Catering for Vegetarian and Plant-Based Diets in the Tuckshop

With over one third of children’s daily energy consumed while at school, it is important that the tuckshop offers vegetarian and plant-based options that are nutritional, delicious and varied 

Planning is ESSENTIAL to ensure nutrient requirements are met when replacing animal products on your menu with suitable vegetarian or plant-based replacements. 

In this episode we talk to Keryn O'Neill, QAST Executive Officer, qualified nutritionist and former Health and Nutrition teacher, about how your tuckshop can cater for members of your school community who subscribe to vegetarian and plant-based diets.

This podcast is proudly brought to you by the Queensland Association of School Tuckshops and funded by the Queensland Government through Health and Wellbeing Queensland.

Transcript

Naomi Blines 0:08  

Hello everyone, my name is Naomi and you’re listening to the Talking Healthier Tuckshops podcast, the show that talks all things school tuckshops. 

This podcast is proudly brought to you by the Queensland Association of School Tuckshops and is funded by the Queensland Government through Health and Wellbeing Queensland.

From the health of your kids and family, to your own well-being and happiness, we’ll explore topics that matter to you, giving you easy ways to implement them in your tuckshop and your day-to-day life.

Naomi Blines 0:52  

The Queensland Association of School Tuckshops acknowledges the traditional owners and custodians of the lands across Australia and their connections to land, sea and community. We pay our respects to elder’s past, present and emerging, and extend respect to all Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples today.

Naomi Blines 1:13  

We recognise that Aboriginal peoples and Torres Strait Islander peoples each have their own unique languages, beliefs, cultural practices, traditions and diversity within each culture. We are recording this podcast today from Meanjin, traditional land of the Turrbal people.

Naomi Blines 1:38

In a recent Roy Morgan poll, it's reported that up to 12% of the Australian population subscribe to a plant based, vegetarian, or almost vegetarian, diet, which is referred to as a flexitarian diet. 

The proportion of the population who are reducing the amount of animal products in their diet is also on the rise. There are varying motivations for adopting a plant-based vegetarian, flexitarian or a vegan diet. However, they generally fall into one of three main categories: environmental, health and/or animal welfare. 

While choosing to change your diet due to the above reasons can occur at any stage of life, it’s not uncommon to see these changes occur within a school setting, particularly in high school. 

So, what does this mean for tuckshops? With over 1/3 of children's daily energy consumed while they're at school, it is important that tuckshops offer vegetarian and plant-based options that are nutritional, delicious and varied. Planning is essential to ensure nutrient requirements are met when replacing animal products on your menu with suitable vegetarian or plant-based replacements. For example, you can't simply remove the meat patty from a burger and call it a veggie burger. It's important to replace that meat protein with a suitable alternative, such as a lentil or a bean burger.

Naomi Blines 3:10

Just a disclaimer, this podcast is designed to offer general advice for tuckshops and school communities and is not designed as individual dietary advice.  If you are thinking of changing your diet in any way, it is important to discuss the best way to do this with your healthcare provider or an accredited practicing dietitian.

 Joining me for our podcast today is Keryn O'Neill, Executive Officer for the Queensland Association of School Tuckshops. Keryn has been part of the QAST community for just over 12 months and took on the position as Executive Officer in late 2024.

Naomi Blines 3:51

Prior to joining us, Keryn spent seven years teaching health and nutrition, plus Business Studies at the University of Queensland. She has a long career in food and education industries, is a qualified nutritionist and has a passion for supporting healthy eating in a safe and sustainable environment. Keryn also worked as a tuckshop volunteer for 15 years, so she knows a thing or two about tuckshops. Welcome Keryn. 

Keryn O’Neill 4:19  

Thank you very much, Naomi.

Naomi Blines 4:22  

So Keryn, just to start off with, why is it important for tuckshops to offer a variety of vegetarian or plant-based meals?

Keryn O’Neill 4:32  

Well, apart from the fact, as you have stated, that there is an increasing number of people who are choosing this style of eating, having vegetable options readily available in a tuckshop is a wonderful way to increase the vegetable consumption for our young Queenslanders.

Currently, only 3.1 per cent of Queensland kids eat the recommended daily service of vegetables, which is about five serves a day, according to the Australian Dietary Guidelines.

So, vegetables and vegetable alternatives can also be very cost effective, which of course, adds an increase to the profits in tuckshop, which all tuckshops are looking for now.

Many vegetable alternatives come in cans, such as chickpeas, lentils and beans, so they're always readily available. And this is really important, especially for our rural and remote areas, where getting fresh food can sometimes be a bit of a trial. Also, really important when disasters strike, such as floods and cyclones and power is lost. It's also great to have as standby stocks, if your regular stocks become low on anything.

Some communities have a high proportion of children that eat vegetable-based diets as part of their faith. So, it's important to have a variety of readily available meals for these kids, because we do promote inclusiveness for everyone.

Naomi Blines 6:22  

Excellent. So, in terms of nutrients, what are the considerations when offering a plant-based or a vegetarian meal in the tuckshop? 

Keryn O’Neill 6:32  

Vegetable and plant-based meals are very nutritious. They first of all offer a great source of protein in foods like nuts, legumes and eggs, and this is really important for building and repairing our muscles. 

Dairy foods, nuts and dried fruit are a great source of calcium for strong bones. Really important for our kids to have calcium while their bones are growing.

Iron is needed for growing bodies and minds and is readily available in whole grain breads and cereals and green leafy vegetables. 

And there are a lot of other nutritional considerations, and QAST has an excellent resource about these nutrients under the Healthier Tuckshop resources. 

