The title basically says it. How do you eat healthy with picky kids without making separate meals? What are some meals that everyone eats besides the basics like spaghetti, tacos, and pizza? The healthier the better!
Mom of 3 here.
The best trick I had - was constant exposure of healthy foods.
Have a salad, veggies, fruits, etc on the table on a daily basis at every meal. You don’t have to force your kids to eat the foods you do, but let them see that you are eating it on a regular basis.
Make sure you have what they like to eat in a healthier way.
For example, PB & J:whole wheat bread or sourdough bread.real peanut butter (the ones with oil on top).and maybe boiled berries (that are cooled off) with a side of fruit.
or a nice cocoa drink.oat milk.cacao powder.agave / raw honey.cinnamon if you want.
or smoothies.spinach.blueberries.banana.soy milk.
or fried rice.make whatever fried rice you want but make them into bite size balls.
I introduced dietary vocabulary quite early on (heathy fats, unhealthy fats, good cholesterol, bad cholesterol..) and explained the benefits of good food.
It might not seem realistic, but in an age where processed food is everywhere, my kids know what healthy food is. And I am so proud of them.
I also eliminate unwanted foods from the house. We do not have chips or candy in the house. Foods as such is for outside occasions, but not available at home. At home, we stick to realfoods.
Although it is hard, I have learned to see my kid’s food intake on a weekly overview.
It takes the first step.
I am so proud that we have parents wanting a healthier lifestyle.
I’m not a parent but here’s what helped me as a kid. Your kids need to know that something is actually good for them. Otherwise, it isn’t unhealthy, it’s just parents being annoying. Make sure they understand nutrition (as much as they can at that age) and what benefits certain things will provide. Also, healthy food isn’t just salads and stuff. Try making homemade pizza with more meat and less grease for example.
For my kids, their choices are to eat or not eat. I provide the meal, and they can accept it or not. If they decide not to eat, it goes in the fridge for them to eat later when they decide they are super hungry.
That said, we do a lot of meals that are done salad bar style. Salad bar, grain bowl, potato bowl, soup, etc. Pretty much, there’s a base, there’s 2+ protein options, and there’s a ton of healthy toppings. Everyone gets a base. Everyone has to select at least one protein. Kids go first on picking the toppings, and then my husband and I clean up the toppings that are left.
One child will usually get the base, a small amount of one protein, avocado, tomatoes and possibly bell peppers, then complain they are hungry later. The other child will frequently get the base, some protein, and then a bit of every non-onion, non-spicy topping available, pile it with 2-3 herb/spice mixes, pour on some sauce of some sort, and just go to town.
If kids eat their full meal, they can have fruit after.
I have read somewhere that having a small garden can help kids who are picky with vegetables. Seeing the veggies grow and allowing them to pick out which ones they want to grow helps them feel more involved and get excited about eating them. I am not a mom so I don’t know how wild or outlandish that suggestion is lol but if I had kids it would be something fun to do together.
Mom of an ARFID kid and a registered dietitian here…
I will always recommend making the meal you want and putting it on the table for kids to serve themselves (which includes serving themselves 0% of the veggies), BUT include something in the meal you know they will eat and allow them to eat as much as they want of it.
Making broccoli, fish, and wild rice and know your kid won’t eat any of it? Add fruit to the meal and let them just eat fruit that night.
Making cooked green beans? Serve some raw, too, in case your kid likes those.
There is MUCH more to this framework called Division of Responsibility. Please look it up and let me know if you have any questions I can help clarify.
I was a real picky kid. My mother would always put veg on my plate along with the meat that I would eat. Over time I started eating the vegetables and as an adult, I pretty much each anything (except a couple of things that I particularly dislike).
We make what we want, and offer it to the kids. There’s a skew towards dishes they’ll eat, but only a skew since you never know at this age if they’ll even eat anything. We encourage them to try at least one bite and with the 5 year old, explain that some tastes are acquired and it’s good to take a bite even if they’ve had it before and think they don’t like it. We don’t make them try anything, though. If they don’t like or want it, they can have yogurt, frozen chicken nuggets, or leftover pasta or mac and cheese that we always have on hand in the refrigerator. Lots of milk and cheese sticks, it’s the easiest way to get protein in them. We don’t stress over their nutrition too much. We survived the crazy processed food of the 90s, eating pop tarts and drinking coke every day. What they eat is already better than that, and they’ll eat more healthfully as they grow older.
