kids eating habits | The Southside Girl

“The only way to keep your health is to eat what you don’t want, drink what you don’t like, and do what you’d rather not”
Mark Twain

Like most mums/dads i used to harp on about what amazing eaters my children were, how they loved to try new things and cleared their plates every dinner time. Well, clearly, i majorly jinxed myself there.

Aiden, my eldest, used to be a fantastic eater whether it be fish, any kind of meat, all fruits and vegetables, and he rarely complained. Logan, on the other hand, has always been a big eater but has tended to side in the way of potatoes and bananas but steered clear of pretty much everything else.

Fast forward a couple of years and the boys refuse to eat anything other than cheese sandwiches, chicken nuggets, bowls of cereal and yoghurts.

It drives me insane.

Recently, i have been desperate to get them to eat more fruit and vegetables, particularly with Aiden starting school in August and so, for my birthday i asked for a smoothie maker.

The plan was to get the boys to pick all the fruit they wanted from the shops, let them help me cut it up and then let them make the smoothies themselves – with the thought that they would be more likely to taste it if they’ve seen what is in it and done all the work.

My new blender/smoothie maker

The smoothie maker itself is fantastic! It is a Hinari MB280 Genie Multi Attachment Blender. It is easy to use (i’m a slight dunce when it comes to working new appliances) and comes with lots of different attachments and storage containers. The uses for this blender are endless and after several “shots” i can tell that it is going to become a staple in my kitchen.

The boys also found it very easy to use (obviously with adult supervision) because of the compact size of it, which also makes it the perfect worktop appliance. I found it on sale at Asda direct at the moment if anyone is wanting a look 🙂

So, the boys and I traipsed off to Lidl to get our fruit. I know sometimes Lidl can be a bit hit and miss when it comes to their fruit and vegetables but knowing we were going to be using it all up on the same day and the fact the prices were fantastic it really was a no brainer.

Our fruit haul

YUM! As soon as we were home the boys were desperate to start their “cooking” and so aprons on and stools into the kitchen, and within 10 minutes there were banana peels and half eaten grapes all over the kitchen. It was brilliant! Logan, as usual, spent most of his time when he was supposed to be cutting the fruit actually eating it, much to the dismay of his brother who was, in fact, raging…. haha.

The finished result

We finally decided on strawberry, banana, raspberry, apple and grape smoothie (top right) and a mango, pineapple, banana and kiwi smoothie (bottom left) and I have to say they were absolutely delicious! Which of course i made sure the boys knew in an attempt to coax them into attempting some more cooking 😉

So, did the boys drink the smoothies after all that work? Well, yes and no. Typical.

Logan had eaten his weight in fruit whilst chopping and said his “tummy was sick of fruit for the day but i’ll drink mine tomorrow” whereas Aiden drank his in record time before declaring himself master of the smoothie universe.