In the latest Scientific Update in Vegan Journal we look at a study that examined Vegan and Vegetarian Diets in Recovery from Eating Disorders. Read about the study here: https://www.vrg.org/journal/vj2026issue2/2026_issue2_scientific_update.php

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photo from WebstaurantStore

By Chef Nancy Berkoff, EdD, RD

For professional caterers, senior facilities, quantity cooking needs for residential camps or conference centers, or perhaps a one-time catered event, there are versatile quantity-pack vegan products available online. According to website information, both individuals and businesses can purchase on these websites. If you already have a vendor, you might use the information on these websites to suggest your vendor source these products for you.

Here is a fast overview of a selected few items. If you have been looking for vegan quantity products, the web may be a useful resource for companies supplying your area:

Campbell’s Vegan Soups

Campbell’s offers frozen vegan vegetable soup and vegan tomato soup, along with lower-sodium versions of each, in 4 pound, 4 to a pack cases. This translates into about 260 ounces per case or about 32 one-cup servings. Here is a link to these products: https://www.campbellsfoodservice.com/product/campbells-signature-frozen-ready-to-eat-soup-vegan-vegetable-soup/

And here is a link to a Rainbow Vegan Chili recipe, serving 40, using Campbell’s soup as a base, with the addition of carrots, onions, celery, a variety of beans, several types of peppers, two types of tomatoes and vegan crumbles. See: https://www.campbellsfoodservice.com/recipe/vegan-rainbow-chili/

If you are limited in pantry space or in purchasing power, soups can serve many functions, such as a base for tomato-lentil stew, five-bean chili, paired with vegan crumbles to create a hot sandwich filling, or to be tossed with pasta or to top a baked potato.

Heinz 

Heinz/Kraft has several quantity brands, including Home Away From Home, Chef Francisco, and Bella Rossa, offering quantity pack vegan products.

The Chef Francisco Vegetarian Pozole (4 eight pound) is made with hominy, black beans, and a spice blend. It could be served as is, with cornbread or tortillas and some greens, used as a hot sandwich, wrap or burrito filling, or combined with cooked vegetables to make a hearty stew. See: https://www.kraftheinzawayfromhome.com/products/00071398000132-vegetarian-pozole-soup-4-8-lb-case-bag

The Heinz Bella Rossa brand offers quantity pack vegan (it’s labeled as “vegetarian,” but it is vegan) pizza sauce and tomato sauce. The Heinz brand has vegan lentil, minestrone, white bean chili, and curried lentil quantity-size soups.

Walmart Business Center Online

For fast shopping, perhaps for a one-time event, we were delighted to see that the online Walmart Business Center offers vegan items here: https://business.walmart.com/search?q=vegan

The site has an assortment of retail-sized, packed in bulk, such as 6-pack of vegan Ranch dressing. There were also retail packs of vegan sliced cheese, Gardein and Morningstar frozen vegan meats, plant-based eggs, Daiya mac and cheese, vegan prepared cookies and cookie mixes, and Amy’s individual frozen entrées, to name a few, that could be purchased in multiples.

The site also offered larger-than-retail packs, including 24-ounce Soy Delicious coconut-based frozen yogurt, 24-ounce refrigerated Soy Delicious unsweetened plain coconut yogurt, 3-packs of BetterGoods mac and cheese (which would create about 12 portions), and many other items.

Web Restaurant Store.com

You could really have a field day with the vegan quantity offerings at https://www.webstaurantstore.com/search/vegan.html

Here is just a sampling:

Five-pound back of Daiya shredded vegan mozzarella and parmesan, Five-pound packs of frozen vegan meat entrées (meatballs, chik’n, “steaks,” patties, pups, shrimp, tuna, drumsticks, bacon, crumbles, sausage), Four-pound packs of falafel, five-pound packs frozen jackfruit, bulk packs of silken and many varieties, brands, textures of  tofu, vegan chocolate chips (50 pounds!), 32-ounce packs of plant milks, and bulk packs of salad dressing, banana bread, pound cake, macaroons, passion-fruit and mango mousse (12 three ounce cups).

