HIDING THE GOOD STUFF FROM THE KIDS
Get your five a day
Health experts recommend that we all consume at least 5 portions of fruit and veg a day, with some scientists and researchers suggesting that 7 or even 10 portions is the magic number.
As parents we always want to do the very best for our kids and make sure they consume a varied and healthy diet, but when your kids go on veg strike, just getting 5 portions of the good stuff in can seem like a struggle. So what can we do as parents?
Fresh, tinned or dried
First of all it is worth remembering what counts towards the 5 a day. Not everyone has the time to prepare or the budget to buy all their fruit and veg fresh, but the good news is that frozen or tinned fruit and vegetables are just as good. Do buy ones tinned in natural juice or water, with no added sugar or salt.
A 30g portion of dried fruit, such as currants, dates, sultanas and figs, counts as 1 of your 5 a day, but should be eaten at mealtimes, and not as a between-meal snack, to reduce the impact on teeth decay.
Juice it
The current advice is to limit the consumption of fruit or vegetable juices and smoothies to a combined total of 150ml a day (1 portion). Squeezing or blending fruit into juice releases the sugars they contain, which can damage teeth. Even unsweetened fruit juice and smoothies are sugary, so limit these to a combined total of 150ml a day too.
Potatoes do not count towards your 5 a day but they do provide energy, fibre, B vitamins and potassium, and we even get some vitamin C from them. Sweet potatoes, parsnips, swedes and turnips do count towards your 5 A Day because they're usually eaten in addition to the starchy food part of the meal.
Here are littleseed’s top tips for getting kids to eat veggies!
Chop it small!
Grating or blitzing raw veg in a food processor rather than chopping can make it even easier to hide in sauces, soups and stews!
Try grating carrot into your spag bol or courgette into your curry.
Blend it up
What they can’t see won’t hurt them, so pack your soups and pasta sauces full of veggies and then blitz in a food processor or with a stick blender to hide the evidence.
Make it fun
Get the kids involved. Our recipes for rainbow pizzas or veggie bean burgers are a great way to get the kids involved in preparing their food and make eating veg more fun.
Dip it
Some kids turn their nose up at cooked veg but love the crunch of raw carrot sticks, celery and cucumber. Pack some extra veg points in by preparing some tasty veggie dips to go with crudities such as pumpkin houmous or beetroot and butterbean dip..
Bake with it
There are so many great baking recipes using fresh fruit but even veg can be used to make tasty treats. Why not try carrot cake or grated courgette in savoury muffins or scones.
Need some inspiration…
Here are a few fruit and veg laden recipes that our littleseedlings love!