What My Plant-Based 3-Year-Old Eats in a Day

Wow! I can’t believe I’m already back with another update about what Baby V eats. It seems like just yesterday that I wrote about what she eats as a 2-year-old and a 16-month-old (cue mama sobbing!)

If you have questions about if we’re raising her vegan, what we do for milk or anything breastfeeding related, I recommend you go back to those posts first because I included a ton of information on those topics.

Below is the rundown on what she eats as a 3-year-old. I hope that sharing what she eats will give you some ideas if you need them for your family.

One major change since my last update is that we now are constantly having conversations about what it means to be plant-based and why we don’t always eat the same food as her friends. I have so much more to say on this topic but I will save that for a separate blog post- let’s check out the food!

Psst! My no-stress strategy is here! Check out Colorful Kids now!

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Let’s start with what her day and meals look like:

(Monday-Friday schedule. On the weekends things are more free-form!)

Wake-up: 7am

Breakfast 1: 7:15am

Breakfast 2: 8:15am (since starting full-time preschool, she seems to need to really power up with a second breakfast or small snack before we head out the door. It’s usually a smoothie, piece of toast or fruit).

Morning snack: 10:30 (her school provides snack)

Lunch: 12pm

Afternoon snack: 3:30pm

Dinner: 5pm

Bedtime: 6pm (side note: her bedtime has become super early since she stopped napping at age 2.5. she is EXHAUSTED by the end of the day!)

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What She Eats

Put simply, Baby V (and Baby L! who is currently 8-months-old) eats what we eat. I do NOT believe in cooking multiple dishes for one meal to cater to everyone in the family. That said, I don’t expect her to dive into a bowl of super spicy curry, but I truly believe it makes everyone’s life easier when we all (mostly) eat the same thing. So much more on that coming in my super top secret project.

Below are some typical examples of her/our favorite meals:

Breakfast

Oatmeal. We have a weekday routine where Ross makes a pot of oatmeal as soon as he wakes up, then once Baby V is awake they put it in bowls and add toppings together. She looks forward to this special time with him and it’s really nice for me to get a break from cooking one of our meals since I’m usually in the kitchen for most of the day. Toppings can include nut butter, coconut yogurt, raisins, granola, shredded coconut, hemp seeds or fresh fruit.

Smoothies. Smoothies have always been a super easy way to get the day started with fruit and veggies. Baby V actually has her own smoothie recipe in The Colorful Family Table and she also loves this Pumpkin Pie Smoothie Bowl.

Pancakes. I love making these ones because they are mainly just oats.

Waffles. Especially these cornbread waffles.

Muffins. We like to bake muffins together and she gets a major kick out of warming them up for breakfast. This time of the year we love these pumpkin pie spice muffins.

Lunch

My girl LOVES a good sandwich for lunch! If we’re at home we’ll make a PB & J but since her school is nut-free, we’ll do hummus & avocado, eggplant “bacon”, chickpea “tuna” salad or tofurky deli slices & mustard (she calls this “the daddy sandwich” since it’s Ross’s favorite). Scroll down to the lunch section on this post and you’ll see a bunch of her lunchbox photos!

I’ll also send her with a side of cucumber slices, carrot sticks, whatever fruit is around, roasted sweet potato or crispy chickpeas. When I’m cooking dinner, I always try to think ahead and make extras of anything that can be sent as a side dish. It makes my life so much easier.

If we’re at home, we might eat a macro bowl, tofu scramble or most likely dinner leftovers from the night before.

Dinner

Seasonal soup. My “lazy” dinner is to chop up whatever veggies we have around and toss them in a pot with broth and herbs. It’s always a win! She also loves this hummus soup.

Creamy Spring Risotto. Or a similar version using whatever veggies are in season.

Pasta. This is one of our favorite easy weeknight pasta recipes. And you know we eat sweet potato mac n cheese at least once week!

Lentil bowl. Baby V really loves lentils (as do Ross and I!) so I’ll often make a macro bowl with lentils as the base and roasted veggies, tofu, beans and tahini on top. She loves tahini which makes me proud!

Kabocha Squash & Lentil Stew. We also make this with butternut or acorn squash. She loves to go to the farmers market and pick out a funky looking squash!

Roasted veggies with sauce. Like mother like daughter, Baby V is all about the sauces. She’ll eat just about any veggie with the right sauce. We all like dijon-based sauces, lemon tahini, balsamic vinegar and anything with dill.

Creamy Tahini Sweet Potato Stew.

Falafel. One of our takeout go-to’s.

Veggie roll. Sushi is another takeout go-to!

Homemade pad thai. Or any pasta dish with peanut sauce (find my peanut sauce recipe in my first cookbook).

Veggie burgers and veggie dogs. We grilled these up a lot this past summer! She loves to add her own sauerkraut, ketchup and mustard.

Snacks 

*This is the same list from her 2-year-old update because our snack sitch hasn’t really changed much!

• Fruit- any kind!
• Freeze dried fruit (these bags have saved me many times)
• Avocado toast
• Raisins
• Hummus and carrots
• Crispy chickpeas- I either make these savory with salt, garlic and onion powder or sweet with cinnamon. Just toss the chickpeas with spices and a little olive oil, then roast at 400°F until crispy!
• Blueberry and Apple Pie Larabars

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If you’re thinking to yourself, “wow! my kids would neeeeever eat these foods” let me tell you that her willingness to try all these different colors, textures and flavors didn’t happen overnight. I have SO much more to say about how I introduced her to a rainbow of foods and I’ll be sharing my no-stress strategy soon!

One quick tip I can give you is to carve out a little bit of time to cook with your little one. Getting Baby V involved with preparing our food has made her so much more excited to try new things. Plus, it gives them a sense of empowerment and ownership over the food on their plate. Muffins are a great recipe to start with because kids pour the ingredients in, mix the batter and watch the muffins rise in the oven.

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