Get these sneaky and clever tips to get your fussy eaters to eat more veggies!
Oh, I remember the days when we started to wean Aiden. We used the baby-led weaning method that I’ve previously posted about and I had visions of him being a vegetable warrior, diving into a plate of courgetti with my homemade beef ragu with great enthusiasm without any fussy eater issues.
Indeed, he was brilliant with his veggies when we started out. Green beans were a big hit and I have many photos of him voluntarily stuffing broccoli florets into his mouth. I remember (admittedly sometimes too smugly) telling everyone that he enjoys eating asparagus and was a dream when it comes to his vegetables. My mum always warned me when I used to tell her about his latest vegetable conquest that he will reach an age where he will refuse eating his vegetables. Pah! Seriously, that’s never going to happen?
Well, sadly we are in it! My green eating machine baby has turned into a fussy toddler when it comes to his vegetables. He’s not a fussy eater in general, Aiden is a great eater as long as it isn’t green. I refuse to give up and still serve him up a portion of vegetables at every meal, but it does frustrate me that he will turn his nose up at them without giving them a try.
I’m not going to lie, we haven’t made any massive improvements yet, but I remain hopeful. I’ve tried out various sneaky tips to get him to eat more veggies and I thought I would share them with you in case you were experiencing something similar with your little one.
Add a portion of vegetables to a smoothie
Aiden just loves being grown up, which usually means having to copy what mama and dada are doing. So when I’m drinking my green smoothies I always make sure that I serve it with an extra straw for him because he’s no doubt going to want some.
Smoothies are an excellent and easy way to disguise tastes and textures that your little one may not like. Things like spinach, peas, carrots and spring greens blend really well and can be naturally sweetened with berries, mango, banana, apple and grapes to name just a few.
Disguising them as something else
I have a carb king on my hands, my little dude is a massive pasta and rice fan. I’m trying to use this to my advantage and regularly sneak vegetables into his starchy carbs by grating cauliflower into his rice or serving courgetti among his pasta. Playing around with different food textures and disguising vegetables this way has actually had a better success rate for us.
Bulking out meals with vegetables
I know a traditional beef ragu recipe doesn’t call for grated carrots or courgettes, but I don’t care! Last week I made a weekly meal planner staple of homemade ragu with pasta and decided to try my chances by grating a carrot and courgette into the sauce. Low and behold, in went the grated carrots and courgettes without even a tantrum or batter of an eye-lid!
Like before, playing around with textures has been great for us and I often bulk out my meals with extra vegetables to boost their nutritional value, even if the recipe states otherwise.
Hidden Pasta Sauces
I haven’t tried this trick myself yet, but it’s on my to-do list, so thought I would share it anyway. Since Aiden loves pasta so much I’ve got high hopes for this Hidden Veggie Tomato Sauce, which sounds amazing and most importantly is packed full of vegetables.
Keep on serving them up
I refuse to give up and I’m going to stay firm and keep serving them at every opportunity. Playing to a toddler’s wants can easily spiral into major fussy eating habits later, so by continuing to serve the vegetables and encouraging him to eat them hopefully may mean that my vegetable eating monster will one day return.
We try our best to be perfect parents, which tends to include having a veggie eating superstar for a child. However, I think we need to give ourselves some slack and remember that we’re all doing the best we can. Aiden is happy and healthy and I’m not worried that he’s not a massive vegetable eater anymore. Hopefully, someday we will get back to the way things were, but now I will keep on trying and love my carb eating machine just the way he is.
HI jemma. Great article! I run an award-winning kids’ cookery school set up because my son was a fussy eater. I’d be delighted to share some tips with you if that would help. Keep at it and you will get there!
Thanks Nicole! Sure, I would love to hear some of your tips.
Lots of great tips here! I so, SO hope that my daughter isn’t fussy and she loves veggies as much as her mummy does, but I know it doesn’t always work that way.
I know, I hope she does too! I don’t think Aiden hates them in particular, I think he now knows that he has a choice to eat them or not.
I know, I hope she does too! I don’t think Aiden hates them in particular, I think he now knows that he has a choice to eat them or not.
Now I remember this being me as a child and them having to be hidden in food. I think the smoothie one is a great idea, he’s getting loads of benefits, probably more than if he ate them? x
Thankfully he loves smoothies, so gets lots of nutrition through them.
These are great tips and suggestions especially for new first time moms like me! My little one only started eating real food, so I am happy to learn anything I can.
Awww, it’s so great when they start to eat solids.
Bulking up existing meals is such a winner – when I used to nanny I was the queen of sneaky-veg!
Hahaha! Love that you sneaked in the veg.
im all about sneaky veggies!!! I make my niece smoothies and tell her their milkshakes
That’s a great tip!
Great article here! I don’t have a child (yet) and yes I know how stressful fussy eaters are (I saw it from my friends with babies). I think it is good that we train them to eat nutritious food at the early age, and if possible not allowing them to touch adult food coz its a temptation 🙂
Oh definitely, giving them a strong education about food at the beginning is a great help during adulthood.
