Plant-Based Meal Planning for Spring: A Week’s Guide

Happy Sunday! It’s the first full week of Spring and I am so excited to get started with my first plant-based meal schedule!

So, we are back from our spring trip to Florida and I feel like it always takes me a good couple of days to get back to a routine when it comes to meal planning. All I can say that works for me is by writing up a grocery list, giving myself a deadline where I am gonna have it all together again (somewhat :P) and taking baby steps that week to get back to my baseline. And I am giving you all that with this post : a grocery list, a deadline (tomorrow!) and baby steps (If plant based eating is new to you, I would start with just one meal and see how it goes).

I usually try to come up with the dinners for the week because then I can fill everything else in around it. I do a lot of leftovers for lunch and for breakfast I tend to have a consistent repertoire of meals I rotate around that keep me full for a good amount of time. I can share these as well, but they tend to look the same by season and that works for me. Dinner is usually where I like to end the night with a bang. Try to sit around the table together and enjoy a filling and delicious meal that culminates our day.

My goal for these posts is to not only keep myself accountable and planning ahead but to maybe encourage anyone else out there to add a plant based meal to their weekly menu, even if it is just one night a week. I’m not going to pretend that I am any recipe guru, but I have been around the block or two when it comes to finding great plant based recipes that are not only well-balanced, health-wise, but appealing to others as well (ehem.. such as some skeptical family members).

A few more points about this meal schedule:

• I will give dinner ideas Monday-Friday and all ingredients for those dinners are in the grocery list in this post.
• I will link the recipe for each meal and give credit to the creator so it will take you to that creator’s page to do the recipe. If I make any adjustments to the recipes it will be on the post of the recipe for that day with a picture of how it looks as I made it. Some recipes are mine and they will be written out as my own recipe.
• I will do my best to share my kids ‘deconstructed’ versions of our meals. My kids enjoy pretty simple foods (I was very similar as a kid) and as long as the basis of the meals are substantial I am ok with them choosing which part of the meal they want to eat.
• I try to use oil sparingly. A lot of the times I will adjust a recipe by decreasing the amount of oil or just not using oil.
• Monday and Tuesdays I am off from work, so I can do more complicated recipes those days since I have more time during the day to prep the meal, so you adjust the days that work for you.

Monday 3/24: Lentil Taquitos by High Carb Hannah https://highcarbhannah.co/recipes/lentil-taquitos/ and spanish rice

Tuesday 3/25: Italian herb stuffed portobello with cauliflower mash https://ohsheglows.com/cookbook-search/

Wednesday 3/26: 5 minute Tofu, Kale and chickpea curry by The Happy Pear https://thehappypear.ie/plant-based-and-vegan-recipes/5-minute-tofu-and-chickpea-curry/

Thursday 3/27: Lemony pasta salad by The First Mess https://thefirstmess.com/2019/04/17/lemony-spring-pasta-salad-vegan-recipe/

Friday 3/28: French onion soup with homemade bread

I’m excited to have a place to organize my meals and I hope you’ll join me this week!