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There's a great new coupon available for $1/1 Dole Fruit Bowls in Sugar Free Gel. Find a good sale, especially a BOGO or super doubles event, and you should be able to get these for a real bargain!
We were recently sent a variety of Dole Fruit Bowls to try. While I wouldn't normally buy prepackaged fruit of this sort (one 4-pack won't even feed all of my kids), I will buy these again in the future if for no other reason than they got my ultra-picky 3-year-old daughter to actually eat!
She loved the little just-her-size cups -- giving her small bowls just doesn't have the same effect. For the fruits in juice, I just open the package a tiny bit and drain the juice so she can eat them as a finger food.
BONUS: I've got four coupons good for a FREE Dole Fruit Bowls in Sugar Free Gel that I'd love to share with four of my readers.
Just leave a comment sharing your favorite way to entice a picky eater to actually eat! I'll close the comments at noon EST on Tuesday, October 6th and select four comments at random.
Tara Kuczykowski is a married mom of three boys and two girls, ages 4 to 10 years, living in Columbus, OH.
{ 69 comments }
My 4 year old son is the pickiest kid I've ever met. Oddly enough though he likes mayo (go figure). Well, what I have done is try to create dishes that look like they have mayo in them and he will actually eat. He's even eating the veggie pizza with carrots, broccoli and cauliflower. Light ranch dressing and veggies is the new hit around my house. Who knew it would work? We also love the Dole fruit bowls because he will eat most of those too. Thanks for all you do!!!
We grew vegetables in our garden this year and my son (who NEVER eats vegetables) LOVED them! I think because he helped plant, water, and weed. Everytime he ate something he said I grew some good food, huh mom?!
If I let my 3 year old help fix his food he usually is more willing to eat it.
My son was never a picky eater until recently but I was getting worried when it seemed his appetite went away so I decided to be creative..... Now I try and make his food look as fun as I can by adding food coloring, making everything into a smiley face or landscape on his plate. He will eat pretty much anything when I do this.
Thanks for the chance!
My daughter like to eat things out of the small pre-package bowls. I just save a couple, fill them with bite-size items from bigger packages, such as cereal, and then she will eat them. I just kind of "fake" her out and she is fine.
My little girl will eat any veggies if she has dip with them!
thanks tara..
My 3 year old son is a really picky eater its usually chicken nuggets and mac & cheese all the time! But when its time to eat I fix his plate with things he normally would say "Yuck" too and I tell him that this is my plate and that he cant have mommys food. He thinks its funny to eat mommys food so he cleans the plate. He eats it not realizing Ive tricked him! Sneaky I know but it gets him to eat healthy things!
I just get REALLY excited about whatever we're eating. I take a bite of food, get wide-eyed, and say "WOW!" I look silly, but hey, my 16-month-old falls for it! :o)
My kids aren't very picky, but sometimes they need a little incentive and we'll do something like cheese cubes, crackers, and "bologna pizzas" made by cutting them in slices.
It was great to read everyones ideas. my son (almost 4) used to not be a picky eater; loved avocados, grapefruit, etc! Now he's really picky and has a huge sweet tooth. I've tried lots of things but nothing really seems to work except ketchup...if he has ketchup he'll usually eat it!
I generally have always gone with the exposure method. I just keep putting it on their plates and don't make comments about it. They see me eating it and eventually they taste it and eat it.
For my picky 4 year old twin girls, I cut things into fun shapes and I call things by cute names. Also if I find something that they like, I call everything by that name. So if they like chicken, then pork , hamburger, steak....EVERYTHING is different colored chicken. If they like broccoli at the moment, that other vegetables are also broccoli....cauliflower becomes white broccoli, Brussel sprouts are broccoli balls....etc. It works for us!!! lol
My daughter hates just about anything, but loves cheese. If she sees the cheese out while I'm cooking she assumes there's cheese in the dish and eats it no questions asked.
Dip, dip, dip! Ranch dressing is the top fave, but ketchup or tomato sauce works great, too. Homemade caramel sauce (butter and brown sugar boiled) works wonders for getting my picky daughter to eat fruit, as does a yogurt fruit dip. Thanks for the giveaway!
We have found that in our house, if we get the kids involved in the process they usually can't wait to try what they have cooked. Also, they have to take bites for the number of years they are old. So if they have taken their bites, and truly don't like it, they don't have to finish it. Works for us!
My kids are starting to get pickier about foods; I find myself chopping up the meat and vegetables in VERY TINY pieces so that my kids can't recognize them in whatever meal I'm making. It takes me longer to chop, but it seems to work.
These are great! They dont even know they are sugar free! I feel like the mom on that commercial for chef boyordee LOL. These coupons make the 4 packs .77 at my grocery store and they make a great addition to lunch boxes!
I do bite count minimums for my kids- they have to have anywhere from 5-10 bites if they want to get a treat after dinner. They can be such a pain to feed!
