Woman in Real Life

During the last couple of days of Christmas vacation, my daughter talked some more about embracing a vegan lifestyle. She has been vegetarian her whole life, but struggles with giving up foods like pizza, conventional chocolate bars and macaroni and cheese. (Her brother and her dad eat cheese, while I do not.) I'm not one to push her into a fully vegan diet, but most of our meals and snacks are vegan anyway and she would prefer a completely animal-friendly diet. So we sat down to plan for vegan lunches and snacks. I thought what came out of our brainstorming might be helpful to some of you. Even if you have no plans to become vegan, these ideas will work for healthy, everyday meals and snacks on the run, for school or work.

Our local elementary schools require nut-free lunches for the safety of students with nut allergies. That makes preparing vegan lunches and snacks slightly more complicated, but with some care and thought and grocery planning, it can be done easily enough.

At 12 years old, my daughter is on her way to becoming a proficient baker. It's nice that I can hand over some of the baking responsibilities to her. Our goal for this year is to spend a few hours on Sundays baking snacks and desserts and putting together salads and lunch entrees such as soups and chili. I generally only keep leftover meals in the fridge for three days, so we will freeze individual portions for Thursdays and Fridays.

Vegan & Nut-free School Lunch & Snack Ideas: 

Homemade Meals

Hot Items (to bring in a thermos or in a glass container for reheating if you have access to a microwave)

• soup - like this Red Lentil & Vegetable Soup or this Vegetable Soup with Lentils or this Rustic Tomato Soup
• chili served over rice - try this Quick Weeknight Chili
• leftover pasta with tomato sauce
• BBQ tofu sandwich - cook extra-firm tofu slices in a small amount of oil until slightly golden and then stir in store-bought barbecue sauce to taste. Serve on a bun with mayo mixed with sriracha.
• chickpea burgers (save ketchup packets from restaurants and dip these patties in ketchup) - try these Easy Chickpea Patties
• my fave lentils and rice
• creamy curried chickpeas

In Lunch Bag (with ice pack)

• chickpea salad  - canned or cooked chickpeas with diced tomatoes and peppers in an oil and vinegar dressing
• rice crackers and hummus - I like this Oh She Glows hummus recipe
• quinoa salad
• potato salad
• sushi - how about Spicy Crunchy Mango Sushi Rolls?
• parfait - assemble a nutritious parfait with non-dairy yogurt - try Berry & Hemp Heart Parfait
• mason jar salads (see ideas below)

Homemade Snacks

Portion these snacks out in small containers for each day. Freeze them for later in the week.

• muffins or mini-muffins - we often rely on these easy banana muffins
• granola bars - make these All or Nothing Granola Bars with sunflower butter instead of peanut butter
• cookies - some of our faves are Oatmeal Everything Cookies (sneak in healthy goodies like hemp hearts) and Cape Breton Cookies
• banana bread - the Best Banana Bread Ever
• pumpkin loaf - try this Simple Vegan Pumpkin Loaf
• scones - different varieties such as ginger chocolate chip (make with a nut-free non-dairy milk) and classic Scottish Scones
• nut-free trail mix (pretzels, dairy-free chocolate chips, dried cranberries, raisins, cereals, pumpkin seeds, sunflower seeds)
• protein bites - substitute sunflower butter for peanut butter in these No Bake Double Chocolate Crunch Snack Bites or make these Super Seed Chocolate Protein Bites from Oh She Glows

Store-Bought Convenience Items:

• veggies (baby carrots, cucumber, celery) with dip (we bought Daiya Creamy Caesar.)
• fruit - watermelon slices, cubed cantaloupe, oranges, grapes, strawberries, blueberries, pineapple, apples (sliced to preserve braces and topped with lemon juice to prevent browning)
• popcorn
• tortilla chips and salsa
• Harvest Snaps Snapea Crisps
• pretzels
• Sensible Portions Garden Veggie Straws
• cookies - one vegan option we like is mini President's Choice Organics chocolate chip cookies*
• Clif Kid Zbar* (organic with no corn syrup or artificial flavours)

*Consult labels. May contain traces of milk, peanuts, wheat, and/or tree nuts. Check with your school to see if "may contain" is acceptable under the nut-free policy. Continue to check all labels on store-bought items because ingredients may change.

