Review: Get Your Kids to Eat Anything by Emily Leary

I’d been following A Mummy Too’s blog and Twitter for a while when I saw that the author, Emily Leary, was releasing a recipe book. This was exciting news on its own, but when coupled with the notion that the book would offer help on getting your kids to expand their food horizons, I was sold.

I was fortunate enough to be sent an advance copy of the book, Get Your Kids to Eat Anything, before its publication day. I was instantly struck with the variety of recipes, the easy to follow instructions, and all of the useful advice passed on from Emily’s experiences. From my initial flick through I could tell that nothing about this book is patronising or preachy which is a massive bonus – parenting can be full of questions as to whether we’re doing the right thing, and we don’t need to feel worse about ourselves!

As well as sharing lots of lovely recipes (there are 70 in total), Emily offers advice on breaking the food ruts many of us get stuck in, and trying something new. The idea is to follow the five phase programme outlined in the book, which has been developed to help all of the family enjoy food and cooking, rather than simply see it as another chore or routine part of the day.

We’re pretty fortunate that P is not what I would class as a fussy eater. She is generally happy to try new tastes and flavours, and eats a good variety of food. We definitely struggle with vegetables (peas, carrots and corn on the cob are the staples) and I know I am guilty of repeating tried and tested meals on an all too regular basis.

So for me, Get Your Kids to Eat Anything is definitely a valuable kitchen resource in encouraging me and my family to try something different. I love that the recipes aren’t overly complicated, are easy to follow, and use ingredients that are readily available or you’re likely to have in anyway. I was really pleased to see that Emily suggests using frozen ready-rolled pastry – let’s be honest, even with the best intentions which parents have time to make pastry from scratch?!

Even if you didn’t feel the need to follow all of the advice to the letter, there are still so many useful and thought-provoking ideas in this book. Phase 2 of the programme is all about education, including exploring with your children where food comes from. I’ve always know this is an important part of getting your children to appreciate food, but never really thought about how it can link to encouraging better eating habits. I’m already looking forward to planning some pick your own days out with P in the summer, then heading home to cook with our fresh fruit.

Next week (once my online shopping order has arrived on Sunday!) I’ll be making the savoury lunchbox muffins. I’m planning on writing a separate post about these with the recipe and how P got on with her new meal.

You can buy Get Your Kids to Eat Anything from Amazon, either in hardback or Kindle. I’ve included the link to be helpful, it’s not an affiliate link and not at the request of Emily or the publisher.

I was sent a copy of Get Your Kids to Eat Anything for the purposes of this review. As always, my thoughts and words remain my own and are not influenced by the provision of free products.