Do I Need To Shop At Health Food Stores
There is a stereotype that vegans and people that are mindful of their health need to shop at health food stores to get all the items they need!
But, is it really necessary?
Absolutely not!
When you think about it, a vegan diet is really bringing it back to the basics-
Whole grains, produce, legumes, nuts and seeds, and spices.
You can find all of these vegan staples at your local grocery store! If you are really trying to make your pennies stretch, you can even try shopping at multiple grocery stores to find the best deals.
Fancier items that might not be at your local grocery store like plant-based protein powder, alternative meats, nutritional yeast, liquid smoke, etc, are not necessary to have a healthy vegan diet.
Sticking with vegan staples at your local store is the best way to save money.
Customize This Meal Plan
Since it would be impossible to meet every single persons taste preferences and nutritional needs, here are some tips for how to customize our meal plan.
Budget: if any of the ingredients are too expensive where you live or not in season, swap things like quinoa for white rice or use seasonal produce instead.
Calories: dont need as many calories? Cut back on some of the starches and higher fat ingredients or skip any snacks. You can also share your food with someone! If you need more calories, use fewer vegetables, sauté using oil and add more nuts, seeds, sauces and some chocolate for dessert.
Allergies: this vegan meal plan is already free from dairy, eggs, fish and gluten, but if youre allergic to soy, you can use any beans or mock meats instead of tofu and swap soy milk for almond milk if you cant have nuts, go for your favorite seeds instead!
Taste: all of the lunch and dinner recipes in our vegan meal plan can be made with your veggies of choice! No need to force yourself to eat kale if you hate it, just go for bell peppers or carrot. If youre not huge on veggies in general, simply use less.
Vegan Essentials Shopping List Produce
Next up is all the produce. I am going to include the key produce I buy regularly rather than every single fruit and vegetable you can buy at the grocery store, as I think it will be far more helpful that way.
My full healthy vegan produce list :
- Frozen Wild Blueberries
- Frozen Broccoli
The reason I buy my broccoli frozen is because I dont go through it quick enough to eat a whole fresh head by myself. If you eat a ton of broccoli or cook for more than 1 2 people, fresh may be the way to go. Just compare the prices and see which one is least expensive.
Recommended Reading: Recipes Using What I Have
Sweet And Savory Southwestern Recipes
Beans, quinoa, lentils, corn, and other Southwestern staple ingredients are easy to buy in bulk and whip up into a satisfying dinner for the whole family! Here are some Southwestern favorites:
Weekly Vegan Meal Plans With Grocery List
Feb 20, 2021 by Rachel · This post may contain affiliate links.
Do you often find yourself wondering what food youre going to eat for the day? Then meal planning may help!
Does this sound familiar:
- You find yourself wandering aisles of the grocery store aimlessly looking for inspiration.
- You often have to throw out food because it spoils before you use it.
- You can’t figure out what to make even though you have a full fridge and/or are too tired to cook so you order takeout instead.
There’s one simple solution that can not only save you time and stress but also money: meal planning!
Recommended Reading: Traditional Coleslaw Recipe With Mayonnaise
The Ultimate Vegan Keto Shopping List
*This site contains affiliate links to products. We may receive a commission for purchases made through these links.*
Is it possible to follow a Vegan Keto Diet? What foods should be on your shopping list as a vegan if you want to follow a keto diet or vice versa?
While vegans follow a diet high in carbs and no animal products, the Keto diet on the other side avoids carbs at all costs and relies heavily on meat and dairy products.
The two diets are in essence contradictory, but with some planning and creativity, it is possible to meet both incorporate both approaches successfully.
To follow a vegan keto diet means cutting out all animal products and reducing the number of fruits, veggies, grains, and legumes. Itd seem like there are not too many options left but in this article, I have compiled a big shopping list of foods that are both vegan and keto-friendly and will help you stick to your goals.
Legumes: Beans Lentils And Soy
Legumes are the foundation of any well-rounded vegan meal plan. They deliver enough plant-based protein to keep your metabolism running, your muscles strong and your cravings at bay so you dont feel the need to grab any processed treats when hunger strikes. Soy products like tofu, tempeh and soy milk are foods that benefit your weight management efforts the most when consumed in their unprocessed and unsweetened forms.
Tip
Bloating isnt always weight related and can be an unpleasant side effect at first if youre unaccustomed to eating legumes. Fear not, this subsided after awhile, but in the meantime here are some handy hints to combat the bloat.
