Do you struggle to get your child to eat their vegetables? Share your tips and tricks below.

[EllieSmumsnet]

Created for Veg Power

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Are meal times a struggle in your household? A healthy, veggie-rich diet can help improve our children’s mood, learning and overall health, however it’s not always easy to encourage children to eat more vegetables. We want to hear about your mealtime challenges and top tips to help make mealtime veggie battles a thing of the past.

• Post your stories and advice in the thread below to be entered into a prize draw.
• One lucky MNer will win a £200 voucher for a store of their choice from a list.

About Veg Power: “80% of our children are not eating enough vegetables, with a third eating less than one portion a day. We are a not-for-profit alliance on a mission to inspire kids to love vegetables. You might know us for our award winning Eat Them to Defeat Them campaign with ITV, or our new Simply Veg programme to support parents.”

Here is what Veg Power have to say:
“Half of mums tell us that they struggle to get their kids to eat more vegetables, with many admitting that they have given up trying. Our mission at Veg Power is to get kids excited about vegetables and to help parents and carers serve up those vegetables with confidence. Although we're supported by an amazing panel of nutritionists and chefs we find that the best ideas often come from parents. We'd love to hear your views. Let's talk veg!”

Thanks and good luck with the prize draw!

MNHQ

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@OhNoNotThatAgain thank you for this note. I still blame myself that my DD is particularly fussy around most foods. It's not arfid but she has a very limited palette and we stick to very plain foods making cooking very tedious. I constantly beat myself up thinking "what could I have done differently", not to mention the insinuations from other parents or friends that I somehow am doing something wrong, that I should be feeding X or Y even though I know offering, cooking, preparing it is pointless as it will be rejected.

I was once told by a house guest that "fussy children are ALWAYS the mother's fault - AALLWAYS!!!!!". Still angry about it now when I remember his insistence that it was my fault - of course nothing to do with his father.

I take some comfort in the fact that I was a fussyish eater and have grown up to be adventurous, as well as my DD being healthy in herself, not underweight or overweight.

Hide some grated carrot in main meals. Beetroot works too. They'll never know😉

Airfry them - grate into bolognaise - puree - set a good example by eating a wide range of fruit and vegetables yourself - take them to grandads allotment !

I get my children to help with the shopping picking and feeling fruit and vegetables can really help them associate with what they are being made to eat, I also get them to help prepare foods so they get to see how they feel before cooking. A lot of vegetables can be eaten raw, with better vitamins, my two prefer crunchy veg so I do not pressure them with cooked vegetables if there is a dislike, try not to put pressure on them,

I'm glad that you know it isn't your fault.Too many people blame the parents and it just isn't fair. Your house guest was a git.

Funnily enough, several years ago I had to have some fairly invasive dental work done, and the dentist was really struggling. He said that I had the strongest gag reflex he had ever come across, and that even the slightest touch on the back of my tongue was enough to set it off. I can't help wondering whether that was the cause of my own eating issues as a child. I still gag on some things and can't stand slippery stuff like sliced banana or waxy new potatoes.

I have two fussy eaters at home - my partner and one of my sons.

I've found that time and variety works best. There are lots of vegetables that taste different depending on the cooking method. For example, they both don't like brocolli when it is boiled, but enjoy it when it is stir fried.

I think it really is a case of baby steps and not forcing the issue. They are both gently encouraged to retry veg they have previously rejected. This approach is drawn out, but my partner now eats most common vegetables without pulling a disgusted face and my son has about 2 new veg he starts to like each year.

The rest of us love vegetables so we normally have atleast 2 vegetables with each meal and I think this helps too.

Walking in to a room eating anything and not offering it to my little three year old girl will immediately make her want it! So I often saunter into the living room munching on a raw carrot or pepper with absolutely no comment- and hey presto she will ask for it! Once she's got the hang of one veg she knows she likes it so it's on to the next!

Mine are getting a bit fussier as they get older but have never willingly eaten mushrooms. They eat home made bolognese each week that has secret mushrooms blended into the sauce though....

I involve DD in the whole process. I let her pick vegetables in the supermarket, and then she helps to prep and cook them when we get home.

I always serve vegetables with meals and daughter always saw her dad and I eating them so she did too and it was rarely an issue. Obviously there are some she prefers to others but we never made a big deal of it, and focused on the ones she did like best.

I blend veg into pasta sauce, add raisins to porridge, make courgette and banana bread, grate carrot into bolognese... anything to get the veg into them!

I disagree with this. It may work for some, but many children would just refuse to eat them and it’s the parents job to solve that.

