To ask about a vegetarian diet for a 4-5 year old

[ICanSeeTheSun]

My daughter hasn't eaten meat for months now, asked her for the 50th time today why. Her responce was she don't want to eat animals.

I don't even know how she has found this out, but I am going to respect her wishes and do her dinners without meat.

So how do I go about making sure she eats right.

Get veggie cookbooks such as

Veggie food for kids - Sara Lewis
Great Healthy Food for Vegetarian Kids - Nicola Graimes

These have recipes so tasty you can all eat them!

there is a Kids 1st Vegetarian cookbook which has great ideas to cook together but can't remember who it is by
The Annabel Karmel books are really good and you can use quorn as substitute or lentils for meat - they have good veggie sections also
The Quorn kitchen is a really good book which gives wholesome family meals you can all eat together - well worth a look

I have 2 veggie kids - we are all veggie - and I can tell you even though they are still as fussy as other kids in terms of preferences, they are literally 2 of the healthiest and most active kids at school!!

Would also second a possible word of caution for only using quorn substitutes to accommodate her whilst everyone else has meat. Quorn is a wonderful thing, and it is filling, but it is low in calories and certainly fat compared to it's equivalent weight in chicken/beef etc.

It's great for a 40 something veggie (like me!) who likes beer too much and wants to lose weight but still wants to feel full - but in a 4-5 year old be careful it doesn't fill them without them getting all the other stuff they need.

I bought veggie fingers and cheese bites.

Great ideas, and will get some cook books.

Even if DD is going through a phase, it will be good to have meat free days.

Water kefir contains b12. Its a fizzy probiotic fermented drink that you can make and flavour with fruit or ginger. B12 is produced in our gut by beneficial flora as well as being ingested from meat sources. Its really cheap compared to buying probiotic supplements and contains far more than any supplement as well. Its veeery slightly alcoholic but definitely fine for children to drink.

For example combining brown rice, lentils and sesame seeds gives you more proteins than eating them separately,
how does that work, then?

I've been vegan for two years and my only regret is I didn't do it sooner. My DD 21 is now vegan and her only regret is she didn't insist that we stopped feeding her meat when she cried at eating lamb at Easter. Well done in respecting your daughters wishes.

brown rice and lentils together is hellishly fibrous, I really wouldn't give that to a young child.

Also, you definitely want to stay downwind of anyone who's eaten brown rice and lentils together

Make sure you learn to cook some dishes that you and the rest of your family like, too, rather than just meals for her. Mine have liked mild curries since they were small, and I just add a little more kick to them with each passing year.

One thing that I love, and we eat more rarely since having veggie kids, is brown rice. It's possible to go overboard on the fibre, depending what she eats daily. When we have beans and lentils, I tend to serve them with white rice. They eat porridge, and wholemeal bread, and pulses, and veggies, fruits and nuts... so you have to be aware how much fibre you throw at them while they are small. Wholegrain carbs can fill them up without getting enough nutrients in.

If she is still eating dairy & eggs, then protein will be easy. It's completely possible to go vegan, but just requires a bit more education and thought.

It's a seriously healthy diet, though, and she should thrive on it. :)

I think I can explain the protein combining.
the book 'diet for a small planet' which I think was mentioned is based on this idea. Proteins are composed of amino acids, in different combinations. The idea of the book is that humans need protein intake of a particular combination of amino acids (meat having the ideal combination). Plant sources tend to have more of one sort of amino acid and less of another. So the idea was to combine different plant and dairy sources to acheive the 'ideal' balance of amino acids. I forget now the exact combinations, the groups I think were cereals, pulses, seeds, nuts, dairy and eggs. So in a meal you would aim to combine these, eg pulse + cereal (= beans on toast, rice and dahl)
I think the point of the book was to sell vegetarianism (for environmental reasons) to an american audience concerned about protein intake. But I think it over estimated people's protein needs. As long as kids get the odd egg they will be fine
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Diet_for_a_Small_Planet

There are lots of books and websites about how to keep vegetarian kids healthy. Maybe the whole family could eat less meat to make meal times easier, you could do veggie meals most of the time (with meat substitutes like quorn etc if you want pretend-meat) and treat the meat-eaters to meat sometimes. That would minimise the times you need to prepare two meals and might save cash and improve your health. I would love it if one of my kids declared themselves veggie - I wish we ate less meat and that would be a good push in that direction for us!

We have brought all of ours up vegetarian since birth. If they want to eat meat when they're older, that's fine, but they'll have to cook it themselves.

Here is a selection of their favourite meals:

Three bean chili fajitas with salad, grated cheese, guacamole.
Jacket potatoes with baked beans & grated cheese.
Vegetable omelette & salad.
Roasted haloumi, courgette & peppers in pitta bread.
Lentil dahl & rice.
Butternut squash risotto.
Pasta salad with mozarella, cherry tomatoes & fresh basil.
Cheesy pasta bake with salad.
Decorate your own pizzas with peppers, mushrooms etc.
Paneer korma & rice.

Hope this gives you some ideas.

We do give the children a flaxseed oil supplement, as obviously they aren't eating oily fish (or any fish).

I tend to cook lots of 'one pot' kind of meals which are great for cooking in bulk (I usually make a pressure cooker full and freeze some)
Things like vegetable chillis, mild curries with a variety of veg and a bean/pulse, soups, casseroles with veg, butter beans and dumplings,
pasta sauces based on tomatoes or cheese bases.

You can have some one day and then vary what you serve them with another time - like chilli with rice, chilli on a jacket potato, or chill tucked in wraps, covered with cheese and baked with burritos

houmous is a big staple in our house… at one time my daughter would only eat jam or humous in a sandwich though so I had to try a bit harder with packed lunches, for those i would recommend felafel and samosas.

Eating out is pretty easy these days as a vegetarian as most resaurants offer a veggie option. Our local weatherspoons do a really good veggie roast dinner on a sunday!

some good nutritional advice here: www.nhs.uk/Conditions/pregnancy-and-baby/pages/vegetarian-vegan-children.aspx#close
Variety is the key, with all kids really. Eat a variety of foods and they can't help but get well nourished.

some really good ideas from threelannisters there too….Aw, I"d forgotten how we always used to make smiley face pizzas … Cats with pepper whiskers and mushrooms noses
We still like to make mashed potato with sausages sticking up in it and a moat of beans/veggies in a typically Beano style!

Unless she is mega fussy then its not hard for her to get everything she needs from a veggie diet.

Quinoa and lentils for basic protein. Both nice.

She will eat anything, never had a problem with her eating.

I don't see her not having meat as a problem, more of a challenge.