Also Check: New York Times Fall Recipes
Day 2 Dinner: Mediterranean Bowl
Tonights bowl is high in protein and crunchy veggies! Well use the prepared sweet potato cubes, chickpeas and sun-dried tomato hummus, putting them on a bed of greens and fresh tomatoes.
Since you have to use the oven to bake two sliced zucchini, you can reheat the sweet potato cubes and chickpeas if you dont want to eat them cold.
All thats left to do after 15-20 minutes of baking is to assemble your beautiful bowl enjoy one serving tonight and store the other in the fridge for tomorrows lunch.
Download The Meal Plan
Enter your email address below to receive the FREE meal plan PDF straight to your inbox. It includes 4 weekly shopping lists, 28 easy vegan dinners, and a full guide to using the meal plan.
Thank you!
You have successfully joined our subscriber list.
Stick this vegan meal plan to the fridge, and you will know what you’re having for dinner every night for the next four weeks! Just add in whatever you need for breakfasts and lunches, cross off whatever you already have in the cupboards, and get shopping!
Don’t Miss: Belly Fat Burning Water Recipes
What Does Fodmap Stand For
Fodmap means Fermentable Oligosaccharides, Disaccharides, Monosaccharides, and Polyols. They are short-chain carbohydrates that the small intestine cant properly absorb.
Some people experience gut symptoms, also known as Irritable Bowel Syndrome , like cramping, winds, constipation, or diarrhea after eating them.
Instead of being absorbed, they stay in your intestines, where your gut bacteria use them as fuel, producing hydrogen gas that causes gut discomfort unlike regular bacteria that produce methane.
Not everyone feels sensitivity to FODMAPs, and some people only get sensitivities to a category of FODMAP.
Tips To Help You Be Successful At Meal Planning
Also Check: Lemon Drop Recipe Grey Goose
Vegan Grocery List And Pantry Essentials
We always keep our pantry stocked with some essential ingredients like beans, rice, oats, quinoa, oils, vinegar, tomato products, non-dairy milk, and nutritional yeast.
These are the items that will last a long time and will go a long way in adding substance and flavour to your meals. You can top these up with the fruits and veggies you enjoy or ingredients you know will work well with your planned meals for the week.
For example, we like adding bananas, dates, and berries to our cart to go with our morning oats and smoothies.
Our simple vegan grocery list includes the following food categories:
Below is a breakdown of each category.
What Is A Whole Food Plant Based Diet Anyway
Simply put, consuming a whole food plant based diet means eating only foods that are found within nature. This includes all varieties of vegetables, fruits, and whole grains. In most cases, meat is not consumed from animal sources but is obtained through protein-rich foods such as tempeh, beans, lentils, and mushrooms just to name a few!
Note: We commonly get asked whether or not eggs are included in a plant-based diet. My opinion? Yes, if it fits within your dietary needs and beliefs! Its true that most plant-based diet followers eat plants almost exclusively. However, animal products arent totally off-limits. Plus, eggs can help you absorb more of the fat-soluble vitamins found in all those veggies. So, they get a seal of approval from me!
Recommended Reading: Veg Soup Recipes For Weight Loss
Eating Vegan Food On A Budget
Are you totally confident in your ability to shop, cook, and eat vegan food on a budget?
Yes?
Then our work is done.
Remember that the vegan diet does not have to be expensive! You dont need to run out and buy fancy ingredients at pricey stores, you can still shop local to find everything you need.
Now you know how to meal prep like a boss and prepare a cheap vegan meal that tastes decadent and expensive.
The best part?
There are no rules when it comes to vegan cooking!
Make sure to share whatever fresh vegan concoctions you come up with so that everyone can give it a try.
Like what youre reading?
How To Use This Vegan Shopping List
- Take this grocery list to the grocery store and pick up all the ones you like, but take care not to overbuy and let anything go to waste.
- I’d suggest adding in one item that you haven’t had before or don’t think you like every week so you can be sure to try new things.
- If you’re worried about getting all the right macros and nutrients, read Dr Gregson’s How Not To Die or use the app and log everything you eat. It will make sure you hit his Daily Dozen so you have a variety of nutrients for optimum health.
- Fresh produce is usually best but also look at canned and frozen.
- Dried fruit is handy, but the sugar is concentrated so have it as a treat.
- Go for local produce that’s in season for the best taste and nutrients.
- This is just a guideline go with you and your family’s preferences and just get what you need.
