Seven Healthy Meal Ideas for Fussy Eaters

Looking for healthy meal ideas for fussy eaters in your family?

Are you a parent to a fussy eater? Currently looking for healthy meal ideas for fussy eaters? You’re not alone.

If you need help to help your fussy eater expand their palate, try out these healthy meal ideas for picky eaters.

When You Have Fussy Eaters in Your Family…

A recent survey by Babycentre found that 45% of mums surveyed said their biggest challenge is navigating the food minefield of picky eaters and 55% of mums struggle with providing a varied diet to their children.

As adults we all know about the importance of healthy eating for children, and as parents we want them to eat a varied, healthy diet. However, 90% of mums admitted to finding at least one aspect of feeding their child stressful.

Both of my children have gone through fussy eating stages, at different times. And even now, there are things they won’t even try (different things, obviously, which makes preparing dinners great fun).

How to get fussy eaters to eat healthy meals:

• Give them a choice about which new food to try: While you may think that your fussy eater won’t eat anything new, if they get to choose what it is, it might make them more likely to try it. Sit down with them and your recipe books and look for new meal ideas or talk about different ways they could try food they like already – for example, if they like carrots, will they eat carrot and veg mash? Or crudités and healthy dips like hummus?
• Get them to make the meal with you: If they help you prepare a meal in the kitchen and they are involved in the cooking process it might make them more interested in eating it. Worth a try?
• Grow the food in your garden first: If your children are interested in gardening, you could grow fruit and vegetables together which you can pick and prepare together. You don’t even need a garden but could grow things in a window box or small plants on a windowsill.
• Present food in different ways: For some children, it might be as simple as presenting the food in different ways to encourage them to at least try it. While making an elaborate plate of food that looks like a scene from a cartoon might be beyond your culinary skills, even if you arrange it in the shape of a face or their initial it might tempt them into trying it at least

Here are some healthy meal ideas for fussy eaters:

• Salmon pesto tray bake with baby roast potatoes: This is a colourful dish with lots of soft textures that’s packed with vegetables and omega-3 from the fish. Find the recipe on the BBC Good Food website.
• Rainbow fruit skewers: These colourful fruit kebabs look great and are also tasty and healthy. This is a simple recipe that your children can help assemble, too. The recipe is here.
• Smoky veggie chilli: If your children struggle with meat, make them a healthy, meat-free alternative. This smoky veggie chilli from Jamie Oliver is packed full of flavours and might tempt them to mix up their meal times.

You can also read my posts on healthy habits for kids and activities to include in a healthy daily routine.

Once you’ve read this post, check out these ones:

• A guide to baby-led weaning
• Everything CBeebies The Baby Club gets wrong about baby clubs
• And follow me on Instagram