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NOW CLOSED Share your thoughts on eating your 5-a-day with innocent and win a £150 Amazon voucher

241 replies

TheOtherHelenMumsnet · 16/01/2012 10:40

We've been asked by innocent, the smoothie makers, to find out how you hit the five portions of fruit and veg a day goal. Do you religiously munch on carrot sticks and apples or do you rustle up more imaginative healthy dishes? Or does the whole thing pass you by and you want to find out how to fit the recommended five portions of fruit and veg into your diet?

innocent want to hear your hints and tips on how to pack the fruit and veg in, whether it's recipe ideas or quick and easy snacks. They'd also love to hear how you go about getting your DCs to eat their 5-a-day - have you emerged victorious from any difficult battles with veg? Do you have any top tips for sneaking fruit and veg into what they eat? What hints/advice can you give other MNers facing the same problems?

Everyone who adds their comments to this thread will be entered into a prize draw to win £150 Amazon vouchers. Your hints and tips may feature on innocent's mini-site on Mumsnet here.

Thanks and good luck with the prize draw!
MNHQ

OP posts:
NewYearEverything · 18/01/2012 09:59

This reply has been deleted

Message withdrawn at poster's request.

ThePsychicSatsuma · 18/01/2012 10:25

I snack on fruit as much as possible, throw it into cereal and yogurt, and have fresh fruit salad as a posh dinner pudding, also do 2 different veg with our dinner, sometimes use frozen if not much time,

I have 2 under 5yr olds, they snack on bowls of blueberries/strawberries, my ds loves raw carrot, they dip celery into different types of dips.
I cut up broccoli and grean beans into tiny bits and mix into pasta, they never suspect a thing... they love raisins too,
I find the best thing is to buy different fruit/veg every week to keep them from getting bored.
Except bananas, couldnt imagine trying to do without bananas....

ifeellove · 18/01/2012 11:35

I think it helps if you accept each child has different tastes - DS1 isn't keen on fruit (has smoothies, fruit pots/pouches and raisins) but loves his veg whilst DS2 sees fruit as a treat preferring it to cake and chocolate but will only really eat veg in a creamed soup. This can make making one meal for all 3 of us a bit problematic but taking pulses including baked beans as one of the 5 a day I find it fairly easy to reach and usually exceed the target.

I also think/hope that leading by example and normalising eating fruit an veg by putting a bit on the plate even if it isn't eaten will pay dividends in the long run.

MayorNaze · 18/01/2012 12:51

i usually get at least 5 a day, smoothies and soups are a good way to go

kids get piece of fruit as part of breakfast, carton of pure juice at lunch then at least 3 portions of veg as part of main meal. quite often another piece after tea as well.

crudites are good way to go - also on sleep overs etc if you leave bowls of grapes etc lying around instead of bowls of sweets then they do get eaten...!

thereonthestair · 18/01/2012 13:04

I just don't get why its so difficult to eat fruit and veg. i think I end up having between 5-10 most days. So far today had dried fruit at breakfast, 3 satsumas, and a large salad. may have an apple later. i am mainly vegetarian though and that helps.

As for children my ds eats banana mashed into his ready brek, and fruit bread a snack, will eat veg (all of them so far) but absolutely no fruit apart from banana and raisins. I think the key for him is variet but also the veg has to have a fat mixed with it. I actually figure its his bodies way of saying I need the calories.

gegs73 · 18/01/2012 13:23

For DSs they get fruit and vegs that they like.

For DS1 thats cooked carrots and cucumber which he normally has with his evening meal then strawberries with sugar and juice to drink. He does not like any food with sauces so its impossible to give him his 5 a day that way.

DS2 is alot less fussy and eats food with sauces so can get his 5 a day that way. As well as normal fruit and veg he also enjoys humzingers and fruit yoyos both of which are one of your five a day per serving.

I eat all fruit and veg and normally manage 5 a day. I am not a fan of fruit juice or smoothies so I have to do it through a healthy balanced diet.

MummyDoIt · 18/01/2012 17:16

The DSs always have fruit for dessert for at least one meal a day. Usually a plate of chopped fruit, three or four different varieties. They have two veg with their main meal, plus a glass of fruit juice with their tea, and that hits their five a day. More fruit than veg, though.