We were intrigued by the frozen, five pound Southern Roots brand red velvet cake, advertised as vegan, soy-, nut- and gluten-free, with a “cocoa-flavored red velvet cake with a dairy-free buttercream icing,” as well as the frozen, vegan 120-count omelets, advertised as “a plant-based vegan folded egg patty.”

This is a short overview of many quantity vegan products found on the web. Hopefully, the web can supplement what your regular vendors offer or inspire your vendors to increase their vegan offerings.

Mary Finelli is featured in Vegan Journal’s Vegan Action column. Mary is founder and president of Fish Feel, a non-profit organization. Through her leadership, Finelli highlights the intelligence, sensitivity, and unique personalities of fishes, urging us all to rethink how we relate to our aquatic neighbors. Read the latest Vegan Action column here: https://www.vrg.org/journal/vj2026issue2/2026_issue2_vegan_action.php

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photo from Freepik

Vegan Journal has run two articles on vegan grilling that you might find helpful:

Gourmet Grilling by Chef Nancy Berkoff, EdD, RD includes grilling tips as well as recipes for Grilled Eggplant, Mediterranean Grilled Portobellos with Pine Nuts, Curried Barbecue Tempeh, Roasted Pepper and Eggplant Dip, Pineapple Peach Salsa, Japanese-Style Grilled Asparagus, Grilled Sweet Peaches, and Roasted Corn. See: https://www.vrg.org/journal/2002issue3/2002_issue3_gourmet.php

Nancy also wrote another article titled Outdoor Feast and it includes vegan recipes for the grill including Tofu and Potatoes Kebobs, Vietnamese “Beef” Salad, Lime and Chili “Steaks,” and Grilled Pineapple. See: https://www.vrg.org/journal/vj2015issue2/2015_issue2_outdoor_feasts.php

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Red Fox Spices has produced Ethiopian meal kits that you can order online and have delivered to your home. Read the review here: https://www.vrg.org/journal/vj2026issue2/2026_issue2_veggie_bits.php

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istock photo

by Reed Mangels, PhD, RD

Young children, regardless of their diet, are at risk for iron deficiency according to the U.S. National Institutes of Health (1). Almost a quarter of children age 1 to 2 years in the United States have iron deficiency (defined as serum ferritin <15μg/L) (2). Between 0.9% and 4.4% of U.S. toddlers age 1 to 3 years have iron deficiency anemia (defined for children aged 12 through 35 months as a hemoglobin concentration of less than 11.0 g/dL) (3).

The RDA (Recommended Dietary Allowance) for iron for 1 to 3 year olds is 1.3 milligrams of iron daily. If we increase that by 1.8 times, as is recommended for vegetarians including vegans, we get an RDA of 2.3 milligrams of iron for vegan toddlers (4).

How might vegan toddlers get some extra iron? Here are some ideas, in toddler-friendly form:

