Florida grapefruit want your healthy eating tips and grapefruit recipes. There's £300 up for grabs (plus £100 for your child's school/nursery)

[Carriemumsnet]

Florida grapefruit want to know your top tips on getting your children to eat their five a day and indeed managing to eat five a day yourself. This could be in the form of a great recipe a top tip, even a song or nursery rhyme your child has learnt at school or nursery - anything that helps encourage folks to eat more fruit and veg. (If you're adding a recipe add it to MN recipes and just post the link here - as we have above).

Florida grapefruit will be choosing their favourite contributions and one lucky winner will win £300 along with £100 for their child's school.

Quick plug for the humble grapefruit - half a grapefruit provides 100% of the recommended daily intake of vitamin C, and a whole grapefruit represents not one but two of your five-a-day fruit and veg intake.

Plug over - thanks and good luck

MNHQ

[nannynick]

I was wondering when someone would mention Grapefruit and Vodka - it's lovely as a drink as well as a sorbet.

Here is a photo of an after-school snack which was devoured by a 5yr old and 2yr old. Didn't have any grapefruit... so this used Orange, Apple, Banana and Cucumber - as those where what we had available.

I find when presenting fruit and veg that getting a good colour combination helps. A nice mix of Green, Orange, Red.

[TheBuggerofSuburbia]

I make fruit sticks for DS - pieces of fruit on lolly sticks - if it's grapes and bananas, they're nice frozen. For parties or a treat, they can be dipped in melted chocolate - and then rice crispies too if you like.

My grapefruit recipe is here, but it's adults only - Grapefruit and Vodka Sorbet

It is very pretty if you use pink grapefruit.

[sc1985]

Well, the only way we really get our daughter to eat lots of fruit and veg is to get her involved and to present it nicely to her.

My neighbours have an alotment so she loves the fresh veg they bring, because she thinks it's been grown for her! She loves to help prepare it and present it nicely on a plate or in bowls. Sometimes we make a little picture out of the fruits and if it's something that is going with a main meal then we put it in a 'special' pot at the side of her plate. Presentation certainly plays a massive part in her attitude towards fruit/veg.

We made a little rhyme for when we are preparing fruit/veg in the kitchen together. She thinks it's funny but most of all it gets her thinking about it.

Fruit is good for your belly
Some veg is sometimes smelly
But it?s tastes so good
And it grows in mud
And we pick it while wearing our wellies

I get my 5 a day because I'm always very focused on getting the children to eat more fruit and veg, before I had them I didn't really bother but because we have loads of it in all the time, we all make a massive effort to eat more to encourage the children. We have a 6month old who has started weaning and I make all my own food for him which is always packed full of fresh vegetables too.

[twirlywhirly]

I am lucky because my children all naturaly liked grapefruit if chopped in small pieces coated in a honey glaze and then put on a skewer along with other fruit & barbeued....yummy good for them and they love them! If young children have these just pull of from skewer & pop into a coconut shell or ornage pot...makes it more fun for the kiddies x

[pigtails21]

To be honest my top tip is to make sure you give plenty of fruit and veg when weaning. We did and we have no problems with our DD eating..

Fruit juice is great as that ensures your child is getting at least one portion. If you are concerned, I suggest hiding vegetables in food - we bulk things like cottage pie out with loads of vegetables. Vegetable lasagne is a great dish as well.

Offer fruit and fun sticks at snack time -e.g. carrot soliders and cucumber and pepper chopped up. If children see you snacking on these as well, they are bound to want to do what mummy does.

[PhilandC2]

I've always just given food to my child without asking him whether he likes it. He was only a baby, what would the babies know? Now he is 14- and I never have problems with him eating the right food: lots of fruit, lots of vegetables and all sorts of fish. He's just got used to it and likes it all very much now!

[primrosey]

I buy pizza bases and encourage my children to help me make a tomatoe, onion and garlic sauce to spread on the base. Then they pick allsorts of toppings i.e pepper, sweetcorn, pineapple, mushrooms and of course cheese. Then we serve it with a salad of tomatoes, cucumber and lettuce and thats the 5 a day job done!!!

[Chmaine]

To get the kids to eat five a day, chop/slice up a variety of fruits and make colourful fruit kebabs or fruit salads, & in getting them to eat the veg you can create veggie pizzas, where the kids can decorate the pizza base with vegetables and make patterns and face shapes on the pizza.

With me eating my five a day, I'd eat a piece of fruit after each of my 3 meals a day then eat more veg along with my dinner

[missorinoco]

Unexciting, but stop offering non fruit alternatives. One snack is always fruit, and fruit is offerred at pudding.

