Plant Based Food Is Much Easier to Plan & Prepare Than You May Think

What Plant Based Food Can I Eat?

It’s easy…A LOT of VERY GOOD PLANT BASED FOOD!

Going plant based has never been more popular and because of that, you have so many food choices from simply prepared plant based food in your grocer’s freezer section to more elaborate recipes you can find online. The variety of food is vast and you will find so many fulfilling ways to satiate your taste buds. Contrary to some perceptions, it is not all boring salads and carb-laden pasta nor is it always healthy (hello Oreos!) but in general, more plants in your life is a very good thing! We’ve put together several resources to demystify plant based food so that you have easy and delicious options available all day long.

We show you plant based food in formats that are easy to follow, like our handy BEGINNER PLANT BASED FOOD printable guides that you can print and keep on your counter to our home-tested favorite EASY PLANT BASED RECIPES that we present in a simple easy to read manner. On top of that, we walk you through the many off-the-shelf PLANT BASED SWAPS for conventional foods, where we show different brand choices to make it easier to figure out what to eat.

COOK WITH YOUR FLOW
...NOT A RIGID RECIPE

Our recipes are just guides, not rigid instructions. Feel free to adjust ingredients, spice levels, vegetables, and proteins to suit your taste. Experiment, add your own flair, and create dishes that sing to your soul. Just like grandma used to say, “Cooking is all about love, a pinch of creativity, and a dash of your own magic.” So, embrace your culinary spirit and get ready to cook with flow, not rules!

OUR PLANT BASED FOOD FOCUS

Simple Foods with Effortless Preparation
Convenient Off-The-Shelf Ingredients
Smart Store-Bought Shortcuts
Plant Based Swaps for Traditional Foods
One Page Recipes with our Signature Recipe Format

Simple Ways to Start Exploring Plant Based Food Choices

MEATLESS MONDAY IDEAS

Our Meatless Monday ideas focus on simplicity and ease. These meals require only a few main ingredients, most of which are pantry staples, and they don’t need a strict recipe—just basic guidelines to create a tasty easy way to eliminate meat one day a week.

BEGINNER PLANT BASED FOODS

These printable guides show food options based on specific mealtimes & days of the week along with food categories & options within. This is the best place to start, so print them up and keep handy for quick reference.

PLANT BASED SWAPS

Great choices for off-the-shelf foods broken down by categories: Proteins, Dairy, Eggs, and more. The key is to try some of these options and keep trying new ones until you find your favorites. Taste and texture will vary according to brand.

EASY RECIPES

These Easy Plant-Based Recipes are created with simple panty ingredients laid out in an easy-to-read and follow manner. They follow intuitive cooking methods so it doesn’t matter if are new to the kitchen or been there for years.

Stock Your Kitchen and Start Planning Those Plant Based Meals

Now that you know some basic foods to eat, get started by stocking your PLANT BASED STAPLES & ESSENTIALS and create a plan for your first few plant based meals.

Meal planning can be a cornerstone of a successful plant based lifestyle. Having a plan for your meals, whether strictly enforced or as a general guide ensures you have delicious and nutritious options at your fingertips but also saves you time and stress, especially in the beginning. Meal planning doesn’t have to be daunting; check out our ideas for MEAL PLANNING PRINTABLES to keep your plant based meals on track—either a monthly or 2-week planner. Remember, any way that works for you is good; the key is simply getting started.

Simple Plant Based Food Tips for Success

BUY WHAT YOU CAN AT FIRST

Ultimately focus on simple planning and ease of preparation so buy what you can at first! A simple store-bought item like a plant based black bean burger is very tasty, especially if you try a couple of brands to find the one you love. Then, if down the line you want to explore a homemade recipe that you found online, go for it – but don’t make it more overwhelming than needed at the beginning.

Try new flavors, textures, and different brands to see what you like. Don’t pre-judge, just dive in and try. New spices can make a dish go from good to great, so taste-taste-taste along the way. This goes for recipes the EASY PLANT BASED RECIPES that you create, they may need more flavor or a unique twist. This is how you will come to appreciate all the goodness that a plant based life has to offer. As time goes on, a sense of comfort and habit will grow with the changes you have made. You may even have a desire to explore those more complex recipes widely available on the web.

DON'T BE AFRAID TO TRY NEW FOODS

IT'S OK TO BE FLEXIBLE

It’s ok to be flexible. Just remember to go at your own pace and be open to giving things a real try. If you choose to just incorporate a few meals a week or go full board with a complete shake-up, it is your choice and your journey. Give yourself some grace to make mistakes in food prep or fall off your self-imposed wagon. Tomorrow is a new day.

What Should I Consider as I Make My Plant Based Food Choices?

Typical USDA MyPlate

Plant Based Plate Method

For many of us, we are used to a dinner plate filled with a large-ish protein, a large-ish grain, and hopefully a small veggie. It may be in the range of what the US Department of Agriculture recommends with their USDA MYPLATE PLAN to balance a healthy lifestyle. You are reading this guide to switch to a Plant Based life, so to initially shift to this, we recommend that you reference the Plant Based Plate Method where you start by increasing the focus of your plate to more veggie based. When looking at the two methods, you can see that they really aren’t that far apart, you are just swapping out some of the protein and dairy choices for plant based options. Here is how you can begin to look at your plate:

Fill Half Your Plate with Vegetables and/or Fruits
Fill a Quarter of Your Plate with Starches or Grains
Fill a Quarter of Your Plate with Plant Based Proteins

Vegetables, fruits, starches, and grains are pretty easy to swap to plant based, just look for sauces, toppings, and gravy’s that don’t contain dairy. When looking at the protein side, that is where your biggest change will probably take place. We outline a vast array of options in our PLANT BASED SWAPS section, but to start we recommend you swap out those regular meat options for meatless varieties of proteins with things like “Chik’n” or “Beefless Ground” substitutes so what you are choosing now mimics what you may have eaten before. This way the transition is slow and easy to incorporate. Then the ultimate goal for health will be to sway away from those options to more whole food options.

It will take a little adjustment on the protein side because the plant based protein textures are slightly different, but the tastes are generally pretty close. Also important to note that these substitute “mock meats” are really simple to swap but are not the healthiest of options out there, so if you are looking for a greater focus on health, you may want to choose less of this option and opt for proteins like tofu, lentils, and legumes instead. We have found that over time you tend to focus less and less on that meatless substitute and more and more on those whole plants on your plate. However you choose to start, the more veggies you eat, you actually begin to crave those plants!

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