The best way to nurture your own health and that of the planet is to eat a healthy plant-based vegan diet consisting mostly of home-cooked foods. If you are just getting started with this healthy vegan plant-based lifestyle, it can be overwhelming. There is so much to learn! But it doesn’t have to be complicated. Forget about hunting for recipes on Google and Pinterest all the time: you can learn the basics of healthy plant-based nutrition and get an understanding of how fundamental vegan dishes are created, and create your own meals based on vegan pantry ingredients.
This healthy vegan plant-based resource kit from my Vegan Family Kitchen includes articles as well as some videos, workshops, and interviews on every topic that’s relevant to cooking really good food at home. Pick one or two that speak to you and get started today!
Nutrition basics and transitioning to vegan
- MUST READ: Should I supplement B12 (short answer: yes! but please read the full post)
- WORKSHOP: Plant-based Nutrition Hacks
- Should we cook with oil? A pragmatic approach to deciding what to do.
- Nutrition and supplements: what my (mostly) vegan family does (video)
- 6 hacks to boost the nutrients in your plant-based meals
- How to eat more greens and cruciferous vegetables (with 25 recipes!)
- 10 vegetables I never fail to put on my shopping list
- Vegan pantry staples: 75 plant-based ingredients to stock to cook healthy dinners every night
- How to improvise a balanced vegan meal from pantry ingredients
- How to eat less meat and more plants: Try “Vegan After 6”
- What to do when you crave cheese?
Vegan pantry cooking for beginners
- My introduction to vegan cooking for beginners (including lots of easy recipes)
- How to cook brown rice and other grains
- How to make basic vegan dishes:
- Vegan soup (and 7 extra tips to make it taste even better)
- Satisfying salads and bowls
- Vegan pizza
- Vegan bolognese sauce (modify it to use what you have)
- Instant sauces
- Tofu scramble
- Vegan risotto (in the oven)
- Vegan overnight oats
- Vegan polenta
- Pesto
- Quick stir-fry (a mini-course)
- Vegan staples you can prepare from scratch (plant milks, beans, and pizza dough)
- 8 ideas to improvise dinner (without a recipe!)
Mindset
- Think about your priorities: think about what matters most and what you can let go of
- 6 big reasons to be grateful (not resentful) about cooking
- Why you hate cooking (and what you can do about it)
- And 20 ways to find joy in cooking
- Find joy in cooking workshop
- Mindful screen-free cooking: the pathway to becoming a better, faster cook
Meal planning
- Vegan meal planning 101 (with a basic template)
- Vegan meal plans (I’ll decide what to make for dinner for you)
- Dealing with picky eaters (also see: Feed picky eaters with love workshop)
- Do it more efficiently: Meal planning 2 weeks at a time
- A meal plan to guide “one big shop” (all breakfasts, lunches, dinners, and snacks)
- Fill-in-the-blanks meal plan templates:
- What I eat in a day as a vegan: Real honest food report from a plant-based mom
- One week of real-life pant-based dinners (mostly) following the Vegan Meal Plans
- Your next 10 dinners covered: a free sample 2-week meal plan
- My vegan meal planning routine
Batch cooking and meal prep
- Be planned and plant-based next week (a 5-day challenge and mini course)
- How to start batch cooking (with 20 recipes)
- Vegan batch cooking: the best way to enjoy home-made meals on demand (with a free 8-recipe plan to print out)
- For busy people: Minimum viable prep
- Watch me cook 5 building blocks in one hour (video)
- 15 reasons why you NEED to do a meal prep challenge
- Save time by following a critical path: a sample vegan meal prep session plan
- How to prevent freezer burn
- 7 ingredients for a successful meal prep session
Kitchen tools for plant-based cooks
- Cast-iron cookware
- Should I get an Instant Pot
- Should I get a dehydrator
- Top 3 appliances for vegans
- Pantry organization hacks
Spouses, partners, and children
- “My wife is going vegan!” Now what? An interview with my husband.
- Late-blooming vegan with family in tow: 10 tips to ease your transition
- Raising toward vegan: Why I am vegan but my kids are not (yet)
- “My husband doesn’t want to raise our kids vegan”: What’s a mom to do?
- Involving kids with cooking at any age
- Teaching kids how to cook with the internship method
- Meal planning with picky eaters in mind
- Feed picky eaters with love (workshop)
- Interview with Dr. Yami, pediatrician
- 10 strategies to get your child to eat more vegetables
Cooking away from home
- Vegan camping food (for car-camping adventures)
- Meal planning for one week at the cottage or cabin
- Meal planning for a vacation rental
Reducing food waste and living kindly
- Zero-waste cooking for vegans dos and don’ts (and keeping the big picture in mind)
- How we can help the planet: what we do and what we should do
- Buy your kale and eat it too: avoid food waste with these useful meal planning habits
- 5 urgent and easy eco-friendly habits to adopt today
- Prevent a pantry moth infestation
Useful skills
- Knife skills
- Cooking to make cleaning go faster
- How to start a batch cooking club
- Converting recipes from stovetop to Instant Pot
- Doing a vegan pantry challenge (and download your vegan pantry challenge kit)
- Food preparedness in a turbulent climate
Inspiring people and interesting ideas
- The case for investing in health and wealth: An interview with Alison Setton, financial educator and meal plan subscriber
- After Meat: The Case for an Amazing, Meat-free Future: An interview with Karthik Sekar
- Use your gifts for good: An interview with Marian Erikson of the Plant-based Briefing Podcast and meal plan subscriber
- How to make cooking fun: An interview with Siobhan Coates, the fun coach
- Dreena Burton: 20 years as a vegan cookbook author and parent
- Plant-based doctors at home: An interview with Drs. Jimisha Patel and Dr. Nina Hourmouzis of the Columbus Prevent and Reverse Clinic
- Nutrition for plant-based runners: An interview with Kayla Slater, registered dietitian and plant-based running coach
- Vegan meal prep for health: Katie heals her gut (subscriber spotlight)
- How a pediatrician feeds her family: An interview with Dr. Yami Cazorla-Lancaster
- My 3 best vegan cookbooks (and other classics)
