Vegetable sides for son with ASD

[StrictlyAFemaleFemale]

DS10 said on holiday last week that he eats healthily, lots of fruit and veg. I pointed out that that isn't true - he eats raw carrots, apples, bananas, and drinks orange juice, and that's it. He is now up for trying different fruits and veg 😮😊So I need to harness it. Unfortunately, I'm not great at making sides. I think I have a really hard time multitasking between different recipes, and I'm not at all spontaneous in the kitchen. I use a recipe book everytime. Other stuff he reliably eats - pasta, potatoes, plainish meat, white fish, bacon, egg, toast. He is not a fan of sauce unless it is ketchup. He is not a fan of cheese.

So far he has tried

• grapes (hit)


• blueberries (miss)


• lettuce (small hit)

Do any of you wonderful lot have any suggestions? The books I use most often are Jamie olivers ministry of food (love the buttered spinach, not impressed by the cheesy beans) and nosh for busy mums and dads. Thinking of trying some of the salads in there.

If he is wanting to try new things, I wouldn't be bothering with recipes. Just try him with individual servings of whatever is in season.
Strawberries
Raspberries
Cherries
Peaches etc all in season atm

A variety of salad leaves, cucumber, pepper, tomatoes etc

With dinner just do a small plain serving of beans, sweetcorn, broccoli etc

Perhaps try a basic Bolognese type sauce with onion, carrot and celery?

Yep forget recipes, that's far too much of a change. I would just add fresh salad veg or any cooked (a little underdone) veg on the side.

Oh - I wouldn't make a fuss about new things. Rather like when weaning, make sure there is plenty of his normal foods and just put a small portion of something new on the plate as well.

My veg dodging daughter likes cauliflower. Not sure if it's because it's suitably beige. Also parsnips

It’s a great time of year to try strawberries, cherries, blackberries, raspberries etc their all in season and reasonably priced - I would never get them in the winter though.

red and yellow peppers are nice and sweet, great for snacks

pears - similar to apples so they might be a hit

easy sides for us are spinach and peas - we buy frozen and microwave, done in two minutes.

Maybe go shopping together and let him choose 3 new things to try?

You can get steam fresh packs of various veg - you just microwave them. He can try different ones without it being too much of a cooking hassle for you.

I'd say be careful not to over cook and make veg mushy. Broccoli, carrots, sugar snaps (can be eaten raw), baby sweetcorn. I cook stuff in the microwave for a couple of minutes, no sauces or anything fancy just straight. My DS loves all of these, also ASD, but doesn't like mushy stuff so won't eat mash but most other forms of potato are ok. So I'd say be aware of texture possibly coming into play and still allow ketchup for dipping!

Does he have any sensory issues? I have one asd child who doesn't eat bland food and needs spice adding, the other only does bland and doesn't like strong flavours! Also think about texture. Neither like courgette / aubergine / tomato as too squishy.. Mushroom is too slimy! If you can suggest things they like we may be able to suggest other options?

We had a great speech therapist who helped us with our sons eating issues. She explained that our son was needing an regular and consistent experience when he ate something. Her suggestion was to pick fruits and veg where the taste and texture is very consistent.

He eats, carrots (raw and cooked), bananas, apples, broccoli, spiralized courgette, cauliflower, dates and peas. I do my best to keep it extremely consistent.

My eldest who also has ASD loves sugar snap peas, creamed spinach and cauliflower cheese. My son won’t touch any of that. For years the children get to pick one fruit or veggie in the supermarket to try at home.

Steamed green string beans tossed in butter.

Asparagus with a dip of hollandause sauce (can be bought in jars)

Grated cougettee, mixed with chopped fresh mint and diced fetta cheese, bound togwther with a beaten egg, shallow fried in litte patties.

Chopped sticks of yellow and red pepper - get a tasting set of different flavours of houmous dip to see which he likes

If he likes carrots he may like parsnips

Baby plum tomatoes

Corn on the cob?;that's a fun one to eat.

And it's a small victory but my DS likes tinned fruit;I'll take that.

Have you tried taken him blackberry picking in your local area?;we're in the city but have a thicket separating our street from the main road and have lots of blackberry bushes there.

My toddler’s favourite vegetable is steamed (or boiled or stir fried) celery. Cut into rainbows. He will eat tonnes of it. I only discovered this because I made soup with bits of celery in it and he picked out all the celery and asked for more. So I tried steaming him some. He loves it. He’s less keen on it raw though. 🤷🏻‍♀️

You can also try salting cucumber, if he’s not keen on it on its own. It improves the flavour quite a lot.

