Sporty DS9 won't eat salad (or any fruit or veg with a skin)

[aboveandover]

He plays a lot of football and is a slim build. He seems to have texture issues with some foods and has refused any fruit or veg with a skin on since weaning.

Will eat:
Smoothies (no bits though)
Juice
Peeled and finely sliced apple
Raisins
Finely sliced carrot
Cooked carrots, broccoli, cauli and mushrooms (steamed not roasted)
He loves pasta sauce so I blend tons of veg into that.

No:
Cucumber
Tomatoes
Peppers
Lettuce
Peas
Sweetcorn
Bananas
Apples
Grapes
Oranges
Peaches etc
Green beans
Sweet potato
Courgette

I rotate the first list. What else would you give for healthy snacks and portable food for when he's at matches/out and about? He likes sushi but only rice and salmon. No green bits.

I used to do wraps/tortilla/fajita type things for DS, in tinfoil, for on our way to matches/training - with chicken/cheese/halloumi and whatever veg he likes (yours will be different). Or sometimes a tupperware of pasta.If he likes fish fingers/crumbed chicken, I'd make fish finger/crumbed chicken burgers for DS which he loved. I could add things like avocado or lettuce/grated carrot/tomato to ours, but you might not have that option.

Sandwiches are fine though if he'll eat them - DS' sensory issues are far more to do with smell though so we have to be a bit careful with sandwiches we take out and tend to only have them at home as a result! Ditto a lot of pre-made food - the burgers/wraps above work if I cook it and hand it to him as we leave the house, but would never work for him to have as a snack post training.

He likes cereal/snack bars too - I buy the nut ones usually as better quality but he loves nuts so that's fine. I often pop individual bags of popcorn in his sports bag or individual packets of ritz crackers - things he can open "fresh" and just snack on as he goes. As a treat sometimes I'd buy him those little lunch dunker packs (too small for his hefty appetite these days though!).

I have recently got him some of those fuel yoghurt protein drinks but I think they're lolng life - so that could work too if you need something on the go.

Have you tried other fruits? DS will eat pineapple slices but no other sliced fruit when out and about. At home he'll eat soft fruit - but only at home. Sometimes watermelon or a mixed melon pack if we stop at the supermarket.

Oh, and bagels can be good. Again, for us, he has them plain unless he's eating them AS we leave the house because the smell build up freaks him out. But they're a good vehicle for cream cheese/ ham/ salami / smoked salmon/ peanut butter etc.

Great ideas. Thank you!

With DD it was food touching and being too "wet" so I got a tupperware with lots of compartments and filled each one with fruit, pieces of cheese etc (she is Vegetarian). DD also prefers raw veg to cooked

Yes that works after school sometimes.

I worry that he doesn't eat any skin so not a lot of roughage? He sometimes gets a sore tum.

My DS1 is very difficult. I grate courgette into cakes (it's invisible if chocolate cake and very moist)! I used to blend everything into sauce (celery, aubergine, onion, tomato, spinach) but he's now decided not to eat sauces (eg. Spag bol chilli, stew). He will eat strawberries and sweetcorn so different to your DS. You could grate carrot and cook it, it pretty much disappears. I do make tortillas with chicken, cheese, sweetcorn - toasted in a frying pan (no oil) like a sandwich (one tortilla, filling, another on top). Would he eat cooked spinach, it's very soft?

Does he eat bread/ rice/ potatoes? That helps. And if you can move him t obetter quality bread/rice/pasta, all the better.

But if he eats pasta sauce with hidden veg, that's your sweet spot. I always add lentils to things like bolognaise, plus lots of other veg. When I make smoothies I add oats and flaxseeds.

I wouldn’t be too worried about salad for snacks. Just send him with carbs and protein to keep him going and maybe some fruit or veg he will eat.

Sandwiches and pasta salad are the obvious ones. Mine also take crackers and cheese with fruit or raisins. Protein like eggs, tuna, chicken, nuts/nut butters where permitted. Sushi is a great option where you can keep the salmon cold.

Hopefully you’ll have some success with at least one of these. They all worked with my dc.
Carrot flapjacks https://www.riverford.co.uk/recipes/carrot-flapjack?srsltid=AfmBOorpAZ9LGzrmEP1zRzrPBDsHQaB-5e5GYHVmfdo6lwMt3uvPex_i

Sweetcorn pancakes https://www.waitrose.com/ecom/recipe/sweetcorn-pancakes?srsltid=AfmBOoqXPtaGdv8f4sNu-hgDKcBDrNdi61D_2qa4mbFEzZRmqxvxtwu4

Courgette muffins https://realfood.tesco.com/recipes/cheesy-courgette-muffins.html

Hidden veg sausage rolls https://www.myfussyeater.com/hidden-veggie-sausage-rolls/

If you are worried about fibre popcorn has lots.

Although packets with nutrients, salad veg aren’t great for fueling pre or post sport. Things like oat cakes and cheese, boiled eggs or slices of fritata are good. Would he eat any veg based dips like guacamole, salsa, hummus? Seems unlikely he’d dip crudités but breadsticks or toasted pita fingers might work.
Falafel also go down well here, I do a mix of chickpeas and sweet potato but that could be subbed for mashed carrot.

I'm not very tolerant of fusspots so unless he has an allergy or an eating disorder or psychological illness I wouldn't be pandering to this level of pickyness. If he's really hungry I bet he would suddenly eat most of that list, particularly if he's a boy and likes sport. I had a very picky boy and now he's a teen he eats anything mainly because I couldn't be bothered to exclude foods.

I know that's not very helpful of me OP. I'm a very lazy mother.

He eats a wide range of meat and eggs plus he loves pasta (with a sauce with lots of veg grated in), bread and potatoes. Also peanut butter sandwiches.

I put some lettuce next to his lunch today but he left that. He loves cauliflower and cabbage.

For match days you may be better off keeping away from a huge amount of fruit & veg anyway. I have swimmers, and the advice given to them is plenty of protein, fruit, veg, and whole grains on training days, then plenty of protein and white carbs plus some sugary stuff (taking care not to cause big spikes/crashes) and a very small amount of F&V for race days. The F&V is bulky and takes up valuable stomach space, when on race day they need to maximise replacing what they're using whilst never getting too full to perform.
They tend to take sushi/poke bowls, chicken chunks, pouch yoghurts and milkshakes and a small portion of Haribo to meets. Neither like cereal bars and we can't take nuts due to allergies in the squad, otherwise they'd have those too (although I do tend to give them nuts in the car between sessions).

I struggle to get enough calories into DD1 as she is naturally a very slim build but also training an awful lot now. Thankfully she loves nuts, nut butters and avocados. I've also gone back to giving her a daily multivitamin to catch anything she's missed from her diet.
Nut butters are particularly versatile. They can be added to curries/sauces and smoothies, or spread on toast, rice cakes or apple slices. Cashew butter is the favourite in this house as it's the sweetest, but they're all nice IMO.
Avos can also be added to smoothies, as can spinach and kale. If added to smoothies with berries and blended well, he won't notice it.
We've found growing our own veg with the kids helping, then getting them to pick and cook them into the meals to be a good way of getting them eating more veg too if you have the time and space.

Thanks all.

We are going camping for 4 days soon and I'm planning the food. Yoghurt pouches, cubed cheese and peanut butter sandwiches (no allergies in the group) will go down well for protein and carbs.

He will drink smoothies for his fruit (his brother will have apples and bananas etc).