Fussy Eating

Getting the kids to eat and enjoy the dinner that you cook is not always easy, and you are not alone. No one likes throwing out or wasting food!

Over half (54%) of Kiwi parents say their children are fussy eaters.
Nearly half (47%) of kiwi parents struggle to find meals their kids will actually eat!

Here’s our top tips:

It's normal: fussy eating is typical, especially for young kids.
Stay neutral: don’t pressure kids if they reject food; simply try again later.
Safe options: always serve at least one food your child likes alongside new foods.
Small wins: progress isn’t just in bites—touching or licking new foods is progress too.
Repeated exposure: it might take 10 or more tries for a child to accept a new food.
Turn off screens: kids need their full attention at mealtimes – not Disney or Netflix.
Less is more: offer smaller portions to encourage eating and reduce waste.
Avoid alternatives: don’t offer alternatives like toast if your child refuses a meal.

Take the pressure off at mealtimes and make it about conversation and connection. Our Bonding Box is a fun set of conversation starters that can help get the kids engaged with dinnertime – download it here.

Meals around the table

It can be hard to get the whole family around the table at the same time for dinner every night!

81% of NZ families agree that sitting together at dinnertime is important.

Yet only 36% of Kiwi families manage to get around the table each night.

Here’s why family meals are important:

Role modelling: your opportunity to show what goes onto a healthy plate.
Better diet quality: research shows that more family meals are linked to better diet quality.
Create foodies: help your kids to develop a healthy relationship with food and learn to like a wide range of food types.

But it is important to be realistic!! You may not be able to get your family around the dinner table every night of the week. Family meals may work best for your whānau on the weekends, at breakfast or during the school holidays.

Use our Bonding Box cards to make your family mealtimes fun – download it here

Cooking at home

Cooking meals at home is the key to improving the eating habits of your whānau.

It can also be a way to save money, with 48% of people stating that takeaways are where they ‘waste’ the most money during the week.

Get the kids involved in food prep and cooking where you can, no matter how small! It could be cutting cucumber for a salad, washing tomatoes or mixing ingredients for a dressing. Getting kids involved can be a great way to develop their skills and increase the likelihood of them trying new foods.

Here’s all the ways a meal kit can help:

Saves you time
Saves you money: My Food Bag and Bargain Box offers meal kits to cater for different household sizes with costs starting from just $6.90 per plate*
Eat better: improve the quality and variety of your diet.
Make life easier: reduces decision-making and your mental load. Meal kits make cooking at home that little bit easier.
Gets kids involved: older kids can help cook and younger kids can help pick meals.
Food exposure: try different foods, cuisines and cultural foods.
Reduces food waste.

For some affordable and delicious recipe ideas check out our free Saver Flavour recipe book created with Nadia Lim here – chocka block full of delicious and nutritious recipes for less than $5 per serving.

References

1. Bargain Box by My Food Bag’s annual Dinner Time Check-In surveyed 600 Kiwi families throughout New Zealand in July 2024 via Octopus Research. 2. Mills, S., Brown, H., Wrieden, W. et al. Frequency of eating home cooked meals and potential benefits for diet and health: cross-sectional analysis of a population-based cohort study. Int J Behav Nutr Phys Act 14, 109 (2017). 3. Wolfson JA et al. More frequent cooking at home is associated with higher Healthy eating Index -2015 score. Public Health Nutrition. 2020;23(13):2384-2394. 4. Wolfson JA, Bleich SN. Is cooking at home associated with better diet quality or weight-loss intention? Public Health Nutrition. 2015;18(8):1397-1406. doi:10.1017/S1368980014001943 5. VegKit. Infant and early years feeding advice to support children to learn to eat and enjoy vegetables. Evidence Summary. 6. Fraser et al. Meal kit subscription services and opportunities to improve family vegetable consumption, Health Promotion International, Volume 38, Issue 6, December 2023. 7. Dallacker M, Knobl V, Hertwig R, Mata J. Effect of Longer Family Meals on Children's Fruit and Vegetable Intake: A Randomized Clinical Trial. JAMA Netw Open. 2023 Apr 3;6(4):e236331. doi: 10.1001/jamanetworkopen.2023.6331. 8. Gerritsen S and Wall C. 2017. How We Eat – Reviews of the evidence on food and eating behaviours related to diet and body size. Wellington: Ministry of Health.

Fussy Eating​