I eat either soup or salad for one meal. Soup is a home-made vegetable soup, using up whatever is in the bottom of the vegetable drawer of the fridge, so a good couple of portions in that. I also eat vegetarian, vegetable-based meals at least twice a week. If it's a meat-based meal, I eat lots of veg with it. Not a big fan of potato so I tend to have at least three veg instead.

ohmeohmy · 18/01/2012 18:02

ds will chomp through a plate of fruit and veg if it is put in front of him. We are veggie so not hard to meet the 5. try to enhance basics by adding some extra veg into suaces or sandwiches. Make cakes and muffins with fruit and or veg. Do crumbles. Actually find protein more of a challenge

Hathall · 18/01/2012 18:26

I think we get 5 a day most days. Usually 2 portions of fresh fruit a day and we usually have 2 portions of veg with each meal.
I'm not keen on juice or smoothies but dh and the kids love them and have a glass every day.
We can also have days when we might only have only 1 or 0. Not very often and I really miss fruit and veg if I don't have it.

tyaca · 18/01/2012 19:43

we seem to all eat our five a day in bananas. are we the only people who get through crazy amounts of them? the kids will have 2-3 a day each.

erm, another one who finds it easy to eat a lot of fruit and veg. kids too, though they eat a less variety. dh is a dif matter and really struggles to get lots down him, couple of bananas, couple of apples on a good day and that's it. he really doesn't like his greens.

Trickle · 18/01/2012 20:05

We get a veg box delivery - which I find works out cheaper than the supermarket usually BUT you have to be prepared to work your food around the box. It's an incentive to eat loads of veg. We've been doing this for ages now and we eat everything except black kale - but we are going to try deep frying it next time we get it. We eat meat and fish but we enjoy making the veg part of the meal the interesting.

I either eat fruit and nuts for breakfast or egg and leafy green veg - I love starting the morning with eggs and buttered cabbage yum! If we don't have fresh green veg I use frozen green beans ect.

Hate aubergine, so we make a sauce and slow cook it with lots of sundried tomatoes, olives. lots of olive oil and dried mushrooms till it tastes of those instead - it's actually really like a sponge for flavour if you cook it long enough.

Use parsnip, celeriac and sweet potato to make oven chips instead of just potato

Freeze bananas before they go off then blend to a mush and you have 'ice cream' you can add chocolate nuts and other fruit like blueberries mixed in.

Slowcookers are amazing - day before the box comes throw in everything left in the fridge, add some protien, leave for a few hours - dinner is ready.

Tolalola · 18/01/2012 20:24

I generally get at least 5 a day, but I cheat a bit. In the morning I have cereal which contains some dried fruit, like muesli or raisin bran and always put extra berries of some kind on top.

At some point during the day I drink a veg juice that has 2 portions of veg in (cheating!). The I make sure I have at least one veg, whether salad or something else at lunch, and definitely at least one, but usually at least 2 veg with or in dinner.

For DS, he eats the same as me for breakfast and gets fruit for his school snack - he doesn't invariably get veg at lunch but eats the same as me for dinner, and snacks on fruit or veg during the afternoon.

There are loads of recipes that I hide veg in: tomato sauce is great for that - I usually can get at least 4 or 5 kinds of veg into a tomato sauce, just dice them fine and let them simmer. Meatballs are also handy -I use mushrooms instead of breadcrumbs and always add some spinach.

Bunnyjo · 18/01/2012 20:38

DD and I tend to manage around 4-5 portions of fruit/ veg a day.

I usually have a glass or 2 of fresh juice a day, which is an easy way of getting at least one portion in and I have dried fruit with my cereal.

DD has her fruit at school and always has veg with her dinner - they do a fresh salad bar, which she gets, even when she's eating something like stew Hmm.

When DD gets home from school, we usually chop up a bunch of fruit and veg and munch it together whilst she does her 'homework' (reading books and little sums etc - she's only in reception!).

I shred carrot, swede, leeks and parsnips etc when cooking mince for things like cottage pie - makes the mince go further as well as giving DH 1 or 2 of his 5 a day (he won't touch veg usually). I'm also a big fan of fresh soups, things like butternut squash or parsnips make fabulous winter warming soups. And we always have a helping of two veg with each evening meal.

Looking at it, we probably manage at least 5 a day!

Rosemallow · 18/01/2012 21:00

My DC have been the best influence on me eating 5 a day (or 7 if I can manage it!)

I keep plenty of fresh fruit in the house for snacks and mealtimes and have convinced them that certain tasty fruits are just as special as other less healthy treats. My DD doesn't feel cheated when she gets strawberries instead of chocolate, she gets excited. (long may this last!). I almost always say yes when she asks for fruit so if she's hungry she'll ask for it before anything else.

To hit my 5 a day I sit down with them when they have their meals/snacks and have the same. I love sitting down with them enjoying our food and sometimes read to them while they're eating (they're only young).
Veg is a little harder to sell to them and I'm not so keen either but a lovely big stir fry or curry always goes down well. I also find that presenting the food as a silly face or cutting it into 'special' shapes helps. Failing that, I'm a big fan of the 'hide 'em' method. DD doesn't realise that the 'tomato' sauce on her pasta also has about 5 other veggies in it too! :)

ahhyesiseeyouvepooedonyourfoot · 18/01/2012 21:07

fruit juice and soups make up a lot of mine - but I do find it tricky, its expensive to buy and if I buy a load with my weekly shop I use find a horrible rotting pulp at the bottom of the fridge/fruit bowl a couple of weeks later :( some tips please innocent!

