Plant-Based Meals for Young Families

Although it’s good to cook food from scratch, life doesn’t always work like that. But if you look, there are far better alternatives to ready-made frozen nugget meals for children!

Wildly Tasty is a lovely company created by a professional chef, offering award-winning plant-based meals for children (and adults) that taste yummy and are packed with nutrients (and also low in salt). And a portion of profits helping a Surrey wildlife rescue charity.

Minimum order is £25 (free delivery over £50). And next day delivery, if orders are placed before midday Monday to Friday. Get 20% off off your first order, if you sign up to the newsletter, and share your unique referral link for £5 discount for you and friends/family.

Each kids’ meal serves two young children or one older child, depending on age and appetite. The family size miles serve 2 adults (or 1 adult and 2 children).

Just heat in the oven for a few minutes, or store in the freezer for up to a month (thaw overnight in the fridge then heat).

These meals are not for babies (check age guides on meals) under 1 year. While the ingredients are all allergen-free, they are made within a kitchen that handles all major allergens. 

Meals are delivered in recycled vegan insulated packaging and ice packs (keep dry ice away from children and pets). They can be stored in the freezer for 3 months. 

Before cooking, read up on food safety for people & pets (many human foods are unsafe around animal friends). Recycle packaging at kerbside or supermarket bag bins.

Different Ways to Serve Wildly Tasty Meals

This post has plenty of suggestions on how to serve the meals to bulk them up for both filling up tummies and affordability:  Examples are:

• With jacket potatoes and salad
• To fill up veggie burritos
• With rice or pasta
• As a jacket potato filling
• With sweet potato wedges
• With couscous or noodles
• Reduce with water, to make soup

The Range of Wildly Tasty Meals

The range includes:

• Mushroom and Lentil Bolognese
• Apricot & Chickpea Tagine
• Coconut and Sweet Potato Dahl
• Yellow Thai Veggie Curry
• Sweet Potato & Bean Chilli
• Super Tomato and Five Veg Sauce

Quality Ingredients (veggies over carbs!)

One feature that is popular with parents is these meals are not ‘padded’ with carbs, so you can add your own carbs to meals, which gives children more nutrients and choice.

The company was founded by a mother of ‘two under two’ who was finding it a struggle to cook everything from scratch, but could not find meals to her health, taste and ethical standards in shops.

As she had 6 years of experience developing recipes for Mindful Chef, the solution was obvious!

The ingredients are top quality too. Vegetables and fruits are sourced from New Covent Garden, tomatoes from Italian farms and coconut milk from Biona (not just organic but guaranteed free from monkey slave harvesting).

The meals also include natural proteins like beans, lentils and chickpeas, alongside naturally dried apricots (to avoid sulphites). Even the oats are grown and milled on a British farm.

And rather than palm oil, the company uses extra-virgin olive oil and virgin raw coconut oil for fats.

Approval from Kids Food & Drink Collective

Wildly Tasty has recently become approved by the Kids Food & Drink Collective, an organisation campaigning for better healthy food for young tummies, after discovering that 78% of ‘children’s foods’ in stores would be classed as ‘unhealthy’ by nutritionists. Recent nominees for its ‘Yucky Awards’ are:

• A fast food chain for campaigning against councils trying to stop hot takeaway food being sold near schools.
• A ‘Toddler Milk’ brand claiming nutritional benefits, of a drink that is similar to chocolate milkshake, and is against NHS guidance.
• A baby rusk company promoting ‘reduced sugar’ benefits, but actually have a third more

Wildly Tasty also supports Dylan Strong Foundation, an organisation founded by the mother of a boy who outlived his cancer diagnosis by several months, due to her feeding him nutritious plant-based meals.

The organisation now supplies (with the help of this company) healthy meals to child cancer patients, both at home and in hospitals.

Wholefood Recipes for Plant-Powered Families

Plant-Powered Families is a nice book by one of our favourite cookbook authors, who always uses fresh wholefood ingredients and uses a little oil and maple syrup (she’s Canadian!) with recipes that will appeal to most tastebuds. This book offers 100 easy-to-make and delicious recipes that everyone will love.

Always check for allergies, before serving food. Read more on food safety for people and pets. Just bin allium scraps (onion, leeks, garlic, shallots, chives) along with rhubarb, tomato and citrus scraps, as acids may harm compost creatures. 

With tips for handling challenges for every age and stage (From toddler to teens), this book is the perfect book for parents raising ‘weegans’ or families looking to transition. As well as advice for helping picky eaters, there are tips on stocking a vegan pantry and making school lunches, plus dealing with challenging social situations. Includes nutritionist-approved references for dietary information.

