Suggestions on meals for someone who doesn't eat veggies really!?

millermom2007

I am looking to get on track with healthy eating, but I am struggling a little because I don't really eat veggies?? Help!

Jax_Grim

+1
I have the same issue. I am curious as to the responses. I have been able to get a few more veggies in by finding different ways to season and cook them, but I still struggle.

citygirl3133

That is a tough one. If I were you, I would make a list of the vegetables that you DO eat and figure out as many ways as possible to prepare them (in a healthful way of course). Then I would build from there. Maybe some are easier for you when they are "closer to the ground," i.e. raw. Sautéing or steaming the veggies so they are still bright and a bit crunchy is the best way to retain flavor and nutrients. I hated vegetables for the longest time, because in the house where I grew up they were cooked to mush. Now that I know how they should be prepared, they taste so much better. Pair the veggies with lean proteins and limit starches/carbs.

millermom2007

I am hoping we can get some good advice and suggestions

Stella3838

Well, there sure are a lot of veggies out there. Sure something might tickle your fancy? If not, there are actually a lot of webpages I've seen about hiding veggies in food dishes from your kids, such as purée them for soup or pasta dishes. Maybe you can trick yourself into loving them! Have you ever tried oven roasting broccoli, green beans, cauliflower, baby carrots...the list of roastable ones is long! Toss in olive oil, a touch of sea salt and cracked pepper and roast on a cookie sheet at 375 for 45 minutes or getting tender. I LOVE broccoli. It's gets a little crisp. Yum!

goldthistime

Eat lots of fruit. "Vegetable" is a made up term anyway, many vegetables are technically fruits. Canadian food guide says seven servings of fruit or vegetables. Yes, fruits have more sugar in them, but if you're like me, you need to add extra calories in the form of a fat or starchy carb to your vegetables to make them enjoyable, so fruits are no worse.

Nicklebee93

Ever think of a stir fry? Pot pie? Just simply adding some lettuce to a sandwich?

TheSunAndTheRainfall

If you haven't really eaten veggies much before, you run the risk of putting yourself off them even further if you jump in the deep end. Like citygirl said above, find the veg you do like, and start from there.

Steaming veg is quick, easy, gets them nice and soft and keeps most of their nutrients packed tightly in. From there it's just a case of adding things to make them palatable to you and even *gasp* taste nice! Start out with some steamed broccoli, with cracked black pepper and some cottage cheese, or fry it for a few minutes with some garlic. Cauliflower and carrots go great with some lean chicken and gravy.

Onions/leeks/diced carrots can all be used to bulk out pasta dishes, where they're small enough not to be tasted much but help to bulk the dish out and so reduce the amount of pasta you need. Chopping pretty much any veg into small parts is a great way to eat them without noticing.

The king, for me, is stir frys. A handful of protein (eg small chicken chunks/beef strips), a few noodles and a decent sauce (hoi sin, szechuan) and that's it; just add whatever veg you have to hand, I guarantee you won't taste them. Spring onions, pak choy, peppers, aubergine, courgette, you name them. Finish it off with some beansprouts and water chestnuts and you have a delicious meal FULL of veg. Just watch the portion sizes of the protein and the oil to keep calories down.

KaelaLee88

I used to think that I hated Veggies too but I discovered that I just didn't like them the way that i'd had them prepared. Try starting with some tomato-based sauces and gradually add vegetables into it like mushrooms, onions, peppers, etc. You can find out what you like and what you don't like. The sauce can also be blended once cooked so texture doesn't become such a problem (unless you dislike sauces and soup textures). You can try root vegetables with skin left on, par-boiled, sprayed lightly with cooking spray, seasoned and roasted in the oven. You can even add some clear honey to them before cooking which gives them an extra-sweet flavour as is relatively low in calories (you don't need much).

KatyBell164

Keto/Low Carb meals usually are very low in fruits and veggies - lots of meat and cheeses

Funnylittlenut

I'm slowly trying to ween my boyfriend onto vegetables. He's also gone his whole life despising veggies. Unfortunately for health you really do need to eat vegetables. Here are the things that I've so far had luck with, and so might work for you too:

- Stirfrying vegetables with meat, soy sauce, honey and seeds. He found the soy sauce and honey drowned out the vegetable flavour and the more he ate it, the more he got used to it.
- Putting basic salad stuffs in wraps with meat and barbecue sauce.
- Roasting root vegetables with maple syrup or honey. The trick here is to cut them into french fry-like shapes so that it seems like a healthy french fry hack.

