Plant-Based Meal Plan Developed for Dutch Hospitals

The menu features high-protein, plant-based versions of popular dishes, including overnight oats, pancakes, omelette, quiche, casserole, curry, and cake.

The team focused on ensuring the meals met standards for nutritional adequacy, taste, cost-effectiveness, and practical feasibility within sustainable food policies. This seven-day menu aims to serve as a practical guide for hospitals to achieve the Netherlands’ Green Deal target of a 40/60 ratio of animal to plant protein by 2030.

Comprising 16 members, the research team included chefs from Amsterdam University Medical Center (UMC), dietitians, a medical doctor, hospital service staff, and specialists in product development. They conducted a multidisciplinary study from April to December 2025.

The experts prepared, tasted, and reviewed forty recipes, ultimately selecting the 30 highest-rated options to create the weekly menus. Dishes were evaluated based on protein content, taste, portion sizes, cost, and feasibility. The menus provide 90 to 97 grams of protein per day, with costs ranging from €10.50 to €12.30.

The highlighted dishes in the menu include a soy-based quark bowl, overnight oats, hazelnut pancakes, chickpea and paprika sandwich, spinach and soy mince pie, veggie omelette, eggplant pilaf with bean cassoulet, chickpea curry, and carrot banana cake.

The study, published in the European Journal of Nutrition in June, confirmed that fully plant-based meals can offer sufficient protein, pleasant taste, cost-effectiveness, and practical application in clinical settings. The researchers emphasized the need for further studies on real-world implementation, focusing on patient acceptance and nutritional intake in clinical practice.

Reports from hospitals that implemented similar plant-based options, such as those by Sodexo UK & Ireland in collaboration with Nuffield Health, indicate high diner satisfaction and a 22 percent reduction in food emissions when plant-based foods were offered as the default choice. During the initial pilot, meat servings per patient decreased by 14 percent, while plant protein servings rose by nearly 50 percent.