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What a Vegan Kid Eats in a Day: Sample Vegan Toddler Meals for My 2 Year-old

Are you looking for ideas for nutritious and easy vegan meals for kids that your toddler would actually eat? Today I’m sharing a sample menu of vegan toddler meals that my 2 year-old daughter eats on a typical day. If you’re trying to develop a solid meal plan for your vegan toddler, this post is here to help!

What my vegan toddler eats in a day: sample meals and snacks

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Before I became a mom, I thought that planning nutritious vegan meals for kids would be very complicated.

Fast forward two years into my experience of raising a little vegan, and I’m glad to report that it’s actually not a big deal.

I’ll admit that we’re lucky that my daughter baby J is an adventurous eater, and that she eats pretty much the same foods we do.

Of course I try to follow some nutrition guidelines for vegan kids, but at this point it has become so second nature that I don’t even think about it when making her meals.

By the way, check out my list of 15 kid friendly vegan recipes from the blog that my daughter loves.

Also, see my post about how to get a toddler to eat veggies if your kid puts up mealtime fights that make you feel like you’re about to lose your mind.

Below are a few rules I try to follow to ensure my vegan toddler meal plan is nutritious, varied and fun:

Things I Keep in Mind When Planning My Vegan Toddler’s Meals

– I offer a large variety of foods to my daughter, and introduce new foods regularly. I try to make sure she gets plenty of calories to maintain her growth and keep her energy levels up.

– I try to include plant-based foods that contain protein, fats, and quality carbohydrates into every meal (but don’t stress when some meals aren’t as balanced).

– I make sure to include sources of vitamin B12 (sprinkle fortified nutritional yeast on some foods, and use a B12 supplement), vitamin D3 (supplement), omega-3 fatty acids (ground flax seed, seaweed snacks), iron (blackstrap molasses, beans), etc.

– I try not to stress about feeding her only “super healthy” foods: I believe that offering treats like cookies, muffins, etc., and kid favorites like veggie nuggets and French fries from time to time forms a healthier relationship with food in the long run compared to putting those foods on a no-no list and thus giving them a status of a forbidden (but oh so desired) fruit.

When we go out to eat at restaurants, I follow these 8 tips for vegan parents on eating out with kids without losing your mind.

Vegan Toddler Meals for My 2 Year-old: a Sample Daily Menu

Below are the meals and snacks my vegan (almost) 2 year old had on a recent weekday.

For her meals, I usually offer 2-4 different things with the thought that if she doesn’t like one thing, she will have something else to eat. Plus, this helps provide a variety of flavors, textures, and nutrients.

The meals I’m showing below may seem like a lot of food, but obviously she doesn’t always finish everything – she’s a toddler, after all 🙂

Breakfast

On this day, I woke her up at around 6:40 am. At around 7 am, she sat down to eat a breakfast of steel-cut oatmeal, peanut butter, soy yogurt, and fresh blueberries.

Ideas for vegan meals for kids: what my vegan kid eats for breakfast on a typical day.

Steel-cut oatmeal has been one of her favorite things to eat for breakfast. I make it in my Instant Pot following my Instant Pot steel cut oatmeal recipe. To add nutrition, I mix in a little bit of blackstrap molasses for iron, and ground flax seed for omega-3 fatty acids. Oftentimes I’ll add a few drops of a liquid B12 supplement.

Baby J loves peanut butter, especially when it melts under the heat of the oatmeal and can be mixed into it. Fresh blueberries are also a nice addition, but she usually prefers them on the side rather than mixed in.

Non-dairy yogurt has been a hit or miss for us. Baby J always tries it, but doesn’t always finish. On this particular day, I gave her mango-peach flavored soy yogurt by Silk.

Nutrition: Protein from soy yogurt and peanut butter; carbohydrates from oats and blueberries; fats from peanut butter and oatmeal; vitamins C and A from blueberries; vitamin B12 from a supplement; iron from blackstrap molasses and oats.

Morning Snack

This was baby J’s daycare day – she goes there 3 half-days a week while I go to work. The daycare provides a morning snack, but the kids have to bring their own lunch.

Most of the time the snack is not vegan-friendly, but they try to accommodate baby J if needed by offering fruit, rice cakes, hummus, etc.