This is a book you will use, whether you want a quick weeknight supper or a dish for a special occasion. From breakfasts to small bites to dinner and dessert, enjoy recipes for:

• Pumpkin pie smoothie
• Creamy breakfast rice pudding
• Sunday morning pancakes
• Potato-meets-egg salad
• Creamy fettuccine
• Sneaky chickpea burgers
• Mild cheesy dip
• Home fries
• Lemon-kissed blondie bites
• Banana butter ice cream
• The great pumpkin pie!
• ‘Milk’ chocolate fudge sauce

If you’ve ever struggled with finding healthy, plant-based recipes for the entire family, look no further. Dreena’s recipes are kid-approved, wholesome and irresistible. Angela Liddon

Choking Hazards for Children & Pets

Choking hazards should be avoided for children and people with swallowing difficulties (and allergies). Also keep small toys off the kitchen floor where toddlers and pets could find them.

Learn how to help someone who is choking. Foods to avoid include:

• Nuts, Seeds & Nut/Seed Butters (avoid for under 5)
• Chia seeds (soak in liquid first, if used)
• Dry Bread, Crackers & Croutons
• Crumbly Foods (pies & biscuits)
• Peas, Grapes, Cherry Tomatoes, Cherries (even sliced)
• Carrot Sticks
• Sausages (slice lengthwise & again, for older children)
• Foods with Seeds (raspberries etc)
• Boiled Sweets
• Sticky Foods (some cheese, marshmallow, mochi)
• Tough Foods (steak, bacon, skin/bone/gristle)
• Stringy Foods ((beans, rhubarb)
• Floppy Foods (lettuce, cucumber, spinach)
• Chia seeds (mix with water first, if using for others)

The Plant-Based Baby & Toddler Book

The Plant-Based Baby and Toddler is a complete feeding guide for 6 months to 3 years, with over 60 simple recipes. This is your go-to source for evidence-based healthy eating for parents of young vegans, from two highly qualified nutritionists and registered dietitians.

The authors have info on their website on food allergens (they say the top 8 allergens of milk, eggs, soy, shellfish, fish, peanuts, tree nuts and wheat account for around 90% of all allergens, the others being mustard or sesame seeds).

Before cooking, read up on food safety for people and pets. Just bin allium scraps (onion, leeks, garlic, shallots, chives) along with rhubarb, tomato and citrus scraps, as acids may harm compost creatures. 

In this book, the authors discuss:

• The PB3 plate; a visual guide to creating nutritionally balanced meals: one third fruits/vegetables, one third legumes (avoiding nuts/seeds for children under 5) and one third grains/starches – easy to adapt for the entire family)
• How to meet needs for critical nutrients like iron
• A primer on traditional purees and baby-led weaning/feeding
• Dealing with picky eaters
• Sorting fact from fiction for formulas and non-dairy milks
• Over 50 plant-based recipes (from first bites to age 3)

As dietitians and mothers, Whitney and Alex pored over nutrition journals and called on the experts to learn how to provide their babies with the best diet possible. They found that plant-based diets are associated with a reduced risk of obesity, decreased cholesterol levels, and increased fruit and vegetable intake. In short, if done well they are safe and healthy.

About the Authors

Alexandra Caspero and Whitney English are American nutritionists and registered dieticians, who specialise in plant-based food for children. They are also authors of several e-books for pregnancy and children, including Easy Dinners for Busy Parents which contains 30 plant-based recipes, a 6-week meal plan (with grocery lists) and 20 bonus recipes.

Other e-books you can find on their site (along with many plant-based recipes for children and families) include:

• The Predominantly Plant-Based Pregnancy Guide (170 pages of evidence-based advice to empower you with resources to make the best nutrition decisions for growing families)
• The Nut-Free Lunch Box Book (30 plant-based ideas for lunches and snacks)
• An A to Z Plant-Based Child Nutrition Course 
• First Bites (a plant-based weaning course for parents)
• A course for health professionals, to know what to recommend feeding vegan children.

Choking Hazards for Children & Pets

Choking hazards should be avoided for children and people with swallowing difficulties (and allergies). Also keep small toys off the kitchen floor where toddlers and pets could find them.

Learn how to help someone who is choking. Foods to avoid include:

• Nuts, Seeds & Nut/Seed Butters (avoid for under 5)
• Chia seeds (soak in liquid first, if used)
• Dry Bread, Crackers & Croutons
• Crumbly Foods (pies & biscuits)
• Peas, Grapes, Cherry Tomatoes, Cherries (even sliced)
• Carrot Sticks
• Sausages (slice lengthwise & again, for older children)
• Foods with Seeds (raspberries etc)
• Boiled Sweets
• Sticky Foods (some cheese, marshmallow, mochi)
• Tough Foods (steak, bacon, skin/bone/gristle)
• Stringy Foods ((beans, rhubarb)
• Floppy Foods (lettuce, cucumber, spinach)
• Chia seeds (mix with water first, if using for others)