Lets face it. Getting children to eat a healthy and balanced diet of fruits and veggies can be a pain in the rear. Especially if you haven’t been religious about it since babyhood. There are a lot of weird textures and flavors that come out of fruits and veggies. But they are so very essential to a person’s health, that I think it is an important issue to address.
We, like many parents, fell into the trap of making food especially for our toddler when our oldest was at that age. Even if I wasn’t making him a special dinner apart from ours, I was gearing our food to fit his tastes. I already didn’t love cooking, so doing this was exhausting for me. I had to think of two meals to make or I had to be sure that he would eat at least SOMETHING of the dinner I was making.
Needless to say, it got old.
Fast forward a few years. We have become a plant based family, leaving little room for kids who are picky about their vegetables. Most of our diet needed to consist of vegetables.
There was definitely push back from our then 4 year old. Our 2 year old was much less of a picky eater because he didn’t really know a time before we were plant based, but he still wasn’t crazy about veggies because well, he was 2. We were determined, though, and giving in wasn’t an option.
I get asked a lot what I feed my kids and how we maintain a vegan lifestyle with three little ones, so I thought I would give you a little peek into our methods and madness 🙂
In the beginning of our plant-based transition, we did a lot of pasta, peanut butter & jelly, toast, oatmeal, fruit and processed vegan foods for the kids. Smoothies were a go-to for us, as well as good old fruit. Once we made the decision to go plant-based, we were not wavering on the choice to please our children. We were all in and they needed to be as well. We were also very conscious of making sure their diet was well rounded and healthy. Especially because, oddly enough, when you go plant-based, people start to worry about what you are feeding your kids and you have to have answers ready for where they are getting A and B.
What Our Meals Look Like with Three Kids
Breakfast
Usually consists of oatmeal with craisins, cinnamon, coconut sugar, almond milk and sometimes cut up apples (depending on what they are feeling like having). Fresh fruit or smoothies accompany oatmeal depending on the day. Bananas are my go-to fruit because 1) they are cheap 2) they are filling 3) they are easy for them to grab themselves.
Lunch
Typically a pb & j with fruit and veggies (usually carrots) on the side. Sometimes, if we don’t have bread, I will just do a big plate of fruit and veggies and let them eat until they are full. Sometimes we will do pasta or leftovers, too! With both boys in school now, we pack lunches in these Yumbox lunchboxes. The boys’ lunches usually consist of a pb & j, a fruit, nuts, pretzels, hummus, and crackers. But they change daily depending on what we have on hand! We love these lunchboxes though and I highly recommend them for a lower waste option to lunch packing!
Dinner
This has been our biggest struggle, as I’m sure it is in a lot of households. We are firm believers in the “you get what you get and you don’t throw a fit” mentality. And if you decide to throw a fit, you can be excused from dinner and go to bed without. Some might look at us and think we are pretty harsh, but I think it’s important for our children to realize how lucky they are to have ANY food on their plate, even at their young age. We are firm on not wasting food, but not force feeding them. I don’t give them much food to start with because I know they can’t eat a ton. I give them what I know they can put away and always offer seconds if they are still hungry. If they choose to make a fuss about what is for dinner, choose not to eat or don’t finish their plates, they get no other food for the rest of the night until their dinner is gone.
It sounds simple, but I know it’s not. We have had many dinners ending in tears and kids being sent to bed early. It sucks. I’m not going to sugar coat it. Like anything in parenting, it takes persistence and hard work and making sure you and your partner are on the same team is key. But, the first time your kid REQUESTS broccoli on a sandwich, it’ll all be worth it! This actually happened, by the way. I was making lunch and asked Alex what kind of sandwich he would like. He responded with “a broccoli sandwich, please!”. I about fell over. And again, when he finished every last bite.
That being said, it’s not an end all be all of eating. Foods will come up that your kids just do not like. This is totally normal because everyone has foods they don’t like! (You will never catch me asking for broccoli anything because, yuck.) Alex really doesn’t like avocado, Christian is freaked out about sweet potatoes and homemade falafel, Madi hates everything except tacos, fruit and hummus because she is three. I still put everything I made for dinner on their plates. I give them less of the thing they don’t like, but they still have to take one bite of it. Exposure may just change their minds over time! I’m personally working on the broccoli and can alllllllllmost say that I like Brussel sprouts! 😉
So, you wanna know the secret??
Patience, Patience. Patience. There’s no magic formula or a way to hide veggies (though I do this, too 😉 ) You just have to stick to your guns and expose them to all sorts of foods, in their whole form. Over time, it will become a non-issue when you introduce new things to them or ask them to eat a big salad because it will just be the norm of your family.
Have any burning questions for me? I love talking about this subject!
