Vegan Saturday I | Meal planning with my vegetarian spouse
I started following a vegan lifestyle (diet-wise) this Monday, June 15th. I am going to do a series of “Vegan Saturdays” posts to answer all of your questions, rather than create one super long post. Thanks all for your thoughtful questions! If you think of any other questions, you can ask them here, or on the original Q&A post.
I know some people could probably care less about veganism (understandable), so I chose Saturdays for these posts since readership is usually lower anyway. Along with my marathon training posts on Sundays, you can just skip over the entire weekend if neither is of interest to you. Easy peasy!
I was going to begin by addressing CournteyInControl’s “What made you decide to go vegan?” but I thought I could better answer Erin’s question, after our dinner tonight. So I will probably save Courtney’s question for next week.
First though, I must say, it is my goal to permanently follow a vegan lifestyle, but if I find my health is negatively affected, I will have to re-evaluate my diet. On to the first question…
Erin asked, “Will Steven become vegan also? How will this affect meal planning/cooking?”
Steven will not be becoming vegan, at least today. But he is on board with helping me eat vegan.
Most of the meals we eat on a day-to-day basis at home already are vegan – boca sandwiches with fresh veggies, salads, pasta, beans and rice, etc. Where the problem comes in at home is with pre-packaged foods. A lot of items we didn’t think would have eggs or dairy in them do. Last night we wanted to make a homemade pizza, but all of our pizza crust mixes had milk in them, so we couldn’t. However, I picked up a dairy and egg free mix today, and it worked out wonderfully!
Homemade pizza made with Namaste pizza crust, red pizza sauce, zucchini, onion, tomato, spinach, olives, and…
…cheese on one half.
The finished pizza
My dinner and…
…Steven’s dinner!
Which plate would you take?
I think eating out will be an issue AT FIRST. We usually visit one of three places – El Famous Burrito (his favorite), Red Robin (my favorite) and Subway (our healthy favorite). Okay, and let’s throw Sweet Tomatoes in there too. At El Famous, I get the Chilles Rellenos (cheese). At Red Robin, it’s the Royal Red Robin Burger (cheese and egg). At Subway, my sandwich is pretty much vegan, but I need to check and see what’s in the bread.
I don’t want to ruin the eating out experience for him (or anyone), so I need to do some research and figure out what I CAN order before we go out. I can get a burrito instead of Chilles Rellenos, and ask for my burger without cheese and egg. Hopefully it won’t be too big of a deal. We don’t eat out often, but when we do, I don’t want it to be stressful for him or me!
I think making this change means that meal planning requires actual planning. It’s won’t be as easy to throw things together anymore, at least at first. But, we will figure it out, together.
Themocracy
Wow! Good for you! After all the reading I’ve been doing, I really couldn’t continue to eat animal products and that is why I started eating a plant-based diet. I consider myself fortunate that my husband is on for the ride with me which I think does make things a bit easier. BUT, I think with a little planning, you will be fine and there are many things you can easily make vegan versions of. If your goal is to eat healthy then you were probably going to have to do some planning anyway. 😉 I wish you well but I think you will do just fine. There are plenty of resources to help you on the way.
I’d have to take the cheese plate– yum!! However, I did start Jillian Michael’s 30 Day Shred today, walked AND swam…so hey, I’m getting somewhere!! I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again- I admire what you’re doing- just don’t think I could do it!!!
I’m interested to hear how it works out for you – I am eliminating more dairy from my diet but I’m not sure if I want to commit to veganism yet! I’d take the non cheese side!
That’s great for you! I know how hard eating out can be just trying to eat healthy I can even imagine vegan eating out! I couldn’t do it; I absolutely love dairy way too much. Good luck with it all!
Good luck with everything! I don’t eat much dairy products, but I bet you’re right and I’d be surprised at how much packaged food has some.
i’m proud of you for committing to this!! i am honestly surprised at what you listed that had milk or dairy in it… and stupid as this probably sounds, i never even thought about pre-packaged foods!!! duh!!! i can’t wait to read more Q&A’s!!!
=^..^=
I admire those who can go without some of the foods I love like cheese. I couldn’t go vegan because I am in love with cheese. This from the girl who gave up sugar!
teeni – I am SO grateful that there are so many resources now! I cannot imagine trying to make this switch years ago. Now it is so easy to find vegan recipes! And I am super lucky Steven supports me. I can’t imagine if he didn’t!
Bethany – So tell me today, are you sore from the Shred? I was thinking about doing it tonight. It’s been awhile, so it will probably be rough!
Run Sarah – It is kind of a big committment! I can understand your hesitation. I am still trying to figure out what it all entails. I am sure there will be some surprises.
Jamie – I am interested in finding out how difficult eating out will be too. 😉 Hopefully I won’t come back with any horror stories to share!
Jenn – It’s really surprising! What got me is all the bread that has dairy in it. We found a good brand that doesn’t – Arnold.
CourtneyInControl – LOL, I didn’t really think of it either! Luckily, my fave rice mix is okay!
sizzle – Ha ha! Cheese is super tasty! There’s really no substitute (that I know of!)
When my son tried to do this, our biggest problem was when we were out for the day unexpectedly and had to stop somewhere for lunch/dinner. We figured it out and it wasn’t awful, but I remember always having a moment of panic and wondering what we’d do if they didn’t have something he would eat.
tori – That is a good point. I think there ARE going to be times when you cannot find something! I usually have a granola bar or something with me to hold me over! I am already starting to do research on a lot of “eating out” places. We don’t eat out too much, so it shouldn’t be a big deal.