Cherry tomatoes and cucumber are always a hit with DD, as are sweetcorn and peas, at the moment she's eating those still frozen straight from the freezer.

Bit random but her favourite breakfast is frozen berries microwaved for a couple of minutes so it turns into a hot compote, she'd eat bowls and bowls of that, her favourite is just frozen strawberries heated up and they have the benefit of being cheaper than fresh strawberries.

In a couple of weeks we'll start heading to the park and picking buckets full of blackberries which will be frozen either whole or as small bags of compote ready for quick pie/cobbler/crumble filling.

I'd try one or two veg at a time, served in different ways- so raw, steamed/boiled and roasted (or for things like peas, served plain, served with a bit of salted butter and served with some olive oil and mint). Make it a bit of a game with him giving marks out of 10 or thumbs up/ thumbs down and no pressure to eat anything he doesn't like. My niece who insisted she hated peppers realised she liked them after trying a raw strip of pepper while I was making pizzas. My DH who grew up hating cauliflower now likes roasted cauliflower in spices or cooked and turned into a thick purée, just not the mushy boiled florets he grew up with. The only time I eat cucumber is in raita or tzatziki, I wouldn't touch it with a barge pole plain.

• raw celery 'boats' with peanut butter inside
• grated courgette, steamed. I add grated parmesan on top, but you said he doesnt like cheese
• red peppers either raw, with hummus or those mini, pointed peppers with cream cheese inside and baked
• pasta sauce can have hidden veg in it if its pureed
• I've made cakes and brownies with hidden courgette, carrot or beetroot
• sweet corn and beetroot is sweet
• get plain pizza bases or use pitta bread and make pizzas. Have various veg options on hand

I would be over the moon if my ASD teen ate as much fruit and veg as yours. Or well, just any vegetables. Mine eats some fruit, but the only vegetables are blended into smoothies with her knowledge because she accepts she needs the nutrition.

if he is keen to expand, I would keep it pretty simple.

For fruit, go with what is in season. That will taste the best and have the best odds of success.

for vegetables, look at the list for baby led weaning and work through that. It will be a list of relatively simple and palatable vegetables that tend to be readily available. For preparation, keep it easy. Sheet pan roasting is a good default and tends to bring out the best flavor, but an ASD kid might prefer the texture of steamed.

I think you are all very wise. I hadnt considered the texture aspect. I think I will start with crunchier veg and keep on with summer fruits. Id like to think I dont put pressure on and definitely only trying new stuff when he is in a good mood. Thanks all!

If you have a spiraliser, as well as courgettes and carrots, butternut squash is surprisingly nice spiralised and eaten raw in salads.

Don't know what textures your son likes. My kids definitely eat more vegetables when they're pureed. Works really well with broccoli. I also insert zucchini in most dishes as it doesn't have a strong taste so it can go mostly unnoticed. I usually dice it in small cubes.

Spinach is tasty but my kids don't like it.
Pumpkin tastes good, it's a little sweet like carrots so he might like it.
Oven roasted eggplant ?

Also, if he likes crunch, you could try an iceberg lettuce shredded rather than just cut up.

As above see if you can see link between the textures of things he likes/dislikes.

Definitely don't mix the food/make it touch/try and make a meal. Try a few strawberries cut in a bowl on the side. Or next to an after school snack for example. Or a piece of cucumber/pepper on a separate plate that he can "try" but no pressure AT ALL on him to like it or even try it.

Yes to the speech therapist- I do an exercise in some of my groups where I ask them to described a blueberry or a tomato (sweet/sour, crunchy/soft/ etc etc) and we realise how different they can taste!! Think how different different apples taste. (So "oh but you like apple!" doesn't work if its completely different in the child's eye!)

My autistic kids prefer actually frozen peas to cold or cooked peas. Frozen peas they used to think were a treat while they were small... they will still go for it now.
Similarly frozen sweetcorn - they see it completely differently when it is still frozen.

keep a record of wins on the fridge - draw or print pictures of the acceptable foods as a reminder.

One of mine will have rice, chopped carrots and a bowl of scrambled egg at times. All separate but overall an okay meal. It can be easier to think in terms of components.

Goodluck. I'm posting as although my eldest is a great eater now, my youngest is still has a lot of rules around food and I keep meaning to expand the veg. One thing I do like a pp, when I am with it enough is take them shopping (not a "big" shop as thats overwhelming, but for ice lollies or milk or something and let them choose any veg they fancy/want to try. One of mine always chooses a watermelon which is fab and not what I would normally put on my food list.