Vegetarian child

[craftinglife]

DD has decided she wants to be vegetarian. We are a meat eating family so this has been completely her own decision and something she has talked about for about a year before committing to it. She's 8! So I guess I'll be making two separate dinners each night. Can anyone give any advice? Such as best websites for veggie kids meals? Feel like I'm going into the unknown as I literally cook with meat 6 out of 7 nights a week and I want to make sure she's not missing out on any important nutrients etc

Morrisons is the best shop for vegitarian food, my 12 year old is vegitarian and my DH and if I make a shepherds pie I will also make a veggie one for them, and I freeze the leftovers, so invest in some takeaway boxes from Poundland and a Sharpie.

You don’t have to make totally separate dinners. Quite a lot of things can start out the same and have meat added later. It’s also better for everyone’s health and the planet to eat less meat so trying a few family vegetarian dishes is a good idea.

What sorts of things do you cook now? Are there and likes/dislikes/dietary requirements to think about?

Morrisons is the best shop for vegitarian food, my 12 year old is vegitarian and my DH and if I make a shepherds pie I will also make a veggie one for them, and I freeze the leftovers, so invest in some takeaway boxes from Poundland and a Sharpie.

Brill, thank you!

Some of the quorn stuff is OK - we use the sausages, ‘meatballs’ and pieces occasionally. Eggs are very handy too. Mostly we’ve ended up eating vegetarian with my dd. Which has been fine. I still find packed lunches hard though.

*You don’t have to make totally separate dinners. Quite a lot of things can start out the same and have meat added later. It’s also better for everyone’s health and the planet to eat less meat so trying a few family vegetarian dishes is a good idea.

What sorts of things do you cook now? Are there and likes/dislikes/dietary requirements to think about?*

Typical week would be things like Paella, chicken curry, spaghetti bolognese, fish, risotto, prawn linguine and a cheat night like pizza or something at the weekend. She loves most things to be honest and no allergies etc Would you recommend using a meat substitute like quorn?

Please don’t feed her vegetarian meat replacements. It’s not the same as eating meat. It’s is extremely important that you make sure she has a balanced diet. Iron deficiency is particularly common in growing girls. You need to consider her nutritional requirements and make sure that you are adequately meeting them in the same way you would with a no vegetarian child. Currently you probably think about whether her diet has enough variety of fruit and veg for vitamins and mineral, meat for protein, vitamins and minerals, dairy for protein vitamins minerals etc. but it becomes quite intuative (most people settle per meal a handful of meat, handful or carbs and two handfuls of veg for example). It will be a natural temptation to substitute the meat with a meat substitute and continue as you are but swapping mice for lentils or sausage for vegetarian sausage isn’t adequate. You need to create a new norm.

You certainly don't have to make two separate meals unless you have the time, energy and money to do so.

Beans, lentils, chickpeans, pulses are your friend.

Meat substitutes are hit and miss though I'd say 90% miss. With some of the dishes you describe you can pretty much leave the meat till last and dish up separately. Luckily she doesn't have any allergies so it should be very straight forward. A good starting point with very well explained and accessible dishes is BBC-Food.

My sister started as a veggie but was around 16 at the time as a way to becoming vegan about 2 years later. For a while I pretty much used to give her water with an apple for dinner but that's probably me being a mean bigger sister, but the point is basically veggies and subsequently vegans are increasingly well catered for in large super-markets and specialist shops so it need not cause another 'job' so to speak.

We aren't vegetarian, but eat a lot of Quorn. The mince is a great substitute, but you need to really flavour it (I think) with lots of herbs and seasonings (and wine!).
Quorn pieces are great for paella. You could make a paella-type dish with Quorn and veggies and add fried chorizo at the end for the meat eaters. We have this and it's great.

There’s some very lovely vegetarian curry recipes about ( we have a lovely one using green lentils and roast cauliflower). Have a nose around for vegetarian recipes on the BBC good food website. I was a bit anxious about protein - but my dd has loads of nuts, cheese, lentils, tofu chickpeas, eggs and green veg over the course of a week’s meals that the odd quorn cheat substitute for busy nights seems fine.

We're the opposite here, I'm vegetarian and dd(5) is not and having no desire to force my choices on her we do make some mixed meals and she eats what she pleases when out etc..
Naturally the majority of what I cook is completely vegetarian, sometimes with meat substitutes, but mostly without.

There is a huge selection of delicious, nutrionally balanced meals that don't include meat and these days there's a wide range of meat substitutes that you could sub in for dd without needing to cook entirely different meals.

Most of the supermarkets have a decent selection of meat substitutes and vegetarian alternatives, our current favourites are from M&S, their Beetroot Burgers and their Soya Chunks in the stir fry range are both amazing.

