Share your tricks for encouraging kids to eat healthily with Soreen - chance to win a £300 voucher NOW CLOSED

[EmmaMumsnet]

Behind every child's balanced diet is a healthy portion of creativity, and Soreen want to find out about all the imaginative ways in which you jazz up healthy foods to make them more appealing for your DCs.

Here’s what Soreen has to say: “At Soreen we created our individually wrapped lunchbox loaves to feature our malt loaf character, in order to keep lunchtime and snack time healthy but exciting for young children. We’re always trying to come up with new ways to help children make heathier choices and would love to hear how you do this with your DCs.”

So how do you make healthier food choices more fun? Do you fashion food into faces? Draw smiles on bananas and egg shells? Or even blend fruit and vegetables to hide them completely?

Share your creative ways of making healthy eating more fun below and you will be entered into a prize draw where one MNer will win a £300 voucher of their choice (from a list).

Thanks and good luck!

MNHQ

Standard Insight T&Cs Apply

We agree to eat lots of healthy meals in the week with one naughty treat meal at the weekend. Seems to work for us.

I used to resort to bribery, but then came upon the only thing that works in my house so far, which is piling up my plate high with veggies, saying "Oh wow, I am going to be so much stronger when I eat this! I hope no-one takes any of my delicious veggies!"
Yes, it sounds daft lol, but then, I will pretend to lose my fork, and turn back, and the two youngest are munching away on my broccoli/carrots/celery, things they normally tell me will make them 'up-chuck'.
This isn't the long term solution, however, it worked long enough enough for the kids to get used to the flavours and textures that before they wouldn't even try. Now, my kids are still fussy, but not half as bad! As apparently it takes between 7-15 times of trying something new before you acquire a taste for it, and I think this is definitely true!

Get creative! Turn veg into spaghetti with a spiraliser, explore different tastes and recipes, get the kids in the kitchen working on their own healthy creations!

I absolutely love cooking, creating and baking for and with my two year old daughter. I've always got her involved in the cooking, which I think really helps. We talk about the ingredients, where they come from and she tries them as we're going along. Baking savoury muffins, or as she calls them 'cakes' is a really good way of getting in vegetables. I also think variety is key - keeping it interesting and varied makes things exciting. It doesn't have to involved lots of ingredients either; I've started a series on my blog called 'A week on a toddler's plate' (www.treasureeverymoment.co.uk/2017/02/meal-planning-week-on-toddlers-plate-1.html) which includes three meals a day for seven days. All different, healthy and packed with goodness, but without spending a small fortune!

I have to hide vegetables in various sauces/ food or make a face/ animals with them. Also pretending that I don't want to share something seems to work.

Lead by example and get them involved in meal prep on the weekends

My hubby's 5-a-day Bolognese is always a hit in our house! Lots of hidden veggies! My two are obsessed with fruit so we're very lucky! But they always like it when we make them into funny shapes/pictures! For my eldest who won't eat sandwiches, cutting them with cookie cutters helps! And cooking with the boys is also a fun way to get them to try new foods...Even if just a tiny bite!!

Whizz veg up in bolognese is my favourite way of doing it!
My boys love going to the greengrocers and picking out the brightest bell peppers, the funniest shaped carrots and brightest green apples!
When we get home I slice them all up and they get eaten!

My DCs are great at eating every kind of fruit, and do eat fairly healthily, but do not like vegetables as much. They did when they were very young, now I find the best way to get them to eat them is to get them to peel , chop and help cook.

We make healthy yummy snacks with fruit rather than having chocolate etc, these are our raspberry and oat bakes- so easy and yummy!!

The best clean plates meals in our house are ones where you can serve yourself (vegetable avoidance not allowed)

Pasta, cheese, bolognese or tomato sauce, marmite, pesto, salad items, garlic bread
Chilli, cheese, tortilla chips, guacamole, rice, tortilla wraps, salad items including shredded lettuce
Baked potatoes, beans, cheese, butter, Coleslaw, salad, leftover bolognese/chilli
Flat bread, various Hummus flavours, olives, hallumi, tomatoes, falafel
Cheese, salad stuff, tortilla wraps or buns, various sauces, quorn, yoghurt, fruit, flapjack type thing, crisps

My dc love healthy foods and their favourite meal is a roast.
When they are going through stages of not eating much I get them to help prepare the veg (which they see as a treat, same as emptying the dishwasher ) it makes the dc feel like they have been a part of the process and they eat more.

