Eat Your Veggies, Children

Note: NOT a sponsored post.

About a week ago, I was trying to pick up an easy dinner option at my local SuperTarget. And there, right next to the Quorn chik'n nuggets were a bunch of Dr. Praeger's items I've never seen before. And, something I wasn't expecting were these cute little SpongeBob Veggie Littles. There are plenty of frozen meat/fake meat items available marketed towards children, but these were veggies! I was intrigued.

I scooped them up to try. My kids will eat their veggies at dinnertime, but it is a bit of a struggle sometimes. Perhaps these cuties will make the struggle a bit easier?

Well, my kids (not Zoie, though) were excited. It's not often at all that Mama (me) succumbs to buying food with cartoon characters on them. I try my hardest to steer clear of all that processed junk, but these are different. The veggie Littles ingredients are: Carrots, Onions, String Beans, Zucchini, Spinach, Expeller Pressed Canola Oil, Broccoli, Red Peppers, Corn Meal, Corn Starch, Potato Flakes, Arrowroot, Salt, Garlic, Rice Starch, Parsley.
All real stuff. All pronounceable stuff.

Fast forward to Cameron weekend. Cameron is my 10 year old stepson who is the pickiest person I've met. His approved list of foods are: nuggets, cheeseburgers, pizza and mac and cheese. Pretty much a typical kid in the US... but that doesn't fly in my house. On Cameron weekends, however, I do try to compromise as much as possible and I have found some things that we can agree on without much of an upturned nose. On Friday, I cooked up the rare French Fries and Chik'n Nuggets meal. Usually I add on a side of broccoli, carrots or green beans, but Friday we had SpongeBob veggie Littles.

To my SURPRISE, Cameron ate his veggies first, before anyone else, and without any hesitation!!!!

If you know this kid... the kid who crumbled on the floor (fetal position) in tears when I told him we had become vegetarians because he thought it meant all we would eat are vegetables, you'd be blown away too.

So, kudos to Dr. Praeger for creating these little gems. If you have a picky kid in your life who refuses vegetables too, I totally recommend trying these out. I can't find the SpongeBob versions on their site for some reason, but it seems they have more generic, kid friendly shapes available too. Click here to see for yourself.

What other tricks have you found (besides hiding the veggies) to get your kids to eat their green stuff?

<3, Tabi :D