Load sandwiches up with vegetables: grated carrot, capsicum, sliced mushrooms and spinach
Spread avocado on your sandwiches instead of butter
Prepare sliced cucumber, lettuce, sprouts, tomato wedges and grated carrots for your family to make their own wraps, sandwiches and subs
Mix chopped fruit such as kiwifruit, apples, pears and oranges with low fat yoghurt. Young children tend to eat more fruit when it is chopped up
Add diced carrots, corn, silverbeet, onions and tomatoes to chop suey for a colourful lunch
Make home made salsa with tomatoes, mangos, avocados, red onion, coriander and lime juice. Use as a dip or sandwich filling
Fill vegetarian sushi with avocado, finely sliced carrots, red peppers, cucumber and silverbeet
Dinner Ideas
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Stir chopped or grated vegetables such as carrots, courgettes, beans, spinach, silverbeet, puha, potatoes and kūmara through mince dishes, soups, casseroles, rice and pasta dishes
When making mashed potatoes boil some cauliflower, parsnip or brussels sprouts with your potatoes and mash together for a tasty change.
Pile diced tomatoes, onion, mushroom, broccoli, green and red peppers onto homemade or frozen pizza before cooking
Add lettuce, spinach, pineapple, tomato, beetroot slices and grated carrot to home-made burgers
Boil up a hearty soup with left over hangi or roast dinner vegetables
Stew apples and serve with pork or chicken
Try mashing kūmara, pumpkin, carrot, broccoli or yams with potato
Add layers of spinach or silverbeet into a lasagne
Mix grated pumpkin or cooked pureed cauliflower into soups or casseroles. It thickens them and adds a touch of sweetness
Heat leftover vegetables and serve as a topping for toast or pizza
Prepare a colourful fruit platter for dessert for your family to share – include chopped pineapple, orange wedges, apple quarters, mangoes, papaya, grapes, bananas and more
Bake apples, pears or bananas for a healthy dessert
Thread chopped fruit onto skewers for a colourful kebab
Snack Ideas
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Keep a bowl of fruit on the counter for snacking on the run
Prepare “grab and go” snacks in small plastic bags in the refrigerator. Use cut up carrots, celery, cucumber, peppers, orange segments and grapes. Store at eye level
Offer carrot, courgette, red and green pepper and celery sticks to children for snacks with dips such a hummus, salsa or low fat cottage cheese
Blend or mash bananas, berries, plums or peaches and freeze in ice trays with one tooth pick in each to make a summer snack
Dice or grate onion, carrot, courgette, potato and corn into savoury muffin or pikelet mixture
Serve vegetable sticks or whole grain pita bites with a salsa made with fresh tomatoes, red onion, garlic and herbs
Make oven-baked wedges using sliced potatoes, carrots, kūmara, parsnips, beetroot and serve with your favourite chutney
Use raw or cooked vegetables as a base for hors d’oeurves. Try salmon on cucumber slices, ricotta and herbs in button mushrooms or mini baked potato halves
Bite-sized pieces of cooked vegetables like potatoes, kūmara, yams and pumpkin make great snacks for kids
Freeze unused fruit or vegetables in individual bags and use when you are making smoothies
Finding creative ways to encourage your children to eat and enjoy fruit and vegetables can be fun for the entire family:
Let children choose which fruit and vegetables to serve and how to incorporate them into their favourite meals
Eat lots of fruit and vegetables yourself. Children will model their eating habits on what they see you eat
Breakfast is an important meal of the day. Try adding sliced banana, grated apple or pear to porridge or cereal. Peaches, berries and kiwifruit add great variety when in season
Serve fruit and vegetables at every meal. You can add grated or cut vegetables into entrees, side dishes, pizzas and soups
Keep trying: For some foods, it may take multiple times before a child acquires a taste for it
Don’t force children to eat things – this will create negative associations and discourage them from trying again in the future
Don’t reward your children with food
Keep a bowl of fresh fruit on the counter. Refrigerate cut up fruit and vegetables in small bags for easy snacks on the run
Try feeding different textures of fruit and vegetables to your child. Some children prefer smooth food, whereas others like lumpy, and some children like crisp foods, but others like soft
Offer new fruit and vegetables in combination with old favourites to show your child a variety of smells, textures and colours
Kids are turned off to trying new foods if the smell, flavour, or colour is not appealing to them. It may be more appealing to a child if fruit or vegetables are served raw
Involve your child in shopping for fruit and vegetables and encourage them to select something new or unusual for the family to try
Raise children’s interest in fruit and vegetables by growing some in your garden (or in pots). Strawberries and carrots are favourites and are easy to grow
Try freezing pieces of bananas and grapes for a summer treat