If your child eats lots of fruit and veg can you share an example day?

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I've always had poor eating habits, but I've tired to do better by DS.
I'm struggling to get a lot of veg and fruit in.
Grapes or strawberries with breakfast, beans or peas or sweetcorn with dinner (school lunch) He has a yo-yo bear as a snack.

Any tips for getting more in please?

Banana and oat smoothie for breakfast or wheatabix and a banana.
Two fruit or veg for school snack - orange, carrot, tomato, apple etc and it varies as provided by school
Salad bar with school lunch, so often red or yellow pepper, cucumber, tomatoes
School lunch usually includes sweetcorn, peas, baked beans. I don’t know how big the portions are.
Snack after school often homemade hummus with veg sticks
Dinner could be veg curry, stir fry, homemade spag bol with onions, carrots, courgette, homemade pizza with mushrooms, onions, sweetcorn, fajitas, chilli and rice, veg fritters

I rarely buy strawberries or other berries as they’re so expensive. I use a lot of frozen veg in cooking and pick up random veg at the market to keep things interesting. We’re vegetarian and eat a lot of pulses. Sometimes she’ll have bread and butter from the salad bar at school 😂 and after school snack is a croissant, but those are normal things she has.

DS won't eat a lot of veg but he is the fruit monster. Here is a typical day:

Morning: gets up at the bloody crack of dawn and helps himself to oranges / apples / satsumas before breakfast

School: he refuses to take a mid morning snack and they rarely have fresh fruit in school

After school snack: I would normally have a bowl of fruit out - grapes or strawberries, blueberries, raspberries etc - I put out whatever as much as I am happy for them to have. He usually sneaks in another apple.

Evening meal: I always try to include something he loves - he hates carrots or peas but loves mini peppers, tomatoes in season, sweetcorn. Dessert is fruit that DH prepares as I can't be bothered with chopping and peeling - pineapple, watermelon, mango, pomegranate

He is not so keen on veg but loves things like lentils and beans and some nuts / dried fruits. I am okay with that so I offer whatever other veg we are having with meals but i don't push it. DD used to eat anything and everything but she is now a picky teenager who sneers at anything that isn't white toast <sigh>

I would advise approaching the whole thing as something positive - go to the supermarket with them, let them choose for themselves and try things, there will be something they enjoy.

Mine had porridge for breakfast with banana or berries from the freezer (or rhubarb or prunes if needed) sometimes weetabix instead of porridge.
Snack at school or home was fruit or carrots.
Lunch was school dinners one portion of veg usually (at a push!)
Snack after school was usually cheesy salad "skewers" that they built themselves. Small cubes of cheese, halved cherry tomatoes, chunks of pepper, cucumber, radish maybe halved grapes and strawberries if we had any.
Then dinner always had 2 veg, at least one of them green.
Felt that was enough.

Banana and glass of OJ with cereal or toast for breakfast.

Fruit at school (paid for snack at playtime).

Packed lunch with 2 x salad servings (cucumber/pepper/carrot sticks usually). Sometimes with hummus to dip. Along with standard sandwich/yoghurt/crisps etc.

Always 2 veg with dinner. Fruit afterwards.

That's 8 which is a pretty average day.

I mix grated veggies into dinners like spaghetti bolognaise or taco mince. Plus put lots of veg into curry or other dishes. However much meat it says in the recipe I put about half and then half vegetables, lots of sweet potato, cauliflower, carrot and broccoli. I also mix beans into stuff like black beans into taco mince, chickpeas into a curry, lentils in soup.

mine have carrot and apple sticks for morning tea. Then ham and cucumber sandwiches for lunch. Usually an apple or something after school.

Have you tried whizzing up loads of veg with pizza base sauce and serving with cut up veg to do own pizza?

DS is pretty good.

Todays menu was:

Breakfast was eggy bread - mashed banana x2, eggs (obviously!) bread and raspberries.
Snack - some blueberries
Lunch - fish cake with mashed potato and peas
Afternoon snack - raisins
Dinner - lemon chicken, roasted sweet potato, broccoli and sweetcorn.
(and an ice cream!)