We find the best way is getting them involved with all aspects of food. We grow some of our own fruit and vegetables and this is a great way of educating them about the food we eat. They love to help plant the seeds and watch them grow, then finally to pick, wash and eat.

They also each choose a meal they would like to have each week and i add it into the menu plan. Then we check the cupboards and make a shopping list (also helps with writing and spelling!).

We don't have much time on weeknights for the dcs to be involved in the actually cooking because meals need to be on the table quickly but at weekends they love to help out. We usually do some baking - muffins or biscuits for packed lunches. Saturday night is usually pizza night so they love to help making them and choosing their own toppings. They also each get to choose a vegetable to have with our Sunday Roast, i find if they've picked one themselves then they don't moan about having to eat the other's choice. I also encourage them to serve themselves, they can go back for seconds if they are still hungry but by dishing out their own portions they can control how much they have. My childhood was always about cleaning your plate, not eating until you were full and then stopping which isn't something i want to encourage. Eating healthily is about portion control as much as the type of foods you eat.

My lad loves superheroes, so if I tell him Batman eats carrots to see in the dark, he will ask for carrots. He also loves fart humour and knows that eating veg will produce farts. He likes fresh fruit, so never had to disguise fruit in foods. He knows the positives of having healthy food, but like most kids he loves sweets, chocolate, cakes etc, so that can be a bit of a stand off when I say no you cant have any.

I've tried all sorts- blending and hiding veg in sauces etc, getting them to help prepare meals, chopping veg sticks and making interesting shapes. Sometimes it has worked and other times not although they do all love raw carrot cut so you can tell how hard I pushed that one!

Leading by example and eating healthily - also never making food a reward or 'treat' really helps. Choice plays a part too - shopping together for colourful fruits and veg and trying new things.

We always put little 'snack' bowls out on the dinner table, with things like carrot sticks and cucumber in them. The boys pick at them while they are waiting for dinner, and are more willing to eat them because they feel like a snack/treat!

My DC are at the stage where no is no and pushed around a plate so I decided when making meals like Cottage Pie I simply add lots of goodness that has been blended with the mince, so far so good, packed lunches I add healthy little extras to pasta or in rice and place in small tubs , as for fruit I add a little of everything so they can pick and choose or eat it all, clean empty tubs after school means I have done something right

still dont know if I have this once sorted even when my kids are in their 20s. I would puree onions, carrots, whenever I got the chance and never told them

Tell the truth to set up good habits and blend it with a few lies.

1. you grow when your asleep, including muscles (make a big deal about how big and strong they are looking in the morning if they ate well the previous day, also helps get them to sleep on time!)
2. certain vegetables give you the same powers as super heros! Green veg gives you hulk like powers, and could turn you green if you wanted to! Red veg is Spider-Man or superman what ever they are interested in!
3. doesn't hurt to mash up potatoes, lots of veg and a bit if natural food colouring and serve as super hero food either
4. fish make your brain work, did you remember earlier when you couldn't do x or was struggling with y, I bet if you ate your fish and practised a bit you would do it first time the next time you tried.

Also every time they say I don't like something, correct as I haven't tried this recently.

Written by the mum of the fussiest boy in the planet!

I don't care if my son doesn't like something, I don't want to force foods on him and him to resent them later in life. I try and give him the choice, and explain the benefit of the foods he eats in words and contexts he understands or can relate to

It is important not to tell your kids when healthy food is healthy. Just treat everything the same

Set a good example.
Cook from fresh and nibble the veg and encourage your helper to do the same

Peter flatly refuses to eat anything where he can't identify the various components, so the only success we've had with hidden vegetables is carrot cake, LOL!
He loves helping in the preparation and if we can arrange it prettily, that usually means more will be eaten!

Loving the ideas on this thread - especially the fruit animals! LO loves fruit & most veg - I agree that getting kids to be involved in the preparation & cooking of meals makes them a lot more interested in eating the end product!
One of LOs favourite things to do is make a huge, fresh fruit salad - & then scoff as much as humanly possible!
We have the Orchard Toys Game - Greedy Gorilla which is really fun & has been great at encouraging health eating & getting LO to recognises healthy & unhealthy foods. I'd recommend this as a conversation starter in this area.
I have a terrible relationship with food & want to ensure my son doesn't experience this too - we don't ban any foods, everything is ok if enjoyed in moderation. I'm re-educating myself along the way too! :)