A guide to sneaking in more greens to every bite.
As the school year approaches, we’re busy gathering new lunch ideas for our little ones. The challenging part? Making sure they are getting enough veggies – and we’re talking without a *full temper tantrum*. We gathered advice from a few experts (Gotham Greens parents) on how to sneak in more greens while keeping meals delicious and enjoyable.
First impressions matter! If you’re meal prepping for a kiddo, you’ll want to maintain a delicious-looking lunch without scaring them away with a sea of green. Our leafy greens, dips and sauces offer yummy ways to incorporate nutrient-dense greens into their favorite snacks, sandwiches, pastas and more. To make mealtime even more exciting, use a cookie cutter to create fun shapes.
“My 6-year-old refuses to eat his pesto egg bites unless I cut them into airplane shapes.”
Pesto, pesto, and more pesto. Pesto cooking sauces are one of our favorite ways to sneak in greens because they are incredibly adaptable.
Does your child go crazy for mac and cheese? Just add a spoonful of pesto, and the veggies will blend right in. Gotham Greens Pesto is made with greenhouse-grown basil and simple ingredients, so you can feel good about adding heaps to any pasta dish, egg bites, or quesadillas.
“My 5-year-old loves green pasta. For our 5-minute version, we simply toss pasta with Gotham Greens Classic Pesto. If we have more time, we’ll blend up handfuls of spinach and mix in.”
Switch up your dips. With a creamy base, plant-based dips are naturally mess-free and pair perfectly with healthy fresh cut veggies like carrots and celery. Gotham Greens Dips are the ideal side dipper since they’re each packed with plants. You can even cook with dips!
“My child is obsessed with Gotham Greens Spinach Artichoke Dip. We recently followed this recipe for Spinach Artichoke Dip Mac and Cheese and it was a hit!”
Add a lettuce layer. Whether you’re preparing a turkey sandwich or veggie cream cheese pinwheels, add a leaf or two of our Butterhead lettuce. It adds a delicate crunch and won’t overwhelm the other ingredients.
“My daughter is picky about lettuce but actually loves Gotham Greens Butterhead – it’s much softer and easier to shred than traditional iceberg.”
Keep it organized. We know some kids don’t love when different foods are touching. To avoid a meltdown at mealtime, we use Lalo’s new Bento Boxes, which come with several compartments. Bonus: they’re spillproof, easy to clean, and come in a handful of fun colors!
“I have raw vegetables prepped for a snack when the kids get home from school and are ravenous. This way we get a few vegetable portions in before they’ve even had dinner. Come dinnertime, we stress less if they decide that they won’t eat something because it’s touching other food on their plates.”
Ensuring your little one gets enough fresh greens can be tough. Try out these tips from you’ll be surprised how easy it is to sneak in nutritious greens, and how delicious the recipes are, too!
