Do you know the recommended daily vegetable intake for a child aged 2-3 years is roughly 1- 1.5 cups? And it’s a bit more for a 4-8 year old. My heart sank when I first read that recommendation. My kids often don’t consume that many vegetables in a day. I knew I needed to up their veggie game!
Here are some hacks to give your children’s vegetable consumption a boost. If you find you’re serving the same three veg day-in and day-out, give these tricks a go to add variety to your household nutrient intake.
Make smiley faces
For younger kids, this is always a winner. When I still have a bit of motivation left at the end of the day, I make smiley faces out of vegetables and serve it before the main course. This eliminates my anxiety when they pick around their veggies in the main meal.
Serve vegetables first
A study has shown that children are more likely to eat vegetables when all other meal components are unavailable. So, when the requests (whines) for food start while you are prepping dinner, pop a plate of veg or a salad on the table and tell them they can snack away!
Make veggie muffins
Each week I try and make a new variety of muffin that is based on a vegetable. Recently we’ve had beetroot, zucchini, carrot and spinach muffins. If you find the right recipe, you can cram a lot of wholesome veg into your little ones without any complaints.
Blitz vegetables into smoothies
I recently added a Nutribullet to the kitchen line-up and it is undoubtedly the hardest worker in the house. My kids have made up a game where they try and guess what I put into the smoothie. They are well aware that I add vegetables such as beetroot, spinach and even cauliflower to their smoothies. I find any fruit tends to overpower the taste of the vegetables so it’s a great way to get some bonus veg into the daily intake.
Make “hidden veg” sauce
It’s a classic but it works. Making a hidden veg pasta sauce is a great way to sneak in a load of vegetables. Once it is blended there are no identifiable vegetables and it’s a versatile sauce that can be used in numerous dishes.
Appeal to children’s imagination
What kid doesn’t love a good make-believe story? If your child is reluctant to eat their veggies, try turning them into something else completely. I once told my girls that broccoli was tiny trees where fairies lived and if they ate them the fairies would be homeless. The heartless mischiefs ate those fairy homes right up without a second thought to the destitute fairies.
Add vegetables to desserts
My kids love a beetroot chocolate cake or black bean brownie. There are so many desserts where vegetables can be added to enhance texture and flavour.
Make your own “branded” vegetables
I’m not sure if this hack actually works but it’s pretty funny. I’m absolutely going to try it. You know how kids are lured by Peppa Pig yoghurts or Elsa from Frozen bottled water? In a Facebook post, one mum has suggested taking your own stickers to the grocery store and sticking them on vegetables. That way the kids can eat unicorn capsicum or Bluey bananas. Genius.
Serve vegetables with ketchup (or another favourite dip)
I know, ketchup isn’t exactly high on the list of nutritious offerings but the kids (and hubby) love it. My girls have been known to dip all manner of food items – including vegetables – in ketchup…and enjoy them. If you get your hands on the salt and sugar reduced variety it’s slightly less lamentable.
Involve kids in the cooking
My fussiest eater is also the one who most loves helping me cook. There have been many times where she has tasted a small teaspoon of the meal we’ve cooked together and gone on to eat a large helping at dinner time. Trying food in a moment of enjoyment and without the pressure of the formal meal time seems one of the best ways to introduce new foods, including meals loaded with veg.
Chop vegetables up really finely and add to other dishes
Adding extra vegetables to a bolognese or a curry is a great way of slipping in extra nutrients. For fussy eaters, just chop them up so small they are hardly noticeable. Covered in sauce they may just go undetected!
Make food fun
Rather than simply serving standard meals on a plate or a bowl, have some fun with meals once in a while. I recently made rainbows from mixed veg complete with broccoli clouds and pumpkin soup and toast “soupy spiders”. It is minimal effort but adding interesting shapes or making characters out of meals has great appeal for kids.
Add veggies to homemade ice-lollies
Summer is on its way here in Australia and my kids always ask for ice-lollies in the summer. Just like with smoothies, many vegetables could be added to a homemade fruity frozen treat and your child would be none-the-wiser.
Just keep offering
I’ve read this on almost every post about improving your child’s vegetable intake: just keeping offering the vegetables. So, there must be some truth in it. Unfortunately, I can’t endorse this as I’m still in the “keep offering” stage myself. But I’ll update this in a few years time!
Do you have any other suggestions for adding more vegetables to your child’s diet? Please share them in the comments!