How To Plan A Balanced Diet For A Vegetarian Kid? A Step-By-Step Guide
Are you a mom who often struggles to plan a balanced meal for your kid?
Do you wake up in the morning thinking about what to cook today?
Are you a mom who plans a meal but not sure if it is a balanced meal?
Do you feel your kid is not getting enough nutrition?
As a mom, I can understand how stressful it can be when you don’t have a meal plan handy.
Planning a balanced meal is the best way to ensure that your kid is getting enough nutrition. It will save you a lot of time and energy you spend every day thinking about what to cook.
“You don’t have to cook fancy masterpieces-just nutritious food from fresh ingredients.”
If you think meal planning is a tough task, then here I will show you a step-by-step approach towards planning a healthy and nutritionally balanced meal.
What is a balanced diet?
A balanced diet includes food from each below food group.
- Whole grains
- Fruits
- Vegetables
- Dairy
- Beans and lentils
- Nuts, seeds, and soy products
- Fats and oils
Note: This entire meal plan will focus only on vegetarian sources.
Why a balanced diet is important for your kid?
Nutrition is an important part of a healthy lifestyle. It plays a fundamental role in the growth and development of a kid. A balanced diet helps the kid to get the essential nutrients required for growth and development. There are several benefits of eating a balanced diet for a kid. Few of them worth noting:
- Boost brain development
- Boost social and emotional development
- Enhances cognitive and interpersonal skills
- Enhance Immunity
- Improves mood
- Prevents obesity
The lack of nutrition in early childhood can have adverse effects beyond childhood.
Each of the above food groups has different nutrients that a kid’s body needs to grow and work properly. A proper meal plan can help you achieve that.
While making a meal plan what we do is create a list of recipes we eat for breakfast, lunch, dinner, snacks, and prepare a meal plan using the recipe list. Instead of a conventional approach, here I will show you a unique approach. This meal plan will focus on ingredients rather than recipes.
So, are you ready to plan a balanced meal with me?????
Then just grab a notebook and a pen along with your favorite tea/coffee.
Now, let’s look at the step-by-step approach to plan a balanced meal.
Step 1(List Down The Foods From Each Food Group)
- List down all types of grains that your family eats daily.
- List down all the fruits that your family eats. Always try to eat local and seasonal fruits as they are freshly harvested and rich in nutrition.
- List down all the seasonal vegetables that your family eats.
- List down all the beans and lentils that you eat daily.
- Make a list of the dairy products that you consume daily like milk, cottage cheese (paneer), curd, yogurt, cheese, etc.
Step 2(Draw A Template and Fill With Ingredients)
In this step, we will draw a template. Draw lines vertically and horizontally to create six columns and eight rows.
Before filling this template, just go through your weekly plan and mark those days when your family will eat out.
Now fill the template with ingredients. Refer to the image below.
- Choose at least 3-4 grains from the list that you have from step-1 and write it down in the first column. Keep this in mind that 50% of grains you eat daily should be whole grains.
- Choose at least 3 seasonal fruits from the list you have and write it in the second column.
- Fill the third column with at least 4-5 vegetables from the list. Always prefer locally grown and seasonal vegetables.
- In the fourth column write all the dairy products like milk, paneer, curd, etc. that you want to eat on that day .
- Fill the last column with beans and lentils of your choice. Pick at least two.
- Repeat the above steps for the rest of the days.
Don’t eat the same fruits and vegetables throughout the week. Include a lot of varieties to ensure you don’t miss on any vital micronutrients. The same applies to grains, beans, and lentils.
Step 3(Plan Your Meal For The Entire Week)
Now you have the template ready with the ingredients for each day. What you need to do is prepare a meal planning template. Draw lines vertically and horizontally to make eight rows and eight columns.
Based on your food choices, prepare a list of recipes using the ingredients list for each day, and then fill the meal planning template.
Let me show you how to do it.
Here is a sample meal plan using the above ingredient lists.