Like this https://kristineskitchenblog.com/hidden-veggie-pizza-sauce/

Every cooked dinner has vegetables but I also add cucumber/black olives/sweetcorn/pepper/carrot sticks to every lazy meal (pizza/freezer food/sandwiches). Takes seconds so no faff with cooking to add them.

I gave carrots, cucumber, sugar snaps etc to munch on while I cooked dinner.

So veg was eaten first.

Breakfast
Cereal or toast, with fruit and/or juice/smoothie

Snack
Fruit or veg at school (doesn't always eat this)

Lunch
Some veg with hot school meal (doesn't always eat this)

Snack
Lots of cut up vegetables with hummus, or fresh fruits and some cheese/cold meats. Also crackers/crisps/bread sticks or toast.

Dinner
Vegetable as part of the meal, usually meat/fish, one vegetable and one starchy food, and then also a side salad always. Desert is fruit and/or yoghurt, or an ice lolly.

Mine eat a lot of (mild) curries, casseroles and chunky soups - this is mainly because we have a lot of quick turnaround evenings due to clubs but it does help pack the veg in too. All of these will have at least 3 veg in and of course the soups are mostly veg.

However - mine are 11 and 8 and I’d say the range of what they will eat has expanded enormously over the last few years. If your DC is a fair bit younger then I’d say don’t sweat it too much and just keep trying.

Today DD12 had...

Waffles with blueberries and grapes for breakfast
Apple at mid morning break at school
Cheese and ham wrap with a pot of salad (tomatoes cucumber, pepper and lettuce) at lunch (plus crisps and a biscuit!)
Spaghetti bolognese for dinner.. there were onions, carrots, tomatoes and peas in the sauce.
Yoghurt and berries for supper.

She prefers vegetables to meat etc so has always eaten a lot of them. We aim to have at least two types for dinner. Plus fruit they like available in the fridge. From toddlerhood they always had salad with lunch, so its a habit.

10yo doesn't eat quite as much fruit and veg as her sister, but still quite a bit!

Yes! I used to do this when DCs were little. In fact even if I was doing cooked veg, I would serve the veg first rather than with the rest. (Partly my own inability to cook everything at the same time). It really worked.

Normally include one portion of fruit with DS breakfast (porridge, banana pancakes, cereal, egg)
Lunch will have one or two vegetables in. (School serve each meal with a salad, and in the meal itself there is one or more vegetable).
After school my DS likes a snack which is generally raw veg (carrot, cucumber, peppers, baby tomatoes, celery.) I'm lucky he LOVES fruit and veg especially raw, and I prefer him having that as a snack so it doesn't fill him too much before dinner.
Dinner will have at least one veg in, and one on the side eg pasta bolognese would have carrot in but I'd serve broccoli or something else on the side. The. We have fruit after dinner.

I do find raw veggies are much more appealing to little ones. And using them as snacks helps to get them in. ☺️

I also add cucumber/black olives/sweetcorn/pepper/carrot sticks to every lazy meal (pizza/freezer food/sandwiches)

Yes we do this too. Nuggets and chips for a Friday night treat? Have half a can of sweetcorn and some carrot sticks on the side! 😂

Berries and banana on porridge for breakfast (weekdays). Weekends we have Weetabix / bite size Shredded Wheat with banana / berries on the side.

Two or portions of salad with packed lunch (cucumber, carrot batons, cherry tomatoes, peppers, avocado - I mash the avocado and use a drop of lemon juice so it usually keeps for lunch) plus another portion of fruit for school snack.

Veggies with dinner - at least two but often more: spinach, broccoli, peas, corn on the cob / sweetcorn, carrots, courgettes, leeks, Brussel sprouts, (only one DC eats them to be fair!), cabbage, kale.

I have one DC who doesn't eat anything from that list barring bananas, carrots and peas so it's not all perfect!! And what I serve with the fruit / salad / veg may not always be the most healthy (chicken dippers, oven chips, sweetcorn and peas happens quite often) but for the most part we do okay.

