Plant-Based Minimal Meal Plan for Families
I’ll be honest. The past couple of weeks month + of starting up school again [3 kids remote + 2 active kids too young for school] has given me a run for my money.
Getting back into a school routine has been a lot more challenging than in the spring, and we’ve got an 18 month old who’s become an expert in climbing, writing, throwing and making messes faster than I can clean them up.
Add roseola making that toddler ultra cranky, replacing my oven and a handful of other adventures and getting food on the table has become much harder than usual.
We ALL have these seasons when life, health challenges or all of the above leave us feeling like we have very little bandwidth for anything else. Understandably, it seems like a good time to revert to convenience food in whatever form is most appealing to you: the drive-thru, frozen lasagna, or breakfast cereal for dinner.
And while I am ALL ABOUT finding ways to simplify our lives, we don’t have to be stuck with choosing between healthy OR convenient.
The challenging seasons of life are when our body most needs the extra nourishment! Added stress means our bodies need the right fuel more than ever to keep our minds clear, our immune systems strong and our energy up.
Did you know that each serving of fruits and vegetables per day (up to 8 servings!) was found to have an incremental increase in one’s happiness as well as their curiosity, energy and creativity?
Who couldn’t use more happiness, curiosity, energy or creativity when you’re in a season of illness, stress, or overwhelm? 1
Further, a collection of studies have shown again and again that a plant-based diet is a powerful way to improve mood and productivity in as little as two weeks. This video explains it well, but the bottom line is that eating plants has tremendous potential to give us a huge boost of energy and mental clarity.
The best news? Those who were eating whole foods, plant-based diets had greater satisfaction with the foods they were eating than those who weren’t, so healthy eating wasn’t the torture we sometimes picture.
I know what it feels like to think you just don’t have the bandwidth to make healthy food happen. When life feels overwhelming, it’s often one of the first things to go.
But I’ve come to learn that it really doesn’t have to take much, if any more time and effort than other convenience foods we’re used to and the payoff is huge.
The really hard part is to retrain our brain. We have neural pathways that default to our easy meals and it can be really hard to think of anything new or different.
Putting in the effort to consider and implement better options can pay off big as we support our bodies to avoid and overcome illness and increase energy, happiness and creativity. We don’t have to be perfect either. Many studies have shown that incremental improvements in eating bring about incremental improvements in health. So just do what you can, and with time it will get easier and easier. Perfectionism is the perfect way to derail any goal or aspiration!
The best way I’ve found to make sure we keep eating relatively well when the going gets tough is to rely on a Minimal Meal Plan. I’ve been inspired by the minimalist approaches described by livefreecreative.co and the Minimal Mom.
These gals keep things simple by cycling through a short list of their family’s favorite recipes most nights. If I did that, I’d run out of recipes to share with you pretty quickly ☺.
But I do have a short list of easy recipes that I can pull out anytime I need a quick and easy meal. I keep my freezer and pantry stocked with items to make these, so I always know I have something quick and easy to fall back on.
I’ve found I can make these meals in less time and a whole lot less money than eating out, not to mention nourish us all at the same time.
Here are my plant-based minimalist recipes:
Go-to Stir Fry
Broccoli Soup
BBQ Lentils
Smoothie Bowls (top with granola and fruit)
Miracle Lasagna
Minestrone Dump Soup
Speedy Taco Filling
Easiest Ever Salad
Grab all the recipes here:
I also asked my Facebook friends for their favorites:
Taco Salad
Veggie Burgers
Veggie Tray with DIY sandwiches
Chili over rice, noodles, etc.
Simple Enchiladas (tortillas, beans, sauce in the oven or microwave)
Breakfast for dinner
Stir Fry
Set out finger foods to build your own meal
What are yours?
These are just a few of the simple and straightforward meals we fall back on again and again. Tweak them to make them your own and I hope you’ll find a few that become staples in your kitchen as well.
