To be staggered that only 1 in 5 children eats vegetables every day

[Beloved72]

Are there really families where children get no vegetables with their evening meal or packed lunch/school lunch?

Quite shocked actually. I can get my head around children and adults not having 5 a day, but NONE?

And 1 child in 10 refusing to eat ANY vegetables ever?


Yikes. I worry for our future health.

[FirstWeTakeManhattan]

You live a charmed life First
Sadly, many don't.
Not sure why the fact that there are families who are not on board with having fruit and veg every day is news to you. I would have thought it would be fairly obvious.
And yes, fruit and veg CAN be expensive if you are on a low income Likewise, not everyone has had an upbringing where fruit and veg was a normal part of their diet.

Hard to know where to start, can'tbelieve

I stated very clearly that (your comment) people not being on board with the health benefits of fruit and veg was news to me. That is - very obviously - not the same as not 'being on board with having fruit and veg every day.'

Those are two entirely different points. Why you think I won't notice that is somewhat odd.

Also, your attempt to educate me about people not being able to afford fruit and veg is a bit patronising - I organise fresh food donations to families in need of help via various distribution methods. I am far from ignorant about the issues.

Finally. I specifically said that veg is cheap. Fruit is not. Veg is. You again chose to ignore what I actually said, to try to make your point.

I have no issue at all with you disagreeing with me, but you chose to do so by making assumptions about me, and by deliberating misquoting throughout.

[FenellaFellorick]

20% I am really surprised to learn it's that low. Everyone I know is forever inventing more and more creative ways to get veg into their kids!

[KittenCamile]

As a naive veggie I don't understand what people eat if they aren't having any veg at all. What do people have for dinner? If you have meat surely you have it with something? (genuine question)

DSD poor thing has quite a mixed up diet, home cooked veggie food when with us and as her mum has ocd and will only eat food from packets that don't need to be cooked, she has dairy lea dippers and stuff for dinner there. But that isn't every day as we have her 50% of the time. I would worry if she was only able to eat packaged food.

Veg is very cheap, I can feed us so cheaply because we only eat fruit, veg and whole foods. Meat costs a fortune!

[Zippidydoodah]

My kids won't eat veg. They love fruit, though. One of mine won't even touch baked beans

[cinders456]

It's not difficult to provide enough fruit and veg. I.e. hand them a washed raw carrot to chomp on while you're cooking, a tin of sweetcorn, baked beans, frozen veg, cucumber and pepper sticks with dinner. I nearly always buy the 'value' range of fruit and veg. It's just as good.

[StillStayingClassySanDiego]

I've brought up 3 ds's (19,17 and 15), all relatively high achieving atm and decent members of society..

They've been well fed, nourished and happy but probably never been given 5 a day veg and fruit ever.

Am I a bad mother?

[cinders456]

Obviously, if a child won't eat it, there's not much you can do. Vitamins, fruit juice with dinner and fruit as much as poss.

[studiozero]

Kitten we had curry and rice yesterday - no veggies.

Chilli and rice today, minimal veg really only a few onions, tomatoes etc in the chilli.

I did give them a whopping plate of cucumber, tomatoes, ham, bananas, nectarine and apple when they walked through the door though but easy enough to eat an evening meal that doesn't include much in the way of vegetables. Some days I really have to try hard.

[MyHaloIsChokingMe]

I would worry if she was only able to eat packaged food Steambags of frozen veg are packaged food and healthy. Being a veggie isn't for everyone and I wonder if the child you have mentioned actually would like meat and veg? Personally, I would never judge my DSD's mother the way you have. Of course, since you're a stepmother you clearly know what's best though

[Artandco]

I find this bizarre, what are people eating day in day out? We have at least some fruit or veg with every meal I think.

[Laquitar]

Studio
if you make curry is very easy tp add veg, you can add frozen peas to any recipe.or cauliflower, or spinach.
Spinach is quite nice with lamb or chicken curry.

[studiozero]

Ooooh I do love a bit of spinach and add it to Spanish omelette.

I was being lazy re the curry really, do usually bung some vegetables in.

