How to get 2-yr old and 3.5 yr old to eat more meat?

[Anonymous]

Our two kids don't want to eat meat. How can we get them to eat more meat? They eat other foods (veggies and fruit) but are not keen on meat.

[Anonymous]

Do you think it's the texture or the taste? If it''s the taste you could try serving it with a fruit sauce or chuttney like chicken with apricot sauce or you could do pork chops with apple cranberry chuttney thinks like that. If it is the texture I don't really know how to help except just keep getting them to at least try it each time so eventually they might get used to it

[Anonymous]

if they're taking enough veggies/milk they're getting enough proteins.

just don't feed them processed stuff like chicken nuggets and other "kid friendly" meat.
the amount of protein they'll get from that is not worth since they'll take all the trashy trans fat with it too.

diary + veggies will give them enough proteins for now.

[Anonymous]

You could grind up some beef and color it green and then shape it so that it looks like a piece of broccoli.

[Anonymous]

lol that's a lot of work pp...

[Anonymous]

I saw recipes on a baby food website ( sorry can't remember which one ) they had one recipe for ground chicken patties that had shreded green apples and carrots in them, it sounded really good maybe they would like it because it is not just plain meat but has fruit and veggies in it too

[Anonymous]

my mom used to make meatballs with grounded beef and shredded carrots...
they taste good and look fun.

[Anonymous]

Try shredded meat, like pot roast that they can dip the little pieces in katshup or shredrd chicken

[Anonymous]

Nuggets baby. And smother everything in cheese and ketchup.

[Anonymous]

so healthy, pp...

[Anonymous]

My 3 year old doesn't really like meat and I don't think you can force it. I also think there's no need as long as they have other sources of protein (beans, peanut butter, dairy). I know, it's inconvenient because if you eat meat it's hard to serve the same thing, but I try to kind of accomodate it w/o cooking entirely separate meals. For example, I'll make chicken and peanut noodles and just give DS the peanut noodles or we'll have turkey burgers and sweet potato and I'll make DS a veggie sausage with sweet potato. Also, I always offer a little of the meat, sometimes he tastes it, sometimes he has a little more and over time, I've found he likes some "meat" items a little. He seems to enjoy deli turkey and ham, shrimp, meatballs sometimes, chicken sausage, ham and once in a while a few bites of chicken, so you may want to experiment with meat items your family may not usually eat.

My opinion is that since meat isn't necessary for a healthy diet, if DS doesn't like it, he doesn't have to have it and I don't push it (which I am more inclined to do with veggies). He usually tastes the food I give him, so my sense is he really doesn't care for it because he doesn't take more.

[Anonymous]

DH and I used a "game" of sorts. we popped a muscle on our arm when we ate a piece of meat...oohed and aahed adn talked about how strong it made us. that did help a little bit. we talked about the different vitamins and minerals and protein, etc in everything....I agree with PP, though, who reminds us that there is protein in things other than meat...

[Anonymous]

Try just some small morsels of baked chicken off of a roasted whole chicken (like from Whole Foods). Give them the juiciest parts, like the darker meat. I think its the dryness and lack of flavor that kids dont like. You can even drizzle a bit of a mild Oil & Vinegar salad dressing (like Paul Newman's) on it to help. Also, if you cut up little pieces of fillet (grill a small one and cut it into bite sized pieces) and leave it on the medium rare side, I bet they will like it.

I hated meat as a child and remembered sitting at the dining table for hours after dinner, by myself, trying to choke it down. As I got older, I realized that I love meat - but good meat, steak, fillet, cooked properly (i.e. medium rare so its still juicy and tender). My Midwestern authoritarian Dad made my mom cook the hell out of meat and so she bought cheap meat and G-O-D was it ever awful. Ugh!! Dry, tough, tasteless. Once I finally tasted a nice rare fillet it was like, Eureka! My kids, 4 & 7, love good steak, especially fillet. They like it pink. Also, try a flank steak, marinate it in a soy ginger sauce for 1-2 nights, grill it, slice it up nice and thin. Bet they love it.

[Anonymous]

I second the flank steak marinated in soy/ginger/citrus over night or two. My mom made this when we were little and we LOVED it. Maybe try marinades on onther meats as well, make sure you marinade them for a day or so so they are flaverfull. I put boneless skinless chicken breast in ziplocks with different marinades and freeze them. Then I take them out and put them in the fridge a day or two before I want to cook them, they defrost and marinade at the same time.

[Anonymous]

the only meat my son will eat is chicken--specifically nuggets. he's 5. my pediatrician said a lot of kids won't eat meat as toddlers and slowly grow into it. i'm hoping my son will branch out soon.