Practical plant-based tips that save you time and money
Plant-based Crash Course (Part 3 of 3)
This is the Final Part of our 3-part crash course. This part is packed with practical daily tips. It may be helpful to bookmark this page for future reference.
Since launching our plant-based app, we get a lot of questions from people who like the idea of eating more plant-based, but fear it’s not for them. A typical question I get asked is that
“I’m super busy and don’t plan ahead of time. My evening meals are usually spontaneous. My supermarket isn’t very big or fancy. They don’t have good meat and dairy substitutes - not that I feel confident eating that stuff anyway. Can I really live a plant-based lifestyle without all the fuss?”
Here is the great news:
It's actually easier, not harder
Once you set up your cupboard with the right initial ingredients, it is actually much easier every day to just keep a meat-free fridge and eat healthy plant-based at home without having to constantly decide. In the next section, I will show you how to achieve this.
Grocery Shopping
The crucial trick here is to do this one-off shopping list. These nonperishable items are delicious, cheap and really time-saving.
wholemeal pasta, soba noodles, brown rice, quinoa
beans, lentils, and sweetcorn in cans
chopped tomatoes in cans and/or Passata
frozen peas
vegetable stock cubes
low-fat (light) coconut milk
nuts & seeds
plant-based drinks such as oat milk
spices - paprika, cumin, cayenne pepper, oregano, turmeric, curry, dried coriander
sauces - low-salt soy sauce, vinegar, cooking wine, wholemeal flour, maple syrup, cacao powder
Having made this one-off shopping, you will save plenty of time and money down the road, as you will only need to visit the fruit & vegetable and the bakery section in the future.
It also means that you could easily maintain a primarily plant-based lifestyle without the stress of constant planning, even if you don’t strictly stick to plant-based when occasionally going out.
Useful cooking formulae
I would love for you to use our meal planner app every day, but I understand not everyone likes following recipes. In this section, I have created a set of formulae for simple, quick home cooking to get you up to speed in no time. For each component, you don’t have to use all of the suggested ingredients. The guide is more of a framework for creating a dish that’s both delicious and nutritious.
Pasta
Grains (cook to al dente)
Wholewheat pasta, wholewheat spaghetti
Base
Onions, garlic, bell peppers, chillies
Main
Vegetables (e.g. courgettes, aubergine, asparagus, squash) and/ or
Legumes (black beans, lentils)
Sauces
Tomato-based:
Chopped tomatoes plus (optionally) wine, vegetable stock, nutritional yeast, and/or a dash of oat milk
Creamy:
Blend garlic, cashew nuts, firm tofu, oat milk, nutritional yeast, and juice of a lemon to form a basic creamy sauce
Add basil, spinach, and other nuts for variation
Clear:
Vegetable stock and white wine
Spices
Cumin, paprika, cayenne pepper, oregano, dried thyme
Nuts & seeds
Toasted cashew, almonds, pine nuts, pumpkin seeds, sesame seeds
Garnish:
Fresh parsley and juice of the lemon
Stews
Base
Onion, garlic, pepper, chillies
Vegetables (can be roasted or sautéed)
Sweet potatoes, aubergine, butternut squash, celery, spinach, cabbage
Legumes
Beans, lentils
Dried spices
Cumin, paprika, cayenne pepper, oregano, dried thyme
Sauces
Vegetable stock plus chopped tomatoes
Add a touch of cacao powder to thicken the sauce, or oat milk to make it creamier
Garnish:
Fresh coriander, parsley, spring onion, and juice of the lemon
Soups
Base
Onion, leeks, carrot, celery
Vegetables (can be roasted or sautéed)
Butternut squash, mushrooms, carrots, parsnips
Stock
Vegetable stock, (optional) low-fat coconut milk
Note that vegetable stock is salty already and low-fat coconut milk still contains substantial unsaturated fats. For both try using just 100-200ml per serving and add more water
Spices
Cumin, paprika, cayenne pepper, oregano, dried thyme
Garnish
Fresh coriander or parsley, and juice of the lemon
Salads
Vegetables (roasted for a warm salad)
Cabbage, squash, onions, courgette, carrot, green beans, lettuce
Legumes
Broad beans, edamame, soft tofu, chickpeas
Nuts and seeds
Cashew nuts, almonds, pumpkin seeds
Dressing
Balsamic vinegar, wine vinegar, tahini, a dash of maple syrup, a dash of extra-virgin olive oil, salt, and pepper seasoning.
