How to Get Your Child to Eat Vegetables ?

Have a fussy eater at home who turns up her nose every time vegetables are served to her? It can be a struggle at times making your little one eat vegetables. Most of the time they may not eat vegetables at all or may leave most of the portion served in their plates. So, let’s try incorporating veggies in their daily meals in some fun ways.

Proven Tricks to Get Your Child to Start Eating Vegetables

Here are some tips, shared by our nutritionist, which are interesting and easy and will make your child accept and eat vegetables more willingly. Read these

#1.  Start Serving Vegetables Early: 

The earlier you introduce vegetables in your young one's diet, the better. Their palette acquires the taste and they easily accept them in their meals. But if you have missed the train, don’t worry you can add them the following ways.

#2. Try Invisible Ways: 

Giving different coloured staples. Boil and mash vegetables like spinach, beetroot, pumpkin, carrot etc. Add their puree to get different coloured pasta, chapatti, paranthas, rice, and idlis etc which makes them attractive to your child. [Check - What Should Be Child's Daily Diet Plan?]

#3. Add Veggies to His/Her Other Favourites:

If your little one is fond of pizza, macaroni, burgers, sandwiches etc, add a lot of veggies to these. You can add red, and yellow coloured peppers, olives, steamed broccoli, zucchini, tomatoes, cucumber, and carrot to these. 

#4. Making Desserts with Veggies:

If your child loves to have sweet treats give vegetables in those too. Ice creams, kheers, cupcakes, halwa's can be made with vegetables like pumpkin, bottle gourd (Ghia), carrots, green peas, potatoes, and sweet potatoes.

#5. Dips of Veggies:

Different vegetables like zucchini, carrot, squash, beetroot, broccoli, and spinach can be used as dips/sauces. Blenderise the vegetables and add to the puree of tomato, onion, garlic. Add olive oil/vinegar/hung curd. These can be used as dips for their fries, garlic bread or as a spread for Kathi rolls.

Helpful Read: Winter Foods to Keep Child's Body Warm

#6. Visible Ways:

Setting examples yourself- by eating more vegetables yourself, you set an example for your children to follow. Include more veggies in your own diet, be it curries, soups or salads. Children learn fastest from role models.

#7. Fun Presentation:

instead of offering veggies in the usual way, present them to your child in an attractive way. Cut vegetables in different shapes like star, a crescent of the moon, and batons etc. While giving staples to your child get creative. Instead of giving regular chapatti with vegetable, spread a layer of dip/ketchup on chapatti and put different shaped vegetables and roll it up. This can be done with tortillas too.

Tips to Prepare Your Picky Eater into Vegetable Eating Ready Toddlers

In this age, it is important to make them familiar with various vegetables. It can be done at meals but in other ways too. 

• You can give little ones clay/ play dough to make their own vegetables
• Give pictures of vegetables to stick or draw 
• Cutouts of vegetables and ask them to colour it or paste on a board
• Take them for vegetable shopping and let them pick their favourites
• Get them to the kitchen to show how vegetables are being served or used in different recipes
• Give them a cookie cutter to cut a shape out of a vegetable slice but under supervision
• Involving them in cooking increases their acceptance of these foods

Helpful Read: Winter Foods Ideas or Meal Option for 1-3 Aged Child