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Stocking the Kid-Friendly Pantry

Good meals start with the basics. A pantry stocked with kid-friendly vegan staples makes it easier to whip up a last-minute dinner that will please everyone in the family. A kid-friendly pantry is also much more likely to be a frugal pantry because you don’t need to produce gourmet fare to impress kids.

Here are some of our favorite veg-friendly brands:

◆ Amy’s Kitchen

◆ Annie’s Naturals

◆ Boca

◆ Bragg’s

◆ Earth Balance

◆ Eat in the Raw Parma!

◆ Eden

◆ Ener-G

◆ Frieda’s

◆ LightLife

◆ Orgran

◆ Pacific Natural Foods

◆ Rice Dream

◆ Silk

◆ Soy Delicious

◆ Tofurkey

◆ Tofutti

◆ WildWood

◆ Willow Run

◆ Yves

The following basic lists of pantry staples set the stage for kid-and crowd-pleasing meals. Many of the items listed are necessary for the recipes found in this book. Obviously, there are thousands of other fruits, veggies, beans, and grains to enjoy. And the great vegan specialty products such as marshmallows, soy whipped cream, and vegan tuna may be something for your family to try according to your child’s tastes and adventure level. The foods listed here are simply what we consider the “kid-friendly basics” and a great start to show vegan diets for kids are far from restrictive!

That’s So Vegan

Every attempt has been made to ensure the foods on this list are vegan, but we concur with what PETA posts on its vegan food list online: “Boycotting products that are 99.9 percent vegan sends manufacturers the message that there is no market for that particular food, which ends up hurting more animals.”

Meat Analogs

From chicken nuggets to barbecue ribs, you can find kids’ favorite meat-substitute products in abundance at most well-stocked grocery stores.

❏ Barbecue ribs

❏ Breakfast sausage links

❏ Burger crumbles

❏ Chick nuggets

❏ Chick patties

❏ Chick strips

❏ Italian sausages

❏ Lunch meats

❏ Marinated tofu cutlets

❏ Plain tofu

❏ Seitan (many varieties)

❏ Tempeh (many varieties)

❏ Tofu turkey

❏ Veggie bacon

❏ Veggie beef strips

❏ Veggie burgers

❏ Veggie chorizo

❏ Veggie hot dogs

❏ Veggie pepperoni

Vegan Vocab

Tofu is a soybean curd food that originated in China. To make it, soybeans are soaked in water, with a small amount of magnesium chloride, and formed into blocks. Just 3 ounces tofu supplies 14 grams protein and 10 percent of an adult’s daily iron needs.

Nondairy Milk and Other Dairy Substitutes

If your kid likes cheesy, creamy, milky foods, there’s a vegan variety for almost any cow-produced product. Many vegan cheeses have a way to go before they reach absolute equivalency in taste and melt-ability, but some—especially the vegan Parmesan and rice-based cheeses—have now moved far above the “just barely acceptable” culinary level. And milks like almond and many soy milks taste better and have a smoother texture than cow’s milk.

❏ Almond milk

❏ Hazelnut milk

❏ Rice milk

❏ Soy milk (many flavors)

❏ Vegan cheese (many varieties)

❏ Vegan cream cheese

❏ Vegan Parmesan cheese

❏ Vegan sour cream

❏ Vegan whipped cream

❏ Vegan yogurt (soy- or coconut-based)

Parent Trap

Avoid quick-cooking rices, as they tend to be almost like white bread. Once kids get used to them, it’s more difficult to get them to eat the heartier kinds.

Grains and Breads

Most kids won’t like the more exotic grains such as quinoa, buckwheat groats, wild rice, and amaranth sometimes found in vegan recipes. Stick to the basics like rice and pasta, and introduce a few of the more kid-friendly grains listed here.

❏ Arborio rice

❏ Bagels

❏ Basmati rice

❏ Corn tortillas

❏ Couscous

❏ Flour tortillas

❏ Low-sugar breakfast cereals

❏ Oatmeal (quick and steel-cut)

❏ Old El Paso Spanish rice

❏ Orzo

❏ Pasta (semolina or whole-wheat)

❏ Pearled barley

❏ Pita bread

❏ Rice noodles

❏ Short-grain brown rice

❏ Tings

❏ Tortilla chips

❏ Vegan snack chips

❏ Whole-grain breads