Mason Jar Salads

The idea with mason jar salads is not just to make your salads look pretty. The jar helps to keep your items separate and well preserved until it's time to mix it all up in a bowl. Because my daughter can't easily bring a bowl to school, we leave a bit of open space at the top of the jar so she can eat straight from the jar. Normally you would start with dressing at the bottom of the jar (so it doesn't wet the salad items while in your lunch bag) but we package her dressing in a separate container. With a school knapsack to carry I figure it's just too hard to keep the mason jar upright.

Put wetter and heavier items in the jar first so they don't crush more fragile items like your salad greens.

Ideas for items to include in your mason jar salad:

• chickpeas
• kidney beans
• cucumber slices
• cooked quinoa or rice
• grated or chopped carrots
• chopped broccoli
• cherry tomatoes
• lightly cooked green beans
• sesame noodles
• zucchini noodles
• fresh blueberries
• dried cranberries
• lettuce
• sunflower seeds
• hemp hearts
• chia seeds
• pumpkin seeds

What to Drink

We give the kids lots of water in reusable bottles. We rarely pack juice because I don't think juice is an effective way to consume calories - too much sugar without the beneficial fiber of fruit.

Breakfast On The Run

Smoothies and smoothie bowls are great for busy mornings. My daughter often takes a smoothie in a travel cup with a straw to drink on the school bus. You could also take along a smoothie bowl in one of those dishes with a built-in ice pack. Package granola and other toppings like hemp hearts and coconut separately. Try these recipes (prepared without optional nuts or nut butter if it will be taken to school):

• Cherry Berry Chocolate Smoothie
• Pink Pear Smoothie
• Chocolate Chia Smoothie
• Coconut Chia Tropical Smoothie Bowl
• Peach Pie Smoothie Bowl

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Picky Eaters

We have gone through many stages with both of our kids when it comes to healthy eating. My daughter was very picky at certain points in time. Like any person, she still has particular preferences, but she's now more open-minded and willing to try things. She definitely has a sweet tooth, but I try to ensure she fills up on healthy foods for main meals.

My son is surrounded by teens who buy lunches at the cafeteria or pack things like pizza pops. He used to be a good eater at various other stages. When he was a toddler, he was obsessed with fruit. (He'd sleep with a clementine clutched in his little hand.) Now, at 14, it's more challenging. Ages and stages, right? But there are healthier options he likes - like salads. Even if you just had salad as a veggie every day, that would be a good start. Goal for me - try to pack more salads for him. But not in a mason jar. That's just embarrassing for a teen boy!

Ride the waves is I guess what I'm saying. Offer more of the healthy things they love. My daughter has one friend who really only likes lightly cooked carrots as a vegetable. So that's what she gets as a veggie when she comes over. Her preferences are bound to change. And get the kids involved with meal preparation (and gardening if you have a garden).

Preparing lunches and snacks in advance can seem like a lot of work, but it's pretty important. In the new year, we often think about living with more intention and eating more healthfully. This kind of practice will hopefully continue to grow your kids' palates so they will want to incorporate more healthy foods when they are eventually out on their own. And I bet you'll end up eating healthier too!

If you haven't done any preparation and you're in a hurry, buy some hummus and crackers, cut up an apple (two kids in braces over here) and douse it with some store-bought lemon juice to keep it from browning. Add a packaged Clif bar or purchased cookie for snack time. Or pack a sandwich made with hummus and vegan ham slices. (We use Yves Veggie Cuisine Deli Ham Slices.)

Do you have any ideas for vegan lunches and snacks?



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