Getting children to eat their recommended five portions of fruit and veg a day is not always easy. If your child thinks cabbage is ‘yucky’ or green beans are ‘disgusting’ – what’s a parent to do?

One thing that won’t work is forcing your kids to eat food they don’t like – as you risk putting them off even more. But a with a few clever tricks and a gentler approach, kids can often be won over. It just takes a little time and patience and bit of ingenuity too!

5-a-day For Kids Made Easy

5-a-day For Kids Made Easy, by Karen Bali and Sally Child is packed with ideas and advice on simple strategies to ensure your kids get all the fruit and veg portions they need. Here the authors explain, in an extract from the book, how the time straight after school, when your kids are truly ravenous, can be a great opportunity to contribute to their 5-a-day:

If kids come in from school or play and are starving, they want something to eat now, now, NOW! They will not wait while you chop, blend, cook or otherwise prepare anything – they will probably just head for the biscuits or crisps. If you can, it is a good idea to have a menu of food they are allowed to eat anytime as a snack or while waiting for a meal. If you can have emergency snacks on standby, even better. The ideal snack has minimum sugar or salt, will not be gone in one gulp and preferably contains some fruit or vegetables. Serve with fruit juice or high juice squash. Experiment and combine two or three of the following ideas if your child is extra hungry:

•     A milkshake or smoothie

•    A couple of homemade cakes or muffins (with hidden fruit, such as Secret Peach Muffins, see below), already prepared

•    A small packet or handful of raisins

•    A banana

•    One or two satsumas

•     A chopped apple

•     A bunch of grapes

•     A kiwi fruit, cut in half to eat with a spoon

•     A bowl of tinned fruit (in natural juice, not syrup)

•     A fruit juice ice lolly (just freeze fruit juice into lolly moulds)

•     A cereal bar

•    Mashed banana sandwich with an optional drizzle of honey

•     A small bread roll, or one sandwich with some salad sticks

•     Bread sticks or crackers with cream cheese or dip, with cherry
tomatoes and salad sticks (carrot, cucumber, celery and chopped
apple)

•    A handful of plain nuts (for children school aged and upwards
only – not salted or roasted)

•     A small sweet potato with butter (quick to make in the
microwave)

•    Houmous with wholemeal pitta bread

If those ideas have given you some much-needed inspiration, why not have a go at baking the Secret Peach Muffins featured in the book? Click on the images below read the recipe.  There are heaps more tasty recipes and helpful tips in 5-a-day For Kids Made Easy, published by White Ladder Press, which we will be reviewing on the site soon.

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More 5-a-day tips from mums

Three mums of school-age children share their tricks for getting kids to eat their 5-a-day.

“I’ve grated carrots and courgettes into spag bol before and my girls ate it very happily. I’ve also got them to help me to make pizza and put broccoli and cheese on top. Pitta breads at lunchtime are good for getting them to stuff with grated carrots and pineapple.”  Sian W

Other ideas

Sometimes reading a children’s book which encourages kids to eat their greens can work like magic. Annemarie, mum to Ollie (4), checked out the classic Charlie and Lola title – I Will Not Ever Never Eat a Tomato by Lauren Child;