I do all the shopping planning and cooking, so it’s all up to me to decide what we eat. And I am not a short order cook.
I try to keep all the items separate, so if my kid doesn’t like one thing she can have more of the rest. Otherwise she just picks the large chunks of what she knows she likes out and wastes half the plate.
she has to try everything every time I make it. A lot of time it’s preparation style or a quality/texture issue as opposed to full on not liking something. Like some brands of broccoli are straight mush!
if we have pizza we always have salad with it.
I do a lot of sheet pan dinners, like chicken/sausage/pork chops with cut up potatoes/carrots/peppers and other veggies that taste good roasted.
Try making their favorites with healthier ingredients. Make a pizza using a cauliflower crust or a flatbread. Make mac and cheese with a legume based pasta and blend some veggies into the sauce (squash etc).
Kids can only eat what you serve them, otherwise they go hungry. Just serve them healthy food and they have no choice but to eat. They’ll stop being picky and learn to eat the food you give them. Seriously. You do the shopping. Stop buying the foods that are unhealthy and just buy the foods you expect them to eat. Establish healthy food choices for your children early, so they continue to eat well into adulthood.
I think it is important to not make dinner into a battleground. Especially moms are sometimes sensitive to their kids not eating. It’s powerplay, they feel this is the way they can influence you.
Don’t let them.
So you decide what’s for dinner. And everyone sits at the table during dinner. If they don’t eat, it’s their problem. Make it a nice time though, so spend time and attention. Make foods that are reasonably palatable to kids but don’t budge into ordering pizza. You decide. Even if it’s pizza. You decide.
Don’t let your mood be influenced by kids not eating. And reward them when they do eat well with attention. But furthermore make it fun, even when not eating.
Once they discover food is nothing they can use to manipulate you, they will stop using it as a weapon. Then they might not like certain things, but just leave it be. Probably they will start eating more than ever. Maybe not everything, but hey - you have preferences too right?
And sometimes you can also make it easy by separating the base from sauce and veggies and have them build their own plate. Make it fun! Put some cheese on veggies if they love cheese. Or some bacon. To provoke them into trying things. What we do is often give them cucumber, tomato, carrot, bell pepper half an hour before dinner so they snack on veggies. So when they are picky it’s not an issue.
This is more a parenting thing than nutrition. Although I do think you can make it more easy to make sure the food is accessible to kids in terms of taste and make plates with food in form of faces (does wonders with toddlers and preschool kids to have them eat a rabbit made of veggies and protein)
What do you like to eat? You mentioned not wanting to make separate meals. What would you be making if the kids weren’t likely to complain or refuse it?
Then, consider how you can tweak it a tad to make it more palatable for them. Add more cheese or maybe a side of cheese or garlic toast for the kids. Or applesauce. Or, make what you want to make for yourself and have a nutrient rich side dish for them in case they refuse. If you keep making them the boring same side dish, they’ll eventually want to eat what you and dad are enjoying.
I am a former chef, during my transition out of the restaurant field, I did private chef work. The thing that worked was cutting dinosaurs in vegetables, blanching Then frying but very quickly introducing sautéed veg after they agreed that they liked the vegetables in the first place. The flood gates opened after that.
I wouldn’t say that my kid (now 15) ever was a picky eater but here is one trick that I think really helped get us there. I think it’ll only work if you’re starting with a really little one though, like age 1-4 maybe? Tell them that they have to try a food a few times to see if their “XYZ food taste bud” has grown in yet. “You better take a taste of these Brussel sprouts to see if your Brussel sprout taste bud has grown in yet!”
I think it worked because it got her to try a bite over and over, it made it not her fault or my fault if she didn’t like it yet, and established very early on that tastes change so there’s no incentive to dig in your heels on loving or disliking certain foods.
…and why do they get a saying again?
Sure, if it’s something they legit don’t like… fair enough. You’re allowed to not like something. But if it’s all the time? Or just “don’t want it”, “want something else!”. Well… that sounds like a you problem little dude.