I might go and eat some blackcurrants and natural yoghurt now just to make myself feel better as not had much today or any other day

[revealall]

Studio - I think chili con carne was the only thing I could think off that had no veg ( apart from onions and tomatoes) aside from DS's ham sandwich ( as he likes his cucumber on the side).

I actually can't think of how you can have two meals a day with no veg. Surely they can only be called snacks - pot noodle or crisps?

[Quangle]

I Don't know if my kids ate any veg today. They had toast for breakfast then school dinners which are usually good and there are salad bar veg as well but no idea if they ate any. I work till late and the nanny usually gives them beans on toast or boiled egg for tea. They had some apples when I got home. Honestly I think it's fine. They have a varied diet and try loads of things. It's more about the overview than any individual rule.

[Choccrocbrownie]

Saw this on news

[mrsmilkymoo]

Reading this thread has just reminded me of something that dh does which i think is strange. If we ever get a Dominos, he'll cook himself a portion of veg, usually peas, to accompany the pizza!

[Discounted]

I can believe 4 out of 5 children don't eat veg every single day.

My Dc get loads, as a rule, but there are days when they don't. e.g Ds2 has been on scout camp this weekend, I doubt he had any fruit or veg at all, if they offered onions with the hot dogs, he won't have eaten them.

If we're out for the day, I tend to take things that are easy to carry, so that won't usually be veg and if you eat out, veg are often in limited supply.

In summer, if meals are picnics, cold spreads or BBQs with salad instead of cooked veg, DC won't eat that, but will usually have fruit.

So, my DC are well fed and most days get well in excess of their 5 a day, but they don't have veg everyday without fail.

[PegLegAntoine]

I'm finding it much easier to get enough veg into the DCs since I started getting more frozen veg. They usually have raw carrot/cucumber at lunch (DD has pepper and tomato too but DS doesn't like them) and a couple of different types of frozen veg with dinner. It's boring TBH but better than nowt and it's really cheap.

I bulk cook and freeze sauces for pasta etc so only have to buy lots of fresh (more expensive) veg once a month or so.

[Jackieharris]

I eat virtually no veg. I started a thread about it a couple of months ago.
My meals are things like Mac cheese, meat/chicken/fish & chips, sandwiches/toasties, curry, pasta, pizza. It's very easy to go a long while with no veg without noticing!

[bigkidsdidit]

I didnt take 'every day' to mean 'every single day' but more 'routinely'

[chickenfuckingpox]

As a child i ate potatoes occasionally peas (MUSHY) and not much else i admit it was a binding diet we literally had the occasional apple!

[Naty1]

Its possible so say sandwich for lunch then macaroni cheese tea.
Dd had banana, kiwi, apple, chopped tomato and beans today. But thats more than usual.
I should think a lot have oj a few times a week.
She loves i think any fruit but not too keen on veg.
Ive been trying to add peas/sweetcorn to pasta as a side to have more.

[engeika]

Admit I am also staggered - was sure the stats must be wrong. MN has opened my eyes.

I cannot imagine what you would have for dinner if you didn't have any vegetables?? (Ok, maybe plain pasta one day - but even then I'd want salad)

I think it is very sad - and we are storing up problems for the future.

[MrsKCastle]

I'm shocked as well. Not sure I can believe that research. I suppose it does depend whether the parent offers vegetables though.I can imagine a lot of parents offering veg and having it refused. I'd be quite interested to read more about the study and the questions they asked.

My two have always been good at eating fruit and veg, I suppose I'm lucky. They might have the odd meal with no veg (cheesy pasta or chicken nuggets and spaghetti hoops type things) but usually I'll at least bung some frozen mixed veg on to go with it. Or chop up a pepper and some cucumber'

[manicinsomniac]

I find this very hard to believe. Of course I know there are families in poverty, families in crisis, busy families, apathetic families etc etc but enough to make 80% .... I don't buy it.

Most people I know are obsessed with their children's diets being uber healthy, non processed and stuffed with vegetables. Granted, I live in a very boden/waitrose/san pellegrino area but still. I cannot believe that the true figure can be more than 40-50% not eating them.

Unless of course they are counting peppers and tomatoes as fruit - these, along with carrots, are probably the most child friendly 'vegetables' so if they're discounted I can see there'd be more of a problem.