According to a research study, it may take about 10 to 15 tastes for a kid to learn to appreciate a new flavour. It is a common problem for parents to get their kids to eat veggies. Good thing, there are a variety of ways you can sneak these healthy vegetables without them noticing it. Here are some examples:
- When you’re cooking pasta, toss some complementary vegetables to the boiling water, drain them, and combine the veggies with the pasta sauce.
- Zucchini and summer squash have only mild flavours. With this, you can easily integrate them into casseroles by shredding these vegetables into fine pieces. In this way, you will be able to add vital minerals and vitamins that your child needs.
- When cooking sloppy joes or meaty spaghetti sauce, you might want to consider adding mushrooms and veggies into the mix. Because the mushroom’s texture is somewhat similar to ground beef, you can reduce the amount of ground beef that you use and seamlessly incorporate finely chopped mushrooms.
- Make your tomato-based sauce even healthier by adding pumpkin puree. Because it has a creamy texture and mild taste, it wouldn’t ruin your recipe. Moreover, the best thing about this is the fiber and beta carotene that it contributes.
- As mentioned earlier, you can hide veggies in pasta sauce. The same is true for other types of sauces, such as cheese sauce, where you can add cauliflower or broccoli. However, it is also important to make sure that the sauces are also healthy. Normally, cheese-based sauce involves a significant amount of cream and butter. If you want to make it healthier, you can use low-fat milk that is thickened with flour combined with sharp cheddar.
These are just some of our recommended techniques to get your child to eat veggies without them noticing it. Alternatively, instead of sneaking vegetables into your family meals, you can also make healthy delicious dips such as hummus, ranch dip, or peanut sauce and allow your children to use them liberally. Regardless of your approach, what’s important is to make your children accustomed to the habit of eating veggies.