Explaining to children

We have been wondering if explaining why we are vegan in more detail will help Wuffy accept the need for packed lunches.  He knows we don’t eat anything from animals because they are our friends and we don’t want to hurt them but is it the time to be a little more graphic?

We are at a bit of a loss of how to persuade him that packed lunches are what he has to have.  Nursery always cooked special food for him and I think he is feeling a bit left out as all of his friends eat school dinners.

If anyone has any advice or can recommend any good child friendly books or DVD’s we would appreciate it

 

I somehow managed to become a committee member on the school PTA tonight!!

 

Disappointing and a bit behind this week

We went to Harrogate on Saturday for lunch.  There used to be a vegan restaurant there called Wild Ginger but it had to close earlier this year as the landlord wanted to convert the property into flats.  We really liked Wild Ginger, we even had our wedding reception there, so we were very disappointed.  However just before it closed another restuarant in Harrogate asked if they would go in with him.  So we can still get vegan food at this other restaurant.

We went there in July just after it had moved and it was pretty good, not quite as good as Wild Ginger but not bad.  Unfortunately on Saturday it was way below Wild Ginger standards. I’m not sure if we will bother going again as we can get vegan food of the same standard just down the road in town.  It was worth the 90 minute journey before but if that is the new standard then it simply isn’t worth the trip

I am behind with the lunch photos this week.  I am afraid I have to say this is due to alcohol.  I work at a University and the most recent National Student Satisfaction Survey rated (well our students rated) the department I work in 4th in the country, so we all went out for a drink last night.  We also had a curry. I had veg samosas followed by daal and rice and very good it was too.  Actually I would rather have that in town than travel all the way to Harrogate!!

I will upload photos tonight.

 

School days

My four year old son started school last week, I still can’t quite believe that he is old enough for school already.  I had hoped that the school would provide cooked meals for him, nursery have done this happily for the last four years. But having spoken to the cook, who it has to be said was prepared to try if I provided recipes, we have decided that he will have to stay packed lunch.  Despite the new Government school meals initiative it would appear that providing a vegan lunch is just one step beyond.

We have received the two week menu plan and on 3 of the 10 days there isn’t even a veggie option, well unless you think that dead fish is vegetarian!!  The thing that convinced us to go the packed lunch route was when she gave me a jar of curry sauce and asked if that was OK, it contained milk and yogurt.  If my child had a milk allergy I would be worried if the staff are not even aware that the curry sauce they are using contains milk.

So I am going to try to blog his lunches. Compared to some of the lunch blogs out there I think these lunches will be very simple.  Partly because although Wuffy is not a fussy eater he doesn’t have particularly exotic tastes and mainly because I work full time and study part time and need to have some time at home that doesn’t involve packing lunch boxes.

I am mainly blogging for my own benefit so that I can see how his lunches develop over the years, I’m hoping that as he grows the lunches will become more adventurous but at the same time I know that peer pressure may mean that he wants them to be like everyone elses.

His eating habits are actually more adventurous than these first lunchboxes suggest but I have been trying to keep it as simple as possible to start with.  He is clearly going through so much change at the moment with the transition from nursery to school that I want him to feel that his lunches are easy to eat and full of food he loves.