I don't like Vegetables!

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Replies

  • kellysmith410
    kellysmith410 Posts: 58 Member
    Fellow veggie hater here - I like to get my veggies in my by blending spinach into a smoothie, or purée-omg cauliflower in my blender with some olive oil. Or getting brocccoli or cauliflower crumbles and mixing them in with some ground turkey and marinara sauce. Honestly, a lot of veggies I just had to force myself to eat until I learned to like them. I also experimented with new ways of cooking them, and I've found I love roasting veggies and especially finishing them off with some broiling to make them crispy (mushy veggies are my worst nightmare).

    Just try different things until you find a way you can eat them that you don't hate! For me a lot of the time that means hiding them :)
  • Deipneus
    Deipneus Posts: 1,861 Member
    edited March 2017
    I wish I could help but I love veggies. It might be a generational thing. I'm somewhat (read:very) old.
  • Sabine_Stroehm
    Sabine_Stroehm Posts: 19,263 Member
    edited March 2017
    lemurcat12 wrote: »
    I think it's worth learning to like vegetables, and would recommend experimenting with a wide variety of them and trying new cooking methods. A good vegetable cookbook like Greene on Greens (not just greens) or Barbara Kafka's Vegetable Love or any of the millions of farmer's market or seasonal cooking themed ones (I like lots of photos, as that tends to get me excited to try something), can help. Or a good website (there are many others) is 101cookbooks.com.

    You don't need vegetables to lose weight, but I am someone who thinks they are important for nutrition and people can learn to like them (and often don't because they haven't had them cooked the most appealing and easy to like ways).

    I think it's totally worth learning to like vegetables as well. Not just for the number on the scale.
    Nutrient dense foods *are* important for the long run.

    Try the books above.
    Ask friends over for a potluck and ask them each to bring a veg
    try a new veg (not just french fries) as a side to entrees when you go out.

    I was raised on a few select, bad vegetables. One day I made the decision to change. Now 15 years later I LOVE vegetables and believe eating them, lots, has helped me maintain all these years.

    If you are, or plan to be a parent, it's worth the investment learning to love vegetables.
  • leanjogreen18
    leanjogreen18 Posts: 2,492 Member
    Twice baked potatos...
    Steamed cauliflower mashed and mixed in with the insides of a baked potato, garlic salt and butter.
    Scoop mixture back in potato skins, add crumbled bacon and cheese. Bake until cheese melted.

    I also melted cheese over broccoli or used ranch dressing to get my kids to eat their vegetables.

    My kids ate salads with all kinds of veggies at a very young and grated cheese and ranch was the key:).
  • Lounmoun
    Lounmoun Posts: 8,423 Member
    My veggie hating dd eats them if they are in a sauce or soup. Otherwise she eats fruit.
    Try some different cooking methods, lemon juice, lime juice, spices. Try pureeing them and adding them to foods.
    Try vegetables you haven't had before.
    Some vegetables are more bland like zucchini or cauliflower. With a sauce or coating they don't have much vegetable flavor coming through.
  • cbelc2
    cbelc2 Posts: 762 Member
    I put a whole yellow squash, grated fine, in the mac and cheese for the grands. They loved it. They will drink a green smoothie as long as there is some banana in it for sweetness. Mashed butternut will hide in many things. I called broccoli 'trees' and peas 'little basketballs' for my kids, but I'm afraid the dog still ate quite a few under the table.
  • crooked_left_hook
    crooked_left_hook Posts: 364 Member
    I wasn't much of a veggie or bean fan about a year ago so I signed up for Hello Fresh and made a deal with myself that I would try everything once (except eggplant and celery, which I know I hate). They just send you the recipes and ingredients so I didn't have any control over what they were sending. I wouldn't go hear a roasted pepper, raw onion, or brussels sprouts. Now I love them, in fact I have learned to like most veggies (still no eggplant or celery). It also helped that I learned how to cook them properly in the process. The moral of the story, is just try prepping them a few different ways, and with different meals, and you will probably find some veggies that agree with you.
  • endlessfall16
    endlessfall16 Posts: 932 Member
    jgnatca wrote: »
    A sense of adventure really helps.

    This ^.

    I like most vegetables. Grew up eating them as main courses, not as sides to meat, seafood as most people luxuriously can afford.

    It also helps a lot to keep in mind that meat and seafood taste predictably the same whereas veggies vary greatly. Veggies are infinitely more wholesome than animal parts.

