Veggies make me gag

upoffthemat

I used to hate brussel sprouts, but cut those suckers in half, drizzle over a mixture of olive oil, balsamic vinegar, maple syrup and garlic salt and bake at 350 for about 20 minutes and that is absolutely awesome.

Otherwise, like others have said, pureeing veggies into sauces really helps if you don't like them. Don't be afraid to try grilling some fruits and veggies, it changes texture and taste as well. Over time you may find you even start liking them raw.

Another easy thing to do with carrots is shred them(fine), put in about a tablespoon of butter and a teaspoon of sugar in a full casserole dish of grated carrots and bake at 350. They actually come out super sweet and easy to eat.

RoteBook

treegirl97 wrote: »

I have a cookbook at home called "Deceptively Delicious" by Jessica Seinfeld that is meant for kids but there are actually some really tasty recipes. They all incorporate pureed veggies and you seriously can't taste them. I'm sure you could find tons of great recipes online.

This. There's another one called Sneaky Chef that I used with my older kid.

As others have said, there's no need to eat crunchy veggies if you don't want to. You can be healthy without them.

But if you're interested in trying to learn to like them, texture issues can be hard to get over, but it can be done.

I've gotten over some texture issues as an adult. I couldn't eat anything that was what I considered a wet + gummy texture as a kid. Raw tomatoes and pad Thai took a very long time for me to like, and tbh I still cannot eat mushrooms. But now tomato slices with basil and mozzarella are one of my favorite early summer lunches. I kept trying occasionally until I found some I liked.

pebble4321

crzyone wrote: »

Okay, I'm an old country girl who loves vegetables. There are so many ways to cook veggies: slice a sweet potato thin and fry it in a little Pam on both sides till soft, then sprinkle some sweetener and cinnamon on it; put a can of green beans in a pot, slice potatoes and place on top with some onion slices, add some water to cover the potatoes and add seasonings of your choice like garlic or Mrs. Dash, cook till potatoes are soft, it will almost hide the taste of the beans with the potatoes; slice cucumbers into a bowl with onion rings and cover in vinegar, let set an hour or so before eating; when you empty a jar of pickles, put whole canned green beans in the vinegar that is left and let sit in the fridge a few days for pickled beans; slice yellow squash, onions, and pototoes coin-thin, coat with corn meal, and fry in a skillet with Pam till all are soft--greatest taste ever: cut a spaghetti squash in half and cook in microwave till soft---it will pull out like strings when you pull a it with a fork, put sweetener and cinnamon and a big of butter on it--you can do this with butternut squash or acorn squash also; try a sandwich on low cal bread--peanut butter on one side, mustard on the other and a wad of lettuce in the middle--yummy.

I know you said your budget is limited but if you could find a good farmer's market this summer, fresh veggies are the best.

Good luck......I struggle with eating meat because of texture, smell, etc.

You've had lots of good ideas here, and I think the key here is just to try things out and don't give up after one try. If you try a recipe or cooking technique and you don't like it, don't give up on that veggie right away, but try it another day, cooked in another way.
I like veggies and eat a lot of them cooked in different ways, but just about every single suggestion in the post I've quoted sounds horrible me. That doesn't mean they are bad and that other people won't like them, but that things like adding sweetener to veggies or re-cooking canned green beans is not my cup of tea at all. And I don't like raw onions, but I will eat them cooked.
Everyone is different, good on you for trying out some different stuff.

robininfl

zoopop47 wrote: »

I have a similar problem - - I've come to believe that no one really eats vegetables because they actually taste good. Rather you know that you are supposed to or your mother told you to...

Green stuff (e.g., brocolli) is palatable with yellow (cheese) stuff or white (butter) stuff, but that, too, is problematic.

Low sodium V8 juice helps some. Multi vitamins get the basic elements

I like lots of vegetables, love some. My kids are the same, will eat things because they enjoy them. Even the sugar monster 9 year old, she has stolen tomatoes from the bowl to have as a snack because she likes them, the 12 year old goes back for more salad, she loves salad. The older girls love veggies too, one likes "french grandma soups" (cooking and pureeing whatever is at hand, with herbs and some cream) and one loves veggie stir fry with a passion, is always chopping up veg for stir fry. They all love okra so much too, and corn.

Vegetables are FOOD. They taste good, they have interesting textures, they feel good.

Nobody likes everything, though. I can't stand sweet potato, or winter squash, and brussels sprouts are iffy.

gothchiq

Sounds like you may be a supertaster, noticing things in foods that most people don't even taste. Google "supertaster" for more information and to see if you think it applies to you. If you've got to cook the veggies soft and combine with potato, that's fine to do. Also, fruits, and like everyone else says, a vitamin pill. Fast food is definitely not good for weight loss. How are you doing with the proteins? Baked chicken, lean beef, etc?

LPflaum

I second the suggestion of Chili- my mom used to hide all sorts of veggies in it- onions, green peppers, carrots, zucchini, whatever we had. It doesn't have to be spicy and you can add enough meat and beans to mask it (do you like beans? maybe that's a veggie you would like?)
Have you ever tried a zoodler? It's a little contraption that turns zucchini and yellow squash into noodles. By the time you put pasta sauce on them it's hard to tell the difference.
My SO used to avoid veggies like the plague and we found out that grilled or roasted, he'll eat most of them. Maybe focus on some of the sweeter veggies with high sugar content and roast/grill them? Caramelized onions in a french onion soup, plantains (they need to be black or they won't be sweet), butternut squash, tomatoes?