TeaBea

You don't ever have to eat veggies. But it's in your best interest in the long run to acquire a taste for some of them.

Veggies are generally low calorie and high volume. They can help you lower your overall calorie totals. You can "bulk out" calorie dense foods and still have a decent sized portion. Example: Mac n' Cheese with cooked cauliflower added gives me a decent sized serving. Broccoli added to alfredo is another.

Try cooking veggies many different ways: roast, grill, steam or eat raw. Start with fresh or frozen......or canned (blech!) but some people like them. They will be different textures. Try different seasonings. Keep trying and you will find some you like....eventually.

You can eat small portions of calorie dense foods forever (a smaller you will require fewer calories to maintain) or learn to like a few veggies.

SailorSarah311

I find ways to mask the veggies in other foods. For example, finely grating carrots and mixing them in with marinara sauce. You can't taste the carrots at all. You can also grate up other veggies and mix them in with your favorite hamburger patty. I also support the idea of trying to cook the veggies in different ways. Trial and error to find what tastes best for you.

KimmalyS

Well- how about homemade veggie burgers? I actually made it tonight, here's a pic. It's out of this world good.

KimmalyS

Enjoy!!

jcraig10

I don't really like veggies either but have found I like roasted green beans...toss in olive oil, pepper, and a dash of salt or whatever spices you want really and roast. Also like roasted baby potatoes if I toss them in some pepper and rosemary.

Just experiment and see if you can find something you like. Edamame actually was really good too right out of the pod. Something I would have never tried but went to a Lunch and Learn at work with a nutritionist and she had them for us to try. Didn't really taste like anything actually.

Tiberiel

Are there any vegetable-based seasonings that you use when you cook, like garlic powder or onion powder? If so you could try adding some of the actual vegetable sometime instead of the powder (just a little bit, I discovered the hard way that the real thing has a lot more flavor to it than the powder version). That would be another thing to try along with the idea of flavoring up red sauce or something like that.

kuftae

Hunger... You're going to feel it by not eating vegetable. I'd eat things with lots of volume so you won't feel as hungry. But it will still suck losing weight when you are hungry most of the time.

lynnannsullivan

I'm in the same boat...tried this recipe recently and really liked it: http://www.epicurious.com/recipes/food/views/roast-brussels-sprouts-51263020

anlymc13

We made a quiche last night for supper and it was loaded with veggies! Thinly slice 1 pound sweet potato, butter a pie pan and layer the sweet potato slices for the 'crust'. Bake crust in 350° oven for 20 minutes. Saute 4 cups of spinach and lay in bottom of crust. Mix 1 cup milk with 6 eggs, 1/4 of a medium onion chopped, 2 cloves of garlic minced, 1 poblano pepper chopped, salt and pepper. Pour egg mixture into crust top with your choice of cheese. Bake at 375° for 35 minutes. Delicious!!

w117seg

I'm not a big veggie lover. I thought I hated everything, but I've gradually grown to find a few I can tolerate using the methods people have described- roasting, stir fry, etc. I don't think I will ever get over my texture issue with tomato chunks.

I did just by a ninja smoothie maker. I wanted to limit my processed foods and increase my veggies this year, and this seemed like the easiest way to do it with my pickiness. For lunch I am having a smoothie with spinach, almond milk, carrots, a and banana. The cookbook that came with it was very interesting and you can really hide a lot of veggies in a smoothie. And you could probably start with a blender assuming you used softer veggies or roasted or steamed them first.

lucys1225

Growing up I never ate a vegetable other than potatoes and corn. In fact I never had broccoli until I was at my in-laws and didn't want to be rude, and I didn't care for it at all. Now, about 80% of my diet is vegetables and I love them. Roasting them was a game changer for me. My advice is to try many different types, different seasonings and different cooking methods. Hopefully, you'll for one... or many that you love.

