My kid wont eat vegtables....

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  • cldimiceli
    cldimiceli Posts: 1
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    Here's a great recipe for burgers that contains kale, spinach, mushrooms and red pepper. ( you can also use ground beef)
    1-2 lbs of ground turkey or beef ( depending on size of family) I use 1 lb so recipe follows that. Increase amounts as needed.

    1 lb of ground beef or turkey
    1 cup of spinach
    1 cup of kale
    1 1/2 red pepper
    OPTIONAL: small square piece of cheese for each burger ( this is special treat for the boys)
    Blend all vegetables in cusinart . Add into ground beef or turkey and mix well.
    make burger
    (OPTIONAL CHEESE-split open insert piece of cheese shut burger and cook )
    wrap in lettuce or put on bun

    I also use Milford Spice Brighton's Burger Blast (shameless work promotion) 1 tsp per pound of meat ( OPTIONAL)
  • chadraeder3
    chadraeder3 Posts: 279 Member
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    Maybe try vegies that are considered sweet like parsnips and carrots. Children do not like sour or bitter because those tastes are associated with poisons. Another possible trick is to use salt to stop the receptors in the tongue from sensing bitter tastes. If you want more of a explanation check out the show Good eats where Alton Brown explains how to prepare grapefruit so that it does not taste bitter he also does a couple episodes about children and eating vegetables.
  • msnicol
    msnicol Posts: 3
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    add a little cheese to them.. it worked for my boys
  • ronitabur
    ronitabur Posts: 178 Member
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    Best advice I ever received was from a radio pshychiatrist - put a little bit of vegetables on your childs plate with his meals. Don't force him to eat it. Ask him to try it but don't make him. Often kids just have to get used to how it looks before they try. It's a survival thing. Usually after 4-5 times of putting a vegetable on their plate, they will try it. I did this with my son and I created a monster - he turned vegetarian when he was 14. He decided he didn't need meat any more. So, whe he turned vegetarian, and refused to eat beans, I'd put 2 or 3 beans in his veggie burrito. He'd get mad and I would tell him, "Pick 'em out if you don't want them". Now (he's 21) and one of his favorite foods are bean burritos. One thing you learn with kids is, nothing lasts forever - unless he turns vegetarian, then you're screwed. Just be encouraging. :) Trying to hide the food reinforces pickiness.

    I like Sporks42's suggestions too! Very nice!
  • smaihlee
    smaihlee Posts: 171 Member
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    The problem comes when a child is given that choice in the first place. Growing up, we ate most of our vegetables because we liked them, but the ones we didn't had to be given at least 3 bites.

    I feel like if you hide the veggies, they will never learn to like them or choose to eat them on their own. A lot of the "dislike" is not that they don't like the taste--it's because of the way it looks or the texture or even the name.

    With my own child, he loved veggies as a baby but when he got older he dug his heels in. We decided we had to dig ours in harder. We had to have a few scenes reminiscent of "Mommie Dearest", but the only thing that worked was to make him sit at the table until he took 3 bites of the veggies.

    Son is now 14, 6'2" (and growing) and eats everything in sight. He's not fond of squash, but I'm pretty pleased about how well he eats otherwise.

    You will be very glad if you go ahead and nip this in the bud early. Your child will be better off for it, too.
  • NoAdditives
    NoAdditives Posts: 4,251 Member
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    I am very against hiding vegetables in meals. It does not teach kids to enjoy vegetables, which doesn't help them in the long run. They may eat them while you cook for them, but they will still think they dnt like them.

    I disagree. I raised two kids through that finicky stage without EVER forcing them to eat anything (I had been forced as a kid and it really messed me up). By giving them the chance to get used to the FLAVOR of the veggies first on familiar grounds and THEN the texture later ... we raised two GREAT veggie eaters (both now grown and cooking veggies for themselves!) ...

    After a certain age, they will transition to eating what "grownups" eat and once they bite in and realize that they KNOW this taste and have had it for years, they will dive right in! It worked great to encourage my son and daughter to really be adventurous as they got older and started trying new things like artichokes and such that were things they had not tried before.
    That's actually the kind of thing I was suggesting, and it is not the same as hiding them in foods. You can puree all kinds of things and put them into spaghetti sauce, taco meat, hamburgers, meatloaf, etc. and they won't be tasted. They'll be eaten, but that isn't teaching kids to appreciate vegetables as they are. Hiding them in that manner, rather than transitioning into eating them raw or steamed, actually reinforces the idea that vegetables are gross.
  • Fitnin6280
    Fitnin6280 Posts: 618 Member
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    I am probably the meanest mom in the world... I don't let my kids leave the table until they finish them. I don't give them much, and if they want more they are absolutely welcome to them. But my kids know they better just eat them or they sit at the table for a very long time.
  • VincitQuiSeVincit
    VincitQuiSeVincit Posts: 285 Member
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    Ill make meatballs/meatloaf/burgers/chili with veggies in them (blender FTW)
    I'll make mac& cheese with broccoli bits
    Mashed potatoes with carrots mashed in
    Rice with diced carrots and peas

