Could any vegans spare the time to share some simple meal plans?
Super healthy, raw and simple meal ideas would be appreciated
Thanks.

Just saute some brocoli and pine nuts. You could do a sofrito of mushrooms, green asparagus tips and sweet onions to give it a boost. I usually cook this to go with cous cous..

One day?

Use your imagination ffs! 🤣

See what takes your fancy at VeganRicha if you like Indian (style) food

Erm one day is very easily done. I’d maybe take the time to eat out at a decent vegan restaurant as might be an eye opener how good the food can be (I’m not vegan but my partner’s son is so I was initially reluctantly dragged to a vegan restaurant but now unless I have a steak craving it doesn’t bother me if we end up in one).

A mate of mine went vegan for a month as a bet. He is still vegan two and a half years later 🙂

I pretty much became vegetarian on a bet in halls of residence, in fact I became 99.9% vegan.I’m not sure if I’ve won yet but it’s been close on 35 years so I’m not doing too badly.

Thanks for the replies.
Are any of you vegans? What does your meal plan for a day look like? Is it easy to keep the calorie level up?

Is anybody here crunching the numbers for calorie intake and nutrition etc?

If I was going vegan for the day, there’s one obvious first port of call…

My Wife and I are. I’ve only been fully vegan for about 18 months after 35 years plus as an ethical vegetarian (I finally cottoned on to how unpleasant the diary/egg industry is).

I’ve never worried too much about number crunching or picking the perfect diet (but then I’m not a performance athlete); we just eat what we fancy. Keeping the calories up isn’t a problem (there are plenty of vegetable fats and oils and it’s perfectly possible to be an overweight, unhealthy vegan if you put your mind to it); I love nuts which are pretty calorific. There are plenty of vegan snacks to keep you going to (Nakd bars being a particular favourite).

Jack Monroe – her recipies are invariably vegetarian and vegan by default because they are budget orientated which means no meat

I have both the Dirty Vegan and the BOSH! Vegan cookbooks. Yottam Ottolenghi does a lot of Vegan recipes too.

I’m not vegan or fully veggie, but increasingly heading that way. Not that difficult if you’re happy with non-dairy alternatives. I really like Tofu, but a lot of folk don’t like the texture. Nutritional Yeast is a good umami savoury taste and has naturally formed MSG in it (like Parmesan does) which is a flavour enhancer.

I’m a veggie with a reduced dairy intake. Simple swaps are Soya Milk for Cows Milk and Olive Oil spreads etc. Soya / quorn type alternatives for cheese on sandwiches. Vegan cheese is the work of the devil so just forget that all together. We keep ex Bat hens and those are the only eggs we eat.

The big challenge for me (and what prevents me being vegan) is eating when out and about. It’s amazing how many seemingly non dairy products contain dairy when you read the ingredients (a lot of breads contain butter etc. a lot of beer isn’t vegan)

Going veggie though is a doddle as there are so many meat replacements.

One day? Breakfast either granola and fruit with oatley cream, or eans on toast, use non-dairy spread, ie Pure soya or Lidl avocado or coconut spreads

Nice walnut salad for lunch with hummus and a veg samosa

Here’s my own recipe for chilli non-carne. It’s reportedly equally satisfying for vegans, veggies or fleshies 😉

(halve the recipe to serve four, or freeze what’s leftover)

Green Lentil Chilli Non Carne/Mole
(Serves 8 – 10 with rice/tortilla chips)

Ingredients:(Morrisons usually
have everything)

Main ingredients;
4 x med brown onions (diced)
3 tablespoons of oil
500g Dried Green Lentils (small dark speckled ones)
3 x tins tomatoes with juice or 7-10 fresh diced tomatoes
2 x tins economy red kidney beans (drained)
6-10 mushrooms (sliced)
1 or 2 large bulbs garlic (or 3-4 small ones) – chopped fine
3 x tablespoons of tomato purée
3 x bell peppers
1x 200g bar economy dark chocolate
1-2 cups of water
Splashes red wine optional