Early-Morning –5 almonds (soaked overnight) and milk
Breakfast–Vegetable Oats upma, watermelon juice/ watermelon pieces
Mid-morning snack–Fruit salad using banana and mango
Lunch-Rice, Dal Palak, Mix veg (beans, potato, carrot, cottage cheese/paneer), Cucumber tomato raita
Evening snack–Chickpea, cucumber, and tomato salad. (Having the ingredients list handy will make your meal prep easy. Like soaking the chickpeas the night before)
Dinner–Whole wheat roti with ghee, bhindi masala, corn salad
Before bed time-a glass of warm turmeric milk/ plain milk.
The above meal plan is for your reference. You can customize it as per your food preference and try a variety of recipes. But make sure you include all the listed ingredients for the day.
How Much Your Kid Should Eat From Each Food Group?
Now you might think about how much your kid needs to eat from each food group. Well, it depends on the kid’s age, gender, and activity level. Refer to the table below to get an idea.
Portion Sizes For Kids(2-13 Yrs)
| Food Groups | 2-3 Yrs | 4-8 Yrs | 9-13 Yrs |
|---|---|---|---|
|
Grains |
3-5 ounces |
4-6 ounces |
5-10 ounces |
|
Fruits |
1 - 1.5 cups |
1.5 - 2 cups |
1.5 - 2 .5 cups |
|
Vegetables |
1 - 1.5 cups |
1.5 - 2.5 cups |
2 - 4 cups |
|
Beans & Lentils
|
0.5 - 1 cup |
0.5 cup - 1.5 cups |
1.25 - 1.5 cups |
|
Dairy |
2 - 2.5 cups |
2.5 cups |
3 cups |
1 ounce = 1 slice bread/ 1 chapati/ 1 small paratha,
1/2 cup cooked rice/ pasta / cereal
1/2 cup ready-to-eat cereal
Step 4(Prepare a Grocery List)
Now you have your meal plan ready. Next, you need to prepare a grocery list for the entire week. It will be super easy as you already have the ingredients list. Start by going through the list to make up the master list of things you will need for the week. Now, cross off everything you already have in your pantry. Then, prepare a final list by grouping ingredients together by departments in the grocery store.
Voila!!! Now you have a week of healthy meal plan ready.
So you have taken the first step towards nurturing your kid.
Well done!!
Important Tips:
- Don’t refrigerate cut or chopped vegetables for so long as it looses some nutrients like Vitamin C and Vitamin E. The best way to retain nutrients is to cut them just before cooking.
- Always prefer locally grown and seasonal fruits and vegetables.
- Buy fruits and vegetables in smaller quantities, so you can use them quickly.
- Avoid high heats and long cooking to retain nutrients.
- Cook vegetables in a smaller amount of water to reduce the loss of Vitamin C and Vitamin B.
- Steaming is one of the best cooking methods to retain nutrients. However, there is no perfect cooking method that retains all nutrients.
- Avoid eating leftover food as far as possible. Try to eat your food fresh or within 4-5 hrs of cooking.
Thank you for this.. very helpful for mommies like me😍
You are most welcome.
Thought process behind the plan is awesome, I strongly believe this kind of plan is required for vegetarian kids.
Thank you
This was really very nice and helpful. A planned meal will really make a difference
Thank you so much for breaking this down step by step. Very helpful. 😊
Thank you so much for breaking this down step by step. Very helpful. 😊
I am glad it helped
A planned meal will really make a difference. Really appreciate your help for all moms.
Thank you so much. Definitely a well-planned meal helps you eat right and stay healthily
Beautifully penned down a complex issue in a very simple manner. This article has came out as a super pragmatic solution for all parents who believes in plant and dairy based food.
Thank you so much.
Thanku So Much ma’am wonderful job
Thank you.
I was planning to prepare weekly meal plan but was very difficult for me to start. you made it super easy.
Thanks a ton.
I am glad that you find this useful.