How do you make sure you all eat five a day as a family?

[Wollstonecraft1]

I, like many people, am sick of doing the same foods on rotation trying to cater for all of our preferences. Sometimes we do four different meals - or a twist on it which I realise is ridiculous but DH and I are both bad too as we both what we want rather than what is easiest!

We do eat fruit and veg, but I could do with upping the veg count of our meals as I'm tired of chucking boring steamed brocolli and carrots on the side of everything.

How do you make sure you eat five a day?

[AjasLipstick]

We live in Australia and have a big garden so we grow a lot which makes it more exciting for the DC. Tomatoes on toast are a good one as mine like that...we roast sweet potatoes and we don't steam broccoli but grow broccolini and fry it in olive oil with salt and pepper and garlic so it's nicer.

We have the usual frozen peas, lots of kale which I strip from the stalks and cook as I do broccolini....we also roast carrots as they
are nicer like that and then we have a lot of soft fruit too.

Squashes...mini yellow ones.,,and aubergine get cut in slices and cooked on the BBQ. Plus curries and salads with lots of veg in them.

[Blondie1984]

I try and get some in at every meal / snack - for example I will try and have some berries or a banana at breakfast, then if i have a sandwich at lunch i will have some carrot/cucumber/cherry tomatoes on the side or i will have a salad/some sort of veg soup - in the afternoon I might have an apple or a couple of satsumas then at dinner i have about 2 portions - either as different veg (stir fry, roasted veg, steamed) or I might have something with chickpeas/lentils/baked beans which then counts as 1

Some days i get more than my 5, some days i get less- but that's life

[Wollstonecraft1]

Alas, I want to come and eat at your house! I'm not a very accomplished cook which doesn't help and I cook because I have to, not because I enjoy it.

Blondie, I have days when I do that but I think I need to be more organised.

[Passthecake30]

I feel that I get my 5 but the kids don't, as much as I would love them to eat an apple when they are "hungry", they aren't hungry for fruit!

Today I had berries in museli, apple, banana, grapes,
Ham salad
Roasted sweet potato, peppers and courgette and fish. On a bed of spinach. And a satsuma.

Kids had
Orange juice at breakfast
Veg with school roast dinner. The school ran out of the fruit option for pudding, and they don't like all of it anyway.
Baked beans on a jacket potato.
Not so good today.

[DropItLikeASquat]

We have a bowl of salad with toast meals, my kids snack on carrots and apples etc, we don't keep treats in the house as they would be gone first. 3 pieces of fruit and veg in packed lunches and often I do them pitta bread, hummus, carrot, cucumber and pepper sticks for lunch. Soups with loads of veg blended down, bump up bolognase and shepards pies etc with loads of veg, veg stir fry with noodles and cashew nuts, on breakfast we have blueberries, nuts/seeds, bananas etc.

[kateandme]

roasting is always a winner.just lob some onions tomatos peppers sweet potato garlic on baking tray,splash of oil and salt.oven roast.delish. works with lots of types of veg.brocoli carrots.cauli etc.

veggie stiry fys.
mixing a frozen veg medley through rice.
always add cauli,green beans and brcoli to currys.
frozen peas.
make salads more exciting so add onions.and peppers and shaved carrots to it.
make it less effort by cooking your veg in with the pasta.or rice.
pairing.so cabbage works great with bacon and potatos.
peas and pasta work brilliant
pasta with courgette
cheesy pasta bake with broccoli cherry toms
saute broccoli and beans with garlic butter.
roasted cauli steaks and cabbage steaks.
mini corn is very popular.
big veg chickpea tomato stew.just bung in onion garlic bases.carrots. a jar of dolmio any veg,tin tomatos.tin of mixed beans chickpeas lentils etc. let it bubble away.yum.serve with pastry top,dumpblings.jacket or sliced potatos.or some crusty bread.

[Flamingoose]

I order a bloody great fruit and veg box once a week and get really grumpy if it isn't eaten before the next one arrives.

[37KAT]

I add a handful of lentils to bolognese or pasta sauce - a Jamie Oliver tip.

[sureitsgrand]

Some great ideas here, I'm actually ashamed of how little veg we are consuming at present!

[AjasLipstick]

OP I'm not a good cook at all...I just won't boil veg apart from peas! Start roasting and stir frying things in garlic and salt and pepper. Rosemary's nice too!

[Wollstonecraft1]

37KAT, do lentils count as veg?