Naomi Blines 7:25  

So, from your experience, what are some vegetarian or plant-based recipes that work well in a tuckshop or in a school environment? 

Keryn O’Neill 7:36  

Yes, some cultures do vegetarian foods really well, such as Mexican food... burritos and rice bowls can be adapted to substitute whatever is available to make a great vegetable-based meal. Others... Sushi. Sushi is extremely popular in all schools and comes in wide variety of different fillings, like a lot of plant-based ones. Pasta dishes, you know, replacing the meat with things like beans and peas and vegetables. Oven-baked veggie fried rice, always really popular. Pizzas with vegetable toppings, and even simple things like hummus, which is made from chickpeas, very nutritional food, served with veggie sticks and crackers.

Naomi Blines 8:32  

Nice, simple option, that's great.

So, from your experience, what are some vegetarian or some plant-based recipes that don't work well in a retail food environment. 

Keryn O’Neill 8:46  

Look all of them work really well, but I think it's important just not to take the meat out of foods and call it a vegetable-based dish or a plant-based dish. Remember, we always need a good source of protein, and especially in schools with growing kids, they need that protein. So, things like chickpeas, lentils, beans, eggs, cheese; making sure that they're always added is really important.

Naomi Blines 9:19  

So, if a tuckshop manager has a meat-based recipe that works really well in their tuckshop in terms of profit, efficiency to cook and store, as well as having health benefits, what steps should they take to convert this to plant-based or vegetarian options? 

Keryn O’Neill 9:41  

Yeah, look, converting recipes is always a bit of a trial and error. So, it's taking though that meat based, replacing it with your, whether it be your canned foods or your fresh vegetables, eggs or whatever, and doing a bit of trial and error. Seeing what works, what doesn't work.

QAST has a lot of great recipes online for vegetable-based foods. We also love hearing from all our tuckshops on what's working with them, so we can share the ideas around. Sharing them amongst all your colleagues is a great idea. Testing them on your students and staff, because they will be honest with what works and what doesn't work and promote it in the school community. When you come up with a winner, tell everyone what's available so you can be sure that they'll all buy it. 

Naomi Blines 10:44  

Yep, that is something I have noticed in the schools that I've been visiting, that they don't often promote those in-house meals that they've made, so making sure that it's advertised in the school newsletter, it's on social media, it's on pictures around the tuckshop, so people know this has been made in-house and it's delicious, so buy it here.

What would you recommend - that vegetarian options only be available for pre-ordering at the tuckshop or available over the counter? 

Keryn O’Neill 11:23  

Yeah, look, while pre-ordering will guarantee that you will get a vegetable-based meal, I think it's really important to have these types of plant-based and vegetable meals readily available over the counter. And it's really easy to do this with vegetable options. A lot of these foods are in your pantry, in cans. They could be frozen vegetables, so they're really easy to make.

And also remember, if you do make too much of it, vegetable-based meals freeze really well, so you can always freeze them to have on hand another day.

Naomi Blines 12:07  

 Excellent. I know that theme days are also popular when introducing new dishes. So, things like a Mexican Monday, where black beans and corn and salsa can be made into enchiladas or burritos are a good way of gauging student response as well. 

Keryn O’Neill 12:25  

Absolutely great idea. 

Naomi Blines 12:27  

And in terms of finances, how do vegetarian or plant-based options affect the tuckshop's bottom line as this is very important to so many of our tuckshops?

Keryn O’Neill 12:40  

It is really important, and the vegetable and plant-based meals are really good for tuckshops' bottom line. Our canned beans, peas, lentils, chickpeas are very affordable in comparison to meat and chicken. Frozen vegetables are very affordable, and they're a great thing to have, especially for vegetables that are out of season. So, as well as being highly nutritious, vegetable-based meals can also be very profitable for tuckshops. 

Naomi Blines 13:18  

Excellent. And just before we wrap up, what would your favourite vegetarian meal be? 

Keryn O’Neill 13:24  

Yeah, I can't go past a good chickpea and vegetable curry. It's so easy to prepare. Whatever is on hand, whatever vegetables you have in the fridge at that time can be put in. You can do the spice level, according to your audience and what they like. And chickpeas are my superfood. They're so full of wonderful, good nutrients. They taste great. They add a great texture to any meal. So that would be my go-to.

Naomi Blines 13:58  

Excellent. I can't go past a vegetarian Mexican dish.  Again, because it's so varied, you can add whatever you've got, and it's often very bright and colourful, which is always appealing for young and older eyes. 

Keryn O’Neill 14:17  

That's very true. 

Naomi Blines 14:19  

So, thank you for joining me today, Keryn. Plant-based and vegetarian diets and offering menu items that cater for these diets are an important consideration for tuckshops. We've covered some excellent ideas and considerations in our discussion today, ranging from important nutrients to include in the recipes, as well as recipes that work well in a school environment.

It's been lovely chatting to you, Keryn about your experience, and I'm confident that you have inspired and encouraged others to consider or reconsider the plant-based or vegetarian menu items that they have on offer in their tuckshop and the importance of ensuring that options provide nutritionally complete, appealing, cost effective and are tuckshop-friendly. 

Keryn O’Neill 15:11  

Thank you, Naomi.

Naomi Blines 15:21  

The Talking Healthier Tuckshops Podcast is proudly produced by the team at QAST and made possible thanks to funding from the Queensland Government through Health and Wellbeing Queensland.  Visit qast.org.au to learn more about other program opportunities, and for the latest tuckshop tip