Opening an in home daycare - at a loss about what to feed them for lunch

**KerrieSue** · Jul 11th, 2007, 03:53 PM

Not exactly the right thread, but I was hoping some of you could send a few ideas my way. My husband, 10 m/o son and I are vegan. I am opening an in home daycare. I will be feeding 3-5 children a day snacks and lunch. I feel pretty confident about snack, but I am sort of at a loss about what to feed them for lunch. They range in age from 11 m/o to 4 y/o. I do not want to spend $$ purchasing foods for them that my family wouldn't normally buy. We are pretty new vegans (3+ months) and haven't ventured much into meat substitutes... Please help.

**herbwormwood** · Jul 11th, 2007, 06:49 PM

KerrieSue, check out this book "Feeding your Vegan Infant" and associated books on Amazon
http://www.amazon.co.uk/Feeding-Your.../dp/0907337295

**thecatspajamas1** · Jul 12th, 2007, 02:26 AM

There is a website that I like about raising vegan children. It's www.vegfamily.com They have food ideas and recipes for kids.

From my experience, little kids like bland foods. Meaning, nothing spicy or saucy or extravagant. So what about vegan mac n cheese with some peas and carrots mixed in? PB&J is always good too. Toddlers who eat finger foods like to eat cooked beans, as they can pick them up with their fingers and they're not too big to choke on.

**cedarblue** · Jul 12th, 2007, 08:46 AM

providing there are no allergies, what about nut butter sandwiches or pinwheels?
([pinwheels= roll a slice of bread flat, spread with marg if you want then nut butter, roll the slice up and slice into little 1centimetre pieces])
- you can use yeast extract for the filling too.

**Imported Memory** · Jul 17th, 2007, 12:36 AM

I remember eating LOTS of PB&J at my child minders' as a youngling.

My three younger brothers all went through stages where they refused to eat anything "strange" (my youngest brother still hasn't left this stage, and may not ever leave it). I found that they were always willing to eat chicken nuggets. I wonder if a vegan substitute would be accepted among littlelings. The only chicken substitute I've used wasn't very good, so I've been hard pressed to try any others.