1. Snack on shelled edamame or mix edamame with pasta, steamed vegetables, or rice. A toddler-size quarter cup serving provides 0.9 milligrams of iron, almost 40% of the RDA for vegan toddlers.
2. Cube firm tofu and steam, roast, or sauté, adding sauce or catsup or other condiments to your toddler’s liking. A quarter cup of firm tofu cubes has 1.75 milligrams of iron, more than half the RDA for vegan toddlers.
3. Add iron-fortified baby cereal and/or wheat germ to the batter for muffins, pancakes, waffles, and other bready finger foods. Just 2 tablespoons of iron-fortified baby cereal contain 3.4 milligrams of iron. Two tablespoons of wheat germ have 1.4 milligrams of iron.
4. Check the label of the bread that you buy. Bread made with 100% whole wheat flour or with iron-enriched flour can provide 0.5 milligrams or more or iron per slice.
5. If your toddler likes toast, try topping it with a thin spread of tahini or of hummus made with tahini. A teaspoon of tahini has 0.35 milligrams of iron, about 15% of the RDA for a vegan toddler.
6. Make a thick lentil pate like this one which has more than 1 milligram of iron in 1/12 of the recipe. Toddlers may like to dip crackers or sliced vegetables or fruit in the pate, eat it on bread or crackers, or eat it by the spoonful.
7. Serve an iron-fortified breakfast cereal for breakfast or a snack. Trader Joe’s O’s (more than 1 milligram of iron per ¼ cup serving), is one example of a toddler-friendly cereal that is fortified with iron and not with non-vegan vitamin D.
8. Make bean burgers, a fun finger food, either cut in pieces or made into small burgers. One-sixth of this Garbanzo Bean Burger recipe supplies around 1.3 milligrams of iron, more than half the RDA for vegan toddlers.
9. Add raisins to breakfast cereal and baked goods. A couple of tablespoons of raisins adds around 0.4 milligrams of iron, about 17% of the RDA for vegan toddlers.
10. Promote iron absorption from plant foods by including a source of vitamin C at meals and snacks. Blueberries, strawberries, mango slices, orange sections, cantaloupe chunks are fruit sources of vitamin C. Vegetable sources include tomatoes and tomato sauce, broccoli, cabbage, and bell peppers.

Some toddlers may need an iron supplement. Always discuss supplement use with your child’s health care provider before starting a supplement.

And, keep in mind that in non-vegan toddlers in the United States, beef contributed 2% of their total iron intake (5). Iron-fortified breakfast cereals, baby cereals, and bread products were the main contributors of iron for non-vegan 1 to 2 year olds in the United States (6).

References

1. National Institutes of Health. Office of Dietary Supplements. Iron – Health Professionals. https://ods.od.nih.gov/factsheets/Iron-HealthProfessional/#h9. 2025.
2. National Center for Health Statistics. Anemia or Iron Deficiency. https://www.cdc.gov/nchs/fastats/anemia.htm. 2026.
3. Baker RD, Greer FR. Diagnosis and prevention of iron deficiency and iron-deficiency anemia in infants and young children (0-3 years of age). Pediatrics 2010;126:1040-50.
4. Institute of Medicine, Food and Nutrition Board. Dietary Reference Intakes for Vitamin A, Vitamin K, Arsenic, Boron, Chromium, Copper, Iodine, Iron, Manganese, Molybdenum, Nickel, Silicon, Vanadium, and Zinc. Washington, DC: National Academy Press, 2001.
5. Finn K, Callen C, Bhatia J, et al. Importance of dietary sources of iron in infants and toddlers: Lessons from the FITS Study. Nutrients. 2017;9:733.
6. Fox MK, Reidy K, Novak T, et al. Sources of energy and nutrients in the diets of infants and toddlers. J Am Diet Assoc. 2006;106(1 Suppl 1):S28-S42.

To read more about iron in the vegan diet see:

Iron in the Vegan Diet

Ten Ways Vegans Can Boost Their Iron Intake

Vegan Iron Sources in the Grocery Store

Latin American Vegan Foods High in Iron

Sources of information for the iron content of foods was package labels and the U.S. Department of Agriculture, Agricultural Research Service, Beltsville Human Nutrition Research Center. FoodData Central.

The contents of this website and our other publications, including Vegetarian Journal and Vegan Journal, are not intended to provide personal medical advice. Medical advice should be obtained from a qualified health professional. We often depend on product and ingredient information from company statements. It is impossible to be 100% sure about a statement, info can change, people have different views, and mistakes can be made. Please use your best judgment about whether a product is suitable for you. To be sure, do further research or confirmation on your own.

Cochineal from which Carmine is derived Photo by Roberto Michel Getty Images

A Vegan Journal reader informed us that she felt a strawberry drink labeled vegan that she bought was actually not vegan due to the fact that in contains carmine. VRG’s Research Director Jeanne Yacoubou, MS, looked into this concern and reports back here: https://www.vrg.org/journal/vj2026issue2/2026_issue2_update-carmine.php

To subscribe to Vegan Journal is the USA only, visit www.vrg.org/member

On Saturday, June 27th, Lovin’ Spoonfuls is extending hours from 8 a.m. to 8 p.m. for a special Italian Dinner Night, with dinner being served from 4 p.m. to 8 p.m.

