It can take some creative thinking to make sure your little one is getting their five portions of fruit and veg they need each day.
Here’s a number of ways to bring fruit & veg into your little one’s day, so that they can get excited about the good stuff:
1. Variety is the spice of life
We all eat with our eyes as well as our mouth, and children are no exception.
While it’s important to make sure a meal is tasty, you can also make it look good by adding lots of colours and textures. Baby sweet corn, grated carrots, sliced red peppers and cucumber are great ways of packing a meal with colourful veg.
2. Using leftovers
If you have leftovers from dinner, many dishes are actually just as nice cold and will be a great treat for your child’s school lunch.
Dishes like quiche or vegetarian Bolognese work really well. Getting your little ones to eat a hearty meal can make a really welcome change from the all-too-common sandwich.
3. Scrumptious snacks
That period between coming home from school and eating dinner is prime snacking time for kids. Instead of making a sandwich or giving them chocolate, leave some carrot sticks and hummus on the table for your kids to nibble on.
4. Build your own
Try putting together a small picnic in their lunchbox - slices of tomato, ham, grated carrot, grated cheese and some bread and butter and let your little one build their own sandwich.
5. Fruit & veg art
This is a great way to get your little ones familiar with ‘foreign’ fruit & veg and to embrace new foods.
Create funny faces/animal faces using lots of fruit and veg – even the more exotic fruits & veg like ‘star-fruit’ for eyes or ‘papaya’ for lips work really well.
Check out the images below for some fruit-spiration:
Kids should eat more fruit & veg. Fact. Kids love eating fruit & veg. Not a fact. Thankfully innocent Drinks have two seriously scrumptious recipes for you to choose from for little hands and lunchboxes; Pineapples, Apples & Carrots or Strawberries, Apples & Beetroot. Not only do they taste brilliant, but they are also packed with a whole portion of fruit & veg and absolutely nothing else. Check them out here.
