Undercover Fruits and Veggies!
You know that fruits and vegetables are good for you, but how can you make sure kids eat them? Moms and Dads have long used a variety of sneaky ways to add fruits and vegetables, and essential nutrients, to their children’s diets.
Take advantage of our tips below. We also welcome your suggestions!
For breakfast, try:
- including blueberries, strawberries, or raspberries in yogurt, or cold or hot cereal,
- adding nuts and dried fruit like raisins or apricots to yogurt or cereal,
- top pancakes or waffles with peaches or mango,
- mixing onions, spinach, and mushroom in eggs, or
- having banana with peanut butter on whole grain toast.
For lunch, try:
- loading soup with carrots, celery, potato, peas, corn, green beans, or other veggie favorites,
- adding different kinds of beans to chilli like black beans and kidney beans,
- having cottage cheese with pineapple or watermelon,
- having whole wheat pita or a roll-up with avocado, lettuce, tomato, and low-fat cheese,
- having white bean dip or hummus with carrot or celery sticks.
For dinner, try:
- adding broccoli and red peppers to tomato sauce,
- topping pizza with green peppers, onions, and mushrooms,
- having a stir-fry with snap or snow peas, carrots, zucchini, and squash,
- adding fresh cilantro and sautéed onions and orange and yellow peppers to fajitas or tacos,
- adding pureed blueberries to ground beef, or
- adding cauliflower to mashed potatoes.
For dessert, try:
- making zucchini bread,
- making pumpkin pie,
- replacing oil with apple sauce in cookies and cakes, or
- adding sweet potato puree to brownie mix.
Remember, these are just suggestions. Try different combinations of fruits and vegetables at different meals to get in as many flavors (and nutrients!) as possible. Also, be sure to involve your children in preparation – kids are more likely to eat foods that they help make. Lastly, if you eat lots of fruits and vegetables yourself, your children will learn by following your good example!
For other ways to get kids to eat more produce, we suggest that you:
- Keep washed fruit out in a bowl.
- Have ready-to-serve individual fruit cups in the fridge.
- Make vegetable-and-dip packs for snacks.
- Serve vegetables as a side dish at meals.
- Modern Menus
Have questions regarding this article? Ask the Nutritionist.