My dtwins are 11

Breakfast was homemade pancakes topped with strawberries, raspberries and blueberries
milk to drink

Morning snack at school was half an orange, 2 prunes, half a tomato, cucumber slices and some cubes of cheese

Packed lunch at school was a wrap with tuna mayo and lettuce, cherry tomatoes, cucumber slices, olives, cherries, red grapes, Greek yoghurt with honey and a penguin.

After school was a pack of mini cheddars and some cherry tomatoes.

Dinner was a seeded flatbread with halloumi, lettuce and tomato.
desert was a fredo

before bed I’m sure they’ll both want porridge and banana

water to drink through the day

Every day:
freshly pressed oj for breakfast (DS11 loves making it)
crudités before dinner
vegetables with dinner

On school days:
always veg. and sometimes fruit for school lunch
usually fruit option for dessert
often fruit for after-school snack (provided at school)

At weekends:
vegetables and or salad with lunch and dinner
always fruit for dessert with lunch and banana or apple for afternoon snack
plus sometimes fruit option for dessert with dinner

Fruit is no issue. DS1 could eat that indefinitely and would always choose fruit over cake, for example.

Veg is a little more tricky. DS likes salad so will eat red pepper/cucumber/cherry tomatoes with a sandwich lunch. We serve them a lot. Wrt root vegetables, we just try and put them in whenever we can. We cook a lot of sauce based dishes (eg for orzo, pasta, gnocchi, quesadillas, curries, mini pizzas) and these always have at least 2 or 3 veg grated in to them. We have sweet jacket potatoes once a week with tuna/mayo and sweetcorn and peas mixed in. Even if we are having a lazy or treat meal (tonight was a frozen pizza as DH’s train was cancelled with shopping ingredients) we’ll serve it with mixed veg.

Call us old fashioned, but we always serve ‘pudding’ (it’s always fruit) after tea. DS knows he can only have it if he’s made a good inroad to his vegetables. He doesn’t have to eat the vegetables if he’s truly full, but if he wants pudding then he needs to have tried a good amount. Maybe we are setting him up for life long issues but currently he seems to be okay.

Easy peel orange and banana in their packed lunch and a homemade fruit smoothie for dessert after tea.

The fruits they eat are bananas, apples (raw and compote), kiwis, oranges/clementines/mandarins, plus grapes when we buy them and berries when in season. And fruit in yoghurt and fresh fruit in pâtisserie like an apple tart.

The crudités are cucumber, radishes, and peppers and as many cherry tomatoes as they can get their hands on. Avocado when we buy it. (DD12 doesn't like avocado.)

Vegetables we eat at home with meals are grated carrots with vinaigrette, cooked peppers, homemade ratatouille, lots of green beans, peas and (boiled or baked) carrots, broad beans, broccoli and cauliflower (steamed or gratin), plus any kind of potato, and mushrooms (not a vegetable, I know.)

Today

porridge with raisins, nuts and a chopped up banana ( sometimes I use cooked pear or apple )

Veg smoothie, kids love this they make their own. So today it was beetroot, Greek yoghurt, melon, pineapple, mixed berries and kale.

Sandwich with hummus, tomato, cucumber and avocado. An orange

Broccoli soup with pear ( the pear sweetens )
Veg lasagne with tomatoes, courgettes, peppers, onion, garlic, spinach, mixed beans, cheese and yeast flakes. A side of green salad.

Snacks no idea but we have a bowl of fruit in the hallway and stuffs gone.

hints to inc fruit and veg
always giv fruit if you’re doing a desert
make smoothies
always assume veg is the main part of the meal
leave fruit in bowls around the house

During half term:

Several pieces of fruit (apple, banana, pear, berries, passion fruit, clementine) throughout the day.

Plate of veg for lunch (cucumber, carrot, pepper, sweetcorn) with houmous and some cheese.

Dinner (last night for example) lasagne with salad veg (same as lunch). She's not massively keen leaves, but will eat the beetroot out of a bistro salad.

I should add that my children have always liked fruit and veg, and have never been picky eaters. I consider this mostly good luck, although I've always prioritised food (financially) and eating well.

Thank you so much everyone, I'm really grateful for the replies and will read them all properly tomorrow.