Vegan meal plans / shopping lists?
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Eyesee
Posts: 111 Member
Hi guys!
Struggling vegan here. I've been a strict vegetarian for 10 years, but my own failings, cravings and lack of planning are standing in the way of me being fully vegan like I want to be for ethical and (to a lesser degree) health reasons. I can find all the recipes in the world on Pinterest, but I feel way over my head with a lot of the ingredients and kitchen gadgets I will need. (I don't even know what an "immersion" blender is!) Also, I'm finding it really expensive to just shop for individual recipes and then have a bunch of leftover stuff I don't know where to use.
I signed up for this site that sends you meal plans for the week and shopping lists to go with them ( wellvegan.com ) but before my free trial expires I wanted to see if anybody has any better ideas or similar services that might be better.
(Note: I'm not saying that it's hard to be vegan, it's just been hard for me because I almost never cook anything that doesn't involve a microwave or just boiling something, and I'm realizing how intense my food cravings can be if I'm not prepared. That's why I only wanted to talk about this with fellow vegans so people don't use it as an excuse to blame the vegan lifestyle itself.)
Thanks in advance!
Struggling vegan here. I've been a strict vegetarian for 10 years, but my own failings, cravings and lack of planning are standing in the way of me being fully vegan like I want to be for ethical and (to a lesser degree) health reasons. I can find all the recipes in the world on Pinterest, but I feel way over my head with a lot of the ingredients and kitchen gadgets I will need. (I don't even know what an "immersion" blender is!) Also, I'm finding it really expensive to just shop for individual recipes and then have a bunch of leftover stuff I don't know where to use.
I signed up for this site that sends you meal plans for the week and shopping lists to go with them ( wellvegan.com ) but before my free trial expires I wanted to see if anybody has any better ideas or similar services that might be better.
(Note: I'm not saying that it's hard to be vegan, it's just been hard for me because I almost never cook anything that doesn't involve a microwave or just boiling something, and I'm realizing how intense my food cravings can be if I'm not prepared. That's why I only wanted to talk about this with fellow vegans so people don't use it as an excuse to blame the vegan lifestyle itself.)
Thanks in advance!
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Replies
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Blog.fatfreevegan.com has some amazing recipes that really dont call for off the wall stuff. Alot of time if its like a special squash or something you can sub in a more readily available one. The only thing she cooks with I havent found is jackfruit.0
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As a vegan who has many, many days when I am too lazy to cook -- may I recommend steam in the bag vegetables and rice? Those are my savior! I make sure my freezer always has a few bags of each so that when i'm starving and ill-prepared and unmotivated I can have a moderately healthy vegan dinner in less than five minutes!
Also, I like to cook a big batch of something over the weekend (soup, chili, quinoa salad, etc.) so that I have a bunch of meals prepared for the week. And I also try to marinate/bake a brick or two of tofu and keep on hand for when I need a quick protein fix.
Good luck!
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Happy Herbivore has a similar meal planning service.0
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budgetbytes.com has a lot of good recipes. While it does have some meat recipes, if you look at the tabs across the top, you can find recipes for VEGETARIAN, BEANS/GRAINS, or PASTA. I find that many of the recipes can be modified to remove the meat protein.0
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Now that the weather is chilling out here in Texas, I like to make large batches of bean and veg soups in the crock pot then freeze individual portions for easy "grab and go" meals for work. When I cook rice or quinoa, I tend to always allow for at least 3 portions extra for the same reason - these reheat quite nice after freezing as well. I just compliment these microwave lunch options with chopped raw veg, cherry tomatoes, and the fixings for green smoothies (I keep a Magic Bullet blender in the office).
One of my favorite crock pot options:
3-4 cups white northern beans (I'm not a fan of measuring closely, yolo)
10 cups water
Collard greens (large bundle)
5 Carrots
6-8 cloves garlic
1T cayenne
1T Kirkland No Salt Spice Blend (or whatever no salt spice blend you happen to like -- go crazy!)
Directions: Rinse beans off in colander really well. Put in crock pot with all of the other things. Cook on High for 4 hours or until beans are soft. I generally turn it on, leave, forget about it, then remember 8 hours later. Haven't screwed up a batch yet.0 -
Happy Herbivore has a similar meal planning service.
I use this.
I love it so much! I can usually get 10 days out of a week's worth of meals planned out b/c sometimes I'll eat out, sometimes there will be leftovers, sometimes I try a recipe that's not on the menu, etc.
BUT the planning saves me money, all of the recipes are good, and once I got brave enough to just cook what she said to cook, I found I like different kinds of foods than I thought I would!
they've been great. I reuse the menus frequently, too. You save them on your computer.0 -
Thank you guys so much for all the suggestions! I've been looking at Happy Herbivore's stuff and I'm going to try that crockpot idea, wrangler, thanks. Also, @xo_jenny, I love those steam in the bag veggies! My finance somehow has high blood pressure at 25 though, so I'm trying to cook more and get away from all the salt we always eat. 0
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Third vote for Happy Herbivore. If you really do it and spend a couple of hours one day of the week (takes me 2-2.5 hours, you'll have food for all week, which is AWESOME! So in the am leaving for work, I can grab one of several containers & am out the door. Same coming home starving. The recipes are easy and normal ingredients. The base is 1200/day, but you can add in or sub as needed. All vegan. LOVE!0
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Fourth for happy herbivore. It's a pretty awesome site.0
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I got the book "Isa does it" - most of the recipes require 1 bowl, 30 minutes, regular staples and common kitchen appliances - all recipes have a picture as well which is a big plus. You can also find lots of recipes in her website.
http://www.theppk.com/about/0 -
Just picked up a bunch of Amy's frozen entrees (vegan Pad Thai and Red Curry) for those days when there's no time (or inclination!) to cook. On sale at Costco! :-)0
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you could buy the plain steam bags and season them yourself after steaming themThank you guys so much for all the suggestions! I've been looking at Happy Herbivore's stuff and I'm going to try that crockpot idea, wrangler, thanks. Also, @xo_jenny, I love those steam in the bag veggies! My finance somehow has high blood pressure at 25 though, so I'm trying to cook more and get away from all the salt we always eat.
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New Vegan Group, Join Us: facebook.com/groups/VeganInTraining
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I tend to make my own meal plans, I have a few vegan cookbooks now (Happy herbivore, thug kitchen, one dish vegan, Chloe's Kitchen, oh she glows) and use these to choose the recipes for the week and make a shopping list for what I need.
This means that I can make sure that the cooking times are shorter for busy days and I can make sure my protein levels are higher for exercise days0 -
I'm finding raw vegan is pretty quick and simple. I don't do it for every meal, because I want an occasional hot bowl of soup. I made a Thai inspired raw kelp noodle dish last night that was quick and easy. Since you don't cook anything, it can be easy.0
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I use pinterest to gather a bunch of recipes and then I pick things that I am craving that week, create a menu and a meal plan, and then I enjoy the great meals I made. Like @Jennikitten, I prefer to have the ability to make my weekday meals quick and easy.0