LadyPeter · 18/01/2012 21:31

I don't know if someone's already said this but I wilt spinach into everything possible- rissotto, spag bol, shepherd's pie- all those kinda things. I also grate courgettes and or carrots into lots of stuff - pizza and pasta sauces, pies, etc. They cook quickly when grated so you've got to make sure not to add them too early or you cook all the good stuff out. Basically it started out as a way of stealth feeding the kids veg and now I just do it because it makes a bit of meat go further, is healthier and we've all just got used to it.

DarkMatter · 18/01/2012 21:39

My children (1, 3) are fantastic at eating fruit and veg. I don't know how I lucked out on this one, but these are the typical things I do:

  • Make 'fruit pots' - basically fruit salad out of whatever fruit is lying around - to them I think it looks exciting all cut up and mixed together (typically any combo of kiwi, mango, banana, apple, satsuma, blueberries and blackberries)
  • Always say yes when they ask for fruit and veg as snacks. They don't really bother asking for anything else (including when we are in the supermarket). They both love crunching raw carrot and apples (when they were younger I'd grate these as snacks)
  • I don't think they have much concept of what 'fruit' and 'veg' are - they think of each foodstuff in those groups as a separate thing iyswim, so they can't take against the entire group if they happen to dislike one type of fruit or veg that they come across
  • Any veg diced into spaghetti bolognaise will be munched. Ditto for any type of stew/casserole. They dislike stir fry.
  • When we are in cafes etc I order veg, they LOVE eating off my plate
  • Don't be afraid to add a little seasoning to veg, even just in the form of a sprinkle of parmesan cheese
  • They love 'milkshakes' - I just blend their normal afternoon glass of milk with half a banana per child, and they think it's a huge treat. Can also add a little honey on special occasions...
toomuchmonthatendofthemoney · 18/01/2012 22:09

We have porridge every morning, and adding some fruit on top (blueberries are a fav) are an easy way to get one portion in.

Mousey84 · 18/01/2012 23:57

DD gets about 7 portions of veg and 3 of fruit a day, and I get about 10 veg (avoiding sugar at the minute, so no fruit.)

She has a glass of fruit juice or a smoothies with breakfast, and fruit for school break. Her school has a healthy eating "loyalty card" scheme. We have salad with lunch and dinner, regardless if its soup or pasta etc, and snack on carrot / cucumber / sliced peppers in between meals.

Stirfry is our favourite way to up out veg intake and DD has enjoyed helping me prepare these from toddlerhood, and now, age 9, will make them entirely by herself when she is hungry.

We bulk prep our fruit and veg and store in airtight boxes in the fridge. Cucumber and carrot need cut up freshly each morning or else they go a bit weird. Having pre-washed grapes and pineapple etc means that when DD craves something sweet, its easy for her to get her fix.

We also grow our own. Its not terribly productive or cost efficient, but it gets her excited about food.

We actually grew some things in our old innocent smoothie pouches - washed out and the top cut off, and drainage holes in the bottom, and a slice a few mm across vertically down on one side lets a strawberry runner sit neatly in and take root. also grew herbs and some tree seeds in them 2 years ago. They sit perfectly on my very thin windowsill - commercial plantpots are too wide.

SantaIsAnAnagramOfSatan · 19/01/2012 09:59

i'm awful at eating fruit and veg. i don't like fruit pretty much full stop and am not a fan of juice so what i do get comes from veg and i am aware i don't eat enough of it.

conversely i find it really easy to get 5 a day and more into ds who has always been good with veggies (getting meat in is the issue with him).

i've always made sure he gets at least two portions in at breakfast. nowadays that's a glass of juice with his cereal (added bonus of vit c helps process iron so good to serve together) and a piece of fruit (or when he was a baby some pureed fruit mixed in with his weetabix and milk). mid morning they are given a piece of fruit at school for snack time and he gets at least a portion with his school dinner but goodness knows how overcooked they are so i make sure he gets another few in at night. even if we're only having a snack type dinner with wraps or something it's easy to stick a couple of cherry tomatoes and a few olives on the plate and cucumber for example.

green beans are tasty and loved and easy to grow by just sticking beans in the edges of whatever borders you have available - i plant them here and there over time so that you can always pick a portion from one or another for a couple of months a year. this year i may actually dig a bed for them and grow more so i can freeze them for the year as they are expensive from the shops.

baby sweetcorn are much loved too. i have a rice cooker with a steamer on top and green beans, baby sweetcorn and carrot batons steam perfectly in there when cooking rice. i'm a big fan of sprouting broccoli but ds not so keen and again it's expensive so i really should grow some as apparently it's very easy.

top tips for pre schoolers is to arrive at nursery pick up with a piece of fruit or veg in hand. i found ds was always hungry after nursery so it was an easy way to get a banana or some dried fruit in. i also find the have this then you can have that method works - so when being asked for biscuits for example i'll say have a pear first and if you still want a biscuit after you can have one. the one thing he is really not keen on is potatoes but i don't think they offer that much anyway nutritionally - both ds and i prefer rice and pasta as a carb and he likes bread.

as a baby i found putting a portion in with porridge in the morning and having some orange juice meant you got off with a good start and it was easy to get up to 5 after that.

