My husband and I are picky eaters. Probably him more than me, but we sometimes both eat like 5 year olds. This doesn’t bode well when you have 2 kids in the house that you are trying to teach to eat healthy, balanced diets. I think we failed my son in the eating department. He would eat almost anything we gave him when he was a baby and eating baby food. After the baby food stage, I found it very hard to figure out how to keep him eating vegetables. I feel like we have done a little better with my daughter. I made most of her baby food, so I just kept making vegetables for her and she eats them like a champ! The root problem is that my husband and I don’t eat enough vegetables. This is something I am going to be working on in the month of June.
Here are a few ways we have tried to get more vegetables on our plates and in our mouths:
- Make smoothies for the family that have veggies “hidden” in them. My kids love smoothies. I, on the other hand, am not a big fan. It has something to do with the texture. When I make smoothies, I use berries so they are mainly fruity but I also add spinach and carrots to get some vegetables in there. You can’t even taste them!
- Start with vegetables that you already like and try to incorporate more of them into your meals. My go to vegetable is squash. I love it just about any way you can make it. My current favorite way to make squash is to cut it up with red potatoes and onion, put it in my iron skillet with some olive oil and some seasoning and put it in the oven until everything is cooked soft. We have also started adding sweet potato in the mix. I like sweet potatoes, but my husband isn’t a huge fan. He does, however, like sweet potato like this. It isn’t too sweet with the other added veggies.
- Start trying a new vegetable every week or so.
- Learn to cook each vegetable correctly.
- Buy the best quality vegetables you can afford. Farmers Markets are a great place to get good quality vegetables that are in season in your area. Here are links to a few farmers markets in the area you should check out!
- Cowtown Farmers Market
- BRIT Farmers Market
- Elizabeth Anna
- Southside Urban Market
- Annetta Valley Farmers Market
What has worked for you to incorporate more vegetables in your family’s diet? Also, do you have a favorite farmers market that isn’t on the list? Share it with us!
That sounds yum-o! We are the same way. My little guy’s favorites are green beans and carrots so we eat a lot of those, but it’s kinda boring. Thanks for the farmer’s market links!
THANKS MEREDITH! Those are some great ideas!
We have a VERY picky eater…some tips that have worked for us:
–Put less on his plate. If I load up his plate he automatically starts arguing. If I put 3 tiny green beans on his plate and tell him he only has to eat one to begin with, it goes a lot smoother.
–We have the one try rule – you HAVE to try everything. if you don’t like it you can say ‘no thank you’
–We are starting a garden this summer and I plan on taking the kids to some of those farmer’s markets to spike their interest in veggies.
We do http://www.yourhealthsource.org. This is more affordable and organic. I just show up, pay my money and get 2 bags of produce every other Tuesday. It has forced us to be more creative with what we eat AND eat more because I don’t want to waste it! LOVE LOVE Your Health Source. We’ve also done a garden for 5 summers, now. It’s so fun.
Even with all of this exposure, big girl only eats veggies hidden in smoothies and squeezes. Little girl eats anything in front of her!
I’m going to try that squash, potato, onion concoction. Sounds yummy!