My parents made me sit at the table until my food was done, either that or go to my room, then it was back to the table after I came out. I eat everything under the sun now, and I’m glad my parents made me eat healthy. Cant have chicken nuggets for supper everyday.😂
I don’t remember having a choice of whether or not to eat my moms food. You sort of got yourself in a pickle for giving them the option of eating sandwiches instead of dinner. You may need to lay down the law.
Lead by example. Giving into their desires (all the time) will only spoil them and they end up living an unhealthily lifestyle as a result of the addiction. Best to look for a middle ground and transition slowly without it feeling forced so it’s better for everyone in the end.
I had a picky eater. Here’s her childhood faves: Homemade oven-fry chicken strips or nuggets; Roasted veg, peas & carrots, green beans; raw cauliflower; Homemade small meatballs and pasta (you can make the meatballs in advance, freeze them and warm them up);Grilled ham and cheese;Blender - frozen strawberries and milk with a touch of honey;And of course the dreaded corn dog nugget - not healthy at all but super quick and easy
TBH if you able to simply buying organic/healthier ingredients to make those meals would actually make quite the difference IMO. It’s hard to start eating healthy unless you have When they’re having mac N cheese make some sort of protein to go along side it, leafy greens in the smoothies in the morning & they won’t be able to tell if there’s 2 huge handfuls of kale/spinach in there. Add a ceasar salad with the pizza ETC
I always telll the picky kids I babysit that any other kind of meat I give them is “chicken” and they usually fall for it, and if they don’t I let them make the food with me so they know exactly what goes into the meal. I feel like it builds trust between the child and I.
I have 4 kids, and usually if I’m making chicken for salad I set some chicken breast aside for the kids, throw that and fresh veggies with some dip on the side and call it a day🤷♀️ they’re not fans of salad but like some things that are in it so that works for us. Also I agree with others just exposing them to different healthy foods even if they don’t eat them right away
I always liked making meals that are kind of like “BYO” - baked potato bar (chili, broccoli, bacon, cheese, grilled chicken), salad bar (a protein, topping options and a yummy soup in the side). Teriyaki rice bowls and stir fries are usually great for kids. Chili with cornbread and toppings, yummy and fun soups like baked potato or chicken tortilla with various toppings. Chicken fajitas, baked pastas for a little variety (like a chicken/broccoli and Alfredo bake). Just some ideas I’ve used in the past.
When my brother and I were younger, my mom would make everyone a little salad and she would have it set out for us before dinner was on the table. this got me and my brother to eat our vegetables because we were always really hungry by dinner time. if we tried to get snacky food while waiting for dinner my mom would remind us that we had salads waiting for us on the table. they didn’t fill us up, but we got into a habit of snacking on vegetables while waiting for dinner. If i wasn’t particularly hungry I wouldn’t be as interested, so my mom allowed me to buy whatever salad dressings I liked so I’d be interested in eating my salad. I usually had italian or caesar. Just for context the salads she made were usually just cut up veggies over spinach or romaine. bell peppers, cucumbers, baby carrots, pumpkin seeds etc.
one thing I remember is that my mom would make kid-friendly meals out of ingredients that we didn’t really like otherwise. she would make these quinoa-egg cups (you make them in a muffin tin, they’re like quinoa cakes basically) and she would melt a little cheese on top. I only ever liked them because of the melted cheese, and I didn’t like quinoa, but i’d eat the whole thing just because I liked the cheese on top.
Honestly, kids will eat when they’re hungry. You are in complete control of their diet and what they like. Get some fruits, berries, celery, etc as snacks and then you can always do baked potatoes, veggie skewers, chicken and veggies, salads, soups, omelets, sandwiches, etc. they won’t like every single thing if it’s new to them but you just have to keep feeding them those foods. Encourage them. Tell them why you like to eat that way. You can tell small kids that falling down the stairs is fun and they’d do it, as long as you sound excited and you smile. You’ve got this.
It’s probably too late for your kids, but you have to start young.
You should look into the French style of parenting. Kids in France eat the exact same foods as their parents, restaurants don’t even have kids’ menus there.
One technique they use for instance is they feed kids a meal, and if the kid doesn’t like it, they feed them the exact same thing the next day.
