How and when did you get your kids to eat salad?

[HRAAB]

From the beginning when they started eating the same food as us. It's just always there. Same with vegetables.

 

I would try adding more toppings, maybe doing wraps, to get them interested. I've never really thought about because mine have always eaten salad.

[spradlin02]

Maybe let them decide sometimes what to eat and how it should be prepared (with limits , of course)?

[Mrs Mungo]

We frequently have salad with protein in it as a meal. It never occurred to me that my kids would not eat it? My kids aren't picky and love Cobb salad, for example. My middle dd will not eat iceberg lettuce but eats baby spinach, romaine, etc.

Edited March 3, 2010 by Mrs Mungo

[SquirrellyMama]

I have one who loves salad and will eat lots of it (6 yr old ds). I have one who is so so on it and will eat a small side salad with dinner (4 yr old dd) and I have one who will only eat spinach salad (8 yr old dd).

[mcconnellboys]

We started them on various types of salads when they were toddlers and they have always eaten salad.

 

Now, I know that some kids just don't like certain foods. My youngest will not eat yogurt, even though he did as a toddler. Nor will he drink milk - at all. He will occasionally drink part of a milkshake or eat some ice cream. He eats plenty of cheese, but won't touch milk. So, if you're dealing with children who have been offered salads all their lives and just don't like them, you may not be able to do anything about that.

 

Tastes do seem to change for people over time. Mine will both eat some things now (since about the start of puberty) that they wouldn't eat when they were younger. So there may still be hope as they get older. I think I'd just try different flavor combinations until I hit on a blend that works well for them and expand from there, if possible.

[keptwoman]

Honestly I can't imagine that ever happening. Everyone in our family loves salads (well except the 1 year old who doesn't have enough teeth to chew it). We have salads almost every night and several of the kids asks for seconds. But as a complete meal, no way. I don't think they could eat enough salad to last more than an hour. I love salads but even I don't eat them as a meal, I always have something more substancial with it. I can eat a huge salad with chicken or a taco salad and my stomach will growl an hour later. I just don't find they have much holding power. I certainly wouldn't expect my kids to eat that and only that for a meal. They need a lot more calories and fiber (at least mine do) to keep them full.

A couple of salads that make a complete meal for us:

Warm chicken salad: greens, tomato, avocado, chicken poached in wine and stock which is then reduced and has cream added to make a dressing/sauce.

Thai Beef Salad: Green salad with lots of veges, beef is marinated then fried, juices are used as the base of a sauce/dressing.

Roast Vege Salad: Roasted beets, pumpkin, sweet potato, carrots and parsnips, bed of greens, feta or soft goats cheese and balsamic vinegarette. Sometimes I add crispy bacon.

 

Salad that forms a complete meal for us is on a massive platter, huge! And it always needs something a little more solid than salad greens.

[LibraryLover]

We had salad soup tonight. lol Well, ok, veggie soup. :D It was a simple grouping of carrots, onions, celery, sweet potatoes, garbanzo beans, brown rice, kale, & some crushed tomatoes in a homemade chicken stock.

 

Yesterday we had a bunch of spinach wilted in a tomato based sauce on whole wheat linguine pasta. (There was some grass fed ground beef ($8.lb, so I only use about a half a lb for all of us) , onions, and chopped large brine green olives in the sauce.

[The Governess]

We love salads here. One of my favorites is: a mix of lettuce, spinach, and arugula (or whatever green stuff we have lying around), with chopped up apples, pears, and oranges, some grated cheese or goat cheese, and grilled chicken. We always add thinly sliced green onions. Sometimes some cannelloni beans. We make our own dressing: Olive oil, a combination of vinegars (for this salad we use white balsamic vinegar and a yummy orange musket vinegar from Trader Joes), and we always sprinkle the salad with sea salt before we toss.