Kraft Catalina Dressing... it goes on everything... potatoes, meats, peas, corn, you name it... Pizza gets ranch. Its how my mother got my younger brothers to eat everything....including squid. So I always make sure with a good dressing deal I get lots and lots of catalina.
I hide the good stuff in smoothies.
If I offer ketchup with it my son will eat it. It's how I even get him to eat pancakes. Weird, huh, but it works.
They happen to be very good-tasting, and this deal makes them a real good deal too.
Thank You!
I think it is better to ask them to just try it. One bite! If they don't like it, they don't have to eat it. But with my son, everything he eats, we always respond "MMMMMM.. YUMMY!"""" He likes everything! Maybe he just likes food but that's worked with us.
Bribery!! :) Ya do what you gotta do!
To get my 16 month old to eat I usually sprinkle a little shredded cheese on the food.
I think a fun way to entice little ones is to make food fun. For example, make a smiley face on the plate with sandwich fixings and veggies. Get creative!
I'm not great at getting a picky eater to eat... well, she isn't picky, just would rather drink than eat, she'll try anything, but just a bite! We try to have drinks AFTER meals so she feels more hungry and if all else fails, let her pick a meal, if she picks, she is more likely to eat it :D
I let my picky older preschooler and grade schooler eat cut up bits of food (like fruit, veggies, etc.) with a toothpick! They think it is fun to eat this way! Of course, I monitor to make sure they won't hurt themselves with the toothpick.
My kids will eat vegetables raw with ranch dip. Also, they eat more fruit if I give them yogurt fruit dip with it.
I sometimes put out a plate of raw vegetable slices with a low-fat dip an hour or two before dinner. The theory is: if they are hungry, they will eat it! This would also work for slices of fresh fruit. Maybe if you let your picky eater select and buy a small plate, bowl, and cup of their very own - in a favorite color or design - that might help also. Good luck!
We have a rule in our house that you're not allowed to not like something. Sounds cruel, but it works! Our kids eat anything and everything! :)
To get my picky eater to eat (17 years ago) we used to tell him he could use "dipping sauce" with his food. It started as thousand Island Dressing and Ranch dressing. By just calling it dipping sauce he would try foods, dip them in one of the sauces, and then tell us which one was better. It worked for us because he still eats baked potatoes with Ranch dressing.
ketchup or ranch dressing or peanut butter!
A selection of little bits of lots of different foods. Something has to get eaten!
Hide in other food :) Thanks.
It might sound mean, but we've gotten to where we just offer one thing (one meal) at each meal, rather than mini-meals for each child. If the child refuses to eat it, he or she has to eat it at the NEXT family meal. This goes on until the food is either consumed or just too old to eat. There have been a few times where the item in question has been reheated four or five times, but our children have become much less picky! I have five children, and they all generally eat what they are served now.
thankfully i dont have this problem very often, My son loves his veggies and fruit but I would love to win to give him these. He would love them!
you know, i catered to my picky child's tastes (cheese, lean meat, sweet potatoes, bananas) until he got sick of it and was desperate to try anything other than the aforementioned items. tonight he ate chicken pot pie!
Ranch dressing was the key to getting my boys to eat raw veggies. Now, about a year later, they don't even ask for it, but still eat the veggies. Two of them still use ketchup on scrambled eggs or meatloaf. But, honestly, I've found variety the best way to keep them trying new stuff. Having fun new kid-friendly stuff on hand (because of using q's) is a big treat for them. In the past, I rarely bought anything pre-packaged but now I can. :)
When it comes to veggies if I can show them that the dog or rabbit will eat them then my son seems to gladly eat them as well.
I do alot of the "sneaky chef" kind of cooking right now to get my kids to eat veggies! I puree and hide anywhere I can!
I use my 6 year old daughter as the ultimate peer model for enticing my picky 2 year old to try new things, or finish whatever it is that he is eating.. Having the older sister is the best blessing!
Add food coloring to foods to make them colorful and exciting to eat. Also, we name our foods funky names.
I usually let my children help with the planning.
My tween just now became a picky eater. I could always pack her lunch and no matter what she would eat it. No more :(
My grandson will eat anything with Hidden Valley Ranch Dressing.
Ranch on anything is golden for my kids to even consider eating the good stuff. My 3 yr. old even dipped her strawberries in Ranch dressing this eve. I was shocked, but she liked it, apparently!
Also, I add green spirellina powder to their fruit shakes. Its a "hidden" secret! Shhhhhh!
My kids will eat something scary if they can put "dippy sauce" on it (ketchup). Thanks for the giveaway!
I'm always confused on how many coupons I can use on one item. I get them out of the paper, internet, peelies etc. Are you allowed to use an internet and a paper one together? Can you use two of the same coupon on an item? If anyone can clear this up for me, that would be great.
Thanks!
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