Spices herbs etc:
3 x veg stock cubes
2x tablespoons fresh oregano leaves
1x tablespoon smoked paprika
3 x teaspoons cayenne or red chilli powder, or chopped fresh or dried chillies (optional, use more if you like heat)
3x tablespoons ground cumin (or more to suit taste)
10 x splash vegan Worcester sauce
or tablespoon of BBQ sauce
Salt and pepper to taste

Method:

In large pan cover the whole pack of lentils with cold water (2x water to 1x lentils)
Add stock cubes and bring to boil
Simmer until al-dente
Transfer the part-cooked lentils along with any remaining stock to a suitable bowl or pan. Cover and set aside

In the emptied (large) pan add the cooking oil then diced onions and sauté the onions over medium heat until soft. Stirring often so not to burn or go brown.

Add all other ingredients/herbs/spices EXCEPT the water, red kidney beans and chocolate.

Stir well, bring to boil adding more water (plus splash wine if desired) to sauce as desired/so it can simmer and not go dry.

Cover and simmer on low heat for 30mins.

Add all of the chocolate and red kidney beans. Stir well

Cook for further 10 mins, adding water and stirring if necessary to maintain good amount of sauce.

Serve hot with rice or tortilla chips, salad and/or guacamole (vegan, obv) on the side, top with vegan cream/fraiche/yoghurt etc. Wash down with a full-bodied red.

I’ve been vegan since 6:30 this morning. If I didn’t have ham & cheese in my salad I could make it til 7pm I reckon. Go me!

A recent fred:

Vegetarianism for a meat lover.

for 1 day?

just have dinner early one day, then an hour or so later than normal the next day (so there’s 24 hours between the 2)

then just have a banana or something similar for breakfast and lunch

job done

skip the banana, and then you can call it a 24 hour fast instead (a proper fast, not that 5:2 thing)

😉

Wash down with a full-bodied red.

… which probably isn’t vegan. (-:

Are any of you vegans? What does your meal plan for a day look like? Is it easy to keep the calorie level up?

For about 25 years now. Never counted calories, sorry. No different to a non vegan diet though – I can get enough in to support 20+ hour training weeks, and I get fat easy if I don’t watch the intake when I’m injured or whatever.
Only supplement b12 , I used to have the odd protein shake after a really heavy day on the bike but generally just train on proper food.
Meals per day might be porridge or muesli with fruit (Currently enjoying eating it with a walnut drink), big mid-day meal, it’s typical here to eat like a lentil or chickpea stew with veg/pots even if you’re not vegan. Dinner might be something home made if I can be bothered at 9pm (see vegan Richa’s blog for ideas) or we might just have junk food like a beyond burger. There’s tons of that sort of stuff on the market now, plus ice cream, croissants whatever but I’ve never been that fond.

Jack Monroe – her recipies are invariably vegetarian and vegan by default because they are budget orientated which means no meat

All her new stuff is vegan, I very much admire her for what she is trying to do

binners

If I was going vegan for the day, there’s one obvious first port of call…

Just tried one as it happens, not bad…but not worth it for 15kcal (apparently)

not worth it for 15kcal (apparently)

315kcal (officially). Oh, did you mean difference from the piggy one? Sounds about right then.

I think it’s a fair question from the OP. I would have no idea what is vegan (apart from the obvious like meat and fish). Oh eggs, I know that but I’m sure there are many subtleties that would be lost on a non-vegan. Yes there is Google I suppose, but we all know Singletrack trumps Google.

TBH, for the sake of a single day I’d probably just get a couple of ready-meals from the supermarket. I’m on a vegan Goodfellas falafel pizza tonight, they’re really nice.

Banana, soya milk and oat smoothie for breakfast with a cheeky squirt of maple agave syrup.

Black coffee

Mediterranean microwave rice pack for lunch with a few olives and sundried tomatoes.

Green tea

Quorn (vegan) chicken pieces fried in a little olive oil over a leafy salad with plum tomatoes, peppers, spring onions, avocado, croutons and a drizzle of Follow Your Heart vegan caesar dressing.