 

We usually marinate the fruit in the vinegar, olive oil, and green onions while we are preparing the rest of the salad. My girls will eat this for a main course, lettuce and all. :001_smile:

 

I find that adding fruit to the salad, esp. ripe pears or oranges that will make the salad nice and juicy, really helps with getting the girls to eat the greens. We put blueberries in our salad in the summer as well. Sometimes I will use salmon instead of chicken.

 

Taco salad is a good option too.

[LibraryLover]

I am envying every person on this thread from FL or CA...or wherever it's warm. 12 more days 12 more days...(for a vacation not to move).

 

I miss the year 'round garden I had in San Diego!

 

We love salads here. One of my favorites is: a mix of lettuce, spinach, and arugula (or whatever green stuff we have lying around), with chopped up apples, pears, and oranges, some grated cheese or goat cheese, and grilled chicken. We always add thinly sliced green onions. Sometimes some cannelloni beans. We make our own dressing: Olive oil, a combination of vinegars (for this salad we use white balsamic vinegar and a yummy orange musket vinegar from Trader Joes), and we always sprinkle the salad with sea salt before we toss.

 

We usually marinate the fruit in the vinegar, olive oil, and green onions while we are preparing the rest of the salad. My girls will eat this for a main course, lettuce and all. :001_smile:

 

I find that adding fruit to the salad, esp. ripe pears or oranges that will make the salad nice and juicy, really helps with getting the girls to eat the greens. We put blueberries in our salad in the summer as well. Sometimes I will use salmon instead of chicken.

 

Taco salad is a good option too.

[lllll]

To get our kids to eat salads when they were young, I let them eat with their hands. Seriously. Instead of ripping all the ingredients up, I would put things like this on their plates when I fixed them:

 

a whole lettuce leaf

 

whole grape tomatoes

 

smallish carrot sticks

 

cucumber slices

 

and whatever else I happened to have - as whole as I could keep it

 

 

I found they would get frustrated trying to stab the slippery (dressing) sliced ingredients; but they would eat almost anything if they could pick it up with their hands to eat it. We all still do this. When we fix a plate of food, we often tear off a leaf of lettuce or grab some fresh baby spinach and throw it onto our plates, along with all the other fixin's. We just don't do this in front of anyone outside our family. :D

Edited March 3, 2010 by ksva

[vettechmomof2]

My children willingly eat at least 2 large salads a day.

 

Sometimes as many as 6 if we have enough veggies.

 

OUr very basic salad normally consists of walnuts(except for my son), craisins, shredded cheese, carrots, peppers of different colors, lettuces of varying types but not iceburg, spinach and some other greens(kale,collard greens or arugala normally). hard boiled egg, sometimes chicken, sometimes a taco salad styling.

 

Celery, cucumbers and extras items when on sale and in good condition.

[Spy Car]

I am envying every person on this thread from FL or CA...or wherever it's warm.

 

We are blessed :D

 

The soup sounds good :001_smile:

 

Bill

[keptwoman]

I have a recipie for a very tasty lettuce, pea and mint soup that is delicious and refreshing in summer. Lettuce in soup took some wrapping my brain around, until I tried it.

[DarlaS]

:iagree:

 

I actually find it quite funny now to see the things people take parenting credit for. Me - I think it's all sheer dumb luck that my kids are turning out remotely civilized.

 

:lol::lol:

 

I have one who likes certain salads, likes greek and vegetarian ceasar but not so keen on spinach salad. I have one who'll eat ceasar with chicken but isn't really keen on it. One likes tomatoes, one likes red bell peppers & will eat a whole one while prepping dinner.

 

Salad as a meal is not my favourite thing at all because it takes SO MUCH TIME to prepare and it takes SO MUCH TIME to eat. Gad. You chop and chop and wash and rinse and then you chew and chew and chew and it seems like an awful lot of effort for 350 calories :lol:

:iagree: Lots of work--and I hate scraping out the little unappetizing bits that stick to the bowl.

 

I am determined to keep trying though. I have one salad eater (ONE!) out of four kids. They all like veggies fine--especially raw. Just not salads.