30 plants a week for kids: one count for the whole family

With four people at the table you have four opinions about the onion and still only need one count. For 30 plants a week for kids, the household counts together: each plant once a week, and a taste from anyone counts. This is how that works in practice, as a closer look at the 30 plants a week guideline for a family whose plates do not all come back empty.

One count for the whole household

The household counts per plant, not per person. If you eat the lentils and your partner does too, that is 1 plant. If your child only licks them, it counts just the same, because the household has now had them. Nobody has to eat their own 30.

The guideline comes from the American Gut Project, a large citizen-science study in which adults who ate more than 30 different plants a week had a more varied gut flora than adults who ate 10 or fewer (McDonald, 2018). It is an observation in adults. It says nothing about what the number does for a child, so we use it as a guideline to count towards together, never as a measure of one plate.

What a child adds to the count

A child adds breadth. One lick of the parsley, one bite of the corn: these are plants the count might not have reached otherwise. What matters is that the plant reached the table and someone met its taste, even if the bite came back out.

What a child does not add is a number to hit. A child is never measured against 30. Their game is smaller: how often they have tasted something, on the way to liking it. Most children need 8 to 15 tastes of a new food before they accept it, sometimes more. A lick counts. How to keep that tally without it becoming a project is in the article on how many times to try a food.

Two counts, two players

It helps to keep the two counts apart. The family count belongs to the grown-ups: 30 plants a week, together, as a cheerful number. The tasting count belongs to the child: a card per plant, and two more tastes to level it up.

That way the pressure of a number sits only with the people who can carry it. The child plays for the card, the adults count for the list, and whatever the child tastes feeds both.

A week from Monday to Sunday

You do not need to cook anything special. This is an ordinary week for a family of four, with the plants that were new each day. A plant counts once, so tomato on Monday and Friday appears only on Monday.

• Monday, 9 plants. Oats with apple and cinnamon, sandwiches with cucumber and tomato, pasta with tomato sauce made from onion, garlic and basil (oats, apple, cinnamon, wheat, cucumber, tomato, onion, garlic, basil).
• Tuesday, 9 more. Yoghurt with banana and walnuts, hummus on toast, rice with pepper, broccoli and ginger (banana, walnut, chickpea, sesame, lemon, rice, pepper, broccoli, ginger).
• Wednesday, 8 more. Blueberries in the oats, lentil soup with carrot, celery and parsley, wraps with black beans, corn and avocado.
• Thursday, 1 more. Monday's pasta again, with courgette added.
• Friday, 1 more. Pizza with oregano on the tomato sauce.
• Saturday, 1 more. Buckwheat pancakes.
• Sunday, 2 more. An oven dish with sweet potato and rosemary.

Add it up and you reach 31. The weight sits early in the week, which is normal: meals repeat after that, and the family tops up with one new thing a day. Nobody cooked a second meal. Whether a week at your house lands on 31 or on 22 depends mostly on what was in the fridge.

The shopping rule: one new plant per shop

The easiest way to grow the count is one question in the shop: which plant have we not had for three weeks. Pick that one and put it in the trolley. It can be a mushroom, a different colour of pepper or a bag of red lentils.

One new plant per shop is not much, and that is the point. A new plant only becomes an ordinary one when it comes back to the table, and then the child's tasting count starts running by itself. The list of what counts, with every doubtful case, is in the article on what counts as a plant.

What backfires

• The count as a score for a child. A child who hears that their plate counts towards a number has a reason to refuse. Keep the tasting count small and theirs, and the family count with the adults.
• Comparing siblings. "Look, your sister had four." Nobody learns to like a food to beat a brother or sister.
• Cooking twice. A separate meal for the child, so that the household reaches its number, takes the new plant off the child's plate. One pan, several plants, and everyone takes what they want.
• The number as a verdict. A week of 15 plants is not a failed week. Do not say it that way, not even to yourself.

If you are worried about how your child eats

A counter is meant for ordinary weeks. Talk to your doctor if your child is losing weight or not growing, if whole food groups are missing, if they gag or panic around new food, or if the worry is getting too big for you as a parent. There is help for that, and it fits the situation better than any counter.

How Project Food does this

Project Food is an app on your phone that counts for the whole family. Every plant is a card, and a card fills by tasting. After a meal you tap what was on the table, per person. The family ring shows how many different plants the household has had this week, and a plant's card levels up at 1, 5 and 10 tastes. The catalogue holds 224 plants (checked 2026-09-24). The app gives no advice on weight or nutrition and promises nothing for a child. It is a shared counter, and something to talk about at the table.

To remember

• The household has one count, per plant, and each plant counts once a week.
• A lick from your child counts towards it.
• A child is never measured against 30. Their game is the tasting count.
• One new plant per shop is enough to grow the list.
• The count as a score, comparing siblings and cooking twice backfire.