Lovely 😁

Thanks for the link to the other thread and all the tips.
okay, I worded the title badly, I didn’t mean it to sound like a 1 day challenge.

We have a few veggie vegan recipes but really need more, I would like to go down the superfood healthy raw vegan route but the family need more variety than me. I wanted to see some meal plans from those that already do it. sorry for confusion.

Made this last night. Very nice. Would be great with lardons through it too.

Sicilian-style pasta with cauliflower, currants, saffron and pine nuts

OP, if your family are doing this too, what sort of things do they normally like? Based on that, you could just adapt so there’s no radical change. Not everyone likes tempeh or whatnot.
Between my OH and I, we make vegan meals for all the family which are 95pc whole foods. Very rarely, as mentioned above, does the old frozen Linda McCartney crap make an appearance.

I think we could substitute and adapt most of our current meals, I would like to find some interesting ‘simple vegan raw healthy’ combinations that might help us change the way we eat rather than just what we eat if that makes sense. Simple optimum health type of meals that require little thought and effort

Thanks all.

A couple of decent links to raw healthy recipes

https://simple-veganista.com/raw-recipes/

And

21 Awesome Raw Food Recipes for Beginners to Try

Well you’ve made a good start by posting about it on this forum. But you’re only going to be vegan for 4 hours so you’ve little time to waste. Have you thought about mentioning you’re vegan on the Guardian website? Pretty much any topic there with a comments section will do for shoehorning in veganism.

And don’t neglect the personal touch. Pretend to do some gardening which will give you a chance to mention it to neighbours over the fence. Or are you a member of a cycling club? Lots of folk on the Sunday club run to tell.

Facebook is a useful way of letting friends who live far away know, and maybe some Instagram photos of some lentils.

And before anyone has a sense of humour failure, yes the above is all tongue in cheek.

^ 😆

I don’t mind vegans but I couldn’t eat a whole one… Bin dun, I know, but it’s still funny.

And before anyone has a sense of humour failure, yes the above is all tongue in cheek.

It’s also incessantly **** tedious. Don’t you have any fat people or gingers you could be taking the piss out of instead?

People complain about whiny vegans, but compared to the number of whiny omnivores who love to stick their oar in on every vegan / vegetarian discussion they’re but a ripple in the ocean.

Says the whiny man whining about other people being whiny.

Thanks @Malvernrider. some of interest in those.

I saw a lady today with a t shirt that said “ **** awesome vegan”.

She was clearly overweight . ( As is that Romesh  bloke on the telly) How do you be an overweight vegan?

I thought you could eat as much fruit and veg as you liked. What should we be avoiding?

I know a few overweight ones.

Chips and crisps.

Recent pescatarian – vegan convert.

Couldn’t tell you about the sustained calorie bit yet as have also gone on the fast 800 diet at the same time. Cheese was my nemesis so it’s been a bit of a win.

I’d say it is about 100 time easier to be vegan now than it must have been 20 years ago as there are so many vegan alternatives even in mainstream supermarkets and the labelling is so much better.

My go to books have been the Bosh books (the green one and the orange one – can’t remember titles) and also the Thug kitchen – eat like you give a **** book. That one is a bit Californian try hard (throw a 4 letter word in to make yourself seem ‘on point’ as frequently as possible) but the grub is nice. Mostly too calorific for me now but will be great in the future.

Things I have learnt:-

Tofu is still rank….until you wack it in a hot pan with some soy sauce for a few mins to get the outside brown then lob it in the oven to crisp it up.

Home made seitan maybe like kryptonite for gluten intolerant and coeliac types but if your stomach is made of stronger stuff it is marvellous in stirfrys, soups and casseroles.

Homemade almond milk is easy and nice.Lob a bit of sunflower lechitin to stop it separating.

DIY oat milk was not as successful and messy.

Pizza don’t have to have cheese on them.

Oh, and I paid the extra to have the premium version of myfitnesspal to get more nutrition info – many so I know my protein intake.

some of interest in those.

👍🏼