If I have any baked goods at home, I’ll send those in with her to have at snack time. On this day I had my healthy vegan chocolate muffins that I made in a mini-muffin pan (it yields 24 instead of 12), so I put two of those into her daycare bag.

Vegan chocolate muffins - a healthy snack for vegan kids

I dropped baby J off at daycare at around 8:20 am. The morning snack time is at 8:30 am.

Lunch, 1st Attempt: Daycare

For baby J’s lunch, I packed rotini pasta with tomato sauce, chickpeas, and a sprinkle of nutritional yeast (more vitamin B12); cubed polenta (one of my original vegan baby food recipes); chopped avocado; fresh blueberries for dessert.

Baby J’s daycare can microwave her food for her, so she’s OK with meals of this kind.

Developing a vegan toddler meal plan: a typical vegan lunch I pack for my toddler to bring to daycare.
Baby J uses this lunch box to take her meals to daycare

Nutrition: Protein from chickpeas and pasta; carbohydrates from pasta and polenta; fats from avocado; vitamins C and A from blueberries; vitamin B12 from nutritional yeast on pasta and in polenta; iron and lycopene from tomato sauce.

Lunchtime happens at around 11 am at daycare, which is quite early for baby J. Most of the time she doesn’t eat a lot, so when I pick her up at 12:30 ad bring her home, she sits down to eat some more of whatever wasn’t eaten at daycare.

By the way, I show what I actually put into baby J’s lunchbox in my post about 20 vegan lunchbox ideas for school (or daycare).

Lunch, 2nd Attempt: Home

On this day, she didn’t eat much at all at lunch time, so almost all of the pasta, polenta and avocado were offered to her again when we got home.

Example vegan meals for kids: pasta with chickpeas and tomato sauce, polenta cubes, and avocado.
I’m using this silicone plate to serve baby J’s meals in these pictures

If this wasn’t a daycare day, she would get all this for her regular lunch at 12:30 – 1 pm.

After her lunch, she always has some fresh fruit for dessert. On this day it was sliced nectarines:

What vegan kids eat in a day: sliced fresh fruit as a snack

Afternoon Snack

After baby J wakes up from her nap, she likes to have a snack. Some of her favorite afternoon snacks include hummus and rice cakes or crackers, a slice of vegan cheese (the Follow Your Heart Creamy Original is her favorite), cookies or muffins if I have any, fresh popcorn that daddy makes every now and then, etc.

I have a post with lots of ideas for vegan snacks for kids – as baby J’s eating capabilities are becoming more sophisticated (i.e. she can chew better and doesn’t gag as much), I’m adding more of those into her ratio.

On this day, I offered her some roasted seaweed snacks, and she happily gobbled down about half of the package. I realize that not every kid is so adventurous in their eating habits, but I’ve always been a fan of seaweed and nori sheets in particular, so she must have inherited this from me.

What vegan kids eat in a day: seaweed snacks as a plant-based snack option for vegan kids

Tip for saving $$ when buying seaweed snacks: they tend to be quite pricey at regular grocery stores when sold in individual serving-size packages, but if you go to the nearest Asian grocery store, you’ll most likely find a huge selection priced way cheaper. I buy the snacks pictured above in bundles of eight for about $3.99.

Nutrition: Seaweed is a great source of omega-3 fatty acids and iodine, which can be tricky to find on a vegan diet.

Dinner

On this day, I made a veggie stir-fry with tofu as a main course, and served it with brown rice. Stir-fries can be a hit or miss with baby J, but she’s always a big fan of rice.

I gave her a small amount of stir-fry to see if she would eat it at all (she didn’t eat much of it, but she picked at tofu). I also offered her some leftover curried lentil stew, which she has loved since she first started eating solids, so it’s always a nice option to fall back on.

I try to offer fresh vegetables at most meals if possible, so tonight I cut up some baby tomatoes. Baby J had helped me pick them in our garden earlier. I’m trying to establish an understanding of where our food comes from, so going to the garden together is a part of that process.

Easy vegan meals for kids: an example of what my vegan toddler eats for dinner on a typical day.

