Do you make a conscious to make sure your DCs have at least 5 portions of fruit and veg and if so how do you do it?

[McDreamy]

I want my DCs to eat more fruit and veg, fruit in particular, tips please, any books you can recommend.

I have found a couple, this one in particular, has anyone got it or has anyone got a better one?

Yep - smoothies with at least 3 fruits, vegetables with dinner but I don't make her eat any of it, it is her choice and no doubt someday she will refuse fruit & veg!

Do they like fruit and veg? not meaning to be smug but i don't find this that difficult. If I cut up a mixture of fruit at a snack time or after dinner that's easily 2 portions, remember dried fruit counts (mine'd eat raisins for Britain) as does fruit juice.

Think ELC have a magnetic type wall chart that's nice. Might help. My ds (aged 5) enjoys counting up what he's had.

DS will eat dried fruit DD won't, they both eat veg, DD will drink a smoothie DS won't. I bought a pancake maker at the weekend (because I love them) and I thought I could make some scrummy toppings for that. I think I might be having "I am a crap mother day" today

I don't use a book but mine eat far more fruit than veg.
They have a piece of fruit every morning after cereal. Another after lunch and usually as a snack mid afternoon. They sometimes drink a carton of innocent smoothie too which equals one of their portions of fruit.

Roughly 3 times a week they have sandwiches for lunch which almost always has salad in it which they love. I always try to serve a portion of veg with a meal too. Those bung in the microwave bags for steaming are great for days when you're rushed. Also, when I make a batch of mince to serve as spag bol or chilli, I add peas which I get fresh from the greengrocer in my village. You get used to them.

Try using the Peter Rabbit sauces as well. You can use them as a pasta sauce or to mix with mince and they are tomatoes, carrots, onions and celery without all the salt and stuff you get in some others.

Oh and I sometimes give them banana toast for breakfast if we're running low on milk or cereal. They love it!

tends to be:
fruit and juice with breakfast,
fruit or sometimes bit of veg for snack (which dd often doesnt eat angry )
fruit and or veg in lunch box (sometimes masquerading as carrot cake and once as beetroot cake!)
2 veg at tea time

Hi again Tassisssss!
I have had to limit fruit some days because they would eat it all day. Especially satsumas and strawberries/blackberries. If you just serve them in a bowl you'll be surprised how quickly fruit just goes. No need for elaborate recipes.

Fruit juice with breakfast. Often dried fruit/fresh fruit at breakfast time too (chopped up in cereal).

That's two.

School lunches have at least two portions in (hooray for the Nanny state ). I try and make sure DD2 (age 2) has some variety of fruit or veg at lunch time.

There's always at least one portion of veg with dinner.

Add in fruit for a snack at some point and Bob's your uncle - five portions at least.

If I'm really on top form, I leave a plate of carrot and cucumber sticks lying around in the kitchen at a time when I know they are hungry. Works for me and DH too!

Of course, you can't force them to eat a whole, Government-authorised portion each time, but I think they do OK. Remembering that a child's portion is a lot smaller than an adult's one.

Oh yes and raisins get everywhere in this house!

Hi cushioncover - who are you?! give me a clue! Did you find our Sept 06 thread...i'll go see if I can bump it!

Posted ther other day

we've recently just been pushing this at work amongst staff and i have been shocked at how many days i don't hit the target 5 a day, even though i consider myself to be eating very healthily at the mo. as a result i've been making more of a deliberate effort with dcs as well... some useful tips here.

ja9 you are right some fantastic tips here, thanks

Dried fruit with cereal or porridge for breakfast, a glass of fruit juice at some point, a portion of fruit for a snack (often two portions if she is hungry), stewed fruit with custard, rice pudding, ice cream, yoghurt or crumble topping after the evening meal (stewed fruit freezes really well, which is handy), vegetables in any stew or sauce on pasta/rice/potatoes and one other portion (sometimes something like fried chickpeas with onion and lemon juice or cucumber and carrot sticks with a dip) is how I do it. I also always serve veg or salad of some kind with lunch and dinner but don't worry too much if my daughter doesn't eat it all. As long as she tries a little, I think that's fine. Everything like bolognese sauce gets quite a variety of veg hidden in it (things like leeks, peppers, squashes or sweet potatoes seem to work well).

