This is going to be a short one: If you want kids to eat more vegetables, give them the vegetables before their main meal.
I do this a lot. Cucumbers with salt and vinegar--or just plain spears--whole carrots, frozen peas or green beans, raw snow peas or radishes . . . all of these are very happily consumed by my children in that hour before dinner when I'm trying to cook and they're staaaarving and can't waaaaaait to eat.
Oh, really? You're THAT hungry? Cool. Here's a carrot.
I don't bother making it fancy. I don't cut the carrots into sticks or give them dip or anything. Just the raw vegetables.
They still get a vegetable on their plates at dinner, too, but I don't worry about it much if they don't finish that, because I know they already had something vegetal.
If you start this expectation early on that if they're really hungry right before a meal, then all they will get is a vegetable, then they will accept that. At least, that's been my experience.
I think it helps that raw vegetables are almost always more acceptable to children than cooked ones. I do not know why this is, but it is definitely true.
Have a nice Tuesday.
5 comments:
Good advice!
Linda
This even works for my teenagers. On pizza nights, I put out carrot sticks and other crunchy things (baby carrots taste horrible compared to real, whole carrots that are peeled and cut, FYI), and while they're waiting for the pizza to cook they will nibble on those. If my younger ones are waiting for grilled cheese, they get cut up fruits and veg while I'm cooking it.
I got a nice surprise the other day. I am on a soft diet for suspected jaw issues, and I had a huge vat of lentil soup in the crockpot. Lots of carrots, celery and kale in it. The kids were having pizza, or so I thought, while we played a game, and then I saw my oldest, who usually shies away from vegetables, helping himself to lentil soup and ENJOYING IT. I think a cardinal rule of feeding the young is--pretend it's not for them, don't even promote it, and they'll try it. Or maybe that's just my kids. My son said it was "just the thing" that he was craving.
After reading this, I realize my mother did this. I remember watching her cut up cabbage, rutabaga, and squash to cook for supper. I would always ask for some raw and she was more than willing to oblige. I could barely eat the three bites I was required to eat of those vegetables. I should have done this when I had children at home.
A good plan overall. I tend to eat more vegetables when I start with them, whether as salad, cooked, or as things to munch on while cooking something else. A side benefit: by starting with vegetables, one may be less likely to strand items for too long at the back of the vegetable drawers (guilty, guilty as charged--).
Excellent tip!
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