Do you sometimes feel like you’re going into battle when you try to get your kids to eat vegetables? It needn’t be so difficult.

There are lots of ways that you can encourage them to eat fruit and even vegetables without feeling the need to force them.

Delicious smoothies
Use banana, strawberries and peach, or whatever fruit you have to hand. Blend with milk and natural yogurt for a great way to get the whole family upping their quota of fruit.

Ice lollies
Try using fresh fruit juice, pureed fruit of fruit smoothies to make ice lollies – pour into ice lolly moulds and freeze. Kids love them and it’s great to know they’re not only avoiding food colourings, additives and sugar, but they’re actually getting their fruit.

Fruit salads
Sometimes the effort of eating an apple or orange all seems too much! But when presented with a bowl of beautifully prepared fruit salad kids seem to have no problem. Try to use lots of different colours for maximum appeal.

Fruit sauces
Puree soft fruits for a delicious healthy sauce to go on ice cream and other deserts.

Make the most of mash
What child doesn’t like mashed potato? Although potato doesn’t count as a portion of veg (as it’s classified as ‘starchy’ food), any other vegetables that you add to it will. So try different combinations using swede, parsnip and carrot. You could also add steamed spinach.

Use some creativity!
Try cutting colourful veg, such as carrots and red peppers, into fun shapes – use small pastry cutters available in lots of different shapes. And use other vegetables to make food pictures e.g. broccoli trees, sweet corn eyes and tomato smile.

Raw is best
Kids like finger foods, so offer snacks of healthy dips such as fresh tomato salsa and humus with a selection of colourful crudities.

Camouflage tactics
One easy way to get them eating a wide range of vegetables is to make pasta sauces of blended vegetables such as peppers, carrots and courgettes. They get to enjoy the taste without even realising they’re eating them!

Use cheese sauce
Children love cauliflower cheese, but don’t forget you can add other veg such as broccoli and sweet corn.

Roasted
Chop up red onions, peppers, butternut squash, parsnips and garlic. Add fresh basil or thyme and a little olive oil and roast for about an hour at 200C – delicious!

Soup's up
Homemade soup is an excellent way of using up any left over vegetables and getting your kids to eat lots of veg without noticing! Try blending to a smooth consistency and adding a little milk in addition to stock.