12 Picky Eater Hacks

Only eats noodles. Won't touch vegetables. Squirms at the thought of meat. Subsists on air and milk. We know that it's tough managing a picky eater, especially amongst the comments such as ‘When is so-and-so going to eat real food?' or ‘We were lucky, our kids ate everything.' So helpful. No worries, we've got a few new ideas, tips and tools to add to your picky eating arsenal. Because when they're hungry enough they'll eat anything—ha. As if.

To round out a less than stellar meal (maybe it was heavy on the carbs), we often turn to kefir, a kind of drinkable yogurt, as a post-meal top-up. With good protein and loads of probiotics, it can help keep the digestive system working smoothly. Just don't go overboard—there is a fair amount of sugar in there.

Everything's more delicious in fun shapes. This wavy knife gives veggies, cheese, and sandwiches a crinkle edge, and the blade end is dull enough that we feel safe letting bigger kids go to town on their own lunches. DIY lunch? You bet.

We do feel like our kids need some vitamins, probiotics and omegas, but we don't love the sugar in the gummy versions. With these allergen-free sprinkles, the tykes get all that good stuff without any extra sugar. Super easy to add to cereal, sandwiches or smoothies without any additional taste.

It is a known fact that food on sticks taste better. Add into the mix food on sticks cooked over charcoal, and even the most ardent meat hater might be persuaded to try a gobble of these flavourful skewers.

Everything tastes better in panini form, and this grill livens up even the healthiest bread (shhh—don't tell them). It's also great for putting apple slices, tomatoes or thinly sliced peppers right into the grilled cheese itself.

It's amazing what kids will eat in squeezable pouch form—including yogurt, fruit and veggies. Great for eating on the go, we've been known to stash a few of these in case other snacks don't pan out (carrot sticks, we're looking at you).

So the hunger strike has been going on for a few days and you just want to make sure that they don't keel over during soccer? Every now and then a bottle of this drinkable can help alleviate fears, because it has 9g of protein and a whole bunch of vitamins and minerals. Plus, it tastes like a milkshake.

Grill thinly sliced steak or chicken on the upper grill, while your diced veg and raclette cheese heats in individual-sized skillets under the grill. Put it all together in an ooey, gooey delicious mess with fresh bread and that is raclette. Kids love that they get to cook their own and it's a great way to get some veggies into them. If they're resistant to the idea, start them with making their own grilled cheese on the top grill and moving them on to meat after.

When we haven't got the strength for even one more discussion about food, it's heartening to know that there's really nothing wrong (and quite a bit good) with Annie's Bunny Pasta and Cheese. Case in point, it provides protein and carbs with no artificial flavours or colouring, and the bunny and carrot shapes keep the kids entertained. Haters gonna hate, but we like it.

When we're feeling more analytical about figuring about our kiddo's eating highs and lows we can turn to this excellent picky eating website. A survey helps to zero in on things that are going well and those that could use a bit of improvement.

Wheat germ is a pretty magical food. More subtle than chia (those little gelatinous beads give us away every time) or too-pointy flax, wheat germ adds fibre and protein in a tasty way. We add it to cookies, muffins, pancakes, protein balls, smoothies—you name it.

Broccoli, cauliflower, and bits of cooked chicken can sometimes make it down the gullet when dunked in delicious, basic cheese fondue. And once you graduate to steak cooked in a hot oil fondue—well, there's no going back. Vive le fondue!