Home-cooked vegan meals... without losing your mind
Get organized to nourish and delight your familyAre you losing your mind trying to feed your family healthy vegan meals… that they will actually eat?
I hear you. I always enjoyed cooking for myself and also having friends and family over for meals. But cooking for my husband and our children every single day is a lot trickier.
Of course, I want the food to taste good – otherwise even I will be reluctant to eat it. But that’s not the only thing!
- Nutrition: Iron, calcium, omega 3s, fiber, vitamin, protein… are they getting enough? All moms worry about this but vegan moms perhaps more so.
- Picky eaters: My children are still discovering the wide world of ingredients, so nearly every meal I make can be deconstructed to let them taste components separately.
- Whole foods: I cook with whole grains, beans, vegetables, fruit, nuts and seeds as much as possible, avoiding prepared and processed foods.
- Diversity: We enjoy a variety of meals and cuisines. It’s also a way to ensure we get the whole spectrum of nutrients.
- Avoiding food waste: Rotting produce and uneaten leftovers are a waste of money and effort – both the farmers’ and my own!
- Time: Cooking is not the only thing I have or want to do in life.
Plus, I want everything to be vegan.
You, too, can adopt a few simple routines to plan, prepare and serve vegan meals that will nourish and delight your family every day.
Recent posts and recipes
For less stress and better dinners, join the plant-based meal prep challenge
It's unfortunate, but it's true: cooking up a whole foods plant-based diet does take more time and effort than if we were content with processed foods. Of course, we could make do with rice, beans, and greens every night... but let's just say that my husband wouldn't...
Plant-based batch cooking as privilege – a personal letter from Brigitte
Dear reader, I want to start this message by acknowledging the pain and emotions of my friends, readers, and co-humans who identify as Black, Indigenous, and people of color. And I want to also say that I see those who, like me, are confronted with their own Whiteness...
“One week at the cottage”: a simple one-week vegan meal plan
If you're the person in charge of cooking in your household, does a week long trip at a countryside cottage really count as vacation? Yes, sitting by the lake reading a book while kids frolic at the edge of the water without breaking into fights sounds wonderful. But...
10 strategies to get your child to eat more vegan foods – Guest post by Joanna Olson of Raised on Veggies
Is transitioning to a plant-based diet causing power struggles with your children? Have you faced backlash from your little ones when trying to feed them more vegan food? I hear you! Even without the added challenge of swapping dairy for lentils and chicken for tofu,...
Your next 10 dinners covered: free vegan meal plan for 2 weeks!
I know what you want: a ready-made meal plan, and to some help so that you can organize a prep session on the weekend. I can't go and babysit your kids while you cook, but I can at least help you out with a meal plan. This sample, free vegan meal plan taken from the...
Minimum viable meal prep: basic plant-based batch cooking you should do every week (even when you are too busy)
Eating a steady diet of unprocessed, home-cooked plant-based meals takes more time than dishing out processed foods from a box. (Duh!) It doesn't have to take a prohibitive amount of time: 4 to 7 hours of cooking per week should yield very enjoyable meals. If you have...
3 ways to create an instant sauce for your quick vegan pasta dish
Whip up a comforting healthy and vegan pasta dish with pantry ingredients and leftover produce. Read this today to be prepared to make it tomorrow with what you have at home!
How to improvise a balanced vegan meal from pantry ingredients (even when you are too exhausted to cook)
It's 6:34 p.m. and you just got home. You are hungry. Maybe you had planned something based on a new recipe, but you do not feel the energy to follow through. You don't have a prepared meal ready to reheat and gobble up. The temptation to pick up the phone and order...
“One Big Shop” plant-based meal plan for one week of breakfasts, lunches, and dinners: Tell me what you think!
Do you find it hard to shop for a whole week's worth of meals in a single trip to the grocery store? You're not alone. My personal preference is to do one big weekly shop... and a couple of smaller trips to the store later in the week to get more fresh produce, plus a...
Read more in the blog section
