How many of you struggle each night to get your children (and your spouse) to eat their vegetables? Ever since my girls could eat baby food, I have always tried to make sure that for lunch and dinner each day, I always serve a fruit and veggie. Now, I will admit – this is something that wasn’t always easy…but I want my family to eat healthy. But with every healthy food, there are sometimes going to be challenges.
My challenges have included everything from, “What is that?!” to “I don’t like vegetables!”. How about you? What challenges have you had with vegetables at your dinner table?
When SocialMoms teamed up with Sarah Matheny, author of “Peas and Thank You: Simple Meatless Meals the Whole Family Will Love,” I have to say I was very excited to share!
For this post, they’ve asked mom bloggers to share their top 10 tips for getting their kids to eat vegetables – so without further ado…here are mine:
1. Say CHEESE 😀 My family LOVES cheese and what better way to get them to eat their veggies than with a yummy cheese sauce on the side.
2. Portion Size Matters When you are trying a new veggie, I would recommend doing smaller portions and then working your way up. Even just a couple bites can make the difference.
3. Shhh! Don’t tell it’s a secret ingredient! You can always hide your veggies in something. You can grate up carrots and put them in things like meatloaf or spaghetti sauce and they’ll never know the difference. You can be happy knowing they’re getting what they need.
4. Serve it with their favorite foods! My daughters love Pizza, so I always try to add a few mushrooms, olives, and onions on there – and they almost always never notice the difference.
5. Start early on! Don’t be afraid to give your 1 year old a carrot stick, or some peas. My daughter loves to eat (or at least try) new things – including zucchini, squash, peppers, tomatoes, corn, and more! There are so many options to choose from!
6. Educate yourself. Did you know that there are literally thousands of different kinds of vegetables? And unless you are a food expert, you yourself can always learn something new about a local or foreign veggie. Your children will love learning along with you on the Internet, or with a favorite children’s book. Think “Green Eggs & Ham”…you may like it!7.
8. Serve it raw, cooked or steamed. There are lots of ways to serve veggies – whether you serve them out of the bag, after boiling them in some water, or steamed to where they are soft and yummy! Veggies are so unique in that there is no wrong way to serve/enjoy them.
9. Don’t forget the dip! I mentioned cheese dip, but don’t forget you can always serve your favorite veggies with ranch, dill, hummus or french onion dip. My girls love dip, and yours will too! As long as its served with moderation, there is no harm with eating your favorite dip with some carrots.
10. Don’t Give Up! Just because your little ones don’t like peppers today, it doesn’t mean they might not change their mind some day. Take me, for example…I used to loathe the thought of onions on anything – and now I absolutely LOVE them 😀 People change, and that includes children too!
I hope these tips help you and your family discover new ways to serving vegetables! If you have any tips of your own, I would love to hear about them – leave me a comment below and share.
For more information on Peas and Thank You, you can visit her website, like her on Facebook or follow on Twitter.
Post published by Melissa Roach, our Product Review & Giveaway Specialist.
Melissa is a Full Time Mom & Blogger HERE (please check out her blog!)
I wrote this blog post while participating in the SocialMoms and Peas and Thank You blogging program for a gift card worth $30. For more information on how you can participate, click here.
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