    I never hid veggies, but my son refuses any raw vegetable.
    We're pretty limited to broccoli, carrots, peas and eggplant in my house, but he eats them because it's not an option to not do so.
  • pawnstarNate
    pawnstarNate Posts: 1,728 Member
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    I grew up in the old school way of thinking. My mom would prepare our plate and if we didn't eat what was on the plate, we didn't eat. Not sure old school works as well anymore though.
  • fionarama
    fionarama Posts: 788 Member
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    I make a simple turkey bolognaise on a sunday - turkey mince, cooked with a can of diced tomatoes and a clove of garlic. Simmer it for a while. Can chop up into little bits onions, peppers, put it all through it. handful of peas. Easy.
    all week we have it different ways, with potato mash, brown rice, pasta, coucous. She loves it and you can just zap it in the microwave after work.
    Job done.
  • nolanerinbryon
    nolanerinbryon Posts: 80 Member
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    I agree that you just need to keep offering the veggies. They may choose to try just a couple bites and refuse after...but keep offering it day after day, week after week. Both of my kids (now 9 & 14) LOVE salad. They used to hate it when they were younger...but we made them at least eat some of it (if not all of it) as younger children. The only veggie I won't make my kids eat is asparagus because they visibly gag (texture problem). I can live with that. And I don't make my youngest eat mushrooms - cause that's the only veggie I hate! Good luck...just keep trying - they'll come around eventually!
  • WeepingAngel81
    WeepingAngel81 Posts: 2,232 Member
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    I have a cook book called "The Sneaky Chef" that I pulled a ton of ideas from! Hiding veggies can be easy. After a while I no longer blended the veggies, and instead, made them a bit more chunky until the kids were eating them whole again. I read a few comments that said you can't taste the puree but you absoluty can tell the difference between sauce that has carrots and sweet potatoes as opposed to a sauce that doesn't. Taste buds change. There are things I used to not be able to stand that I like now. There is nothing wrong with hiding veggies when your main concern is that they are getting the nutrients.
  • KatAdele
    KatAdele Posts: 290 Member
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    My kids will eat vegetables (they are older though - 7, 12, and 15) however, they like them better with ranch or melted cheese.
  • Beckboo0912
    Beckboo0912 Posts: 447 Member
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    My son doesn't have issues with eating veggies, the nights he doesn't feel like eating in general he has to eat three bites of everything except for the carb if we have one.
  • NoAdditives
    NoAdditives Posts: 4,251 Member
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    I am probably the meanest mom in the world... I don't let my kids leave the table until they finish them. I don't give them much, and if they want more they are absolutely welcome to them. But my kids know they better just eat them or they sit at the table for a very long time.
    You do know that forcing kids to eat sets them up to have issues with food, right? Forcing them to clean their plate negates their own hunger cues, resulting in over eating later in life. Forcing them to eat certain foods can actually reinforce their aversions to those foods.
  • ihateyoga
    ihateyoga Posts: 111
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    I hated every kind of vegetables when I was a kid. However, my mom cooked lots of vegetables for every meal. And every dish had vegetables in it. (I'm Chinese. We ate authentic Chinese food at home). I gradually acquired the tastes. I must have vegetables as a major portion of my meal now. If I don't have them for a day, I literally crave for it.
    Constant exposure is the way to go. According to a study, childhood is the critical time to shape a person's eating habit and preference. Good luck!
  • DenyseMarieL
    DenyseMarieL Posts: 673 Member
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    My kids were extremely picky when they were little......but I made it a rule that they had to try the vegetables on their plate. They would take a bite. It takes a person 40 tries before they learn to like something. Eventually, they ate it.
  • Fitnin6280
    Fitnin6280 Posts: 618 Member
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    I am probably the meanest mom in the world... I don't let my kids leave the table until they finish them. I don't give them much, and if they want more they are absolutely welcome to them. But my kids know they better just eat them or they sit at the table for a very long time.
    You do know that forcing kids to eat sets them up to have issues with food, right? Forcing them to clean their plate negates their own hunger cues, resulting in over eating later in life. Forcing them to eat certain foods can actually reinforce their aversions to those foods.

    1) I never said I forced them to clean their plates, just eat their veggies.
    2) I don't believe that forcing them to eat certain foods will reinforce their aversion to those foods
    3) You parent how you see fit and I will parent how I see fit. I was not telling the OP how to parent her children, just how I parent my own.

    BTW my children both love almost all veggies now. Even after I "forced" them to eat them. So it worked for my kids.

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