You haven't met a fussy eater until you have met this kid.

By LISA ALMOND

You haven’t met a fussy eater until you have met my eldest son.

I’ve lost count of the hours I’ve spent trying to get my kids to eat good food.

Anyone who has fussy eaters knows that every meal is an absolute battle between parent and child and every meal is a mentally draining experience.

The whole process is frustrating and time consuming and as parents we don’t have the time to spend one hour, three times a day, fighting with our kids, over what food they should eat.

Where’s the fun? Food isn’t meant to be a fight.

 Just as an FYI, you should know that this post is sponsored by Dairylea. But all opinions expressed by the author are 100% authentic and written in her own words.

Over the years I have read every article, book and website there is on getting your kids to eat healthy.  Some gave practical tips and others I just laughed at, clearly the people writing them hadn’t met a child as fussy as my son.

So now I use my own mummy hacks each day. I’ll share them, but only if you promise not to show the kids. Especially those who are like my son.

Save yourself the time, and the sanity, of scrounging through outdated websites and guide books, and take my five best hacks for getting the kids to eat healthy. Tried and tested.

So cover your browser and I’ll let you in on my secrets.

1. My fruit Mummy Hack.

Kids love smoothies. Kids love anything in drink form that you let them have that isn’t water. The best part is, if you chuck sweeter, flavoursome fruits like strawberries in you can hide the flavour of the leafy greens in your liquid combo. Even better is the fact that you can whack it in a shaker cup and your kids can drink it on the car ride to school.

2. My favourite veggie Mummy Hack.

I stole this ingenious trick from one of my friends. She serves veggies and tells her kids that the meat ‘conveniently’ isn’t ready yet (it’s not finished cooking or it’s too hot) but she is happy for them to eat their veggies to start. Normally the kids are starving (or in my son’s words “staaaaaaarrrrving”) by this point so they dig into whatever is on the plate in front of them. Why I didn’t think of this earlier I don’t know.

3. Hide them – a classic Mummy Hack.

Grate veggies and hide them in the dish – Shepherd’s Pie and Spaghetti Bolognese are good for this. A lot of kids like food in pies or wrapped in pastry, which are also good hiding options.

Another friend’s favourite trick is making, “potato cakes” where she hides just about anything in a “potato” patty. As long as there is actually potato as well in there then her daughter has no idea about the salmon that’s just made its way in to her tummy.

4. Pretty food Mummy Hack.

I have a Pinterest folder dedicated to, “pretty food” (original hey). It’s basically all the cool plates of healthy food parents have made scenes out of to impress their kids. My favourites are the summer fruit plates because there are so many colour options. A simple rainbow is super easy and kids love that stuff.

5. Get them to help with this sneaky Mummy Hack.

The day we started our veggie garden was the day my son started caring about food. He picks the carrots and checks if the cucumbers are ready. Once we pick the food the kids love sitting at the bench getting OUR food ready for dinner. They love telling everyone they eat tomatoes that they grew all on their own.

What sneaky things do you do to get your family to eat healthier?

Share your creative MUMMY HACKS for your chance to win a 7-night resort holiday in Queensland thanks to DAIRYLEA. This Ultimate MUMMY HACK comes complete with Kids Club, so you can relax while the kids work on exhausting those batteries!

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What are the ‘life-hacking’ secrets to your Mummy success? Share your creative MUMMY HACKS and you could WIN the ULTIMATE MUMMY HACK Holiday – 7 nights in a tropical Queensland resort -thanks to DAIRYLEA. There’s a Kids Club, so you can relax while they’re entertained all day long!  

See mummyhacks.com.au/competition for full details and T&Cs.

Look out in your supermarket for our new yummy cheese range, with nothing artificial added – they’re a simple MUMMY HACK snack that’ll keep a smile on kids’ faces!

DAIRYLEA, the DAIRYLEA device and MUMMY HACK are trade marks of Mondelez International Group used under licence.