Vegetarian kid's options

[Bearybear]

I see a lot of threads about vegetarian options, but they seem mainly geared toward adults. My son, age 7, won't eat, as he calls it, dead animals. Besides mac & cheese, are there other vegetarian options for kids?

Oh, and he's also allergic to artificial food coloring, so a lot of mac & cheese aren't safe for him to eat.

 

[mountdew1]

At TS or CS? In some places, the only meals I have found that are veggie friendly are the kids meals. Most CS will have Snackables PB&J, or cheese pizza, some also have garden salads in kid sizes. TS you will probably want to note it on your reservation and then talk with the chef once you get there to see what they can make for you.

 

[Bearybear]

I guess at both. We'll be eating at Crystal Palace for breakfast, so I'm sure there will be plenty of options there for him, and Akershus for lunch, where they have pizza on the menu. But I have noticed from looking at the menus on Allears, that not all CS places have a vegetarian option on the kids menu.

 

[mountdew1]

I guess at both. We'll be eating at Crystal Palace for breakfast, so I'm sure there will be plenty of options there for him, and Akershus for lunch, where they have pizza on the menu. But I have noticed from looking at the menus on Allears, that not all CS places have a vegetarian option on the kids menu.

The TS locations, buffets especially should have a fair amount he can eat. As I mentioned before, note in on your reservation and then talk to the chef when you get there. They should be able to tell you what does and doesn't contain "dead animals". (Cute way of describing it by the way)

CS, you will really need to plan for. Most likely what is posted on AllEars (or if another site has a more recent menu) Even as an adult I have to plan ahead as to where I can eat. You may end up doing something where he orders and adult meal (if veggie friendly), and you get a kids meal and then finish off whatever he doesn't eat.

 

[clanmcculloch]

If you aren't using a dining plan then you can always get him side items or order adult entree items a la carte rather than ordering kid meals. If you are using a dining plan then you can always kind of share meals with him where he gets the kid accompaniments while you eat the entree plus split an adult entree with him.

Contact the Special Diets department to find out just which kids meal entrees and accompaniments are free of the specific food colouring to which he's allergic. Having this info ahead of time will save you a lot of headaches.

 

[bumbershoot]

DS tends to be sensitive to the colors as well, but didn't have troubles that struck us as being color-based on our trip. Though with him it's not generally the yellow that does him in, so that might have been it.

Although Uncrustables don't have coloring in them, I can only imagine that a family with a color-sensitive person in it isn't going to enjoy the REST of the ingredients; it's absolutely forbidden in our household. Sad that they can't just do a NORMAL PB&J sandwich, eh?

We didn't do a dining plan, so DS ordered whatever he wanted. Sunshine Seasons worked for him, and there was a tasty grilled cheese sandwich at Brown Derby. The cheese pizzas on the kid meals weren't bad, and didn't seem to have red coloring in them, so that was good. The pizza at Sanaa he found to be delicious!

Definitely use the specialdiets email (should be found as you make ADRs online, or go in and look at your ADRs and you should find it) and make sure they know about the colors. I'm not really sure that they use kraft for their mac and cheese; it did'nt really taste like it, so you might have nothing much to worry about with that...of course cupcakes, etc will be a problem. You might try babycakes at DTD, because they don't use the artificial colors...we didn't really like them (even though we enjoy gluten-free and vegan cupcakes made at a place out here). We're staying at a villa with a kitchen, so we'll have a chance to make treats on our own...or maybe just run up to Whole Foods and see what they have, dessert-wise, for fun since our son can't have so much at the bakeries at Disney.

Best of luck!

 

[DCDisney]

At TS it won't be a problem at all getting something vegetarian but it still most likely won't be healthy like veggies. My kids didn't eat meat until they were about 10 so we had a number of trips where they ate a lot of pizza and plain pasta. CS is very difficult if you are on the ddp and have to order kids meals otherwise just about every place that offers a burger can make you a veggie burger. On the DDP it was mostly mac and cheese or uncrustable. My kids don't love the uncrustable and it's not something they'd eat at home but in a pinch it's dealable. The resort CS places were much much more flexible than the park CS. At some point we figured out we were better off using the kids CS credits for mickey waffles each day and then just paying OOP for an adult meal that my kids would share. If you aren't on the ddp though it's super easy just to order what you want.

 

[Bearybear]

Bumbershoot, yes, I looked up the ingredients in the uncrustables. There is no food coloring, but plenty of things that are normally not in our diets, like high fructose corn syrup and preservatives. We know on vacation we won't be eating like we eat at home, but it would be nice if there were healthier options out there. I think of places like Panera Bread, that has organic yogurt (that he can eat) and PB&J on whole wheat bread.

We have free dining for this vacation, and it will be our first time on the DDP. We will likely convert a couple of our TS credits to CS, just because my son and DH hate having to make the reservations so far in advance.

 

[Mary976]

A lot of CS places have the Amy's line of mac & cheese and/or Amy's cheese pizza, so those might be good options for you. The only thing is, I'm not sure those are options on the child DDP plan. The special diets people can email you a list of where you can find those options, as they are not on the regular menu. Some of the Epcot CS places have good veggie options (Morocco, Sunshine Seasons) but again, I'm not sure what the child options are there, or if your kid would enjoy the fare.

I also found the resort CS to be much more accommodating, probably because they have a lot more ingredients to work with there.

Mary

 

[bumbershoot]

A lot of CS places have the Amy's line of mac & cheese and/or Amy's cheese pizza, so those might be good options for you.

If that's true, that's probably why DS liked them so much! How did you find that out?

 

[clanmcculloch]

If that's true, that's probably why DS liked them so much! How did you find that out?

The Amy's items would only be served to you if you spoke with a manager about an allergy. They're not the regular Amy's products; they serve some of Amy's gluten free and some of Amy's dairy free products. The regular mac & cheese and pizzas served are not Amy's. I don't know what brand they are though.

Special Diets can tell you which locations carry which Amy's products. You will have to ask for a manager due to allergies in order to inquire at the CS location about Amy's products.

If your child is allergic to the regular products then they should substitute the Amy's ones even for a kid's meal. These are allergy safe alternatives to some of the kids' offerings. Be aware that it will take a lot longer for your food to come out if you're ordering these (think 20 minutes longer) because they are kept frozen until ordered so they have to go through the full cooking cycle while ordinary menu items are prepped ahead of time so they can be served quickly. When dealing with allergies it's definitely worth the wait, but if it's just a preference then I can't imagine somebody waiting for it.

 

[DCDisney]

The charge for the Amy's products is also nearly double the charge for the regular products. For example the pizza was about $9. The mgr determines if it's covered by ddp, regular food item cost, or true cost of the special item. We have had cases where they have run out of Amy's products so not sure how they deal with a preference of brand vs an allergy.

 

[Mary976]

All the info I had came from the special diets email. They sent me a list of what items where commonly on found at which CS places (like at MK they had the mac & cheese at Columbia Harbor House, at AK it was Restaurantosaurus). You do have to ask for a manager then to confirm what you want to order.

Mary