{"id":14538,"date":"2019-11-28T09:00:52","date_gmt":"2019-11-28T14:00:52","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.vrg.org\/blog\/?p=14538"},"modified":"2019-11-19T16:10:41","modified_gmt":"2019-11-19T21:10:41","slug":"vegan-lunch-options-for-kids","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.vrg.org\/blog\/2019\/11\/28\/vegan-lunch-options-for-kids\/","title":{"rendered":"Vegan Lunch Options for Kids"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
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 by Lucia Rivera, VRG Intern<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Beyond the\nclassic peanut butter and jelly sandwich and accompanying side of fruit, vegan\nlunch options range from school-offered healthy offerings, to personalized\nsalads, soups, sandwiches, and more! For vegan kids in any grade, a delicious\nand satisfying lunch can have an amazing effect on their day. Whether or not a\nschool offers lunch and snack options for vegan students, the possibilities are\nendless of what can fill one\u2019s lunch box every day.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

My high school in Southern California did start providing\ndaily vegan options for students in 2018. They present these on a smartphone\nschool lunch app, which indicates all options students have on respective days.\nFor daily lunches, the school cafeteria prepares items such as three bean\nsalad, baked butternut squash, and spicy lime cucumber rounds that are all\nindicated to be free of eggs, dairy, meat, and fish. These all can be picked up\nrelatively quickly by students at the cafeteria whether a student is vegan,\nvegetarian, or just wants to eat something new and healthy.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Depending on personal preference, however, preparing lunches at home may be part of one\u2019s daily routine. This only widens the opportunities for amazing vegan lunches. If preparing homemade lunches, it is never a bad idea to start by trying out the basics. For example, as mentioned previously, the traditional peanut butter and jelly sandwich is a coincidentally vegan recipe that has room for modification. There are a variety of nut and seed butters that each add their own twist to a sandwich, just as there are many marmalades, jams, and spreads that can complement a specific flavor! I personally have enjoyed using almond butter with raspberry jam and substituting sunflower seed butter for my brother who had nut allergies. Nut or seed butter also tastes amazing with bananas or another kind of sweet addition. If sandwich form gets repetitive, lunches can also consist of fruit slices with peanut, almond, soy nut, or other butter. Vegan soy \u201cdeli meat\u201d can also be used in sandwiches along with lettuce, tomato, avocado, vegan cheese substitutes, and anything else that one likes. Other optional ingredients include vegan cream cheese, hummus, sliced tempeh or tofu, and vegan margarine.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Another great tool – thermos containers – are not to be\nforgotten! These can keep any variety of soup warm throughout the day, ranging\nfrom vegetable noodle to miso soup. Penne pasta with marinara sauce can also\nretain its heat in a thermos, as does vegan mac and cheese. Tofu and rice can\nbe mixed and packed in a thermos too, with a dressing included or kept on the\nside. Warm lunches can also include other vegan options like bean chili, veggie\nburgers, veggie hot dogs, warm wraps, and more! An alternative way to keep lunches warm for a couple hours is by\nusing insulated lunch bags or wrapping sandwiches\/wraps in aluminum foil. Warm\nwraps usually include a choice of vegan meat and melted vegan cheese with a\nkick of cooked or fresh vegetables. For example, one warm vegan wrap recipe is\na vegan chicken ranch wrap.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Cold lunches, on the other hand, can focus on main dishes\nof pasta salads, cold wraps, fresh spring rolls, and to-go Buddha bowls. Buddha\nbowls can be personalized to include one\u2019s preference of vegetables and beans\n(like sweet potato, broccoli, and edamame beans) and sauce to add to the bowl\u2019s\ntofu component. Cold wraps are a lunch choice that can often be overlooked, but\nare perfect for personalization, like sandwiches are. Yet, their use of\ntortilla, pita, or other type of wrap distinguishes them from the typical\nsandwich. One of my personal favorite vegan lunches is a store-bought hummus\nand vegetable wrap that is perfect to eat on the go, without requiring heating\nup or preparation. Lunches can also be easily made at home, whether made during\nweekly meal prepping, or separate every morning.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In addition to a delicious main dish, lunches can also\ninclude specific snacks and side dishes. Some snacks include granola bars,\ndried fruit, fresh fruit or vegetables, vegetable chips, pretzels, rice cakes,\nvegan muffins, and hummus with carrot sticks. There are also dozens of other\nsnacks that can complement lunch daily. Many grocery stores offer even more\nvarieties of vegan snacks, including roasted and salted edamame beans, which I\nhave brought as a snack to school on a variety of occasions. Side dishes can\neasily be created with a small green salad of spinach and cherry tomatoes, or\nroasted broccoli and potatoes. More complicated side dishes include tempeh\npotato croquettes and vegan scalloped potatoes.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Overall, whatever one may be craving as they wait for the\nbell to ring before lunch, there is always a vegan option that can satisfy\ntheir needs. From salads, to sandwiches, to wraps, vegan lunches can become the\nhighlight of a great day\u2014whether from home or the cafeteria.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

For other\nschool lunch ideas, see:<\/p>\n\n\n\n

https:\/\/www.vrg.org\/teen\/#food<\/a>
https:\/\/www.vrg.org\/journal\/vj2007issue4\/2007_issue4_pb_j.php<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

 by Lucia Rivera, VRG Intern Beyond the classic peanut butter and jelly sandwich and accompanying side of fruit, vegan lunch options range from school-offered healthy offerings, to personalized salads, soups, sandwiches, and more! For vegan kids in any grade, a delicious and satisfying lunch can have an amazing effect on their day. Whether or not […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-14538","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.vrg.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/14538","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.vrg.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.vrg.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.vrg.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.vrg.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=14538"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.vrg.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/14538\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":14540,"href":"https:\/\/www.vrg.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/14538\/revisions\/14540"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.vrg.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=14538"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.vrg.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=14538"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.vrg.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=14538"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}