Ideas to make my 3 yo eat fruits and veg

[tostaky]

i have two other DCs and they eat rather well (DC1: brilliantly, DC2: rather alow and picky but still ok)
DC 3 who is turning 3 is just awful!!! All he thinks about is biscuits... Which i dont have.. (He has some at parties/friends). He doesn't like strawberries, cherry tom, cucumber and any other veg.
He will eat strawbrries only if i blend them and freezethem as ice lollies.
What strategies are you using with your fussy eater?Meal tomes are a battle.
I hide grated courgette in my quiches and lasagnas but thats it.

We did this: www.weightconcern.org.uk/tinytastes. Really it's just star charts but buying it, gave me the impetous to do it. DS is 4 and had restricted his fruit and veg from not many at 3 to none at all at 4. He really enjoyed it. DD (7 yo) wanted to play too even though she eats pretty good variety. They clamour to do it and are really pleased with what they've acheived.

Jelly or sponge with fruit in. Ice lollies, smoothies, there's a recipe in morrisons mag this month that's just milk,honey and pureed fruit to make fruit lollies.
I made bread and cakes with grated veg.
start with what they like and expand eg if they like baked beans then try them on the mixed beans, add frozen spinach etc.
if they drink fruit juice can you add carrot juice etc.
help yourself...eg make tortilla wraps with help yourself bowls of salad etc.
or make your own pizza where they put on toppings
deep fried tempura batter works well on cruciferous veg like cauliflower and broccoli.
Later this summer go to PYO fruit farms. ..definitely persuaded my kids to try fruit.
sweet potato chips are good for chip lovers.

We grate a lot of veg! Grated apple in pancake batter make delicious pancakes. Grated carrots and onions in pasta sauces?

Does he like the Cbeebies programme I can cook? I've had some success with dc1 who is 3.5 cooking some of their recipes together - carrot & butternut squash "biscuits", veggies & cheese muffins. Make your own pizza? I try not to get stressed when DC refuses food. I take away and don't offer anything else. Sometimes easier said then done though!

Good ideaabout grating carrots!
Lots of great suggestions that i am going to explore, thanks :-)

When we're at home I make a 'salad bar' in the middle of the table which dd can help herself to while she waits for her dinner to be served. I shamelessly stole this idea from the harvester and she loves it- I do little bowls of sweetcorn, cucumber, grated carrot, peas and mini croutons to sprinkle. She puts it all in her own little bowl and thinks all her Christmases have come at once...

Little bowls of stuff go down a treat here - chopped up fruit, raw carrot, frozen peas...

I grate veg into cottage pie, chilli, bolognaise etc - grated carrot, peppers, broccoli stalks etc just disappear into the sauce and reduce waste and save money as well as getting goodies in the kids.

Try cooking veg more so it is softer. Or dips for dipping veg.

I can often get DS to try things initially by having them on my plate (grass-is-always-greener syndrome!). He is more likely to eat veg if it's in less-vegetably state, for example he won't touch steamed cabbage but loves braised red cabbage. Not quite as healthy as it's got sugar in, but better than nothing. A big success has been the discovery of Waitrose sweet potato oven chips. DS gets them as a treat and is so happy he tends to eat everything else on his plate.

Does your DC like pulses? They count as a portion of veg (as well as fibre and protein) and a lot of toddlers seem to like them. I add them to stews, curries etc. and sometimes it's the only bit DS will eat.

On dates when DS is stubbornly veg resistant I give him a dose of infant vitamins, just so I know he's getting enough and stop stressing about it.

I have the same issue. I always give a carton of smoothie for breakfast.

My ds loves pasta so I make him a sauce packed with veg (I use pepper, courgette, onion, aubergine etc with chopped toms) and blitz it in the blender. Or I do a cheese sauce blitzed with roasted root veg.

He also likes Apple crisps which count as a portion.

I grate veg into other dinners wherever I can.

Milkshakes in the blender with hidden fruit.

Smoothies are great. Or blended soups/pasta sauces. With lots of grated cheese?

I pop my two in front of the TV while I'm cooking their tea at 5pm. I put a plate of carrot sticks, cucumber sticks, or chick peas (from a can), or frozen peas, or cherry toms next to them on the couch. They ALWAYS eat it like little TV automatons

YY to smoothies. I pop all sorts of unpalatable stuff in smoothies!! Linseed and almond powder for one. Flax oil. All sorts of stuff. Always gobbled up.

Reading this makes me think I might be a bit mean!

We made a decision with ours from the start not to accept fussiness. We make lunch/dinner, and they then a have a choice. Eat it, or don't.

They eat it. My son genuinely does not like mushrooms, so he picks them out. And let's be honest, everyone has one or two things they just don't like...

I've seen friends with two kids prepare three meals to put up with fussiness. No thanks.

I really have to grate things very finely for him not to see.
Notirion - i dont accept fussyness either. My other two eat nicely. I dont have snacks either. I do the "eat it pr leave it" thing too. And he will leave it... But there is always some point in the day when he will be around food (we are a busy household!) and he will eat carbs rather than veg.

We also did the tiny tastes thing mentioned up thread and it really helped with very fussy DS. We only did It systematically with two or three foods. But even now,years later we can always encourage 'a tiny taste' of something new or unpreferred and this usually leads to an admission that it tastes ok and bigger amounts being eaten. For 18 months I thought DS was going to be an immensely fussy eater but now at 6 he eats a very varied diet and is a fab role model for DD. He even eats mushrooms

I don't mind that my son doesn't eat mushrooms.. I love them!!! It always really pisses me off when I order a cooked breakfast and there is only ONE bloody mushroom!!!!