[AtleastitsnotMonday]

It’s so much easier if the star of the meal is veg. Things like vegetable stew, veggie curries, stuffed peppers and squashes, vegetable chilli, salads and soups.

[AtleastitsnotMonday]

Also sweet potato counts as 1 of your 5 a day whereas regular potato doesn’t. So a baked sweet potato with coleslaw with a side salad is a winner.

[jollyjester]

I'm really bad at fruit and veg but I do make sure my children get them.

Mid morning snack is fruit, fruit with lunch, another fruit mid afternoon and at least 2 veg with dinner. So they are 3 fruit and 2 veg every day at least.

[Wollstonecraft1]

Do onions count?

[CapricornWithAUnicornHorn]

Smoothies

Yoghurt with berries as an after school snack

Blending as much veg as you can get away with into every sauce you make

Fruit bars/dried fruit sweet things/oat and berry bars

Orange/Apple/pineapple juice

[AjasLipstick]

Yes...onions are full of vitamins...but not if you batter and fry them

[Wollstonecraft1]

The fruit side isn't a problem and I do put veg into every sauce, I just need to find more ways to up it. Glad to hear onions are ok too, they go in everything but I do wonder if there is enough to be a portion of veg.

[dameofdilemma]

Make more vegetarian food. Its as simply as that.

Instead of meat lasagne - veg lasagne.
Instead of chilli con carne - veg chilli
Instead of spag bol - spag ratatouille.

Reduce meat focused dishes (pies, roasts, meat stews etc) and focus on easy veggie dishes - curries, stir frys, fajitas, veg soups etc.

As for preferences, unless someone has a food allergy or is vegetarian/vegan - they need to eat what they're given.
Older kids can take turns choosing the menu (within parameters) and can help cook. If they don't eat, they go hungry. Don't keep crisps/biscuits etc in the house if they're filling up on those instead of eating their meals.

We find it harder on school days when dd comes home having eating cheese pasty and cake for school lunch

[Wollstonecraft1]

Dame, good point and we need to tighten our belts at the moment so reducing our food bill would help. Fajitas are a good idea, we all like them!

[dameofdilemma]

I'm no great cook and don't have a lot of time but you can get a few healthy, cheap meals out of frying onions, garlic, herbs with tomatoes then adding veg and tinned pulses.
Add stock or red wine if you want.
Vary the herbs and veg.
Have a carb of some sort on the side if wanted.

Its much harder to leave veg on the side when it isn't the side dish

[whatareyoueatingNOW]

I always try to get 3 in each meal.

Breakfast- apple juice, blueberries on porridge and a banana

Dinner- soup or hummus and crudettes (this is increasingly difficult because of peer pressure- the soup was mocked so isn't frequent anymore and I suspect the crudettes and dip will soon be turned down in favour of ham sandwiches and crisps)

Tea- aim for three or four. Chicken and leek pie with peas, carrots and broccoli /
Vegetable lasagne with spinach side/
Red lentil dhal, cauliflower korma and rice
/ sausages and gravy with bean mash, peas and carrots/ vegetable frittata with cucumber and tomatoes to side

[LolitaLempicka]

Smoothies in the morning, but I don’t put much fruit in, some berries, spinach and avocado usually. Then salad with every meal. If it doesn’t go it is eaten as a starter. Yes, I am pretty sure lentils count. But only 1-2 portions should be fruit, which suits me as I don’t like fruit so much, but tends to shock a lot of people.

[whatareyoueatingNOW]

I'm also saddened to say -
Aren't we all supposed to be aiming for ten now l! -largest arbitrary Buber the government give is?

[Taffeta]

Roast once a week at this time of year - serve with at least 3 veg eg roast potatoes, parsnips, carrots, Savoy cabbage

Stir fry - meat with a big bag of mixed veg - pak choi, baby corn, mange tout, broccoli, peppers, onions .DS especially will eat many more varieties of veg if they’re cooked in a stir fry sauce!

Roasting tin full o shit - eg sausages with peppers, tomatoes, onions, courgettes, parsnips - with garlic salt and paprika and tossed in oil - or salmon fillets with bacon and potatoes and then peas and spring onions added at end

So making veg integral to the dish rather than on the side works well here

Plus when they’re hovering and starving and it’s not ready yet have some crudités on the table eg celery tomato carrot batons etc

Saturday night in front of telly have a big bowl of refrigerated cut up melon pineapple berries banana with squeezed lemon over