5 simple tips get your little ones eating more plant based foods and a snack list so you never run out of ideas!

Every parent and caregiver around the world understands it can be tricky to get our little ones to enjoy fruit and vegetables. As an adult, it’s difficult to understand how they could not love sticky oven roasted pumpkin or perfectly sautéed shiitake mushrooms.

Kids model their parents actions, if we are eating foods packed with sugars, saturated fats and simple carbs, they will do the same. If we are preparing and consuming foods packed with nutrients, vitamins and minerals… guess what – they will do the same!

I have 5 super simple and easy tips to get your little ones eating more of the good stuff – give them a go, and most importantly role model the healthy behaviours you want your kids to adopt for the future. Ultimately, children will eat what you serve… the choice is yours!

1. Make tasting plates

Make snack time fun.

We have all heard it 100 times “mum I’m hungry” and while it can be very tempting to hand them a simple piece of fruit or a packet of proceed foods, my number one tip is to take a little more time (not too much extra time, I’m talking 2 minutes!) and prepare a fun tasting plate.

Get crunchy fruit, vegetables and healthy nuts together and arrange in a fun way on a plate. Ensure there is at least 3 different foods so your child has the opportunity for variety.

Be sure to include one fruit, nut or veg that you know your child loves and one that is new.

This is particularly good when they have friends over as if your child sees another child eating something, they will be more likely to give it a go.

If they don’t finish the plate, no worries! Take note of what was devoured (keep giving this healthy food to your little one) and what wasn’t (don’t give up on what wasn’t eaten, leave it a week and add it to a plate again in the future).

My daughter goes through phases with different foods. Some weeks she is loving lettuce others raw mushrooms and the next week it’s pineapple. Rather then getting frustrated that she isn’t eating every healthy food known to man, I embrace the foods she loves and I keep giving these nutritious snacks to her. Just don’t forget to keep serving up some new options for when their ‘food phase’ changes!

2. Keep it raw

Chop and serve – no cooking required.

Maybe it’s the crunch, maybe it’s the more vibrant colours but for whatever reason kids prefer raw foods. And the good news … in most cases, raw foods are actually better for us being packed with extra vitamins and minerals!

At lunch and dinner time, rather then steaming or stir frying vegetables, simply chop them and serve raw on your child’s plate. Experiment with different shapes and sizes to keep it fun.

Here are some ideas:

• Cucumber: with a peeler, shave off some long strips of the skin so you have a white / green pattern on the outside. Simple chop and serve – looks amazing with this great pattern.
• Carrots: make skinny match sticks – perfect for little fingers
• Snow peas / sugar snap peas: simply top and tail and add to plate. Kids love breaking these open and eating out the peas. If the peas are all they eat, no worries, you can have the leftovers and at least they have had some green!

3. Choose mini

For those who live in the western world, we are so fortunate to have access to many mini fruits and vegetables.

These are super appealing for the little ones and make eating fruit and vegetables fun.

Mini cucumbers, capsicums (peppers), grapes, berries, mini apples and mandarins make the perfect snacks and inclusions on their snack plates. They are also super simple to throw into a lunchbox and due to their size, they are a lot more fun to eat!

Give it a go… don’t assume your kids won’t eat this or that, serve it up and see! And most importantly don’t give up- keep serving nutritious foods and be the nutrition role model for your children. They will thank you for it in the future!

4. Have your child help with grocery shopping

Here is the fruit and vege section kids… pick anything you like!

Rather then having a winging child dragging their feet while shopping, let them push the shopping trolly (or have a mini one for themselves), be in charge of ticking items off the shopping list and importantly have free range to select healthy foods they want from the fruit and vegetable isle.

Getting your children involved in selecting healthy foods will make them much for likely to eat them (or at least try new things). If budget is tight (and $6 raspberries are off the menu), try giving your little one a set budget that they can spend – for example give them $10 to buy whatever healthy foods they would like with this money. They could get the same amount each week so this becomes a ritual and added bonus, this will assist with their maths skills!

5. Get your kids involved in cooking

Pick one meal time a week that your child cooks for your family.

I personally prefer selecting a weekend meal (Sunday lunch works well for us) as we generally have more time as opposed to a busy school night.

Buy a kids cookbook as a birthday present, pick one up from your local op shop or simply let your child borrow your phone to search up a recipe they would love to cook.

Make sure the recipe is healthy, using the ingredients your child helped you buy at the supermarket.

While I know this takes a little more time and patience then cooking the meal for yourself, the life long benefits this will have make it worth the extra effort!