Five tips for fitting fruits and veggies into your kids' meals
10/20/2025 by Michaeleen Burroughs, M.S., RDN, LD
It's one thing to say, "eat the rainbow," but it's another thing to fit enough — or more — fruits and veggies into your kids' meals. Here are five tips to make that happen:
Make them fun
- Get kids involved in choosing fruits and veggies at the grocery store or farmers market.
- Give kids the job of washing and preparing fruits and veggies for storage. Little ones can help with the easy jobs, like stemming grapes. Bigger kids can peel carrots.
- Cut carrots, cucumbers, radishes, apples, pears and melons with an inexpensive "waffle" cutter to give them a fun, wavy edge.
- Cut yellow, orange or red sweet peppers into rings instead of slices.
- Scoop melons into balls and mix and match honeydew, watermelon and cantaloupe.
- Keep dips like nonfat yogurt and salad dressings on hand for dipping and scooping with sliced fruit or veggies.
Change them up
- Roast or boil cauliflower or carrots, mash with salt and pepper and serve instead of mashed potatoes.
- Cook a spaghetti squash, and when tender, lift out the long noodle-like strands and top just as you would pasta or rice.
- Switch it up and instead of white potatoes, opt for sweet potatoes: bake, roast, mash or serve as fries.
Mix them in
- Making lasagna? Spread a veggie layer of shredded carrots or zucchini between each pasta layer, chopped yellow or green sweet peppers or torn spinach.
- Add chopped fresh or frozen green beans to a soup or stew. Stir canned, fresh or frozen corn kernels into chili.
- Sauté chopped green peppers, onions, and sliced mushrooms to boost pasta sauce.
- Dress up tacos with sweet peppers, cucumbers or avocado.
Puree them
- The easiest breakfast ever is a fruit smoothie: Combine frozen fruit (berries, peaches, pineapple) and a cup of nonfat milk in a blender and puree until smooth. (You can even sneak in a carrot.)
- Cook carrots, potatoes, onions, squash and an apple. When tender, puree with salt, pepper and other seasonings and thin with vegetable or chicken broth for an easy soup.
- Stir pureed veggies into pasta sauce or tomato soup.
Don't give up
OK, so your kids really balk at fruits and vegetables. The rule of thumb is that you must try something 10 times before you develop a taste for it. So don't give up. Keep exposing your kids to a variety of fruits and vegetables; tastes and reasons for disliking foods may change over time. Plus, kids tend to eat different foods if their friends eat and enjoy them too.
Remember that the best way to encourage and enhance your children’s love of fruits and veggies is to model consistent eating of fruits and veggies yourself.
Consider these sites for more tips to champion fruits and veggies for your family!
In summary, small changes can make a big difference. You can help your kids build lifelong healthy eating habits with creativity and patience.
Michaeleen Burroughs, M.S., RDN, LD, has worked in Primary Care in Rochester and Kasson for 28 years. She helps Mayo Family Clinics - Northwest, Southeast, Northeast, and Kasson patients. Her areas of interest are diabetes and child and adult weight management.