SoDamnHungry

Try putting vegetables in stir fries, soups, or on a sandwich. You'll probably never love them, and won't be able to eat all of them, but you can easily increase the amount you eat by cooking them in ways that taste better. I'm not a huge veggie person myself but now eat a lot more than I ever thought I would.

chunky_pinup

Just eat your vegetables. They fill you up with a small amount of calories. Just do it. You can buy them frozen in steampacks that you just toss in the microwave - already seasoned and everything. They've made it really easy to incorporate veggies into a diet. Just eat them. Your post said you don't really eat them, but it didn't say anything about not liking them...so just start incorporating them into your diet.

jessiferrrb

you can add them to omelettes and scrambles as well, chopped finely and cooked a bit first before you add the eggs. add a little cheese too and it will further mask them.

hesavesme94

I have found spaghetti squash to be tasty! Pretty easy to make and ver similar to spaghetti! Cut the squash in half and brush with olive oil, season if you like. Bake with the cut half face down at 350°F until tender. Scrape the inside of the squash with a fork, scoop unto bowl and top with tomato sauce. When I was on nutrisystem, this would have been an entirely "free" meal. I topped it with some of the meatballs I got as part of my food and it was delicious!

MamaRiss

I'm making yakisoba tonight, it's not completely authentic, but loaded with veggies. Even my veggie hating husband is excited for his favorite Japanese street food https://eatlaughcraft.com/2014/01/12/beef-yakisoba/

FlippingFins

I always struggled with vegetables. As others have said, it was mainly a case of learning how to prepare them to my liking. I discovered that I like them to still have their crunch, unless I'm cooking them into something where it doesn't matter so much. So, if I'm eating them as individual vegetables, I buy fresh and cook them just enough (or leave them raw).

I also make a Filo parcel. I use two sheets of Filo pastry and add to it a mashed-up mix of butternut squash, mushrooms, broccoli and red onion, with a tomato-based sauce. For this, I use frozen vegetables as they're cheaper and easier to store, and it doesn't matter as I plan to cook them and mash them thoroughly anyway. The crunchy texture of the Filo pastry makes it very satisfying, whilst the vegetables and sauce all blend together and become a very tasty filling with no specific flavour standing out enough to get noticed. That's roughly 500 calories for a very hearty meal that tastes much less healthy than it is. Personally I do use a prepared tomato pasta sauce (roughly 1/3 of a jar for two people - it doesn't need a lot), but you could do it even healthier by using a tomato sauce without any additives of any kind at all.

canadjineh

You could always branch out into interesting and different veggies like jicama which when peeled and sliced or cut into fry-like shape is juicy and crunchy and is really yummy dipped in cinnamon (like a juicy apple, but very low calorie), or maybe you'd like fennel bulb which has a slight black licorice/anise flavour and can make a yummy chopped salad with a fruity vinagrette like raspberry.

augustremulous

Anecdote: When I was 4 years old, my (vegetarian) mother took my to a carnivale, where I asked her to buy me some fish sticks. They were so terrible, but my mother didn't allow me to waste food, and she made me finish them.

Those fish sticks were soooo terrible, sooo terrible, that I did not touch fish again until I was 21. And then, I had to teach myself to like it over time, each small bits here and there, burying it in other foods that I liked, lots of spices so I wouldn't taste the fish taste.

Now, a few years later, I like fish more than any other protein. Absolutely love it.

There are a lot of fad diets out there with varying results, but the one thing that pretty much the entire world agrees on is that vegetables are absolutely vital for your health. It's very much worth developing a taste for them, and it may take some time. As you develop the taste, make sure to pair them with your favorite foods. Your taste will develop quickly.

Anyway, learn some good recipes. One thing you can do is try chunky soups -veggies reduce a lot with cooking, so you can end up getting a lot in there without even noticing. I recently made a sausage based soup that my vegetable-hating boyfriend loved. Here's the recipe:


In a large heavy pot, I sauteed chopped bacon until it was rendered (if I had to make this soup again for myself I would skip the bacon and just use a light oil)
I removed the bacon pieces and left the fat in the pot. I sauteed onions in it. When they were clear and translucent, I added lamb sausage and alpine sausage. When they were cooked, I set the meat aside in a plate with the bacon, and I added large portions of navy beans, canellini beans, chopped carrots, butternut squash, celery, a bit of sweet potato, and half a head of savoy cabbage. I simmered for one hour, and then added the meat back in.

When I served the soup, I filled the bowl with thinly chopped black kale. Then i ladled the soup over it, and it wilted with the hot soup and reduced into the soup.

Each bowl of this was jam packed with vegetables, but it had the sausage taste, too. Each very large bowl had 260 calories and 20 grams of protein, too.


Soups are generally a great way to go to get lots of veggies because you can layer lots of flavors before adding the vegetables.