Chicken nuggets and sauce
These are often a fan favourite for our picky eaters; they are predictable, and they taste and look the same each time. Here’s an example of how you can start with a food which your kids like and build up to introducing more variety. A few ideas to get you started:
Introduce different sauces.
While at the supermarket with your kids, take a little extra time in the sauce isle and encourage them to choose something different to try with their chicken nuggets.
When at home, place the preferred sauce, and the new sauce on your plates and give them a go together. If the new sauce gets a bit of a thumbs down from your little one, instead of ‘yuck’, try and describe why – is it sweeter, saltier, thicker, thinner?
Get your kids in the kitchen to help make homemade chicken nuggets.
Starting with minced chicken will allow you to form these into similar shapes as the store-bought ones, while controlling exactly what goes into the mix. Once you have shaped these, pop them in the freezer to firm up, and then coat them in flour, eggs and breadcrumbs, then fry in a little bit of oil until cooked through.
Getting your kids to help with the cooking will make them more motivated to give them a go.
Again, if they initially get a thumbs down, encourage your child to explain why. Is the texture different? Is it the taste? Talk about what you might change next time.
Once you’ve nailed the homemade chicken nuggets using minced chicken, grab some chicken tenderloins.
Again, get your kids in to help coat these in flour, eggs and bread crumbs and help out with the cooking. Give them a go together, what works, what’s different, what could you try next time to make them taste different?
·From here, you could try plain chicken tenderloins cooked with some herbs, or lightly coated in some spices. Once you know the flavours they enjoy, you could try using those same herbs/spices on other meats and vegetables.
Getting your kids involved in each step of the decision-making process can help give them a sense of control. Steering away from ‘yuck’ and focusing on describing the food gives you space to talk about what changes you can make next time. If your picky eater decides not to eat the homemade chicken nuggets, use this as an opportunity to model trying new foods and describe what you see, smell, feel and taste.
Anxiety around food is real and scary for our picky eaters. Taking small steps together and building on their strengths can help build their confidence with new foods.
Food Hygiene
Image curtesy of Ministry for Primary Industries - https://www.mpi.govt.nz/dmsdocument/44560-Avoid-Cross-Contamination-a-major-cause-of-food-poisoning
Remember too when working with chicken in particular, food hygiene is really important! Check out above and below for tips and information. The most important things to remember are:
wash your hand thoroughly with hot soapy water before and after handling food (especially raw chicken and meat)
use a separate chopping board for raw-meat
make sure all surfaces that come into contact with raw meat are cleaned thoroughly
make sure it’s cooked all the way through
You can find more information here: https://www.mpi.govt.nz/food-safety-home/