Yes! Children can be encouraged to become vegans from a young age. While there is no pressure to force children to become vegans, you can only try and see what they love. For some reason, most of the snacks in the market can be great without animal products. You don’t even have to spend big to get your child’s favourite snacks in vegan form. All you need to do is be creative with what you have and you could raid your fridge and come up with these 10 interesting vegan snacks.
A Veggie/Fruit Smoothie
You can never go wrong with a smoothie because you can put anything that fits in there and even picky eaters may not notice when they gulp it down. You can go for a mix of fruits and veggies and then top it up with plain yoghurt and hurt to satisfy picky eaters. Whatever your kids like, you can definitely find a to make them happy through a smoothie.
Veggie Yogurt and Berries
Yoghurt is another snack that kids love and you should let them have it whenever they yearn for a snack because it has lots of protein and calcium that is good for their growth. There are many versions of vegan yoghurt in the market but you have to ensure that whatever you pick is plain and not over-flavoured with sugar and preservatives. You can then top it up with berries to get more vitamins and flavour.
Rice Cakes and Avocado
You can choose to make your own rice cakes at home and store them for when your kids are hungry or buy ready-made ones. You should go for healthy plain cakes that are unsalted and flavour them as you see fit. You can use peanut butter or jelly as your spread if your children don’t like avocados but if they do, then you are in luck. You can also put grapes on top of the spread to make it fun and tasty.
Ants On the Log
A little trip back to the past will give you one of the best vegan snacks for kids. As long as you have the best nut butter that your kids love, all you will need is celery and raisins. Arrange the raisins on the celery in patterns that they love and give them a feast they will definitely enjoy.
Hummus With Vegetables
Hummus is one of the best ways to go vegan where kids are involved. You can skip any strong flavours they don’t like such as garlic and still come up with a healthy snack that will impress them. You can add other interesting snacks such as bagel chips alongside your vegetable mixture of carrots, cucumber, a little cabbage and some diced fruits if they love that. You will end up with an all-round healthy mix that your kids will love.
Raisins And Cereal
When buying cereal, you need t resist the urge to buy those coloured flavoured things that have too much sugar and nothing of nutritional value. You should buy plain bran cereal whenever you can and even if they are fussy at it at first, they will understand and grow to love it. You can then add raisins to add the flavour and let them enjoy. If you have almond or soy milk or even vegan yoghurt, you can add that as well and complete your snack.
Toast With Avocado
You can never go wrong with avocado which is rich in potassium, magnesium and B6 which are vital for children as they grow up. You can do anything with avocados and try to get them to eat as much as you can. The easiest way is to do some seeds on toast with avocado slices on it and you will give your kids the feast they like.
Diced Fruits or trail mix
Trail mix is of course every child’s favourite snack when around the house but you have to ensure that you have healthy food in that dish. If you don’t have that variety you need for trail mix you can just go for a variety of diced fruits.
Sandwich Shapes
You have to be creative when it comes to kids and sandwiches because the mood eventually determines whether they will love what you have to offer. You can put lots of vegies and spread them on your sandwich and get kids to enjoy it. Triangles, rectangles or little animal shapes will help them love it.
Fresh Fruits with Peanut Butter
Peanut butter has to be your best friend if you want your kids to love vegan meals. While almost everything can be eaten with peanut butter, fruit slices are a smart way to go for snacks. Just be consistent with the fruits they like best.
Do you know of any other vegan snacks the little ones might enjoy? Do let us know in the comments below.