Love these ideas – my mum always used to sneak healthy food into things to get me to eat them!
I think it’s a typical mum thing judging by some of these comments. 🙂
These are all great tips and advice! My boys also decides against liking healthier foods so we try to blend them i to their foods and disguise them! Luckily if we get one of them to try the other one will haha
That’s good that they copy each other, helps you out a bit!
Great tips, my Daughter used to eat all sorts as a baby but as soon as she grew into a toddler she was a nightmare, she is still very fussy with vegetables. I did start serving different things up for her saying some she would like, some she wouldn’t and that was fine we would leave those to try another time as tastes change etc etc, and it worked with some things.
I love this idea! My nan always used to do this with me to get me to eating more healthily.
Aww, that’s lovely that your Nan tried to get you to eat healthily.
I bulk out our meals with hidden veg and beans and it usually works for Sylvia.
Great to hear that it’s working for you.
I love these ideas so much. I’ll keep them in mind. My daughter eats pretty healthy, but my son is pickier.
Glad to hear that you like these tips Amber.
This is funny because these tips apply to me too, and I’m 21! I hate veg so I try to do some of these things already for me 😀 Great post 🙂
Haha! This made me laugh.
Great tips. I remember my little sister was a very fussy eater. We had to use various tricks to get her to eat veggies.
There are so many different tricks to try!
When I was a kid my mum used to have to hide vegetables in my food because I never liked them. Now I have to cut them so small in my food so I can disguise them x
I need these tips for a fussy hubby who really isnt a fan of some (most) foods x
This made me laugh too! Fussy hubby’s can be a challenge.
Great ideas! I was never a picky eater and neither were either of my brothers so I have a hard time understanding the concept. Maybe we just love to eat too much!
That’s awesome that you have such a positive attitude towards food.
Post is right up my alley! My three year old is so picky. And we eat mostly fruits and veggies. It is upsetting when the kids won’t eat the healthy stuff. Thank you for the tips on how to hide them.
It can be very upsetting, especially when you put so much effort in.
HAHAHA, this is great. I recall as a a youngster having stand-offs with my mother at the dinner table. My in-laws have a unique approach with this: they dish up a serving of everything. If you don’t eat your veggies, you might be a lil’ hungrier. No seconds on anything ’till you’ve eaten everything on your plate.
I think that’s a great approach to help stop fussy eating.
Some great tips shared! I don’t have kids but can totally understand the pain of all moms as my niece hates veggies and its everyday task for everyone in the family to feed her meal!
It can be such a struggle sometimes.
Fab tips – my children are sometimes fussy and other times they aren’t! LOL! I love the smoothie idea x
They can be so fickle sometimes.
Both of my boys are picky and they are 11 and 9! They’ll eat french fries and potatoes all day, so we mash cauliflower in lieu of mashed potatoes. I love your idea of bulking up your meals with the grated veggies. I’m definitely going to try that soon!
Grating veggies into meals has really worked well for us, especially in pasta sauces.
I’m sorry to say I’m still a fussy eater and avoid vegetables like the plague. Great tips though, my Mum used to do the hidden trick too
I think all mums try the hidden veg trick!
Such awesome tips! I know it can be a pain getting greens into little ones!
It can be so difficult, but these tips are helping.
So many great tips – going to try them out and see if my little sister notices haha
I hope they work for your sister.
I have to “hide” certain foods in meals when I’m cooking for a particular friend because she is so fussy! I refuse to compromise on flavour ha
Flavour is key, so I don’t blame you on that one.
Great tips! Dressing up veggies to make them look like something else or making smoothies sound like a great idea!
Thanks! Yes, the smoothie trick works really well.
my mum use to trick me and say that tofu was egg and this very day, i still don’t like tofu haha
Haha! It’s an acquired taste I guess.
I’ve always been a great eater, my children are on and off.
My older boys were great until they got to about 7/8 and refuse to eat anything that comes from the ground. So I do hidden veg in everything.
My youngest loves veg luckily, but hidden veg is a fab idea!
I love hiding veg and playing with different textures at the moment.
My children did exactly the same and refused all form of vegetables. However as they got older, they got better. One of them is now actually a vegetarian!
That’s incredible! I’m hoping he will get better as he gets older.
Excellent tips. I don’t have much trouble with my crew but when I keep a friends kids they are so much trouble to feed. I’m going to try some of these to see if I can get them to eat veggies.
That would be so lovely of you!
These are great tips. I have trouble getting my boyfriend to eat his veggies and have honestly taken to trying many of the kid approved techniques. He seems to be willing when they’re masked. Lol
luckily my two love vegetables and fruit but they are not too keen on the meat like chicken for example. It’s hard to do up a meal that is mixed together but I have my certain meals I make every week for them. I ate everything as a child.