HOW TO INTEREST CHILDREN IN PLANT BASED FOOD
Did you know I run an online wellness community on Facebook? We have over 100 people in our group sharing ideas and information. One of the ladies commented yesterday that she was
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Greta, thank you for your suggestion. You have inspired me to spend an afternoon collating lots of vegan info for you all! Hope you find this useful
I love plant based eating and am always looking for ways to increase this. However I can get bored with just another round of roasted veggies and different herbs. We have been experimenting with so many new plant based dishes over the past few months (some of which meet with my carnivore loving husband’s approval and some are definitely earmarked solely for me when he is night flying!) but it’s been a delight to become more plant based.
Below are some food ideas and recipe suggestions, website links and an all important infographic about children’s nutritional requirements. Many thanks to Caroline B for allowing me to share some of her superb family friendly vegan meals.
NUTRITIONAL REQUIREMENTS
- B12 – found in eggs, cheese & milk. Replace with fortified breakfast cereals, non dairy milks and yogurts
- Iron – add beans, chickpeas & lentils, seeds & nuts, dark green vegetables, wholegrains (wholemeal bread & brown rice), dried fruit
- Omega 3- found in fish. Other sources: flaxseed, walnuts (to be ground up for children under 5 to prevent choking), ground chia seeds & hemp seeds
- Iodine to support thyroid function – I recommend taking in a child friendly multivitamin supplement
Top children friendly supplements:
- BioCare Children’s Complete Complex – easy to use powder form.
- Cytoplan’s Little People – tiny tables for children over 4 years old.
Hopefully this infographic helps fill you with confidence that children can follow a vegan based diet with a bit of extra food thought and a little multivitamin as well to ensure all minimum levels are topped up sufficiently
FUN VEGAN IDEAS FOR KIDS
- Tacos – roast babycorn, onion & peppers together or create a black bean version
- Buddha bowls
- Homemade pizza
- Bean spaghetti bolognaise
- Porridge oats with chia seeds & fruit on top
- Overnight oats – oats, chia seeds, coconut yogurt & almond milk
- Wholemeal wraps with hummus, spring onion, avocado, red pepper, lemon juice
- Mix and match bowls for them to help themselves including baked potato slices, smashed avocado, mixed beans (e.g. roasted chickpeas, kidney beans), spinach, tomatoes, roasted vegetables, coleslaw. Obviously not all these at once
- Homemade soups
- Falafels with side salad
HEALTHY DESSERTS AND SNACKS
- Fruit slices
- Homemade sorbet – melon & strawberries plus ice cubes in a NutriBullet – simple!
- Coconut yogurts
- Coconut chocolate pots – add some fruit on the side to dip in
- Hummus with toast dippers
- Fruit smoothies
WEBSITE IDEAS & RECIPE SUGGESTIONS
- Hummous recipe – simply blend chickpeas, garlic, tahini, salt & pepper, lemon juice & water. Can also add sun dried tomatoes, olives, turmeric etc for different flavours (not at the same time of course!)
- Vegan society – abundance of info vegansociety.com/resources/recipes/cakes-meringues-and-desserts
- Vegan desserts for children thespruceeats.com/vegan-desserts-for-kids-1001218
- Child friendly vegan baking https://littlegreenduck.co.uk/2019/02/01/child-friendly-vegan-baking/
- Tons of chocolate and cake based ideas here! sheknows.com/food-and-recipes/slideshow/2122724/vegan-desserts-kids/5/
- Easy vegan tacos bbcgoodfood.com/recipes/chargrilled-vegetable-tacos-smoky-salsa
- Vegan black bean tacos delishknowledge.com/vegan-black-bean-tacos/
