What are your top recipes and tips for getting your DCs to eat more fruit and vegetables? Tell Tesco and you could win a £200 voucher NOW CLOSED

[AngelieMumsnet]

Tesco have asked us to find out what Mumsnetters' top tips and recipes are for getting their DCs to eat more fruit and veg.

Here’s what Tesco say, “Studies show that 90% of 7 – 14 year olds do not eat their five-a-day. Our Farm to Fork Trails allow children to touch, smell and taste a wide range of fruit and vegetables - some make fruit kebabs. Parents and Teachers tell us that children are more willing to try new varieties after the visit. We’d love to hear what you’re doing at home to encourage your DCs to eat more fruit and veg.”

So, what are your top tips for getting your DCs to eat fruit and vegetables? Perhaps you hide mushrooms in pasta sauce? Or maybe you have another method for sneaking peas and carrots into meals? Do you have any fail-safe recipes that your DCs love?

Whatever your top recipes and tips are, Tesco would love to hear them!

Everyone who adds their comments to the thread will be entered into a prize draw to win a £200 Tesco voucher.

Please note that any comments posted on this thread may be used by Tesco in further marketing material (anonymously, of course).

Thanks and good luck,

MNHQ

ps I recommend tescos own brand yellow split peas as they are no soak and cook in 40 minutes. I have yet to find an alternative source as convenient.

dd does not like carrots (never has, they always got spat out when weaning) but will eat them in stuff, so they are flavoured by other things. she is not keen on onions either but they get diced enough to mix in.

I never make a fuss of them not eating stuff. they get offered alternative sources of nutrients. google is your friend. I am lucky they are not very fussy really.

Any veg chopped finely in stews,soups and sauces - my pampered chef chopper is a godsend

I make bread and muffins with veg in it. Tastes just like regular bread / muffin. I also give veg to munch on when I'm preparing dinner.

We have/currently:
Mix fruit into youghurt and porridge.
Add veg to pasta sauce and blend.
Make soups.
Let DC put grated cheese on top of veg (DS1 would literally eat anything with some grated cheese on top).
Get them helping to make pizza - that actually got DS1 to eat mushrooms AND pizza, both of which he'd previously refused.

We also grow some fruit and veg and get the DC involved in planting, watering and harvesting. However, DS1 loves the strawberries so much we had to keep him away from them as he'd be merrily scoffing the lot - he even ate one of the flowers once before I could get to him because I stupidly told him that when the petals fall off and it grows it becomes a strawberry!

Also, having a greedy younger brother helps DS1. DS2 will eat anything you give him, then half of yours. When he starts reaching for DS1's plate that spurs him into action and he gets eating before DS2 can grab it

Such a simple tip: put raw veg like carrots, cucumber, broccoli florets, etc. on cocktail sticks. Serve to children. Food becomes so much more interesting when it's served on a stick.

DS2 loves most fruit so no problem there. He also goes for smooth veg soups and raw veg.

DS1 gags at fruit so I encourage to keep trying tiny bits as he does enjoy the flavour. He likes most cooked veggies especially in a stew.

So I guess my approach has been offering a variety, meal plan to incorporate everyone's preferences over the week, keep presenting in different formats, getting them involved in preparation and being quite tough about trying everything on the plate.

We have plenty of fruit around and they love grapes, strawberries etc. I always carry small pots of raisins with me as an on-the-go treat. I'm quite lucky that my kids love brocolli, peas etc (I hate them so have told them mummy is allergic to them) so it's not been too much of a problem so far.

My little girl likes risotto so she has a vege version of that. She can't stand carrots though! The best way to get her to eat vegetables though is to include them in something so she can't pick them out very easily.

We eat breakfast and tea all together most days, apart from dh working late occasionally. Meals are sociable relaxed times in our house, no tv, no mobiles just chatting and eating.

From when the dc were little I introduced them to a wide variety of fruit and veg, always offering new foods along with known and loved ones and they have always been willing to try.

Also leading by example works as they won't try new foods if we don't eat them. This has worked in our house, although hard for dh as he is very fussy about veg. When dc were little he found it hard as had to eat everything on his plate!

Also, if I was cooking pasta sauce or curry I would put lots of puréed veg in it to increase their intake. Soup is good too as you can all try out lots of different recipes.

The children takes turns in cooking on a Saturday eve which works as they can choose what we eat, learn about what makes a healthy diet and hopefully develop skills to help them be self sufficient when they leave home!

