Plant-based starter shopping guide
Making sure you have the right ingredients in your kitchen when starting (and maintaining) a plant-based lifestyle is essential to making delicious foods at home and sticking to your plant-based goals. Always keep these must-haves stocked:
- Vegetables: Choose a wide variety of colorful veggies on a regular basis, along with leafy greens like kale and collards. Basically, don’t stick to just one color all the time!
- Fresh fruit: The same color rule applies here; however, also choose fresh fruits that are in season. (Hint: Berries aren’t fresh in the winter!)
- Whole grains: Become familiar with different grains in their whole forms. Experiment with ones like kamut, oats, quinoa, and spelt. You can also get breads and pastas made from these grains.
- Beans: Explore the diversity of beans. Black beans, chickpeas, kidney beans, and lentils are easy to cook with, and they’re loaded with protein, too.
- Healthy oils: Stock up on oils like coconut oil, flaxseed oil, and olive oil. They all come in handy for different occasions and can be used in everything from salads to baking.
- Nuts and seeds: Keep a variety of nuts and seeds on hand. Almonds, hempseeds, pumpkin seeds, and sunflower seeds are good essentials. They make great additions to breakfast oats or smoothies and are a quick snack.
- Other extras: Get a hold of basics like almond butter, apple cider vinegar, Dijon mustard, nutritional yeast, pure maple syrup, and tamari (natural soy sauce).
Plant-based eating when you're out and about
When planning your day of plant-based eating out, you ideally want to think about how you can choose a balance of meals that offer your body enough variety to keep you satisfied and full. These options can help you organize your day:
- Breakfast: Berry smoothie with plant-based protein powder; whole-grain toast with almond butter and sliced banana; oatmeal with walnuts, raisins, and cinnamon; or scrambled tofu with a slice of toast and avocado
- Lunch and dinner: Large salad with a variety of vegetables, nuts, seeds, avocado, chickpeas, and homemade dressing; pesto with brown-rice pasta topped with white beans and steamed broccoli; whole-grain wrap with hummus, lettuce, sprouts, carrots, and avocado; vegetarian brown-rice sushi and a bowl of miso soup; or baked tempeh, mashed yams, and steamed greens topped with tahini
- Snacks: Trail mix with almonds, raisins, pumpkin seeds, and cashews; an apple or pear with a tablespoon of nut butter; a handful or two of corn chips with salsa or guacamole; a homemade cookie or muffin with seed butter; or a green smoothie with kale, banana, hempseeds, and avocado
Maintaining your positive plant-based attitude and energy
The process of transitioning to a plant-based diet can be as big or small a deal as you want to make it. It’s just about how you approach it and want to make it happen. All you need is a desire to eat better, feel better, and live longer.
Here are some ways you can maintain your motivation and increase your knowledge about eating a plant-based diet:
- Read books on plant-based living.
- Watch videos on healthy eating.
- Talk to other people who eat this way.
- Make a list of all the reasons plant-based eating appeals to you.
- Go out for some good plant-based meals at restaurants to get inspired.
- Subscribe to blogs and local plant-based online forums for tips, tricks, and recipes.