Hello!

Hi MoM, I’m having a really hard time getting my 4 and 2 year olds to eat any vegies. I’ve offered them raw and cooked but they flatly refuse. They love fruit but vegies have me stumped. Can you please ask the other mums for some advice for me? How do you get kids to eat vegies?

Emailed by Danielle 6.12.2012


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  • I started with pumpkin mash – now I add carrot to it. Just a matter of sneaking them into things.


  • maybe a cheesy veggie bake or try looking at some vegetarian meal options


  • Any luck with getting them to eat their veggies?


  • you could grated them into the meal and hopefully they won’t notice and like them?


  • Hope some of the advice below has helped.


  • Do they like dips? Even cream Cheese can be used & offer celery or carrot sticks only to dip into it.


  • My 3 girls aged 4, 1, 1 love eating frozen vegies, yes that is right, right from the freezer not thawed but frozen, they will happily sit with a bowl each out side eating their vegies and they love it!


  • Making up pasta sauces with hidden veges in them.


  • I used to make up a platter of finger food which included carrot and celery sticks with a dip and they’d eat that! Otherwise, they’re hidden in bolognese, pies, quiches etc.


  • hide them! you can make chocolate cake using zucchini- it makes it so moist! and grate carrots/zucchini etc and put in mince for your sausage rolls, spagghettis etc 🙂


  • I find it helps to hide them in things like zucchini slice, savoury muffins and pasta sauces.


  • I make savoury muffins or scrolls with veg such as corn, carrot, capsicum etc and cheese and ham. My son who is also a fussy eater wolfs them down 🙂 the book Deceptively Delicious is full of awesome ideas and recipes for young fussy eaters 🙂


  • Either grating them or cutting them very fine so they don’t even realise they are eating them or else the good old arranging the veggies on their plate in a picture form. That always worked with my girls. They always looked forward to what their dinner would look like each night.


  • hide everything! grate all veges into bolognaise sauce and mornays, use lentils in mince dishes etc


  • You could try topping them with a cheese sauce or something like that. I tried making my kids meals look like little pictures on a plate but not even that worked for them. The only thing I was able to use sometimes was telling them that it was “Nanny’s” recipe. My mum lives in New Zealand and they really enjoy when she is here. I found that everything I told them was a recipe that she used to make me as a little girl they ate..lol even pumpkin soup ( which is one of my fav’s ) but they still don’t eat baked or mashed pumpkin. Go figure!


  • Mash or chop in the veggies in small pieces and cook it in something they enjoy eating


  • Use loads of grated vegies in your bolognoise (carrots and zuchini are especially nice). Also possibly try a recipe to make zuchini fries – they are delicious and your children won’t know they are actually eating a vegetable. Another one is to use cauliflower instead of potatoes for mash. Good luck 🙂


  • My son will eat frozen peas but not cooked and loves corn & sweet potato chips and nothing else!! I grate zucchini and carrot into fitters e.g. corn fritters. His favourite meal is pasta with sausages( I use organic & GF chicken), carrots, celery, zucchini, canned toms, fennel, thyme all put into a blender and added to the cooked pasta (heat through in a pan). Yum!


  • Make a picture out of them


  • I grate a lot of veg to hide in foods, but also put them on the plate in clear site, this way she thinks she’s not eating them cause they are still on the plate, but really they are already disguised in the other food.


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