- Eat a rainbow – try to get as many different colours of foods as you can into every day.
- Canned beans are handy, but if you have time to soak and cook them, dried are often much cheaper.
- The list looks long, but just buy what you need. The spices and condiments will last for ages so you can just buy a new one each week and soon you’ll have a collection to flavor your vegan meals with.
So, without further adieu, here’s my…
You May Like: Make A Recipe With My Ingredients
What Is The Health My Lifestyle Meal Planner
It’s not your average meal planning service. Others limit the flexibility and control you have over making meal plans that fit yours and your family’s needs. Not so with this one.
It’s designed to help you create highly customizable weekly meal plans based on your unique preferences. Choose from a database of hundreds of meal prep friendly, whole food, plant-based recipes with advanced filtering features to find exactly what you’re looking for.
Creating a meal plan no longer takes hours, it takes minutes. And the smart system creates a shopping list based on the recipes and number of servings you want. That’s right, you can create a grocery list with the tap of a button that you can edit and take with you to the store.
This service is a big deal in the plant-based community. It makes eating a healthy plant-based diet more practical and approachable with it’s simple recipes and user-friendly application. Best of all, it is very affordable.
Why Follow A Vegan Keto Diet
The reason for wanting to try a vegan lifestyle depends greatly on your background and what diet you have been following.
For vegans who have been following a plant-based diet, trying out the Keto principles is often a matter of accelerating weight loss. While it is perfectly possible to lose weight on whole foods plant-based foods, some people prefer a high-fat low-carb diet and believe it can help them speed up the process.
On the other hand, people who have been following a keto diet might realize the environmental and health risks associated with a diet high in animal products. Meat and dairy contribute to climate change and the abuse of animals. They also increase blood pressure, cholesterol and can lead to heart disease and stroke.
Don’t Miss: All Natural Weed Killer Recipe
Vegan Breakfast Meal Prep Recipes
To make our 1-week vegan meal plan complete, here are some breakfast and snack ideas that you can prepare in advance and in larger quantities and eat over the course of a few days!
We personally have our 2-3 go-to staples in the mornings which are either quickly whipped up on the spot or stem from our last vegan meal prep session.
Here are our favorite breakfast recipes you can use for your vegan meal plan!
Vegan Sources Of Protein
In the app, 8fit vegan meal plans are tailored to fuel your weight loss and fitness efforts in a sustainable and wholesome way. We achieve this by making sure you get a high-protein vegan meal plan that energizes your body and mind. Here is a list of essential plant-based proteins to include in your vegan meal plan grocery list.
-
Unprocessed soy products
-
Non-dairy alternatives almond, cashew and oat milks or yogurts
-
Nutritional yeast
Read Also: Mac And Cheese Shells Recipe
My First Vegan Grocery List
I cant believe Im actually going to post a list of what I bought at the grocery store.
When my wife, Erin, suggested that we save the receipt in case people wanted to know what we bought, given that it was our first full-on vegan trip to the store, I told her no way.
Are you serious? Who gives a rats ass what we buy to eat? I responded.
I mean, I posted my grocery list and all sorts of other boring things about myself when my blog was new and nobody read it, but surely were past that now, right?
Nope. As soon as I wrote something about my first vegan food-shopping trip on Twitter , people asked for the list.
You win, Erin.
So, with the hope that maybe it will help somebody realize that being vegan doesnt mean just eating lettuce all day, here goes nothin.
Why You’ll Love It
- Recipes are meal prep friendly, include step-by-step instructions, and most can be made in 30 minutes or less, saving you tons of time!
- The pre-made meal plans are designed with meal prep in mind to cook only twice a week so you can spend less time cooking and more time doing things you love.
- No expensive or hard to find ingredients needed so you can shop anywhere and save money each time you go the grocery store with a plan.
The Meal Planner is designed to save you a massive amount of time, money, and have zero stress around your plant-based lifestyle.
Recommended Reading: Vegan Oatmeal Recipes For Weight Loss
What Should Be On A Vegan Grocery List
This basic vegan grocery list for beginners is a list of everything that I buy on a monthly basis.
It includes fruit, vegetables, greens, grains, nuts, seeds, dairy substitutions, meat substitutions, my favorite vegan must have foods and prepared products, and anything else that I’ve found to be delicious or a helpful vegan substitute. I hope that it helps you the next time you go grocery shopping!
You can get your free printable vegan shopping list, here!