Want your kids to eat more veggies? Put this unexpected food item on their plate

Getting kids to eat their vegetables is always a challenge - but adding this unexpected food to their meals could help.

There are so many reasons meal times can become a battleground between parents and kids. From tiredness and teething to unfamiliar foods on the plate and having no autonomy over their food, the reasons a child pushes back really can be endless. But battleground aside, parents still ponder how to get their family to eat more fruit and veg, and want to work out what healthy family meals they can easily whip up (not forgetting to add the healthiest vegetables possible).

Fortunately, new research has found a clever and simple way parents can try to encourage their children to eat more veg. A study published in the journal Nutrients has revealed that kids could be encouraged to eat more of their 5-a-day by including one common food product on their plate - potato smiley faces.

In the study, researchers fed children aged between 7 and 13 a meal of chicken nuggets, two percent milk, ketchup, apple sauce, mixed peas, and carrots, served alongside either a form of potatoes or bread.

The study found children ate more peas and carrots when they were served in combination with potato-shaped smiley faces, compared to when they were served with bread or seasoned potatoes The findings suggest that pairing kid-friendly forms of potatoes with other vegetables can promote greater overall vegetable consumption.

However, there's an important caveat: the effect only applies when the potato smiles are served in the same bowl as the veg, rather than separately.

Professor Gene Ahlborn, an associate professor of nutrition, dietetics and food science at Brigham Young University and the study's principal investigator, said, "We wanted to learn more about how school meal offerings may influence kids’ eating behavior and possibly encourage greater vegetable consumption."

In 2018 - the most recent data available - NHS figures showed that just 18% of children aged 5 to 15 ate five standard portions of fruit and veg a day. But Professor Ahlborn hopes the recent study could help to provide a solution.

He said, "Getting kids to eat their vegetables is always a challenge. Potatoes not only add nutrients, like potassium, directly to the plate, but they may also help encourage kids to explore other veggies that they’re served alongside and thereby help them get closer to their overall nutrition needs."

In addition, the researchers found that serving children vegetables alongside potato smiley faces could help reduce food waste. "We want vegetables on school lunch trays to fuel kids' bodies - not fill the trash can," added Professor Ahlborn.

The researchers suggested that the benefits of serving kid-friendly preparations of potatoes are twofold: it could improve children's diets as well as help with food waste reduction efforts.

Looking for more recipe inspiration? We've rounded up some tasty yet cheap family meals and some great store-cupboard meals too. Busy parents might also want to check out these 15 minute meals too.