I quite like using quorn type mince in Bolognese, Chilli and Taco dishes for simplicity, but find lentils, mushrooms and beans usually do the job as well if not better in many dishes. The quorn 'chicken' pieces are similarly handy for curries, stir frys and chunky stews if wanting a meaty texture.

The vegetarian society used to have a kids membership - it might be useful.

I use some meat substitutes for quick meals. I really like the southern fried quorn burgers, quorn chicken pieces in curry or pasta dishes, the Swedish meatballs are really nice. Shroom dogs from Sainsbury’s are the best veggie sausages around.

I use a lot of lentils (shepherds pie with brown lentils instead of meat is really nice). Bistro classic gravy is vegetarian. Chilli is nice just made a stack of vegetables, especially with sweet potato.

You should also warn her about gelatine in lots of gummy sweets. She might decide to ignore that.

It will be a natural temptation to substitute the meat with a meat substitute and continue as you are but swapping mice for lentils or sausage for vegetarian sausage isn’t adequate. You need to create a new norm.
Lentils are a great source of iron so an ideal swap for mince (or mice 😉).

DD decided to become vegetarian for ethical reasons 18 months ago when she was 6yo.

I have reduced how much meat we all eat, so we now eat 4-5 veggie dishes a week. When the rest of us eat meat/fish, I tend to substitute her with a soya product or just add the meat/fish separately. Risottos, stir fries, etc can all be prepared veggie, then you remove a portion and add the meat/fish.

Lots that is good for whole family and can Be cheap

Risotto is great with mushrooms, spinach leeks and a grat8ng of strong cheeese.

Curry..use chickpeas instead of chicken, with sweet potato

Burgers...we always make veggie burgers by mixing tin chick peas, butter bean soup , sweetcirn, onion garlic turmeric and mint sauce, topped witj cheese

Bologna’s, use lentils or quorum instead of mince

Dd Favorite...she didn’t realise was vegetarian ....is mexican beans ( black beans cooked to a mush with onions, lots of tomatoes garlic chilli and cumin) served with wraps, avocado, salad, cheese

Soups can also be good..onion, aweet potatoes, squash, dash of cream and cinnamon for example

Pizza, make our own so that’s easy I fimd olives add some gumption

So you could do things like: quorn spaghetti bolognese, veggie paella, spinach, potato & chickpea curry, butternut squash risotto, lentil shepherds pie.

THere should not be any soup in the burgers

We make spag Bol with put lentils instead of mince
Veggie curries
Lots of vegetable pasta dishes, just look in any cookbook
Veggie sausages (we buy sainsbos frozen Cumberland sausages)
Pies/tarts/quiches
Pea risotto
Roasted tomato risotto
Moroccan stew with chick peas and squash
Soups

If you eat that much meat then tbh you could probably do with cutting down, that’s a lot of meat.

DH is veggie, DD has been veggie since birth (my decision, just made life easier) and I eat very little meat.

Oh, and make sure she takes a multivitamin.

Oh - and I never shop in Morrisons, ever! Sainsbos, Waitrose and M&S.

Quorum is pretty nutritionally devoid, btw.

I became a vegetarian at eight years old too! My family all eat meat but my mum was amazing and did as you are hoping to by making a separate meal for me each night.

Quorn wasn't as big then so I ate a lot of beans and lentils. Things like shepherds pie would be the same but with lentils instead of mince.

Tofu is also amazing although it can be an acquired taste.

Meat substitute has come a long way but I wouldn't recommend using it exclusively and especially not the ready meals. The brand 'cauldron' do really nice meat free things.

Not to sound patronising, but well done for letting your DD make this decision!

DD 9 is veggie as she has strong feelings about killing animals for food. I admire her for sticking to her principles even refusing sweets if they've got gelatine in.
If I'm doing a chilli she has a bean one, fajitas she has beans and rice with cheese, curries she will have chickpeas or quorn. She sometimes has veggie sausages. She eats lots of beans, cheese and eggs.
She also helps to cook her meals.

The brand 'cauldron' do really nice meat free things.

I forgot about them. Their marinaded tofu is really good for stir fries.

People often get really hung up on what vegetarians will do to get protein.
These images give some ideas

I became a veggie very young too, I was 5 though my diet was awful! These days my family eat a pretty much vegan diet (apart from occasional sausages for dh and DD, all vegetarian but DD is allergic to milk and eggs so plant based everything!) and barely use meat subs, it does take some getting used to but it's doable! I'm a childminder too and the kids I care for get the same.

Asdas vegetarian and vegan range is really good, one of the better ranges I've seen, can also confirm that morrisons ones are good too along with tescos soy mince (if you use it).

Get some good cookbooks that don't rely on meat subs. Hughs veg book and the hairy dieters vegetarian book are staples here, use those most weeks.

Things like chickpeas are very versatile. Curries are your friend. A good homemade tomato sauce is great for quick simple meals like pasta and tomato risotto. Squash is another great ingredient that's bulky and filling.