Lovin’ Spoonfuls is located at 2990 N. Campbell Ave. #120, Tucson, Arizona, and is usually open daily from 8 a.m. to 3 p.m. Read more here: https://www.instagram.com/lovinspoonfulstucson/?hl=en

blueberries photo from Stocksnap

By Chef Nancy Berkoff, EdD, RD

Sometimes it’s hard to get past eating fresh blueberries by the handful, or even as a frozen snack. Beyond the luxury of topping hot and cold cereal or granola with fresh blueberries, or using frozen (fresh blueberries that you’ve washed and frozen) in smoothies, ice cubes and cold drinks, consider the following:

Blueberry Egg Cream: following the tradition of the New York summer treat that has neither cream nor eggs (milk and chocolate syrup are the usual ingredients), create a blueberry version. Purée fresh or frozen blueberries, and put about two Tablespoons in the bottom of a large glass. Mix in about a teaspoon of maple syrup or liquid sweetener of choice, a splash of plant milk, and top with sparkling water or seltzer.

Blueberry Sojito: add about two Tablespoons of fresh or frozen blueberries and about 3 fresh, shredded mint leaves to the bottom of a large glass. Smush with the back of a spoon (called “muddling), until you have a well-combined paste. Add very cold sparkling water or seltzer, quickly mix, and enjoy!

Blueberry Popsicles: combine two cups of your favorite lemonade with one cup of puréed, fresh blueberries and mix well. Pour into separate small cups stirring a few fresh, whole blueberries into each cup. Freeze. Add a popsicle stick or a straw, if you like, to have a portable snack.

Topless Blueberry Pies or Tarts: bake your favorite pie shell or tart shells and allow to cool. Combine about 1 cup water, 3 Tablespoons cornstarch, and ¾ cup dry granulated sweetener in a small pot and heat, stirring for about 10 minutes, until thick enough to coat the back of a spoon. Remove from heat, stir in 2 Tablespoons vegan margarine and let cool for about five minutes. Stir in 3 cups fresh, washed and drained blueberries (or more, depending on how dense you’d like the filling). Pour into pie shell or tart shells. Refrigerate for at least two hours to allow the filling to set. If pie or tart shells are not available, pour the blueberry filling into a bowl and allow to chill for at least two hours. Use this to garnish cake slices, cookies, or sorbet or use as a topping for pancakes.

Blueberry Dump Cake: It may have a silly name, but is a seriously good dessert. Preheat oven to 375 degrees. Spray a baking pan (9- x 13-inch works) with vegetable oil. Combine 3 cups fresh, washed and drained blueberries with ½ cup of vegan dry sweetener and a teaspoon of grated lemon zest. Spread blueberry mixture evenly in the baking pan. Sprinkle dry cake mix evenly over the blueberries (do not mix). Drizzle ½ cup melted vegan margarine over the cake mix. Bake about 35 minutes, or until the top is nicely golden. If you have extra blueberry pie filling leftover from your topless blueberry pie, you can use it instead of the fresh blueberries.

Be sure to take advantage of fresh blueberries and freeze some to use when the season is over. Wash and drain blueberries and allow to dry. They can be frozen whole, to be used in beverages, cooked pasta (try it in couscous), fresh salads, microwave blueberry jam, cooked cereals, and pancake, cornbread, and muffin batter. Or they can be puréed and frozen in small containers, to be used in smoothies, salad dressings, barbecue sauce (it works!), and mocktails.

In the latest Scientific Update in Vegan Journal we look at a study that examined Young Swedish Vegans, Lacto-Ovo Vegetarians, and Omnivores Dietary Intake and Nutritional Status. Read about the study here: https://www.vrg.org/journal/vj2026issue2/2026_issue2_scientific_update.php

To subscribe to Vegan Journal is the USA only, visit www.vrg.org/member