Do you have fussy eaters? Here’s smart ways to hide fruit in tasty snacks
If you have fussy eaters at home, you know how difficult it is to get them to eat certain foods, in particular, fruits and vegetables.
You’ve probably exhausted your list of ideas on how to encourage your children to try these healthy foods but we’re here to share some top tips on how to get them to eat their five-a-day.
The easiest way to get little ones to eat foods like fruit they don’t usually like (or even attempt to try) is by hiding it!
We’re sure you’ve mashed your fair share of carrots and blended many bananas into a multitude of smoothies, but we have some fresh snack ideas that your children won’t even realise contain hidden fruits.
Have a look at our clever ideas and yummy recipes below and see if you can up your child’s intake of fruit.
Make your own fruity sweets
Children love sweets, plain and simple. So why not use this knowledge to your advantage and make your own fruit sweets from fresh fruits instead of regular sweets that have high levels of sugar. Strawberry fruit leather is one of our favourite ways to get our kids to eat a mix of strawberries and apples when they really think they’re just having a regular sweet treat. We have a recipe here that your child is bound to love.
Hide fruit in their favourite foods
If your child is a fan of pancakes but prefers to eat them with chocolate instead of fresh fruit on top, we have the recipe for you! A lot of the time children are put off when they see fruit because many believe, healthy doesn’t equal tasty. But, by hiding fruit inside the pancake batter, they won’t even know they’re enjoying the added bonus of fruit. Apples are the best fruit to use as it mashes within the pancake batter and isn’t as noticeable as fruits such as blueberries and raspberries so have a look at this recipe and see what they think of these delicious apple pancakes.
Make small changes
Putting pressure on children to eat things they don’t want to is a surefire way of making them never want to eat that food. Making small changes to the way you present fruit to them can have a huge impact on whether they will try it again in the future. If you know they won’t eat berries whole, make a berry jam for them to spread on their toast like this one. Of course, it’s not the same as them eating the whole fruit, but at least they are still having it in their diet somehow.
Introduce new snacks
Handing a child an orange or a box of raisins isn’t always the most appealing way for fussy eaters to enjoy the food. If you can’t get your child to try a plain piece of fruit, incorporate it into a new snack for them to try. Our recipe for fruity energy boost bites is a great way to get your child to try a new snack (which doesn’t automatically look healthy or made of fruit) and get some fruits into them.
Make it a treat
Rather than giving your child fruit as a means to be healthy, introduce it to them as a treat or dessert. For a child, the idea of a sweet treat after a meal or as a snack is exciting, so making this treat out of fruit is a great way to make sure they’re still having fruit in their diet. These ice pops obviously look like kiwi but the texture is so different to the plain fruit on its own that your little one is sure to want to give it a try.