TheRhubarb · 19/01/2012 10:54

Ok well my tips are these:

Breakfast cereal with dried fruit scattered on top such as juicy sultanas or apricots.
Then I tend to make my own smoothie for me and the kids that has fruit, natural yoghurt and milk to keep them going until lunch (esp as dd doesn't have lunch until 1pm). To sweeten them I just add honey. The kids love it.

In their lunchboxes add a little tub of chopped up or sliced fruit such as bananas, kiwi fruit and tangerine segments. You can add a little yoghurt to this to make a nice dessert for them.

Salads don't always have to consist of lettuce and cucumber either. I add some raw carrots, sweetcorn pieces, peas and anything else they can eat raw!

If I do treats, I usually bake scones with dried fruit or a fruity flapjack.

For tea, I always have a bag of frozen spinach blocks handy which is useful for ds who hates vegetables. I can do spaghetti bolognaise, shepherds pie or even a curry and I'll add a block of spinach which just melts into the sauce and is hardly noticeable at all.

Beans are also brilliant for adding to sauces and casseroles.

Parsnips, sliced lengthways can go in with the chips and 9 times out of 10 they don't notice!

Fruit juice is given with tea only.

Another trick is to give them frozen peas and sweetcorn as my ds won't eat them cooked, but loves them frozen!

In the summer we have smoothie lollies, banana lollies and even tomato juice lollies. Turn that hated healthy stuff into a lolly and suddenly it's fun!

TheRhubarb · 19/01/2012 10:56

Last tip: Pour your own, cheaper and healthier, homemade smoothie into the Innocent bottles and fool your kids into thinking they are glugging the shop bought ones!

Sometimesiwonder · 19/01/2012 11:14

We find it quite easy to get five (or more) a day

We have fresh fruit (varies - kiwi, strawberries, grapes, melon maybe) and toast, with a glass of fruit juice or a smoothie for breakfast.

At lunch dd has an apple or a banana with her sandwiches, DH and I usually have a large salad. DD will also have a decent fruit juice drink although I know we can only count these once.

For dinner we usually have homemade things which I pack with veg - making the sauce for casseroles with a can of tomatoes adds another portion quite surreptitiously, and I chuck a load of frozen peas into quite a lot of things too. Even hated veg (like carrots in this house) chopped small enough are unrecognisable and they give up trying.

In this way we seem to hit five a day quite easily and, if dd wants to negotiate for sweets after tea, I sometimes make it contingent on eating an apple first, if I am feeling bloody minded, or she has skimped a bit during the day. Sometimes this goes well, sometimes it doesn't, but I am a curmudgeon with broad shoulders so I can take the fall-out.

lottiegb · 19/01/2012 11:52

Cook from scratch and, if not vegetarian, eat meatless meals a number of days a week. That way veg are your starting point and you can incorporate as many as you like.

So cook 'from the bottom up', starting with veg, pulses and carbs that form the bulk of the meal, then add any extra proteins like nuts, eggs, cheese, fish or meat (if you need or want them on top of those in the grains, pulses and core ingredients). Depending on the dish of course, eggs, dairy and soya products might form some of the basis of the meal but try to keep the bulk of it veg based most days.

This means the main, tasty part of your meal contains veg, rather than having a 'main' protein and fat component, with veg an accompaniement that can be ignored. (As an aside, it's also a helpful habit if you ever need to cater for vegetarians, as rather than thinking 'but how can I substitute the central item', which can lead to a cooking a separate meal or boring burgers, you are starting with food 'suitable for everyone' then adding, so you just don't add the last bit).

A well stocked fruit bowl, available as a snack at any time and fruit and/or dark chocolate for dessert, when desired, is a good habit too.

IDismyname · 19/01/2012 13:15

I put in as much diced, chopped or grated veg into my bolognaise mixture as I can - usually about the same quantity as the mince. Noone seems to notice.

Oven roast veg are a hit in our house which can then be pureed and turned into a sauce or soup when they've finished eating the chicken.

Steaming broccoli over cooking pasta, then whizzing it up with low fat cream cheese to add to pasta for sauce also a winner.

I've started the Zest 4 Life diet eating plan in which fruit and veg certainly play a major part, so I'm tracking my 5 a day, and eating it.