The other thing that works for us is buying nice fruit - you know there are always apples, bananas in the fruit bowl and usually pears/kiwis in various stages of ripeness, but for example tonight we had blueberries for pudding or I might chop a melon or pineapple or have strawberries. We probably do this 2/3 times a week and my 2 love it. The other thing they love is tinned pineapple and tinned apricots. And chopped carrots/peppers/cucumber with humous is a big hit with ds and his chums (dd likes to lick the humous off!). Does humous count? I'm guessing it does...

and like lucicle, i put tonnes of veg in with my mince, pasta sauce, casseroles etc...i think our dinner often counts as 2 portions.

am i right in thinking that homemade soup can count as 2?

I find fruit fairly easy, esp if I start early in the day and chop some into cereal. I made kiwi and strawberry salad (can you call it that?) yesterday and it was gobbled up far more than then I slice kiwi separately. And ds2 hadn't been eating either separately so it must be presentation. If I call it a 'fruit platter' and put some nuts/seeds/cranberries there with normal fruit, that gets gobbled up. I let ds1 choose fruit from the shop and then he'll scoff more of it.

Veg, I largely rely on chopped up small in risotto, fried rice, lasagne, cous-cous with chicken etc and soup is a godsend as they always eat it. If I use my homemade tomato sauce on pasta or cous-cous, I just add peas/broccoli etc and it will get eaten, it's the tomato does the trick. Corn on the cob a favourite too. I do wish I could get either to eat salad, makes healthy sandwiches hard although carrot sticks with hoummous are good. Also if I roast veggies far more likely to get eaten then steamed as they're sweeter.

I got given one of those 'five a day' books and it's got very useful ideas about portions and how easy to add another veg to the day e.g. I started grating carrot into sandwiches.

Kiwi fruit is a big favourite here too. My two love it. Houmous with carrot and cucumber also a big hit.

no, me neither.
some days 0 some days 5 or 6.
but at the same time i dont feed them crap.
wholemeal breads, rice, pasta with tinned toms and tiny chopped up veg desguised,
fresh fruit juice sometimes from concentrate, mainly not.
i count onions and garlic as a veg when put in cooking.
i never count it.
give um multivits and omega suppliments as well

Not really conscious effort, we just make sure fruit and veg appear at regular intervals throughout the day so they get 6-8 a day with little effort.

For example, some days they have fruit juice and/or fresh fruit with breakfast - so that's 0-2 portions.

Fruit every day for break at school. Another portion of fruit in with lunch, sometimes some veg there too. So that's another 2-3 portions, so by lunchtime they will have had a minimum of 2 and a maximum of 5 portions with little thought or effort.

Tea - 2-3 portions veg with tea, one portion fruit for afters in some form, either fresh or cooked.

After-school snack - sometimes a home-made biscuit, but sometimes a portion of dried fruit with some nuts.

Supper - fruit as and when they want it. Youngest might have one piece, middle child 2-3 pieces during the course of the evening.

So, depending on the child's appetite and exactly what meals we've had, that would be anywhere from 6 to 10 portions. It would be a really unusual day that any child didn't have the 5, just because it's coming in small but regular quantities and it's just part of our routine.

Mine both like fruit and raw vegetables.
They also eat lots of tomato sauce with pasta. I often make pesto and add one courgette to the mix.
They also like soups, if the vegetable are pureed, and if there's bits of pasta in them and lots of grated parmesan cheese.

apparently toddlers (under 5's) aren't meant to have 5 portions of f&v a day, it's too much fibre. This was news to me when I read it..

Mine love to snack on frozen peas! I am aware that there was a report last week about the amount of fruit and veg they have. I think it advised to give them their 5 a day but to remember that a portion for a child is the size of their fist.

The study said that some children were having up to 15 portions a day which is obviously too much fibre.

Also that people were applying adult healthy eating guidelines of low fat, low sugar but that children need some fats and sugars.

The report I read said that 5 a day was wrong not just the portion sizes but it didn't say what was correct. A Gov report of some kind that reviewed nurseries found kids eating too much veg