Plant only eaters — how do you do it?

[Anonymous]

What are your pro tips? What are your typical meals? Meal planning? Pantry/freezer staples?
Anyone with teen boys satisfied with plant-based diet.
(I don’t eat beef or pork and interested in going further). Thanks!

[Anonymous]

Should this be in the Diet forum?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Should this be in the Diet forum?

No.

[Anonymous]

We raised 3 teenage boys on a plant based diet. They are all D1 athletes now. We went plant based when the oldest was 12yo (his choice). I got tired of making two different dinners so we went all in. I still eat meat/cheese if we go out. I make a lot of vegetable curries - red Thai curry, masaman peanut curry, Indian korma, etc. , black beans and rice, tofu scrambles, pesto pasta, pizza, shepherds pie, lentil loaf with mashed potatoes, samosas, spring rolls, burritos, sweet potato black bean fajitas, hummus, falafel, avocado toasts, and so much more. There are so many recipe sites that have 1000s of plant based recipes. I always have several types of beans, a rainbow of vegetables (I try to serve 5-6 different colors a day), hashbrowns, nutritional yeast (tastes yummy and is high in b12), fruits (fresh and frozen), avocados, and rice on hand.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:We raised 3 teenage boys on a plant based diet. They are all D1 athletes now. We went plant based when the oldest was 12yo (his choice). I got tired of making two different dinners so we went all in. I still eat meat/cheese if we go out. I make a lot of vegetable curries - red Thai curry, masaman peanut curry, Indian korma, etc. , black beans and rice, tofu scrambles, pesto pasta, pizza, shepherds pie, lentil loaf with mashed potatoes, samosas, spring rolls, burritos, sweet potato black bean fajitas, hummus, falafel, avocado toasts, and so much more. There are so many recipe sites that have 1000s of plant based recipes. I always have several types of beans, a rainbow of vegetables (I try to serve 5-6 different colors a day), hashbrowns, nutritional yeast (tastes yummy and is high in b12), fruits (fresh and frozen), avocados, and rice on hand.

NP- I wish I could have you make my food! This all sounds so good and honestly I’ve wanted to be vegetarian for awhile now.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:We raised 3 teenage boys on a plant based diet. They are all D1 athletes now. We went plant based when the oldest was 12yo (his choice). I got tired of making two different dinners so we went all in. I still eat meat/cheese if we go out. I make a lot of vegetable curries - red Thai curry, masaman peanut curry, Indian korma, etc. , black beans and rice, tofu scrambles, pesto pasta, pizza, shepherds pie, lentil loaf with mashed potatoes, samosas, spring rolls, burritos, sweet potato black bean fajitas, hummus, falafel, avocado toasts, and so much more. There are so many recipe sites that have 1000s of plant based recipes. I always have several types of beans, a rainbow of vegetables (I try to serve 5-6 different colors a day), hashbrowns, nutritional yeast (tastes yummy and is high in b12), fruits (fresh and frozen), avocados, and rice on hand.

NP- I wish I could have you make my food! This all sounds so good and honestly I’ve wanted to be vegetarian for awhile now.

It is daunting in the beginning. One tip is to seek out ethnic recipes that are naturally plant based. Hummus, falafel, Thai food, curries, etc. have been perfected over the years. Also, believe it or not, baked goods are easy to make plant based. There are so many versions of cakes, doughnuts, etc. We have French toast (leave out bread overnight, dip in almond milk, vanilla, sugar, cinnamon, and a splash of oj) and serve with powdered sugar or maple syrup. Also, there are several brands of pancake mix that are plant based - just add water or almond milk.

[Anonymous]

It also does not have to be complicated. Many plant based meals are simple, one-dish meals, much simpler than the standard American way of eating with a main course and side dishes. Think rice and beans, dahl, etc.

[Anonymous]

I have been wanting to try a plant based diet for years. I love Indian food so I think it could be very doable for me. I could probably eat curry every day of the week the rest of my life without getting sick of it.

[Anonymous]

I want to do plant based (I don’t eat red meat now) but also need to keep weight down. So if I cut out a lot of beans and rice, I’m imagining lots of shopping for fresh veggies and lots of chopping and crunching. Please tell me how I’m wrong.

[Anonymous]

I would love to become a vegetarian for ethical reasons, but with one nut anaphylactic child in the house, two with anemia (red meat is the most important source of iron) and most of us not tolerating beans...

