7 Strategies to Get Your Kid to Try New Food

I’m so excited to share these strategies to get kids to try new food with you today.

My 4-year-old as a baby was a fantastic eater. We did baby led weaning and introduced a huge variety of foods. Zucchini, eggplant, squash, tomatoes, etc. Name any vegetable and we probably tried feeding it to her. But once she turned 3, it was like a switch went off and she absolutely refused to eat anything except butter noodles and pizza.

I scoured the internet for any help I could find and came across the book “French Kids Eat Everything”. Thank goodness for this book. If you have a picky eater at home, please go read this book. Not every single thing may resonate, but it has so many good tips and tricks to try for yourself, you’re sure to take something valuable away from it.

So after reading this book, we’ve been trying a ton of new tactics at home. Now I have some strategies to get kids to try new food that I get to share with you here.

Do Not Cook Different Meals

Exposure to new foods has been unbelievably helpful for my kids. The more I just gave them the same foods over and over, the more especially my four year old was afraid of seeing new foods on her plate. But I no longer make separate meals for my husband and me and then for the kids. We all get the same plates, always.

Always Have One “Safe” Option on the Plate

Since our family is now always eating the same meal, one thing I’ll always do is make sure at least one thing for dinner that night is a guarantee with my kids. They love any kind of potatoes, corn on the cob, carrots, fruits, etc. So if I’m serving up something I know they probably won’t like or eat as the main dish, I always make sure they’ll eat at least one of the sides.

“You Don’t Have to Like It, You Just Have to Try It”

I don’t force my kids to eat anything. BUT, I do expect them to take at least one bite of each thing on their plate. Don’t like it? No biggie, our messaging is now “maybe you’ll like it more next time!” or “maybe you’ll like it when you’re older!”

Cut Out Snacks

This one is HUGE. It’s such a focus in the “French Kids Eat Everything” book and for good reason. It’s okay if your child is hungry! They should be hungry when a mealtime rolls around! And if they are hungry, they are way more likely to try new food and eat what’s on their plate. But if you have given them the expectation that they’ll be getting snacks throughout the day and after each meal, what motivation do they have to eat anything on their plate? Cutting out snacks was a game changer for us. We still do one snack, but it’s right after naps/quiet times around 2-3PM and well before dinner at 6PM. (And I’ve made it a healthy snack!)

“Little Stomach Creatures”

So this hint I actually got from the book “Hunt, Gather, Parent”, which instantly became my favorite parenting book of all time. The author mentions that some of the cultures she visited and observed would pass down spooky “legends” and “stories” of monsters and creatures of all sorts to keep the kids safe in more dangerous places. For example, monsters in the woods so this kids don’t wander off too far. These stories are effective because kids love to be just a little spooked. And these stories don’t have to be elaborate. They can be simple “stories” to, again, keep kids safe or serve in teaching them important lessons.

So we implemented something like this at mealtimes. I told my 4-year-old she has little creatures in her stomach that when they get too hungry, they may start scratching at her tummy. And that these little creatures LOVE their vegetables the most. So sure if she eats a cookie, the little creatures may be okay with that, but they’ll still need something healthy as well to be fully satisfied. IT TOTALLY WORKED! My daughter is now obsessed with making sure her little creatures are happy and is totally good to eat vegetables to do it.

Make Dinner Fun!

The more your kids associate dinner with stress and tempers (like frustrations when they won’t eat), the less they will want to even do dinner. That’s why I don’t force my children to eat any food, but only encourage it. We tell funny stories, we make funny jokes, we even (gasp) play with our food (to a certain extent). Like pretending we are dinosaurs eating our “trees” (broccoli). Or a hungry T-rex wants his chicken. Anything that keeps it light and fun helps tremendously and my girls always love our food games and I’ve noticed it making a real difference in their willingness to eat new foods.

Involve Kids in the Cooking

Maybe it’s the kids looking through cookbook pictures or pictures through Pinterest and helping pick which new meal to make for that night. Or having them just season the meat you’re about to cook. Any involvement you can encourage from your child to help with dinner (where safe) helps a ton to have your kid excited to try what they’ve made.

Hopefully one of these strategies works for you if you try to implement it. If you have any additional tricks you’ve tried that have worked, I can’t wait to hear about them!

Need some tips on how to get your kids to play with their toys more? Check this post out next!

Happy eating!