For myself and my husband, take fruit into work instead of buying biscuits etc to have at a break (I wish) or with lunch.

Means we get through loads of fruit.

[pickle12]

Personally I just make the fruit look as apetising as possible. I mix it up as a fruit salad in a box in the fridge & we dig in whenever the mood takes us. To encourage my little one I make a fuss about how lovely it is when I'm eating it. He always wants what I'm eating so he thinks it's a real treat when I give him a bowl full for himself

[poodledoodle]

I make cauliflower mash for the kids using mostly cauliflower mashed with a little bit of potato. It looks exactly the same as normal mashed potato so the kids are happy to eat it!

As far as a grapefruit recipe goes, I find it a great addition to any salad. Nice and simple!

[whomovedmychocolate]

I make jugs of diluted fruit juice with cut up fruit/cucumber floating in it and call it 'petit Pimms' and serve it at children's parties. The kids love eating the fruit out of it.

Of course you have to make sure you don't mix up the adult and child versions

[michellew1]

Just an aside on the grapefruit theme - my midwife suggested ice cold grapefruit juice sipped through the day as it makes cigarettes taste awful - got to be ice cold though = saves putting more chemicals in while trying to stop

[michellew1]

We made food art on a plate using fruit and veg as much gets eaten along the way as used for the picture - sorry if double post but first didnt seem to register

[wombatsam]

I give the children a piece of fruit with their breakfast, no matter what else they're having. Then I've got one of the five done straight away. Add the juice in and two have been done.
I'm not so good myself, but do enjoy grapefruit and it's only half a point in Weight Watchers which is fab :-)

[Mandelle]

For the summer - sqeeze grapefruits (or buy freshly squeezed juice if you haven't the time or inclination!) Put into lolly or ice pop molds or an ice cube tray and give to kids when frozen for a healthy, thirst quenching sweet "treat"

[GoldenSnitch]

Setting chunks of fruit in jelly can help reluctant little ones to eat some extra fruit.

Eat as much fruit as you can while pregnant and breastfeeding. It is thought it changes the taste of the amniotic fluid and milk slightly so when children come to eat the fruit themselves, its already a familiar taste. I did this with DS (3) and he ate almost his own body weight in melon yesterday

Mix familiar/favourite fruit in with new/less liked fruit in a salad. The flavours will mix and bits of the new/less liked fruit will get eaten along with the favourite fruit. Unfamiliar will soon become familiar and might even become a new favourite.

[aristocat]

i like grapefruit but DCs not very keen.
however they love most fruit and vegetables

they love helping chop onions,courgettes,mushrooms,peppers etc and this all helps with eating them.

raw carrot is the biggest fave here and DD eats big chunks of peeled cucumber.

[posieparker]

In the summer the dcs make smoothie ice lollies. So blend any fruits and freeze in ice lolly moulds.

They also make smoothies in the winter.

We also have after school plate of chopped fruit and often put fruit in Jellies(that the children make). The only food the dcs are allowed between meals is fruit or raw vegetables. They even love raw broccoli!

dcs help to peel and chop veg too.

Grapefruit is gorgeous with either chopped pineapple or Rachel's Organic Greek honey yoghurt.

[nickschick]

Hobbs ....doesnt everyone? or have you got one of those unbreakable types from the shop where you can buy spiteful babies

[hobbgoblin]

I have a cane in the punishment cupboard.

[nickschick]

I freeze small segments of juicy citrus fruits in flavoured spring water ....sort of an ice lolly in a dish sorbet.

Curiously I find having just a few pieces of fruit available rather than the whole shebang ensures my dc greedyguts will eat more - for fear of one of his sibs getting that last few juicy grapes .

[nonblonde]

i think a good tip would be to start as early as possible in your childs life with fruit and veg and it will just come natural, also when you want them to eat it let them help with the preparation of the fruit and veg they think its good when they cook and prepare there own.

[Sazisi]

I give my kids humous with carrot batons when they are 'starving' and dinner's not yet ready.

If I'm giving them a lazy dinner like pizza/fishfingers, I serve them the vegetables 5 minutes before eveything else so they get a nice head start on the veggies.

Fruit salad served on skewers goes down well at parties (but make sure the little darlings don't stab each other with them!)

[pixierara]

Grapefruit Granola with honey and greek yogurt....

Easy peasy and really nice, I get the kids to chop and make so they are more interested in getting stuck in!!!!!

Cut a grapefruit into segments and mix with anoy other fruit and a handful of granola...instead of milk use low fat greek yogurt and drizzle honey on top to sweeten...

Yum!