    The US is blessed with so many different peoples who bring in a great variety of vegetables. I love going to different markets and finding strange plants and stuff.
  • NoirePanda811
    NoirePanda811 Posts: 7 Member
    edited March 2017
    Soups tend to be pretty good at hiding veggies, such as PW's Potato Soup, or a Tomato Basil Bisque, both of which are pureed, hiding the stuff I hate, like crunchy onions.
  • pdxwine
    pdxwine Posts: 389 Member
    I am a vegetable *kitten*. The more vegetables, the better.
  • Etsar73
    Etsar73 Posts: 260 Member
    I love vegetables but I have big issues with fruit for the same reason as you, taste and texture. I used to eat apples only, maybe an orange... now I can eat raspberries, passion fruit, pineapple, strawberries. I did it by trying them even when I was convinced I would hate them (some I learned to like and some I hated). Strawberries I tried once years ago and hated them like I knew I would, then tried again several months later and it was sweeter and much nicer. I like prefer frozen raspberries and I put them in yogurt. Sometimes you need to try more than once in different forms. I tried grapes, figs and blueberries and hated them and I've always hated bananas. Just try and keep trying.

    I used to hate tomatoes too but started eating them in very small pieces mixed with other things. I realised I loved them chopped in small pieces with balsamic vinegar on toast. I hated mushrooms but I can now eat them raw or when the smell and taste of the mushroom is not too strong in cooking. Good luck :smile:
  • Verity1111
    Verity1111 Posts: 3,309 Member
    edited March 2017
    Theo166 wrote: »
    My trick is to sauce em' up.

    I buy mixed frozen veggies from Coscto. They are good and I don't have to learn to pick and store veggies. Just steam and use.

    Tonight I'm just adding spaghetti sauce on top. They are also good with a curry or just to add some bulk to any soup you already have.



    Hey someone else who likes veggies alone with pasta sauce lol and here I thought I was just odd.

    I vote for putting them in sauce or hiding them in something chocolatey lol
  • Susieq_1994
    Susieq_1994 Posts: 5,361 Member
    I usually focus on one vegetable at a time. I start by putting it in strong foods where I can't detect it, then start adding it to milder things, then start eating it in strongly-seasoned salads, then in blander salads, and then finally on its own. I've done it with bell peppers, spinach, mushrooms, eggplant (always cooked), zucchini, and cauliflower. Shockingly, I can actually say honestly that I now LIKE these veggies, even though I used to hate them. So it's not impossible to start liking them. :)
  • Fat_Fighter87
    Fat_Fighter87 Posts: 61 Member
    Well you like peas and green beans so that's a good start. You could make a pea and ham/bacon or pea and mint soup maybe? If you puree it you may not taste the onions in so may be able to slip them into your diet sometimes. I don't like many veggies either, I just make myself eat them now. I eat them first on my plate so they're out the way! What about cauliflower cheese? I don't like cauliflower but I like it in cheese. I can pretty much eat anything in cheese :)
  • lemurcat12
    lemurcat12 Posts: 30,886 Member
    I wasn't much of a veggie or bean fan about a year ago so I signed up for Hello Fresh and made a deal with myself that I would try everything once (except eggplant and celery, which I know I hate). They just send you the recipes and ingredients so I didn't have any control over what they were sending. I wouldn't go hear a roasted pepper, raw onion, or brussels sprouts. Now I love them, in fact I have learned to like most veggies (still no eggplant or celery). It also helped that I learned how to cook them properly in the process. The moral of the story, is just try prepping them a few different ways, and with different meals, and you will probably find some veggies that agree with you.

    Excellent example of what can work.
  • joowelz
    joowelz Posts: 172 Member
    Not sure what type of cooking you have been exposed to, but I would be surprised if you tried and didn't like vegetables prepared in a Mediterranean way. Look up Armenian/Turkish/Lebanese veggie recipes on Pinterest and see if they appeal. As far as British/Canadian/American cooking goes, I agree that the food is bland and unappealing.

    Also, I find that the more veggies I eat, the more I crave them. The opposite is also true. The less veggies I eat, the less I crave them.
  • EttaMaeMartin
    EttaMaeMartin Posts: 303 Member
    TRY RICED CAULIFLOWER...THE BOMB! IF YOU LIKE RICE YOU WILL LIKE THIS. YOU CAN EAT THE ENTIRE BAG FOR 80 CALORIES!
  • TeaBea
    TeaBea Posts: 14,517 Member
    It's both taste & texture. I don't mind tomato sauce, but I don't like tomatoes in any form, whole, diced, sliced, cooked, nada!!

    Okay - veggie haters don't know this (not enough experience) but all veggies tasting the same, or all veggies having the same texture - this is false.

