It is recommended that each person eats five portions of fruit and vegetables each day. It can be difficult to change the family meals to introduce fruit and vegetables. Some members of your family may be fussy eaters. So how do you provide healthy meals for your family?

It may be a lot easier than you think. There are many opportunities to introduce an additional portion of fruit or vegetable into existing meals.

There are a wide variety of fruit and vegetables available. Each has their own unique combination of vitamins and minerals that can be used to keep the body healthy. Try to include as broad selection of fruit and vegetables as possible to get a healthy amount of all these nutrients.

Meal ideas

Including fruit and vegetables as part of their main meals is the most effective way to include them as part of a healthy diet.

Be aware that eating dried fruit or drinking fruit juice and smoothies as snacks between meals can cause tooth decay.

Breakfast ideas

If you are cooking a fried breakfast, you can include baked beans, grilled mushrooms or grilled tomatoes.

Adding fruit to cereal or porridge can make them much more appetising. Add sliced banana, sultanas or strawberries.

Ensure that your child is able to access fruit during break times at school. If your school does not provide a piece of fruit then add one to their lunch box for morning break.

Lunch times

While children are at school, they should be provided with at least one portion of fruit or vegetables. Try to encourage them to eat vegetables while you are not supervising them.

If your child eats a packed lunch, you can add salad to their sandwiches. Fruit and vegetables can often be added as an additional lunchbox snack. Add sliced carrot or celery as part of the meal. You could also include grapes, sultanas or cherry tomatoes. Dries sultanas or apricots are also great as a tasty dessert.

Whilst travelling home from school, have a healthy snack available for the journey. Offering your child carrot sticks, a banana, pear or orange is a good way to take advantage of their feeling hungry.

Dinner times

Each meal should include two portions of vegetable on the table. Once this becomes a habit, your child may begin to try the vegetables provided. Don’t try and force them to eat vegetables. As long as they are available, you may begin to change their eating habits.

Snacks

It is important to plan ahead with providing healthy snacks. There are many times in the day where your family decide to snack. Try to have a healthy option available when they do.

Children often eat the nearest food available. If a fruit bowl is always available, they may choose to pick a piece of fruit to snack on.

Another good tip is to leave freshly prepared vegetables in the fridge. Washed and cut carrots or celery will look more appetising if they are easily available.

Remember to bring plenty of healthy snacks while on family day trips. You can save money on expensive snacks by bringing pepper sticks, celery, carrot sticks, oranges, pears or bananas.

Make it fun

Making fruit and vegetables more appealing to children is essential to improving their relationship with healthy food. Always get your child involved with the choosing and preparing of their vegetables and fruit.

Eating fruit and vegetables should be a part of normal life for your child. Allow them to choose from the fruit and vegetables available at the supermarket while shopping.

Children will become more likely to want to try to eat their vegetables if they helped prepare them. Supervising your child while preparing food in the kitchen can be fun and make them familiar with what they eat.

It can be tempting to disguise vegetables in sauces or within stews and bolognese. This may work to get your kids eating vegetables. However, it does reinforce the idea of vegetables being unappetising on their own.

Rather than hiding vegetables within other foods or disguising the taste, try to encourage your children to try lots of fruit and vegetables. Let them have fun and find out which ones they like.

What counts as a five a day?

When you are trying to eat your five fruit and vegetables each day, you may already be including many in the current food that you eat. So what counts as one of your five a day?

Almost all types of fruit and vegetable can count as a portion. They do not need to be fresh or eaten on their own. Many people will get their portions of fruit from smoothies or tinned fruit in deserts. You may be already eating enough vegetables within stews, soup or meals like beans on toast.

The following types of fruit and vegetables can count as part of your five a day:

• Frozen fruit and vegetables
• Tinned or canned fruit and vegetables (with no added sugar or salt)
• Dried fruit such as dates, currants, figs and sultanas
• Fruit and vegetables included in readymade sauces and meals
• Fruit smoothies
• Fruit juice

You can find recipes and tips for adding fruit and veg to your diet here.