MEAL PLANNER

When you finally learned and trained yourself to eat the wholefood plant based way, it is imperative to maintain the consistency around the habits you inculcated with great patience and knowledge. It gets difficult to stick to the healthy eating structure once our busy lives take us places or keep us occupied day in and day out. The problem gets intensified, if you have kids at home who have different needs, taste preferences than adults and spend their days at school, usually surrounded by less healthier options.

As a mom juggling with life and kids, I chose to keep the eating part of my family’s life clean, organized, time saving, stress free. This planner that I sat to write helps with just the right shopping, reducing food waste, taking out the pressure of making a last minute meal or snack. Plus, I can take into perspective what each one of the family will prefer before laying out the weekly meal planner. Yes, it takes an hour of your time, but the week will glide by nicely with a solid plan. Next time, when I hear, ‘Mom’s what’s for dinner ( or snack or lunch..)’ , the answer doesn’t need much thought or even words (this planner can be on the fridge:)

Few things that can streamline the cooking process and let you spend less time in the kitchen are –

Pre cut onions and save in air tight container
Cut Carrots, celery into sticks and save in a jar with water in the fridge
The night before, think of your next day’s menu and spend 10 min on prep work including any cutting needed.
Have cut fruit in the fridge, makes filling those lunch/ snack boxes easy.
Have cooked beans ready in fridge
Have grains like quinoa, brown rice cooked and in the fridge for next day. (Bonus-Left over rice has more resistant starch, which is good for you)
Use generous herbs and lime/lemon- the combination wakes up most recipes and lunch will not be boring.

The plan below, can be our guide to pick the ingredients you want to base your week on with a good thought given to nutrition content, diversity of plants and, the recipes that you think are fast, simple and nourishing. Completely wholefood plant based, this planner will make weekly meals smart, sustainable and satisfying. Most of the recipes listed below in italics are clickable links and will take to you to a page where you can quickly get the details and instructions.

Feel free to substitute as you need, or add your own preferences at every step.

WEEKLY SHOPPING/INGREDIENT LIST

WHOLE GRAINS	LEGUMES	VEGGIES	PACKAGED	FRUITS	NUTS/ SEEDS
Quinoa	Moong dal	Cauliflower- fresh / frozen / riced	Tofu	Bananas	Walnuts
Brown rice	Chickpeas- canned	Big bag super greens / Romaine lettuce Herbs- cilantro, mint, basil	Brown rice noodles	Apples	Sliced almonds
Oats	Black eyed beans canned	Multi color bell peppers, Mini sweet peppers	Whole grain bread	Oranges/mandarins	Sesame seeds
	Edamame	Carrots	Whole grain tortillas	Mango	Chia/ hemp/ flax
		Celery	Rotis- premade if needed	Mixed berries	Dates
		Cucumbers	Whole grain pita	Avocado
		Cherry tomatoes		Pineapple
		Lemons/ lime
		Chilis/Jalapeno
		Onions

READY TO HAVE IN FRIDGE or BOUGHT PREMADE

Vegan ranch, Guacamole, Hummus, Roasted Red pepper spread, Orange chili sauce

RECIPES POSSIBLE WITH EACH INGREDIENT

TOFU	CHICK PEAS	QUINOA	CAULIFLOWER	CARROT	MOONG DAL
Tofu scramble	Chickpea toast /sandwich	Quinoa with stir-fries	Cauliflower peppers stir fry	Carrot moong dal stir fry	Greens and moong dal
Orange chili Tofu to add in noodles or salads	Chana masala	Quinoa black eyed beans soup	Riced cauliflower for as is or in tofu curry or in salads	Roasted carrot sandwich	Carrot moong dal stir fry
Oats tofu upma	Greens and chickpea mix for salads	Quinoa with salad	Cauliflower tofu curry	Snack / salad addition	Quinoa moong dal khichidi
Cauliflower tofu curry	Oats chickpea stew	Quinoa moong dal khichidi		Carrot edamame stir fry
Pineapple tofu quinoa	Hummus	Pineapple Tofu Quinoa

EDAMAME	RED PEPPER	GREENS	MINI-PEPPERS	BLACK EYED BEANS	OATS
Snack/ salad addition	Roasted red pepper spread for sandwich or tacos	Greens and Moong dal	Cauliflower peppers edamame stir fry	Quinoa black eyed beans soup	Oatmeal with berries
Carrot edamame stir fry	Salad addition	Salad with mixed veggies, legumes	Snack /Salad addition	Beans salad with veggies	Oat tofu upma
Cauliflower pepper edamame stir fry	Oats tofu upma	Greens go in every dish	Add in Oats tofu upma	Vegan ranch	Oats, nuts, seeds dates energy balls
				Tofu scramble, beans burrito or taco	Oats chickpea stew

FAMILY WEEKLY MEAL PLAN

DAY ->	MONDAY	TUESDAY
BREAKFAST	Oat meal with berries	Chickpea toast with red pepper spread
LUNCH	Quinoa with greens dal / fruit on side	Brown rice with cauliflower pepper edamame stir fry and fruit on side
DINNER	Carrot moong dal stir fry with roti with quick salad with greens, veggies, handful of nuts – ranch	Taco with red pepper spread, sauteed veggies, beans/chickpeas and quinoa
SNACKS	Fresh fruits/ veggies	Oats/ nuts energy ball/ fresh fruit veggies/hummus
PREP WORK FOR FOR NEXT DAY	Chickpeas and greens mixture, Hummus with chickpeas, Have cauliflower pepper stir fry done	Channa masala to be cooked, Tofu prep work

DAY ->	WEDNESDAY	THURSDAY	FRIDAY
BREAKFAST	Tofu scramble with beans veggies in a burrito with guac or just with veggies or on toast	Oats tofu upma with veggies	Blackeyed beans toast with guac
LUNCH	Roti or rice with Channa masala with carrot or cucumber on side	Orange chili tofu with brown rice noodles with fruit on side	Carrot edamame stir fry with rice or quinoa and fruit or celery /cucumber on side
DINNER	Quinoa blackeyed beans soup or Roasted carrot sandwich with red pepper spread Or Pineapple Tofu Quinoa	Quinoa khichidi or One pot oats chickpea stew	Cauliflower tofu curry with bread or wholegrains/ and left over produce as salad with vegan ranch
SNACKS	Edamame, Fresh fruit veggies mix	Oats/ nuts energy ball/ fresh fruit+veggies	Hummus with pita, fresh veggies and fruits
PREP WORK FOR NEXT DAY	Bake tofu, cook noodles, Cut veggies for upma,	Have guac ready Carrot edamame stir fry prep Rice or quinoa to be cooked Prep veggies for salad