How to plan a vegan diet

Wondering how to plan a vegan diet? Ready to go vegan and stay vegan? In this post I share with you how to plan a vegan diet using a simple, four step meal planning process and templates. If you're ready to plan your vegan meals and stick to a vegan diet, keep reading.

Learn more about the Easy Vegan Meal Planner™, available for instant download >

Planning a vegan diet

Planning a vegan diet is easy to do when you have a template. The Easy Vegan Meal Planner™ template system was created specifically to help people plan a vegan diet. It follows the Daily Dozen dietary recommendations, and the dietary recommendations of the Physicians Committee for Responsible Medicine.

This simple, four step vegan meal planning system helps you PLAN, SHOP, PREP & TRACK your diet and meals for the week.

Grab your copy of the Easy Vegan Meal Planner™ {Instant download}

Easy Vegan Meal Planner™
What is a vegan diet?

A vegan diet is a diet that does not contain animal products. Animal products are foods that contain:

Meat
Cheese
Eggs
Dairy products
Seafood
Shellfish
Insects
Gelatine

Any other foods that do not contain the above listed foods are generally considered vegan foods.

What is a plant-based diet?

A plant-based diet is a vegan diet, however some people eat a "plant-based diet" but do not consider themselves "vegan" and do not necessarily practice a vegan lifestyle. Many people choose a plant-based diet for health reasons. Many doctors now recommend a low-fat, whole food, plant-based diet to prevent and reverse some of the most common diet-related illnesses.

Further reading: Daily food checklist: Here's what to eat every day

Why choose a vegan diet?

There are many reasons to choose a vegan diet. The best reason to choose a vegan diet is because it's something you want to do, not something someone else is trying to get you to do or something you feel pressured to do. Here are six popular reasons people choose a vegan diet:

For better health
For the animals
For the environment
For religious reasons
To practice non-violence
Because people just don't like the taste or texture of animal products
What is a vegan meal plan?

A vegan meal plan is a document that you can create or purchase that tells you what vegan meals to eat at each meal time over a specific period of time. A vegan meal plan can be created for:

One meal
One day
2-3 days
4-5 days
One week
Two weeks
One month
One year

A vegan meal plan includes only vegan ingredients and dishes. A full vegan meal plan usually includes:

Breakfast
Lunch
Snacks
Dinner
Dessert

Further reading: 5 vegan meal plans for beginners

If you're trying to stick to a vegan diet, creating a vegan meal plan is a good idea because it will save time and stress when it comes to feeding yourself and family. Having a good plan will also help to keep you on a vegan diet because you will already have meals planned out in advance.

Now, let's get to our main topic for today's post: How to plan a vegan diet.

How to plan a vegan diet

Planning a vegan diet is easy when you know what to eat and what your schedule is for the duration of the meal plan. As we discussed above, a vegan diet is one that includes only plant-based ingredients. An optimal vegan diet is one that is low-fat and includes primarily whole food ingredients (unprocessed foods in the most natural state).

Reserve the processed foods for special occasions, or when you absolutely need the extra work taken out of cooking (like when you have a super busy schedule or are unable to stand and cook like during an illness). However, even eating just whole food, plant-based ingredients is easy and possible on a tight budget or busy lifestyle.

Planning a healthy vegan diet is great for many reasons. In my opinion, whole foods taste better and are more satisfying to eat.

Here's my simple four step process for planning a vegan diet:

Step 1: Take inventory of your vegan ingredients

If you're switching from the standard American diet to a vegan diet, first go through your kitchen and discard any foods that contain animal products (listed above). Then, take inventory of the vegan ingredients you already have.

Taking inventory is important for:

Preventing food waste
Sticking to a food budget
Saving time and effort

"Taking inventory" is easy. All you need to do is write a list of every ingredient you have and how much of each ingredient. The Easy Vegan Meal Planner™ includes a template called PLAN for taking inventory of food. This template includes space for writing a list of ingredients you already have. It also includes space for calculating food costs, writing a list of meals, and creating a weekly meal plan.

Step 2: Choose your meals and create a meal plan

Once you have a list of all of the ingredients you already have, it's time to decide what you want to eat for the duration of the vegan meal plan. Meal plans can be created in the PLAN template as well.

Choosing your meals is easy, here's a few tips:

Consider your upcoming schedule

It is important to first consider your schedule of events that will take place during the meal plan. This is important because you probably don't want to plan a big fancy meal on a night when you're getting home at 7:30pm and need to have dinner ready quickly. Alternatively, if you're planning to enjoy a meal out, you don't have to have a meal at home already planned into your schedule for this mealtime.

Consider how much time and effort you want to spend on meal prep

If you know that you will have a very busy schedule during your meal plan, it's a good idea to plan meals that are quick and easy to prepare. This will save time and stress during meal time, and make it more likely that you will actually follow the diet plan.

Meals that are quick and easy to prepare are ones that are packed with vegan nutrition, contain few ingredients, and can be prepared in 15-20 minutes or less.

If you know that you want to spend a good amount of time preparing food, it's a good idea to incorporate into the diet plan new dishes and meals that have more steps and ingredients. These are great for learning how to cook and practicing your meal prep skills. They are also great for when you plan to have guests during a meal, or when you want to treat yourself to an extravagant feast.

