It’s not hard, it’s not hard, stop making it hard, I’m telling you – it’s not hard. It’s also quite easy.
I used to just serve one fruit or vegetable with each meal (if that). This might have been enough for our nutritional needs, as long as we were getting some fruits or veggies at snack time too. But when all was said and done, I think my family was only getting 1-3 servings of fruits or veggies each day. That is just not enough. Our bodies need more – more variety of nutrients, and a larger quantity too.
Putting a big variety of fruits and vegetables on the table with each meal is something I’ve been improving on through the past few years. I hope you’ll join me in this endeavor. It isn’t nearly as difficult as I used to believe it was. In fact, I’m learning that fruits and vegetables are probably the easiest food there is to make and serve. Truly!
Below you’ll see an example of a meal I made recently. Notice the simplicity. Also notice that I rarely put our food in serving dishes – we just eat them right out of the cookware. :)
See the big pot of Tuna Casserole? Easy as that was to make, it was the most time consuming meal item I prepared. All the fruits and veggies on the side were a piece of cake. Actually, they were fruits and veggies, not cake, but you know what I mean.
To go with the tuna casserole, I cooked some frozen peas (which took about 3 minutes), washed blackberries, sliced a cucumber, and opened a bag of petite baby carrots. That made a total of four super easy fruit and veggie side dishes that we enjoyed. The apples, bananas, pears, and clementines you see in the weren’t actually for our meal. Those just sit out on the table as a center piece and for all of us to grab for snacks as needed.
This practice of setting out several different lightly cooked and raw fruits and vegetables to go with our main dish has become the norm around here. Once you get into the habit, it really is easy. Actually, I’ve found that it’s even been a fun challenge to see how many different kinds of fruits and veggies I can put on the table with each meal!
This is a typical grocery shopping haul for the week, plus I have many fruits and vegetables in the freezer.
An added benefit of setting out a wide variety, beyond the obvious fact that we are getting a great bounty of nutrients with all the different types of goodies out there is this: If one of our boys doesn’t love all the types of fruits and vegetables I set out, they will at least like 2 or 3. I do it this way on purpose so that everyone will have something they love. While we don’t all fill our plates with every single item, we do fill our plates with what we like…which means there is no fighting at the table to get my kids to eat their veggies. Hallelujah!
And one more thing. Crunching and chewing on these fruits and vegetables as side dishes has been filling up my boys’ hollow legs. If I covered my table with a bunch of grains and carbs, they’d certainly fill up on those, but would not be gaining as much nourishment. We still eat plenty of grains around here (especially at breakfast), but I’ve found that we’re feeling better by trading heavy amounts of bread for larger quantities of fruits and vegetables.
And another one more thing. If fruits and vegetables is what you serve, that is what your family will learn to eat. If you don’t serve them, they won’t eat them.
Okay, one last one more thing. I still have to push a couple of my kids to fill up on fruits and vegetables. It is getting easier, but just like most kids – mine would rather have a donut with a side of potato chips. Keep encouraging, keep serving, keep providing – the love of fruits and vegetables will come.
How’s it going at your house? Have you found easy ways to add fruits and vegetables to your table?
Thank you!! I have time to throw together a quick salad for dinner and I am running off to the kitchen to do that now!! You’re awesome for motivating me!
I always serve fruit with dinner. There is always fruit and some veggies with lunch also, whether eaten at home or packed. I think we could do better with breakfast. On weekdays, breakfast is somewhat hurried. I think simplicity is pretty important. If you realize that a simple vegetable dish and pear slices is fine, then I think it’s less stressful.
I totally agree with your comment, if you serve them, they will eat them. I have been trying to be more intentional about serving fruits and veggies thanks to your encouragement.
Any ideas how to get extremely picky eaters to eat more veggies who do not like ranch or any other dips/dressing/sauces? It makes it a challenge for sure. I do try to add veggies to my ground beef etc. to help some.
Love your website ????
My husband is an extremely picky eater. He won’t eat any dressing, sauce, or dip either. I make sure I keep a variety of the fruits & vegies that he will eat on hand. This sometimes means spending a little more, but it’s worth it. It also helps if his favorites are clean, ready to eat, and displayed in bowls in the fridge at (his) eye level. I also shred/grate/mince vegies into just about everything. They will look like seasoning. Mashed beans (like pinto beans) make a great thickener too.
Smoothies :)
We made kale smoothies last week, and everyone loved them!
We put a small handful of kale, four bananas, 1- 1 1/2 cups frozen strawberries and a little water (or milk). Blend :). This made four nice glassfuls. If you did not see the kale go in you would not taste or see it!
You could also do orange, carrot, pineapple smoothies, etc. there are lots of great recipes online.
Have a great day!
Thank you for helping me feed my family much healthier in the past year. It’s amazing what they will eat now without batting an eyelash unlike this time last year. I am so appreciative of your push for fruits and veggies in their simple form. I bought some sugar snap peas a couple of days ago and my teen daughter has been taking vast amounts of them in her lunch box everyday. This was the girl who took a small container of applesauce in her lunch EVERY SINGLE SCHOOL DAY last year.
You are so inspiring! Good job!
Thank you, thank you! Yes this works! I started doing this last year. (After reading about it in one of your posts.) It is so very easy. Last night I was in a hurry and did not set anything on the table but the main dish. We have a fruit bowl on the counter and a fridge full of delicious goodness, I figured we would just grab what we wanted to go with our pasta. Well it did not work that way. (I think we fell thru a time warp into the past.) My husband ate his pasta & meat and then announced he was getting seconds. What?! He can’t just eat pasta & meat! Not to mention that we don’t have “seconds” anymore. That extra food in the pot is “planed-overs” :0 Realizing this was my fault, I quickly got him a variety of fruit and raw vegies. I also gave him a slice of homemade bread. Nutrition emergency averted! He was happy and I won’t forget to put the fruits & vegies on the table again. :)
Due to GI issues my daughter has been encouraged to eat more fruits and veggies. I was happy she ate any at all. I serve Green beans or peas almost every night because those she will eat, not much else. Forget raw veggies. The last few nights she has objected to the meal I offered (two different kinds of soup, one with chicken and veggies the other with beans) and chose not to eat. Since it’s winter, we’re mostly eating oranges and apples. It would be easier in summer when she would fill up on peaches, and berries.
I’m not allowing her to eat any rice or pasta and significantly limiting bread until the situation has improved. So far what I have is a lot of food go to waste and a very hungry little girl. (My stubborn son seems to have joined her in some kind of sibling solidarity). How do you get them to eat veggies when they are so stubbornly against it? Especially since there is a medical issue at stake.