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When my cousin told me she’s struggling to get her 3 year old to eat veggies, I set out to find creative and easy snack options for them.  As vegetarianism becomes more popular, partially for health concerns, there is more competition on the market for tasty options - great for us moms of toddlers. You will need to experiment to see which types of foods and brands your toddler likes and you’ll definitely land some winners that will become staples in your kitchen.

Here are 8 ways to include veggies in your toddler’s meal plan:

1. Veggie protein chicken fingers: I recommend Smart Tenders by LightLife

2. Veggie meatballs: Costco recently started carrying veggie meatballs and it’s quite good. I also found some at my local market in the organic section made from mushrooms - better than the real thing!

3. Veggie cheese slices: I recommend Veggie Slices by GalaxyFoods

4. Sweet veggies: Sweet corn and green peas are a couple of sweet veggies. You can buy them frozen, steam them, and then separate into baby food cubes.  Put them in the fridge next to your toddler’s yogurt to grab as a snack.

5. Edameme: You can buy them de-shelled in the frozen section and boil or steam them. Again, you can place them into cubes and in the fridge.

6. Crunch dried corn: SensibleFoods makes delicious corn snacks. You can find them through Amazon Grocery.

7. Sweet potato fries: You can buy these in the frozen section or make them. Here is my favorite sweet potato fries recipe.

8. Veggies chips: Stores are now carrying a variation and you can try them all out. Look for lowest amount of sodium (I’ve found that a challenge).

Additional helpful resources:

17 Tips for Pleasing the Picky Eater by Dr. Sears

Toddler/Preschool Bentos by Recipe Mama

Deceptively Delicious: Simple Secrets to Get Your Kids Eating Good Food by Jessica Seinfeld

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