    Veggies do have very different textures.....raw texture is not the same texture as cooked (ever). Frozen & cooked is another texture, even for different veggies. Frozen cooked green beans (not a favorite) is very different from cooked fresh, and on and on.

    As far as taste - there are some similarities....Brussels sprouts & cabbage, or carrots & parsnips. Veggies are members of plant families, some are in the same family. However carrots do not taste like broccoli, or green beans don't taste like beets.

    Keep experimenting. You won't like them all, that's okay. But I agree with @lemurcat12 it's worth the effort to like a few more.
  • GottaBurnEmAll
    GottaBurnEmAll Posts: 7,722 Member
    lemurcat12 wrote: »
    I think it's worth learning to like vegetables, and would recommend experimenting with a wide variety of them and trying new cooking methods. A good vegetable cookbook like Greene on Greens (not just greens) or Barbara Kafka's Vegetable Love or any of the millions of farmer's market or seasonal cooking themed ones (I like lots of photos, as that tends to get me excited to try something), can help. Or a good website (there are many others) is 101cookbooks.com.

    You don't need vegetables to lose weight, but I am someone who thinks they are important for nutrition and people can learn to like them (and often don't because they haven't had them cooked the most appealing and easy to like ways).

    This.

    I disagree that the things you learn to like are learned early in life. I grew up in a home where only canned green beans, corn, and carrots were served. We had iceberg salads in the summer. We had creamed spinach, only on Thanksgiving and at Christmas.

    I think I vaguely remember my mother making corned beef and cabbage once.

    I tried, as an adult, all sorts of different vegetables and all kinds of ways of preparing them because I knew they were good for me. As simple as that. I also read cookbooks as a hobby and the recipes intrigued me.

    I eat a ridiculous amount of vegetables now, prepared in all sorts of ways.

    Try different things, especially roasting. Roasting is a great gateway to a new vegetable.
  • GottaBurnEmAll
    GottaBurnEmAll Posts: 7,722 Member
    Lounmoun wrote: »
    My veggie hating dd eats them if they are in a sauce or soup. Otherwise she eats fruit.
    Try some different cooking methods, lemon juice, lime juice, spices. Try pureeing them and adding them to foods.
    Try vegetables you haven't had before.
    Some vegetables are more bland like zucchini or cauliflower. With a sauce or coating they don't have much vegetable flavor coming through.

    Oh, a trick I found for my kids for salad - they like dressing, but a crazy amount of it and that's just ridiculous. If you need to hide the flavor, or you want to make raw veggies and dip, mix 2 cups of greek yogurt (a good plain kind like fage) with a packet of Hidden Valley Ranch dip mix. It makes a great salad dressing (it's thick, but if you toss the salad around, it coats everything nicely) and it's a delicious dipped for lightly steamed broccoli or any raw vegetables, and you can eat a lot of it with veggies and make a meal of it.
  • WafaeGettingFit
    WafaeGettingFit Posts: 13 Member
    I cook Indian food all the time, and vegetables can be made to beautiful delicious dishes. I prefer fresh vegetables over frozen as it tastes so much more flavorful imo. Experiment with spices, or get a pre-made spice blend (Mexican, Italian, Indian...etc). I was not a huge fan of vegetables, but experimenting with different recipes build me up to start loving them.
  • NikkiiBaby68
    NikkiiBaby68 Posts: 55 Member
    Have you tried Braggs Aminos or coconut aminos ?
  • ILiftHeavyAcrylics
    ILiftHeavyAcrylics Posts: 27,732 Member
    Take @lemurcat12 's suggestions.

    My husband only did corn, potatoes, peas, crushed tomatoes, and canned green beans (ew) when we got married. Now he's added sweet potatoes, onions, zucchini, carrots, and eggplant. So, you know, progress.

    I think roasting is the best way to try new veggies, personally. It seems to give them a nice mild flavor.
  • ramonramirez1975
    ramonramirez1975 Posts: 36 Member
    Had the same problem, I was forcing to eat broccoli so much that at one point I felt like throwing up. What I do now is cut the broccoli into little pieces and mix it with other foods like if I'm eating chicken, beans, and broccoli I just mix it all up. Also, you can eat fruits instead. Good luck!
  • aneedforchange
    aneedforchange Posts: 75 Member
    I find it Alarming how many people are like "don't eat them then it's all about calories in calories out". Vegetables are vital to health! I would second the smoothie suggestion, and slowly wan yourself into it. I prefer exotic vegetables to carrots and peas.. So make sure you try a wide variety, you'll learn to like them or altleast tolerate them lol