... it's simpler to incorporate as many vegetables as we can, forget the beans and nuts, and add meat as needed for iron.
The most we can aspire to be is meat-light omnivores

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:
I would love to become a vegetarian for ethical reasons, but with one nut anaphylactic child in the house, two with anemia (red meat is the most important source of iron) and most of us not tolerating beans...

... it's simpler to incorporate as many vegetables as we can, forget the beans and nuts, and add meat as needed for iron.
The most we can aspire to be is meat-light omnivores

Me again. I wanted to add that one important consideration for me is to avoid refined carbs like white flour pasta, bread and rice. I eat quinoa, buckwheat, oats, and am trying to get the rest of my family to consider grains other than refined wheat and rice. We already go light on the processed foods and desserts.

[Anonymous]

We've had one vegetarian in the house for about 2 years now. I eat mostly vegetarian but will eat meat ocassionally. I am the primary cook in the house and got so stuck with meal ideas that we decided to try Purple Carrot meal delivery. It has been amazing! I've loved every meal and it's fully vegan. We get 3 meals a week. The included recipe book has those recipes plus 4-6 more. Eventually, we'll stop because it's a little pricey, but worth it not have to think about what to cook. And we'll still have all the recipes!

https://www.purplecarrot.com/

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:
I would love to become a vegetarian for ethical reasons, but with one nut anaphylactic child in the house, two with anemia (red meat is the most important source of iron) and most of us not tolerating beans...

... it's simpler to incorporate as many vegetables as we can, forget the beans and nuts, and add meat as needed for iron.
The most we can aspire to be is meat-light omnivores

It's fine if that's what you choose and there are certainly ways to eat meat that are better for the environment (like buying it locally and eating small quantities--chicken liver is very high in iron and less carbon-intensive than red meat) but I've found that an iron supplement and iron-rich/enriched foods (instant grits, certain cold cereals, blackstrap molasses, beans) and cooking in cast iron get my iron high enough to donate blood.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I want to do plant based (I don’t eat red meat now) but also need to keep weight down. So if I cut out a lot of beans and rice, I’m imagining lots of shopping for fresh veggies and lots of chopping and crunching. Please tell me how I’m wrong.

Some vegetables keep better than others, so you can buy a bunch of produce and use the things that don't keep as well (lettuce, berries, ripe tomatoes) first and then the things that keep longer. Cabbage, carrots, apples, citrus, winter squash, and lots of other items keep for well over a week. As for chopping and crunching, some food needs more prep than others. Bananas or clementines are super easy. Slicing a cucumber or zucchini is pretty easy too. Other stuff is harder: if you buy a bunch of collard greens, yes it takes a while to take off the stems, chop and saute them, and then add the chopped leaves. But you can buy them prechopped either raw or cooked. We do a fair amount of frozen vegetables (corn, bell peppers, spinach, okra, lima beans, butternut squash, broccoli, cauliflower rice, shredded brussels sprouts are all things we've bought in the last few months) and a lot of frozen fruit. We also do some canned fruit and vegetables (tomatoes, carrots, beets, sauerkraut, pickles). Some recipes work wonderfully with frozen or canned foods. Some don't really work well at all. We try to have a mix of meals during the week so we're not only using frozen or canned (that could get boring/mushy) or fresh (that would take up a lot of time and fridge space and might spoil). Really what it comes down to is that we plan a week or two of meals at once. We usually go to the farmer's market, buy what we want, and then go home and plan the menu and supermarket list around whatever we have in the house plus what's on sale at the store.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:We raised 3 teenage boys on a plant based diet. They are all D1 athletes now. We went plant based when the oldest was 12yo (his choice). I got tired of making two different dinners so we went all in. I still eat meat/cheese if we go out. I make a lot of vegetable curries - red Thai curry, masaman peanut curry, Indian korma, etc. , black beans and rice, tofu scrambles, pesto pasta, pizza, shepherds pie, lentil loaf with mashed potatoes, samosas, spring rolls, burritos, sweet potato black bean fajitas, hummus, falafel, avocado toasts, and so much more. There are so many recipe sites that have 1000s of plant based recipes. I always have several types of beans, a rainbow of vegetables (I try to serve 5-6 different colors a day), hashbrowns, nutritional yeast (tastes yummy and is high in b12), fruits (fresh and frozen), avocados, and rice on hand.

You don't eat an only plant based diet. You still eat meat.