Consider your food budget

Another thing to consider when planning a vegan diet is to meal plan according to your desired food budget. Plan meals that are inexpensive if you're on a tight budget. Pair inexpensive ingredients with 1-2 more expensive ingredient to keep your food costs down.

Plan meals around the "Daily Dozen"

Lastly, it's important to consider nutrition while creating your vegan meal plan. I find it very easy to plan a plant-based diet when applying the Daily Dozen. The Easy Vegan Meal Planner™ follows the Daily Dozen which makes it easy to plan healthy vegan meals without getting too overwhelmed.

Here's a quick list of the foods that are included in the list:

Legumes
Whole grains
Fruits
Vegetables
Leafy greens
Cruciferous vegetables
Berries
Nuts
Seeds
Water
Herbs and spices

Learn more about the Daily Dozen >

Once you have considered all of the above factors, it's time to create your vegan meal plan. Here's a few tips for creating a plant-based meal plan:

Vegan breakfast ideas

Planning vegan breakfasts can be quick and easy if you enjoy having the same breakfast several days a week. What I like to do is plan quick and easy breakfasts that are packed with nutrition for days when I know I will be busy. Then, I like to plan more elaborate breakfasts for days when I know I have less on my to-do list, such as on the weekends.

Here's 14 vegan breakfast ideas:

Cereal and soymilk with fruit
Fruit bowl with hemp seeds
Yogurt with oats and fruit
Baked goods with fruit and soymilk
Green smoothie
Berry smoothie
Hot cereal bowl
Breakfast scramble
Breakfast burrito
Peanut butter, banana and cinnamon toast
Avocado toast
Pancakes
Waffles
Breakfast platters

Vegan breakfast recipes >

Vegan lunch ideas

Similar to breakfast, I like to have some vegan lunches that are quick and easy to prepare, as well as some that are reserved for special occasions and picnics.

Here's a list of nine vegan lunch ideas:

Hot sandwiches
Cold sandwiches
Salads
Wraps
Leftovers
Pasta
Tofu and rice bowl with vegetables
Soup with bread
Lunch platter

Vegan lunch recipes >

Vegan dinner theme night ideas

Having a "theme night" for dinner makes it fun and easy to plan a week's worth of vegan dinners. Here's a list of seven dinner theme ideas:

Leftover night
Mexican night
Stir-fry night
Taco night
Pasta night
Pizza night
Feast night

Vegan dinner recipes >

Step 3: Grocery shop

Once you have created your vegan meal plan, it's time to grocery shop. The Easy Vegan Meal Planner™ includes a template called SHOP which is a vegan grocery list that is already filled in with over 150 plant-based ingredients.

Making a vegan shopping list is easy with this template because all you have to do is highlight or circle the ingredients you need and the quantity of each. This takes the guesswork out of creating a grocery list and saves time and energy in writing out a list each time you need to shop.

This same template can also be used to take inventory because there is space to write what you already have in the sheet as well. The SHOP template comes in both PDF and spreadsheet format (just like all of the other templates in the meal planner) which makes it easy to create a vegan grocery list both online and offline.

Grocery shopping for a vegan diet is easy, here's a list of seven places to shop for vegan ingredients:

Online grocery stores
Farmer's markets
Local grocery stores
Chain grocery stores
Discount grocery stores
Health food stores
Food banks (for low income shoppers)
Step 4: Meal prep and track your meals

Once home with your ingredients, the next two things to do to make planning a vegan diet easier include meal prep and then tracking your meals.

Vegan meal prep

"Meal prep" is the term used to describe preparing some or all ingredients ahead of time. This saves time, stress and energy during meal times. It also helps you stick to a vegan diet.

Meal prep basic ingredients being used in the in next 2-3 days. For example, "meal prep" onions, carrots, and lettuce by washing and chopping them, then storing these ingredients in airtight containers in the refrigerator. This will save time and energy when you're ready to enjoy salads throughout the week.

Or, "meal prep" entire meals. For example, many people like to make "freezer meals" that are complete meals stored in the freezer. When you're ready to eat, simply reheat and serve. Meal prep takes a little bit more time in advance, however can save you lots of time and effort during meal times.

The Easy Vegan Meal Planner™ includes a template called PREP that was designed specifically for planning and executing vegan meal prep. This template includes space to list every ingredient you need to prep, directions for prep, dates to do the prep, and dishes which the ingredients are to be used for.

Tracking vegan meals

Lastly, tracking your vegan meals is a great idea for several reasons. One reason is that it helps keep you accountable and sticking to a vegan diet. Another reason is that it makes it easy to track your Daily Dozen, or ensure you're eating a well balanced diet. Third, tracking meals makes it easy to meal plan in the future. Write down the meals you ate and enjoyed, then reference and copy this when you go to make the next meal plan.

The Easy Vegan Meal Planner™ includes a template called TRACK that was specifically designed to help track your vegan nutrition following the Daily Dozen. Simply check off your intake of each nutritional food. It also includes space to keep record of the meals you enjoyed, leftovers and water intake. This tracking tool can be used to plan your entire vegan diet all on one page.

Learn more about the Easy Vegan Meal Planner™, available for instant download >