We were recently asked at Project Delicious to start producing children’s meals so that the parents as well as the children could enjoy healthy delicious food without the hassle of planning, shopping and preparation. To tie in with this we decided to set ourselves 5 basic rules and then pass these rules onto parents – so that if they wanted to use our services they could but if they didn’t we could easily supply them with helpful information. Below is the list we came up with 

1. ‘Enjoy what you eat and eat what you enjoy’. Don’t ever force children to eat specific foods - mealtimes should not be traumatic! Children as well as adults are very suspicious of new foods, you need to introduce a new food 17 times before it even comes close to being normal. We have a rule in our house..

….we always try new things, you don’t have to like it or even eat it but as long as you try it…and you might surprise yourself and actually like it!

So get your children eating healthy foods they enjoy and try to introduce them to as broad a range of foods as possible – a healthy diet is one which has lots of variety in it.

Food needs to look good – ‘lollies’ are a simple way to do this. i.e skewers with interesting food on. A lolly is a treat! Fruit can go on a skewer as can vegetables and meat or fish. 

2. Eat together where possible! Children play mummies and daddies …if children see you as parents eating healthy delicious food they are far more likely to try it themselves. So whenever you get the opportunity, eat together. There has recently been a government radio campaign telling parents to eat 5 a day – often we spend so much time remembering to feed the children 5 a day – we forget about ourselves. Children learn by example if they see you enjoying healthy food – they will enjoy it too!

3. Educate your Child! If your child starts pestering for junk foods in the supermarket read the ingredient list to them. Trust me E497 isn’t appealing! The best way to eat, is to eat food from as natural a source as possible, and from as local a source as possible. The moment you pick an apple off a tree the vitamins start to break down – it looks the same but the vitamin and mineral content reduces.  
   

Get your children involved in the kitchen - children love to cook – with a food processor apple crumble takes about 5 minutes to make – or 30 mins if you get them to peel the apples – they love being involved in the kitchen and peeling apples is a great way to keep them quiet and occupied!

Or try home made pizzas – where they can experiment with new toppings – olives, sweetcorn, pineapple.

Even something as simple as squeezing oranges for orange juice can be exciting for a 3 year old! 

4. Let them get hungry!! Try to eat 5 planned meals a day rather than snacking on junk foods which contain ‘empty’ (low nutritional value) calories. Children are always starving when they get in from school – try to give them healthy foods at this time when they are guaranteed to eat them – try chopped up vegetables or fruit.

 

5. Cheat! If all else fails then hide the health. Click here for a few examples of recipes we make:
 

 

   

Meatballs or mini burgers – process carrots, courgettes, sun dried tomatoes and red peppers in a food processor before adding to mince – as long as they can’t see vegetables they will generally eat them. Make the mixture into small balls – children can help make the balls themselves. Bake in the oven for approx 20-25 mins . 


 

 

Bolognese Sauce – sauté onions, carrots, red peppers until soft then blend to a smooth puree before adding the cooked mince – again if they can’t see the vegetables… – also you can add some big chunks and then pick these out to double bluff children. 

Soy toasted seeds – a real favourite of my kids. The reason kids like crisps is because the high salt content is very satisfying to our taste buds. With soy toasted seeds you literally roast at approx 200 degrees C for 20 mins a mixture of pumpkin, sesame and sunflower seeds with a teaspoon of soy sauce – a light coating of sauce over the seeds. Once cooked these taste like dry roasted peanuts. Seeds are full of Omega 3. Which is excellent for your health – and far better for you than deep fried potatoes! 

Fruit juice lollies – freshly squeeze juice then freeze in it lolly moulds – simple, tasty and vitamin packed! Alternatively use any juice your children like. You can even make them multicoloured by added one juice freezing it then adding another coloured juice and then freezing that. 

Thank you Fiona from Project Delicious for this very helpful article.