The theory behind that technique is that sometimes it isn’t that they don’t like it, they’ve just never tried anything like that before so they weren’t used to it.
Easier said than done but mom, don’t set yourself up for a lifetime of that. This is what I made. I respect that you really might not like part of it but eat what you can because this is it til tomorrow.
I mean you could give them a couple healthy options before you cook and make them pick one but that’s as far as if ld go. What kid wouldn’t want Mac and cheese over string beans and meatloaf? Some but most would hold out if you’re giving in. Yes so easy to say but I think you already know this and want the blessing to put your foot down. Put it down!
Make pizza yourself with the ingredients they like. But make a tomato sauce to spread to the dough and put in there mashed sweet red peppers, onion, a little garlic and some extra virgin olive oil. Make sauces with mashed vegetables and mustard and use it on the food they like.
I had a kid that would not eat any vegetables except corn. He would however drink V8 (low sodium version) and eat raw carrot sticks with low fat ranch. I would also add some shredded zucchini into bran muffins or make zucchini bread.
Try taking them to a clinic full of obese people suffering from obese related medical problems. That should straighten them up. Shouldn’t be to hard to find one if u live in North America.
Or
Accept you fked up on your kids by introducing junk into their diet. Learn from your mistakes.Make a new kid and introduce the child to a healthy only diet.
Or
Starvation makes people eat anything… even broccoli.
Don’t listen to all these people telling you to make your kids choose between a meal they hate and hunger. It’s the equivalent of beating your kids to discipline them and while there are people who will tell you it’s okay and normal these people have failed at parenting.
Some time ago I stumbled upon this book about helping kids enjoy different foods: French kids eat everything. I didn’t read it myself but it has some good reviews so maybe it’s worth checking out.
The best method I heard of was to simply make healthy food. If the kids want to eat, then they eat the healthy food. It’s very unlikely that a child is picky enough to starve themselves, most will eat whatever if they get hungry.
My kids will always eat meat, so we base most of our meals around that. My kids have probably eaten more ribeye than any other kids in America. Cheese burgers with no bun are a huge hit and a regular meal of ours. They also love fish, so we do lots of smoked salmon and seared tuna steaks.
We spend a lot on food, but I feel good knowing that they are eating good quality stuff and not a bunch of junk.
Whenever I’m cooking meat I always put some to the side that I don’t season up too much or make spicy. They love meat with white rice …. I also will make chicken breast in my crockpot with apricot preserves and stuffing (it’s a recipe on my cookbook that we love) for the kids I will pick out a chunk of chicken breast and just make sure there is so apricot or stuffing on it. Pretty much whatever we eat but simplified is what they like .
There’s a blogger/nutritionist called Kids Eat In Color that I would recommend. One of the easiest but most impactful things I learned was to make the food look fun. I got some small metal shape cutters and found that carrots are much more likely to be eaten if they’re star shaped, for example. Good luck!
You force them to step out of their comfort zones and open up their palette.
Growing up like this only results in awful diets as an adult. Trust me, Ive met many many many people like this who cant even fathom the idea of enjoying vegetables.
We have a rule for our 5 and 3 year old kids.
They have to try everything. If they don’t like it fine, but they must try it.
Works out not bad - they still gravitate towards pizza and Mac n cheese when given the option.
If there’s a food that I know one of my kids don’t like, I’ll make two options for that food group. They can pick which they prefer to eat, but have to try at least 1 bite of the other food). I have had some of my kids start to enjoy those foods down the road when their tastes change again. Expose different cultures cooking to expand tastes. Use different sensations like sweet, salty, savoury, bitter and finding different combinations to compliment them.
Eat healthy meals with ingredients that everyone likes. I don’t know what else to say other than just make foods with what people like. And there is no excuse for not liking healthy foods.
Stick with whole foods meat, produce, potatoes, rice etc.
I’d asked mum ages ago about us being picky eaters.
She told us we had to have 2 mouthfuls of each thing while she was watching so we couldn’t fudge it(she didn’t put heaps on our plates so it wasn’t overwhelming to look at) then if we didn’t like it then we didn’t have to eat it.
Also got us involved in choices (in her limits) and everyone ate the same thing.
It takes a few (10 I think) tries to get a kid to like a food