Plant-Based Kids: Building the Plate

A vegetarian or vegan plate for a little one works well with a bit of planning behind it. A few nutrients that usually come from meat, fish, eggs or dairy need a deliberate stand-in, and you can find those stand-ins in any supermarket.

You don’t have to get every meal right. What matters is the pattern across the week.

Vitamin B12 comes from foods with B12 added

Plants don’t bring B12 on their own. In a vegan kitchen it comes from foods with B12 added, such as some breakfast cereals, unsweetened soy drinks and nutritional yeast flakes.

Check the label for B12 when you buy these, since not every brand adds it. In a vegetarian home, eggs, milk, yogurt and cheese bring some B12 too.

Iron: beans, lentils and tofu, with a fruit on the side

Lentils, chickpeas, beans, tofu, iron-fortified cereals and dark leafy greens are the everyday plant sources of iron. Serve a food with vitamin C at the same meal, since it helps the body take up iron from plants.

Lentil soup with a squeeze of orange or chopped tomato.
Hummus with soft strips of roasted red pepper.
Tofu cubes with soft broccoli.
Iron-fortified oat cereal with mashed strawberries.

Calcium without dairy

Tofu made with calcium. The ingredient list will name a calcium salt.
Unsweetened soy or pea drinks with added calcium.
Tahini stirred into hummus, or spread thin on toast.
Broccoli, kale and beans, cooked soft.

Omega-3 and zinc from seeds and nuts

Ground seeds are an easy way in. Stir ground flax, chia or hemp seeds, or finely ground walnuts, into porridge or yogurt, and cook with rapeseed (canola) oil.

Hummus, nut butters, seeds, potatoes and fortified cereals all bring zinc.

Whole nuts and thick spoonfuls of nut butter are choking hazards for little ones. Grind nuts, and spread nut butters thinly, until at least age 4.

Protein through the day

Beans, lentils, tofu, tempeh, hummus, thinly spread nut butters and, for vegetarians, eggs and dairy all count. Put one of them on the plate at most meals, and offer it in a form your child can manage: mashed, soft or in small pieces.

A plant-based week, made simple

Pick one fortified drink and one fortified cereal you like, and read their labels once.
Put a bean, lentil or tofu food on the plate at most meals.
Add a fruit or vegetable with vitamin C next to it.
Keep a jar of ground seeds by the porridge pot.
Tell the doctor about your family’s way of eating at checkups.

Ask your pediatrician whether your child needs a vitamin B12, vitamin D or omega-3 supplement on your family’s diet.