How to trick your kids into eating healthy food

The Late Night Gourmet

The Late Night Gourmet

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I've always had fresh fruit sitting out for my family: bananas and apples, plus other seasonal things like pears. More perishable things like strawberries and grapes would be in the refrigerator, and I'd make sure to put them in front so they can't be missed. But, invariably, I'll end up being the only one eating them before they all rot and have to be thrown away. Sometimes, I'll re-purpose overly ripe bananas to make banana bread, but that defeats the purpose. My daughter will eat strawberries if we have whipped cream, but again that's not quite what I wanted.

Then, I had an epiphany. I was watching a cooking show where the required ingredient was grapes. Both chefs made some sophisticated dish, and both were somewhat surprised that the other didn't freeze any grapes. I asked my wife if she'd every tried frozen grapes...and I was amazed that she's been on this earth so long without ever trying them. So, I threw the grapes we had in the freezer, remembering that they're like little popsicles. She loved them, and told my daughter about them. And, she loved them, too.

We've experimented with other fruit: bananas become like banana ice cream, strawberries are not easy to bite through, but they're tasty. We usually use seedless grapes, but the large globe grapes are actually even better, though you have to crunch through the seeds. Apples would never work, so I didn't try them. Today, we discovered probably the best one of all: blueberries!

Besides the fact that they're actually eating them, freezing the fruit preserves them, so I never have to throw any out.

Are there any other devious tricks people have used that actually worked? I've made baked chicken nuggets that I thought were delicious, but I made the mistake of telling them that they were baked, so they didn't touch them.
 
@The Late Night Gourmet Freezing fruit is great.

IDK why people are so afraid to try something new. With children hiding veggies is a good start. The dishes doing the hiding may not be the healthiest - cheesy. It at least gets them started on trying something they say they hate.

DIL hates grits. On one of their visits I made a garlic, cheese grit casserole. Told DIL it was a garlic cheese soufflé. She ate two servings. The next time I made it DIL said "OHH is that MiMI's garlic cheese soufflé?" I was not in the room. G replied "Well it's her garlic cheese grits". DIL would not touch it. :hyper:.

Grandson does not eat veggies. I made a spinach casserole with cream cheese and other cheeses. GS made a face. House rule - you have to take at least one bite. He tried it. His face lit up and he filled his plate. Another time I made creamed spinach. Another face. A bite. A filled plate. I know these are not the healthiest preparations. My goal is to teach them that just because they ate something once and did not like it does not mean they have to hate it forever. Preparation. Grand Daughter is picky but not as bad as DIL and GS. I have gotten them all to eat oven roasted and pan grilled veggies - asparagus, Brussel's sprouts, broccoli and cauliflower. Herbs and spices made the difference. Last July 4th we were all at our fishing camp for the holiday. DIL, GS and GD have always refused to eat mushrooms. I made a mushroom risotto with Cremini mushrooms and re-hydrated wild mushrooms. I was lucky to get a small spoonful for myself. I had to make a double batch the next day.:laugh:

So much for not liking mushrooms.

I got GS to eat summer squash by hiding it in a cheesy casserole. When I told him what it was he blanched then grinned.

I know my techniques are not necessarily healthy but my goal is to broaden their horizons and get them to actually eat foods they say they hate. Usually foods they have tried once or never tried. I do have some limits - live maggots, dog, cat. :oops: I would probably try maggots if they were fried. Dog and cat - never. Purely psychological.

Ok - enough from me. Good thread @The Late Night Gourmet
 
ElizabethB said:
My goal is to teach them that just because they ate something once and did not like it does not mean they have to hate it forever.
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@ElizabethB: some really great ideas, and even better anecdotes! I understand kids being picky, but I know first-hand what happens if you stop trying. My sister-in-law is a few years younger than me, and she doesn’t like seafood. ANY seafood. It’s not a food allergy or a wacky diet (she has no such issue with literally any other kind of food). No fish & chips? Nope. Fried shrimp? Uh-uh. Some bad examples of baked fish as a kid apparently made her conclude that an entire classification of food is something she’ll never, ever try again. This is a weird, extreme example, but it shows that it can happen.
 
@The Late Night Gourmet SOOO - trick her, hide it. Whatever. When Step Son and his family present me with "I will not eat...." I take that as a challenge. Make a dish with a small amount of any seafood. Hide it. Don't tell her. Next time do something with a little more seafood. Continue until she loves your dishes.
THEN tell her she is eating seafood. Shame on me. Tell me you will not eat it and I will prove you wrong. Kind of a food bitch.
 
ElizabethB said:
I do have some limits - live maggots, dog, cat. :oops: I would probably try maggots if they were fried
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Says the woman who eats termites! :giggle: For the curious, see here.

I couldn't dog or cat either. Its psychological, as you say. As a kid I ate everything I could get. No problems with vegetables or fruit (although we didn't get a lot of fresh fruit). My kids all seemed to be the same (all 4) and I can't recall any eating fads. I might have blotted it out...
 
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