Packing A Healthy Vegan Lunch For Your Child
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As millions of kids gear up to head back to school around the country, many parents will wonder what to pack in their lunch boxes. This is especially true if you are raising a veg*n kid!
While there are many options out there, and even cookbooks dedicated to the topic, many people don’t have the time or desire to spend a lot of time in the kitchen each day to prepare a healthy vegan lunch. And we all know that the school lunch program leaves a lot to be desired.
Packing a healthy vegan lunch for your child doesn’t have to be complicated or take a long time. There are many options of healthy vegan foods you can keep on hand and pack each day. Here’s a list of healthy vegan items that are great for school lunches. You may even want to print it out and keep it on your refrigerator for those days when you are drawing a blank on what to pack!
- Veggie burger in a pita
- Natural peanut butter and all-fruit spread on whole wheat
- Soy yogurt and fresh fruit, with our without some granola
- Veggie roll-up on a whole wheat tortilla
- Organic graham crackers to dip in all natural applesauce
- Fresh fruits and vegetables, with or without dips
- Whole wheat mini-bagel with low-fat vegan cream cheese
- Hummus on a whole wheat pita
- Leftovers from dinner the night before
- Natural peanut butter with celery sticks and/or apple slices
- Natural whole grain muffins
- Baked chips and salsa
- Mixed salad greens, topped with fresh fruit and a vinaigrette dressing
- Low-fat vegan cheese with wheat crackers
- Cold pasta salad (mix whole wheat noodles, low-fat Italian dressing, kidney beans, raisins, chopped carrots)
- Homemade trail mix
- Low-fat vegan cream cheese and all-fruit spread whole wheat roll-up
- Vegan cheese, avocado and sprouts in a whole wheat pita
- Rice cakes
- Mini burritos with rice and beans
- Tofu salad sandwich or with crackers, or chick pea or kidney bean salad
- Water, fresh-brewed iced tea (not sweet tea), soy milk
Packing a healthy vegan lunch is not difficult. What becomes a challenge is remembering all the different options available to us. Keep these ideas in mind and you will always be prepared!
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About the Author:
Jacqueline Bodnar is professional writer and vegan, who blogs at VegBlogger.com. Her mission is to inform, inspire, and combat apathy. This fall she will be packing two vegan school lunches per day.
Great ideas,
My kids go to a school that only serve vegetarian meals for lunch, mostly vegan, so I know that if I am short on time I could let them eat at school, however… because of food allergies I have to struggle so much to make sure they get the enough amount of nutrients in their lunches…
Thank you for sharing
.-= Polynat´s last blog ..Creative Wednesdays =-.
These are really wonderful ideas. With a vegan kiddy, coming up with lunch ideas that she will eat is really hard, especially when all the other kids a bringing lunches so completely different than hers. I love the roll-ups and burrito ideas, as well as the rest of them. When I’m in a time crunch, I also like to have ready-made meals as back up, just in case I don’t get to make lunch for her. For a few years now, I’ve been buying ready-made meals from the brand Tasty Bite, which offers a lot of vegan options. Their meals are preservative-free, all natural, low fat/sodium/calorie, and are made from simple ingredients. My daughter especially loves their Bombay Potatoes, so when I don’t have time to make her lunch, I’ll send her off with one of these packs and she doesn’t even have to warm it up. They’re great time savers and have really helped a mom out. Thanks for the great article. Cheers!
Don’t know if I can go fully vegan, but I’m learning a lot and this REALLY makes sense. Thank you, for the education.
Thanks for the tips Jacqueline. We are not a vegan family, but I would love to add more organic and vegan food to my kids’ menu, especially beans, lentils and whole grains. I strongly believe they will benefit from it.
.-= Alison @ Femita´s last blog ..5 Back-To-School Lunchbox Ideas For Demanding Kids =-.
I really love these suggestions, but I’m having a heck of a time finding low-fat vegan cheese or vegan cream cheese. Could someone email me with brand suggestions? I’d really appreciate it! Thanks.