Nutrition: Protein from lentils and tofu; fat from tofu and oil in the stir-fry; carbohydrates from rice and lentils; iron, folate and magnesium from lentils; vitamins C and A from tomatoes and vegetables in the stir-fry.

After dinner, baby J usually has some more fresh fruit or berries. I didn’t take a picture of what it was on this day, so you’ll have to trust my word.

This wraps up my description of typical vegan toddler meals that my daughter eats. In my future posts, I’ll share the nutrition rules I follow when planning out my vegan toddler’s menu, and offer more ideas for easy vegan meals for kids.

More info on nutrition for vegan kids: check out these tips on how to get your kids to eat healthy from No Meat Athlete.

Other vegan bloggers share their experience of feeding their vegan children: see what Candace at What Vegan Kids Eat, and Emmeline at Positive Vegan Parenting are saying.

Question for you: If you have vegan kids, what are their favorite meals and/or snacks? Please share below!

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author avatar
Alina Zavatsky - Vegan Runner Eats
Alina first made a switch to a vegan diet in 2013 to optimize her athletic performance as a marathon runner. Eventually she embraced veganism as a way to be kinder to fellow living beings and the environment. Alina hopes that this blog helps its readers on their path to becoming vegan and making this world a better place.

Amy

Tuesday 4th of April 2023

Love the photos and meal ideas! Very nice. If possible please include a warning about popcorn for parents who don't know-

Popcorn is a choking hazard and the American Academy of Pediatrics recommends that kids not have in until they're at least four years old

Alina Zavatsky - Vegan Runner Eats

Friday 7th of April 2023

Good to know, thanks Amy!

Jill

Friday 5th of August 2022

Do you have a recipe for the stir fry? Which veggies? which seasonings? Thanks!

Alina Zavatsky - Vegan Runner Eats

Monday 8th of August 2022

I don't have a recipe for this particular stir-fry on the blog, but here's a similar stir-fry recipe that she enjoys.

Jill

Friday 5th of August 2022

Hi, I use the gf pasta and my kids rarely finish it, especially when it gets cold and doesn't hold shape. Which pasta do you use that holds it's shape and can reheat ok? I haven't had any luck reheated gf pasta (lentil pasta, etc).

Alina Zavatsky - Vegan Runner Eats

Monday 8th of August 2022

Hi Jill! Unfortunately I don't use gluten-free pasta, so I can't give you advice on this.

Natalie

Wednesday 27th of May 2020

hi! I have the same bento box as you. You said the daycare warns things up so do you have the pasta in a separate container and they warm it up and add it to the bento box for her?

Alina Zavatsky - Vegan Runner Eats

Thursday 28th of May 2020

Hi Natalie! Honestly, I haven't asked, but I'm assuming they do because I often pack things like fruit, etc. that would be silly to microwave with everything else. You make a good point though - I'll ask them what they do when our daycare reopens.

Carolien

Wednesday 30th of October 2019

I have a daughter who is 13 months old and she really wants to eat by herself (hands, no cutlery). We have fed her with a spoon from 6 months and bit by bit she is learning to feed herself with larger pieces of fruit, legumes, potatoes and vegetables. She doesn't want to be fed with a spoon anymore, but when she eats by herself, she doesn't eat a lot. The foods you show in this article, can a child eat this with his/her hands? What are your experiences with quantities and making a mess? Thanks in advance for your reaction and time. I don't write English very well (as you can see, obviously), so forgive me when I'm difficult to understand.

Alina Zavatsky - Vegan Runner Eats

Wednesday 30th of October 2019

Hi Carolien! A lot of these foods can be eaten with hands - berries, pasta, chickpeas, avocado slices, rice, tomatoes, cubed potatoes, etc. My daughter even ate lentil stew with her hands before she got better at using utensils - I just made sure the lentils weren't very hot. She loves lentils, but she also makes a huge mess when she eats them, to this day :) Actually, there's a mess at almost every meal, so I have to practice lots of patience :) As for the quantities, I try to give her pretty big portions because sometimes she'll eat everything, but most times there will be some food left, and then it goes into our compost bin.

By the way, your English is great! I had no problem understanding you :) It's my second language too, but these days I speak English way more than my first language (Russian).