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Like all kids, most vegan kids love helping out in the kitchen and trying fun new foods if you serve them the good stuff. Stock your kitchen right, get them involved in the preparation process, and serve kid-friendly meals, and feeding your vegan children will be infinitely easier.

Chapter 10

Let’s Go Shopping!

In This Chapter

◆ Making grocery shopping stress free—it is possible!

◆ Time- and money-saving shopping tips

◆ Stocking your vegan pantry

◆ Vegan-friendly food allies

For busy parents, grocery shopping is a chore, at best. For busy vegan parents, the added frustration of constantly searching for specialty products and methodically reading fine print for hidden animal ingredients, all while their child is trying to escape from the shopping cart, can become a weekly test of anger management.

For vegan kids, the overstimulation of stores filled with animal products is both enticing and disheartening. Most kids will ask, “Why can’t I have …?” and parents need to be patient and explain. If the meat department cannot be avoided, kids’ questions often change from personal wants to “What’s that bloody-looking red stuff in that case?” and “Why are those lobsters in that tiny tank?” Parents need to be honest and explain.

If your weekly grocery run feels more like going to the guillotine than grabbing the family grub, this chapter’s for you. We show you how to make grocery shopping smooth, efficient, and fun—even when you have to bring your little shopper(s) along. Like most good things in life, though, eating vegan and healthy doesn’t come cheap. We share ways to minimize the costs while maximizing flavor and nutrition for your vegan child. Finally, we talk about strategies to lower your monthly grocery bill and include some of our favorite frugal vegan meals.

So what exactly does a kid-friendly vegan grocery cart include? This chapter highlights the essentials of the vegan family pantry and fridge. Most items we suggest can be found in any moderate- to well-stocked grocery store, but some will likely take a (worthwhile) trip to your local health food or natural foods store.

After reading this chapter, finding healthy vegan food for your family will become a pleasure.

Stress-Free Family Grocery Shopping

Take a nearly empty pantry, add one time-crunched parent in a grocery store with no list or meal plan in hand, sprinkle in a hungry kid or two, and you have the recipe for a stressful, expensive shopping trip. It takes time to organize a list to be sure you have all necessary ingredients at home for enough meals for the week. Adding the vegan twist usually means some of those items may not be readily available in your local grocery store and will require another stop or two. Poorly planned shoppers often bring home a lot of snacks and desserts but only a couple of complete, healthful meals.

The saying, “An ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure,” fits the vegan grocery bill. Take some time up front to organize your kitchen and your family’s favorite meal plans. Then search out which stores have what you need at the best prices and develop a meal plan/ grocery system that works best for your family. Your budget will stretch farther, your patience will be stretched less, and your belt is less likely to need stretching due to unhealthy food impulse buys. Most importantly, you and your child are more likely to eat healthier with less stress.

Time Savers

The following time savers help you breeze through the vegan food gathering process. You might be surprised at how pain-free shopping can become. Yes, some of these do require more than a couple minutes up front, but you’ll consistently save time every week after they’re done once every year or so.

Organize Your Pantry

First things first, put all your dried and canned goods in order (tomato sauces, pastes, etc.; canned vegetables; jarred nut butters; oils and vinegars; spices; etc.) and keep them organized so it’s easy to see what you