Putting together an easy vegan meal plan can be beneficial no matter what stage you are at as a vegan. As a brand new vegan, planning a customized menu of vegan meals for beginners can provide you with a continuous list of new recipe ideas and help to avoid any nutritional deficiencies. Even more so, it’ll save time and money, take some of the stress out of cooking, and even help you develop healthier eating habits! Within this post, I’ll take you through a complete beginner’s guide to vegan meal planning along with links and info regarding my newly launched vegan meal planner!
What is Vegan Meal Planning?
Creating a plant-based meal plan is precisely what it sounds like. It’s the planning of vegan meals. Consuming a diet free from animal products is good for the animals, the planet, and often our health too (including having a lower risk of heart disease, diabetes, and even certain cancers). However, if not done with care, it can lead to nutritional deficiencies. Luckily, with a little pre-thought (aka creating vegan meal plans!), you can easily ensure you’re eating all that’s needed. Not to mention, have fun doing so! Whether you want to create vegan daily meal plans, weekly vegan meal plans, or even monthly ones, it’s the act of setting aside the time to write out your ‘vegan menu’ for that given time in one go, rather than having to think about it before each meal. You can plan your vegan diet plan around specific dietary goals, budget levels, ingredients, kitchen skill level, meal-preppable meals, etc. More so, meal planning can be as flexible as you’d like. Whether you want to plan every meal, just your ‘main meal’, or even just specific days of the week.
Meal Planning vs. Meal Prepping
While the two often go hand-in-hand, they aren’t the same thing. Meal planning is the process of putting together the ‘menu’. In comparison, meal prepping is the act of actually preparing part or all of the said menu (for example, washing/chopping ingredients, pre-cooking certain elements, or even assembling the entire dish) to cut down on kitchen time. This means that, while it’s possible to create a healthy vegan meal plan without prepping, the planning is crucial for any meal prep!
What Are The Benefits of Meal Planning?
Helps you stick to your dietary goals: Choose recipes and ingredients that align with your goals (high protein, low-fat, calorie levels, etc.). Hit nutrient levels: Meal planning can ensure you hit daily nutrient targets (5-a-day, protein, etc.). When eating a vegan diet it’s important to ensure you’re consuming enough protein, vitamin B12, D, calcium, iron, and omega 3s. Saves time: Even with the time to create your plant-based meal plan. I still save SO much time when no longer having to ponder what’s for dinner, check for ingredients, search for recipes, etc. This way, everything is ready to go! It also saves time in the grocery store and cuts down on aimless wandering! Saves money: Only buy what you need! Even better, you can specifically choose recipes within your ideal budget range. Help to reduce waste: If every ingredient is accounted for and has a purpose, you’re far less likely to end up wasting anything (or forgetting about something in the back of the fridge). The average American family of four throws out $1,600 a year in produce (30-40% of our food is wasted, most of it at our homes)! Get out of a cooking slump: A customized vegan weekly meal plan that encourages you to try new recipes is a great way to get your kitchen mojo back! Lead to healthier habits: They say it takes, on average, about 66 days to form a new habit. So with just two months of meal planning, you can adjust your lifestyle and eating to align with your health goals!
In fact, these are the same reason I launched my vegan meal planner with 2000+ vegan meal ideas, healthy weekly meal plans, and several other benefits you can read all about if you scroll to the bottom of this post.
11 Top Tips to Vegan Meal Plan
However, even with all of the above sorted, it can still feel incredibly overwhelming to begin creating your plant-based diet menu/ meal plan (and prepping). This is where tools like my vegan meal planner come in handy!
What You’ll Get With My Meal Planner App
The basis of meal planning is gathering recipes and compiling a shopping list, whether you’re creating a vegan meal plan for beginners or seasoned vegans. My brand new vegan meal planner allows you to do that and more! Including:
A weekly suggested meal plan that you can tailor and customize! Choose from over 2000+ vegan recipes (including whole-food plant-based, gluten-free recipes, vegan kid-friendly recipes, etc.) Personalize and customize/filter your meal plan to your preferences. These include cooking skill level, time, how many people live in your household, which appliances you have in your kitchen, allergies, and ingredient dislikes. Choose the meal plan type for you. These include the ‘anything goes,’ ‘creative kitchen’ (lower processed meals), and ‘health is wealth’ (clean menus, 100% gluten-free, 100% delicious!)
All nutritional information is included per recipe, with adjustable portion sizes. Create unlimited printable plant-based meal plans and auto-generated or manual grocery lists! Options for delivery if you don’t have time to make the trip to a grocery store. Add notes to recipes. Every time you try a new recipe, add your personal notes/tips. They’ll be there for you to refer to next time!
And, best of all (and what sets my meal planning app apart from many others):
What kind of vegan meal ideas can you find on my planner?
With over 2000+ vegan meal ideas and healthy weekly meal plans, you certainly won’t lack ideas. These include:
For breakfast: Smoothies, overnight oats, pancakes, yogurt parfaits, muffins, chia pudding, tofu scramble, avocado toast, and more! For lunch/dinner: tacos, pizza, salad bowls, mixed salads, sandwiches, tortilla wraps, simple dishes with brown rice and quinoa, and more! Dessert/snacks: vegan soft serve, truffles, no-bake cheesecakes, cookies, cake, and much more!
Whether you want a whole-food plant-based diet meal plan or a more flexible plant-based diet meal plan. This vegan meal planner has your back with plenty of whole grains, vegetables, beans, nuts, fruits, and more! If you keep an eye on my blog (or sign up to my email newsletter), I’ll be posting more useful guides over the coming weeks. These include a beginner’s guide to vegan meal prepping, a vegan diet plan for beginners, and how to become vegan for beginners! Head over to this page for more information on my new vegan meal planner! Have any more questions about the vegan meal planner? Feel free to ask them in the comments below and/or follow me on Instagram @elavegan for more! Below is one of my favorite quick recipes in my meal planner – sweet and sour chickpeas.