We just try to eat a variety and normalise fruit and veg.
There's an "open" fruit bowl for snacking, and I try to buy interesting fruit too when time allows, lots of crunchy salad and steamed veg, and no mushy overcooked cabbage.
Life's too short to hide aubergines!

adding veg chopped into Bolognese, peppers, broccoli, carrot,
making interesting side salads, with different bits in each time,]
as dessert, having a plate of fruit chopped up, mini forks or cocktail sticks are fun to pick it up with
see berries as a treat equivalent to sweets; making them really special.
adding them into yogurt, ice cream.
buying weird fruit to try - coconut bits, dragon fruit, and making trying fun not berating if they dislike.

for a recent birthday party I did fruit kebabs, dd loved making the repeating patterns and they got grabbed before all of the usual crap fare. Also they were cheap to make. just had to be aware of kebab sticks/ cut points off

my son likes fruit so its never a problem getting him to tuck in - and he will eat a carrot before a meal as a veg portion.
grated carrot dissappears into stuff quite easily when cooked

I've always eaten lots of fruit and veg and wanted my girls to be the same. At least one veg is served at lunch and tea and fruit after. Fruit is offered regardless of whether they've eaten tea or lunch, i feel it's not a treat it's part of a well balanced diet. I can count on one hand the amount of times they've moved straight to their fruit and those occasions were illness related.

We offer fruit and veg as a snack before anything else, they have to eat at least one piece before they get anything else (normally they've forgotten they asked for a biscuit once they've eaten the fruit/veg).

We liquidise veg in soups and Pasta sauces and even at only 19 months and 3 years old my DDs "help" with tea and feel as though they've had a bit of choice.

We try to eat breakfast, lunch and tea together as often as we can.

Not had any problem with fruit but my ds is fairly fussy about veg and it is difficult to get him to try new things. DD will eat pretty much anything. I have often found getting them to help make dinner gives some kind of ownership whereby ds might just try a little - pizzas for eg. I make big batches of homemade soup with loads of different veg all whizzed up, ds suspects I'll have put in some he doesn't like but likes the soup anyway as textures are not there.

I've never really been one to faff with fruit kebabs etc but YY to the bowl of different fruit pieces being much more palatable tot hem than individual pieces of fruit. Same for crudités which I often put in a little pit in school lunch.

Pot

Ds is not a fussy eater at all, hoovers up fruit and eats all veg he has encountered apart from mushrooms.
I don't do hiding veg or faffing with it (though I do make multi veg whizzed sauce from sheer laziness sometimes), but have always offered a variety of fruit/veg, eaten it enthusiastically with him, and involved him in shopping. The rule in our house is that no one likes everything, thats fine, but if you don't like something you try one piece of it, and then leave it without comment.

You just have to go by the child's preferences in my experience.

Child 1 will eat any vegetable mixed into a stew, sauce or rice/pasta.

Child 2 will eat veg separately on the plate and hates her food mixed together.

I haven't done anything differently and both kids were weaned at the same age and in the same way.

It's time consuming making meals to suit both kids in our house but worth it if I want to get any veg into them!

No 'hiding' which just leads to the attitude of healthy = boring and something you 'should' have rather than something you choose, because shock horror veg can taste nice. We regularly have veggie nights so our son will learn how versatile veg can be instead of it just being a blob of something to accompany meat. Also we started a little veg plot in the garden so he feels connected to the food he eats.

*We have a vegetarian day. One of their favourites is butternut squash risotto. Also have carrot sticks, cucumber, peppers as a starter with humus and pesto dips.
*Get them involved and eat together.
*I always encourage them to try something new, if they don't like it they can leave that veg or whatever to the side of their plate and we'll try it again another day. Never make an issue.
*Start when they're young.
*I don't blend up fruit and vegetables apart from for soup and smoothies. I serve them smoothies in fancy glasses with umbrellas and straws.

Chopped up veg made into potato cakes has always worked well, although my eldest is getting a little suspicious of that these days :)

Soups,
Sunday roast style dinners
Ask them to try everything on their plate
Fruit salad

let them loose in the fruit and veg department of the supermarket, and get them to choose some of it. And if they ask for something new, buy it and try it, with no pressure to eat it.

I always have a plate of cut up veg on the table at dinner - a combination of cucumber, carrots, peppers, cherry toms, olives. The kids love picking on that.

I always cook some mixed veg when I cook rice.

I make soup which the kids will eat.

I also only cook one meal which everyone eats and make sure I include veg.

The kids will happily eat fruit.
I also put fruit or veg(carrots) in muffins and desserts and serve tinned fruit in juice like peaches and mandarins, with yoghurt for desserts.