Talented TikTok chef launches healthy recipes for kids - at just FOUR years old
Four-year-old Carter is known for his Cooking with Carter TikTok channel - now he's teamed up with Aldi to create easy dishes to help encourage kids to love healthy foods
A budding cook famed for his TikTok channel has teamed up to create a series of healthy recipes for kids - and the chef himself is just four-years-old.
The tot, who is known for his channel Cooking with Carter, has teamed up with Aldi and leading dietician Lucy Upton to create a series of dishes designed to help more youngsters develop their love of healthier foods. Among the tasty new creations are a veggie-packed lasagne, a simple and colourful chicken stir fry, and a refreshing banana, strawberry and mango smoothie.
Carter, who has just started school, shared his new recipes with his followers on TikTok in a heartwarming video. Parents can also find the easy-to-follow recipes on the supermarket’s website, making it simple to recreate the dishes at home with their own children.
Dietician Lucy Upton said: “Kids thrive with activities that are fun and meet them where they are at developmentally. That’s why they are likely to try new foods like fruits and vegetables more willingly if they are involved. These new recipes with Carter are designed with exactly that in mind – giving families simple, healthy and fun dishes they can enjoy making together.”
Carter’s new recipes come after a poll of 1,000 parents with children aged four to 10 found nearly a third (31 per cent) said their youngsters regularly refused to eat anything green. Liz Fox, national sustainability director at Aldi, said: “As any parent knows, getting kids to eat their fruit and veg isn’t always easy – mealtimes can be busy, stressful and sometimes a bit of a battle.
“With these new recipes we want to take some of that pressure off by making healthy food simple, affordable and something families can genuinely enjoy together. Because parents should feel supported, not judged, for trying to make it easier for children to grow up with positive habits around food.”
The study also found 44 per cent of parents often struggled to come up with healthy meals their child was actually willing to eat, with 77 per cent concerned about how nutritious their little ones’ diets actually were. Around one in six (15 per cent) reckoned their kids only ate their ‘five a day’ once a week, with some even less often, according to the Market research and PR surveys - OnePoll: Inspiring Human Insights figures.
And while 37 per cent simply said their child was a fussy eater, a quarter (26 per cent) of mums and dads admitted they often lacked time to prepare healthy meals, and 25 per cent were short on inspiration. The top vegetables kids turned their noses up at were found to be mushrooms (39 per cent), onions (31 per cent) and spinach (31 per cent).
In a bid to change this, 46 per cent of parents polled said they had tried rewarding kids with sweet treats or things they knew would go down well, to encourage them to try new foodstuffs. However, according to Lucy, this could be making matters worse.
Lucy Upton added: “At the end of the day, it’s natural to want your child to have a balanced diet including fruit and vegetables. However, using appealing foods like pudding or other sweet treats as currency to encourage children to eat their fruits, vegetables, or main meal could be making things harder.
“Not only does that increase the desire and perceived value of the “reward” food, but it can also make the healthy foods seem less appealing or like a chore to get through – meaning children could continue to turn their nose up at it.”
Alongside Carter’s recipes, Lucy has shared a range of tips for parents struggling to get their children to try healthier foods. Lucy Upton added: “Any parents reading this who struggle to get children to eat certain foods, please rest assured – you are not alone.
“So often, feeding kids is a long game, and about small steps and progress over time.”
Top 10 healthy foods kids refuse to eat
- Mushrooms
- Onions
- Spinach
- Asparagus
- Brussel sprouts
- Aubergine
- Broccoli
- Cabbage
- Celery
- Avocado