Families across the country are celebrating National Eat Your Veggies Day on June 17. Whether you have a kale-loving kiddo or you find yourself hiding vegetables from your picky eater, you probably agree that vegetables are an important part of your child’s nutrition.
Here are several ways to celebrate National Eat Your Veggies Day with your family:
- Let your child pick out a new vegetable at the grocery store.
- Try a new recipe using your child’s favorite vegetable.
- Elementary kids might like to challenge themselves with a “Name That Vegetable” memory game.
- Paint with vegetables. Ditch the paint brushes and let your kids try painting with carrots or snap peas.
- Make Potato Stamps.
- Try the Celery Experiment.
- Check out a new cookbook or a veggie picture book from your local library.
- Consider a Give Garden subscription.
If you’re looking for a way to eat your veggies beyond the typical raw or frozen options, here are a few packaged grocery store items that include veggies in the ingredient list:
- Mott’s Fruit Snacks made with fruit and veggies
- Fruitables juice boxes
- Harvest Snaps
- Pressed by KIND bars made with spinach and kale
- Eating Right Veggie Pasta
Keep in mind, these are just a few fun options you may want to add on to your grocery list. Always check out the nutrition facts and vitamin list to find out if these are worthwhile for your family.
If all this talk about National Eat Your Veggies Day has left you dreaming of feeding your family more fresh vegetables, here are a few ideas to get you started:
- Add at least three different fresh vegetables to your shopping cart each week. When you get home, clean them right away. The more accessible your veggies are, the more likely your family will choose to eat them.
- Eat at least one veggie with every meal. If you usually have scrambled eggs for breakfast, consider adding spinach or peppers to the mix. Raw veggies make for an easy addition to your lunch on the go. Adding a vegetable to your dinner can be easy. There are so many options in the freezer section – many of them only need to be microwaved in their packaging for a few minutes and they’re ready to serve.
- “Eat the rainbow.” Enjoy as many naturally colored foods as possible. (No, Skittles don’t count here.) Your kids may have fun helping you think of different veggies for each color in the rainbow.
If you’d like some facts, the US Department of Agriculture’s website has a lot of background information about vegetables. They even have videos with songs and recipes.