Mine are usually good with veg, but to keep our veg intake high I tend to make vegetable sauces with plenty in and add extra to the meal. I cook it in a variety of ways, so vegetable ‘chips’ (carrots, green beans etc), puréed or in sauce with added vegetables as well (eg. Tomato* based sauce with courgette, aubergine, butternut squash and cherry tomatoes), on skewers etc. I tend to start them early as first weaning foods and keep variety early on, encouraging bitter flavours like broccoli. I also try to lead by example and explain why we eat veg. If they don’t like something, I suggest they eat it first to get it out the way and then enjoy the rest of the meal. We try not to offer veg too often as a separate bit on the plate (thinking meat and two veg), but as a part of the whole thing, where it’s not removable as such because it’s mixed in (think peas and sweetcorn in the mash or ratatouille over pasta or veg within the lasagne).

*although most of those are fruits, so don’t know if they count here.

Always offer a favourite alongside a wider variety of veg. Make veg the star of the meal and not something you ‘add’ - so cauliflower & broccoli cheese pasta bake, and then serve sweetcorn on the side. Even if they don’t eat the broccoli and cauliflower, they’ll eat the sweetcorn and gradually the more times they see different veg the more likely they are to try it. Works with most meals.

Most, though, try not to stress. If the adults are eating a wide variety of veg, your children will eventually too.

I add my veg in curry and pis like shepherds pie make sure all chopped finely this help a fussy eater most mine love vegetables I have two son none wiser as I hide them in foods this way or make them humus and carrots some kind veg prefer always works.

This. But DS won't eat sauces - if we have pasta he eats it plain.

He's just started refusing to eat carrot, so we have lettuce and cucumber left. He will eat most fruit or I'd really despair.

My twins ate all sorts of fruit and veggies when starting weaning; one now eats most things put on his plate while the other won’t touch anything remotely classified as fruit or veg - doesn’t matter how it’s presented or whether a parent is eating it; won’t even eat sauces with hidden veggies as knows it tastes ‘different’ so refuses it.

We’ve done nothing different between them, weaned them at the same time and always offered the same meals - some kids just don’t like fruit & veg. No point in forcing it on them as they just make it a battle so put it on plate, throw it away once they’ve finished the bits they will eat!! Start cycle again next day!!

Ive been pretty lucky with my son, he eats most veg. However cannot get him to eat salad...he says he doesnt eat leaves. The most salady thing he'll touch is grated carrot. Keen to get some ideas on that.

Just keep trying! Encourage kids to taste things even if they don't eat them.

I would say don't compare your DC with any other child, everyone's journey towards weaning and introduce new foods is unique. I think if they see you enjoying a healthy diet - it will be a natural progression onto pureed vegetables, then softer or raw - when they have enough teeth. Taste buds develop - and what they did not like last week - then may want to eat next week - or the week after. If they are unwell they may well refuse foods too. Don't stress about things - and if all else fails grate a carrot onto a spag bol or lasagne - then try a carrot again in a week or two time - at least they have the goodness and vitamins in their system.

We want to hear about your mealtime challenges and top tips to help make mealtime veggie battles a thing of the past

If you eat them from when they are able to take notice, they will want to try, give them praise if they try - even if they just put it in their mouth - it's all new to them - if they won't try, just offer them something that they will eat, then try again another day.
I always make a cottage pie or lasagne and add a finely chopped yellow and red pepper, and grated carrot, not only does this taste soo much richer, they are getting their 5 a day - and I tell them what they are eating - the yellow and red colours help

A little bit of everything on a plate when weaning, lots of praise, different methods of cooking, puree, raw, boiled and air fried - worked for me :)

For me the most important thing was starting her on veg from early weaning, making it normal and getting her used to the taste

Now she's a toddler and going through a picky stage she will go off veg she previously loved, when that happens I stop feeding it to her for a little while, focusing more on others instead, and reintroduce it after a small break without any fuss

I also make sure she has the same vegetable in multiple different forms (so if she refuses normal broccoli one day she might still be happy with thin purple broccoli the next , or if she won't eat cooked carrot slices she might eat raw carrot sticks etc. )

My son is a bit picky about how veg is prepared (i.e. he will eat raw carrot, but not cooked) but generally he likes most veg.
When he was little, we would offer veg as snacks - cucumber & carrot sticks, etc. When we go out with a packed lunch, we always take a box of salad veg to snack on. Sweetcorn seems to be a winner with most kids!

Congratulations @Asuwere on winning the £200 voucher!