Dannigreen31

I juice my veg cause I hate them also!

HStheBusyBee

This may or may not be helpful but I think it also helps to not have too much on your plate! What I mean is, try and only put one floret of broccoli on your plate or 1/2 a handful of spinach in a smoothie. Sometimes it can be pretty intimidating to have a large volume of food on your plate that you are not sure about. Once you've found the flavour combinations that work for you, up the volume of veg

yirara

Make veggies the Dutch way: cook potatoes, cook fine-rasped carrots and onions, mash everything together. Or use sauerkraut instead of carrots and onions, or other veggies you can mash into your potatoes. Other than that: there's a huge array of food items between veggies and fast food. Just cook something else. What about soups like lentils with potatoes and bacon, squash/potato soup with chili and ginger, Indian dhal? Lots of options, really. Plus pulses generally don't taste bitter like many fresh veggies do, they taste like pulses

Other than that: many veggies do have a bitter taste. Those include tomatoes, courgette, cucumber and many others as well actually but most people don't recognise it as such. I do to a certain extend as I'm mildly allergic against this kind of bitterness and get a raw mouth or blisters (it's the same that's in walnuts and unripe bananas). Some people just recognise this bitterness more than others, which from an evolutionary point makes sense as bitter often means poisonous. Thus it is possible that you indeed notice the bitterness more than others. I suggest trying something else than those items. Try pulses. I can guarantee you that at least this specific type of bitterness is not in them.

Vetticus_3

As a supertaster, I think you're either:
a) used to the idea that you don't like vegetables, and became unwilling to try new flavours (stubborn); or
b) so used to bland junk that anything other than sweet/fat/salt/starch tastes wrong; or
c) really bad at cooking.

There are some things I simply won't eat - cilantro is one (it taste like soap and perfume).
But how can you lump all of the flavours and textures of vegetables together? There's the bitter of boiled brussels sprouts slightly fried in coconut oil with garlic, or the sweetness of roasted pumpkin, or the crisp buttery cleanliness of sliced raw zucchini... or carrots, sauteed in garlic, or marinated in orange juice and fried in olive oil, or pureed with other root vegetables. Or cabbage...OMG, the things that can be done with cabbage... raw, pickled, baked, boiled, roasted, and the different types of cabbage already thinking of dinner.

You cannot blame genetics for not liking vegetables. Most chef's are supertasters. Having an unadventurous or boring palate is not due to genetics. Age and experience overrides genetics here.

I would suggest getting a cook book and practice.

And to be tested as a supertaster... see if there's a science fair going on. There's usually a stall that will give out PTC paper for a test (and usually stickers and mints). If not, the strips are available for about £5 on amazon, for 100 strips. There's even a test for PTC and sodium benzoate for under £20.

shrcpr

OP, your list of veggies that you can stand is very close to mine. I eat those ones. I don't eat the other ones. I take a multi-vitamin.

hazzaram

I've been doing a little experimenting. I'm loving my morning smoothie's with avocado. Once I use them up, I'm going to move onto something else. Maybe spinach and give that a try. I also tried mashing some carrots into my potatoes and it was pretty good! Cauliflower is next to try with potatoes. Here's hoping, because I really hate cauliflower on its own lol

I'm also going to try pumpkin in my pasta sauce as was mentioned above but I'm a little unsure about that one. Do I just toss a small can of pumpkin (like the pie filling stuff???) in with a jar of marinara?

I'd like to try chili but I'm unsure. I don't like beans but maybe I could make up the chili and puree the beans. Something I forgot to mention before (because I'm seeing a lot of suggestions for it) is that I absolutely cannot stand onions. They're probably the top of my list of things I just can't eat. I usually just use onion powder as a replacement for them.

gothchiq wrote: »

Sounds like you may be a supertaster, noticing things in foods that most people don't even taste. Google "supertaster" for more information and to see if you think it applies to you. If you've got to cook the veggies soft and combine with potato, that's fine to do. Also, fruits, and like everyone else says, a vitamin pill. Fast food is definitely not good for weight loss. How are you doing with the proteins? Baked chicken, lean beef, etc?

I've been sticking mostly to baked chicken. For lunches I've been eating a baked chicken breast with a cup of rice and I've enjoyed it. I don't know much about meat but I've heard beef and pork isn't really good for you so I've been trying to stay away from it. I love eating those boneless skinless pork chops though. My issue with protein is I eat too much of it. I can easily eat like 3 chicken breasts lol. Portion control is something I'm working on. I just always feel hungry =\

stealthq

If the bitter tastes get to you, try peeling veggies like cucumber, zucchini, eggplant, tomato (blanch and peel), etc. Much of the bitterness is in the peel. Obviously, eggplant needs additional treatments as already described to pull the bitterness out of the flesh. Yes, you lose some fiber when you don't eat the peel but that you can supplement easily enough.

Also, since charring from roasting doesn't appeal, I'd suggest cooking them low and slow. You can get the sweetness of roasting without any of the burnt taste. You might then dice them finely or puree in the blender and mix in with other sauces, soups, etc.