awesome treat!
One of my tips for getting kids to eat their fruits and vegetables is to make smoothies.
I can hide lots of things in soups and stews, but your idea of the smoothie has also worked like a charm for us!
I let the kids fix the vegetables. They open a can or they cut them up, or arrange them in the dish. I announce that the child helped with a dish. They are so proud, they eat some.
I always put veggies in my children’s favorite foods, like spinach in their cheesy scrambled eggs or butternut squash or broccoli in their mac and cheese.
My kids have grown and flown but when they were young I always used the hide it method like putting them in spaghetti sauce or in a quesadilla. The best was to put it on a pizza my kids would eat anything if I put it on a pizza and covered it with cheese…lol
Meatloaf with grated zucchini and carrot was another fav.
As for fruit my kids luv all kinds of fruit and I never had to sneak it in anywhere just had to have plenty of it.
I find the new dehydrated fruits very tasty now and eat them like candy….pineapple is to die for!
Slice fruit and use cute stickers.
Growing up, my parents always gave us a healthy snack of fruits or vegetables every day! I know I learned to eat healthier and eat more fruits and vegetables because of that!
I think having it ready and easy to get at works for us. Having veggies cut and ready to dip makes my kids happy. Junk food is easy to grab and veggies take a little more effort but if my kids have fresh fruit and veggies in front of them they go for it.