Curry
Whole grain
Brown rice, quinoa
Base
Onion, garlic, chillies
Vegetables
Cauliflower, butternut squash, potatoes, sweet potatoes
Legumes
Beans, chickpeas, lentils, peanuts
Sauce
Light coconut milk and/or chopped tomatoes
Dried spices
Turmeric, cinnamon, curry powder, cayenne pepper
Nuts & seeds
Cashews, pumpkin seeds
Garnish
Fresh coriander, spring onion, and juice of the lemon
Begin with a mindset for the long term
When we label ourselves as “vegans” or “vegetarian”, it feels like an identity you have to carry all of the time. For some people, self-identification is helpful to make a genuine effort towards change, but for others, the label can be very tiring and counteractive to their journey. A lot of people are deterred from eating plant-based because they feel they can’t possibly keep up with the effort for perfection. Similarly, a lot of people drop out after trying for a few months or even a year.
In my personal journey, I have benefitted from adopting a mindset of treating my diet like any other lifestyle improvement such as exercise and good sleep. I don’t call myself an athlete or a perfect sleeper, but I aim to be as active and well-rested as I can each day. Not adopting an all-or-nothing approach actually has helped me adopt a healthier lifestyle than trying to be perfect and then giving up when realising it’s not possible within 3 months.
Getting started on a healthy plant-based journey, even with just a couple of evenings a week, is still an improvement from the old habits.
Crowding out, not restricting
While you may initially think that being plant-based is “restrictive”, it actually pushes you to enjoy a much broader diversity of foods that you were previously missing.
In a meat-heavy diet, people tend to focus mainly on the meat component and under-explore the vegetable, beans, legumes, nuts, and seeds. As a result, less than 30% of UK adults achieve the 5-a-day fruit-and-veg recommendation.
As you explore more plant-based choices and feel their positive effects on your body, you will embrace them more over time.
Finally, eating primarily plant-based is not about giving up your favourite foods altogether. Rather, we work towards eating a much better ratio of healthy plant-based foods over time.
Cooking with a partner or parents
While not everyone yet appreciates eating exclusively plant-based, you could cook the same dish but the legumes and meats separately, using the same main sauce.
You could also encourage your family to try your plant-based dish to show them the new flavours and a new way of cooking.
People can be hesitant about the idea of changing their diet, as they have probably eaten the same way since adulthood. Reducing the meat portion sizes and increasing the plant-based portions could be a good first step to take towards a healthier diet.
Eating out
We can look at the choices we have eating at any place through a spectrum.
On the healthy side, there are whole grains, vegetables, light dressing (e.g. balsamic vinegar), beans, nuts, and seeds
On the unhealthy side, there are highly processed foods, calorie-dense foods, and fatty meats.
In any given dish, you could look to maximise the healthy items and minimise the unhealthy items. This systematic approach reduces the stress of trying to be "perfect", so you could simply enjoy the occasion.
Conversations
Food is deeply cultural, social, and personal. Everybody has strong opinions about the food they love. It is natural for people to ask lots of questions about plant-based or to even start a debate.
Remember that you are with your friends to have a good time. Simply explain your understanding, how you have felt since changing your diet, and that you could help them if they choose to try.
Reshaping one's diet take time, as it is a paradigm shift in our existing beliefs and habits which have been shaped since we were children. It is understandable that people are reluctant to change what they enjoy overnight.
Make the plant-based lifestyle work for you
Adopting a plant-based lifestyle that works for you in the long term is crucial.
It is much better to learn and practice plant-based concepts over a longer period of time than to have unrealistic short-term expectations only to give up entirely and quickly.
If you could not find healthy plant-based choices when you eat out, visit friends, or travel, do not stress. Stress creates the opposite effect of healthy living. Simply try to enjoy the moment and pick the next healthiest options where you can.
Final words
Embracing a primarily whole-food plant-based diet is one of the healthiest lifestyle choices we could ever make. It is also great for the planet, both in terms of slowing down climate change and improving animal welfare.
Our mission is to help anyone who wants to eat plant-based make healthier meals while also saving lots of money. This way you can end up absolutely loving it.
PS. If you are interested in protein-rich recipes that also save you money, you could check our meal planner app, Plantwise, on Apple App Store. It will help you reach your personal nutrition target with ease.