Day 1: “Christina’s Carni-Light Challenge” Grocery Haul

Happy Monday and Day 1 of the “Carni-Light” Challenge! I semi-started yesterday, but today is the day I really start focusing on incorporating healthy, plant-based food and sticking to the goals that I outlined in my previous blog post,  Christina’s Carni-Light Challenge. Since this is a completely different way of eating for me, I took a few steps to ensure that I’m consuming a well-balanced diet. I blocked off time to gather a bunch of recipes that I could use during the week. I watched youtube videos, read other plant-based blogs, and scoured Pintrest, finding as many resources as I could. From my research and prior knowledge, I created a “meal plan” for week 1. I know meal planning can seem a bit daunting, but it’s really, really important, especially when starting something new. When everything is planned out, you’re less likely to panic because “you don’t have anything to eat and you’re starving,” you actually SAVE money on your weekly grocery list by limiting what you’re purchasing to necessities, and you save time during the week by not having to spend hours figuring out what you’re going to eat. I’d call all of that a win.

Here are a few things I consider when meal-planning for the week: 

1. What does my schedule look like? For example, every Tuesday I have to drive 1.5 to another office location, so my time in the morning is a lot more limited and I don’t have the convenience of being able to stop at home on my lunch break. Therefore, I need to make sure I have fast and easily portable meals.
2. What do I already have in the house? Matt (my husband) and I already have things like black beans, rice, and oats which we typically buy in bulk. We also have a ton of frozen vegetables and staple pantry items. As a cost saving strategy, I try to include as many of those items as possible.
3. How can I adapt dinner-time meals to suit my plant-based approach? My husband is NOT plant-based, but having dinner together every night is something that’s really important to us. So, instead of sacrificing that or trying to create two completely different dinners, I put some effort into considering how I’d be able to “veganize” our dinner.
4. And then there’s that whole macronutrient thing. This was a biggie, as it can be a little more difficult to hit your protein goals when you aren’t consuming animal proteins. Most of my protein will come from chickpeas, beans, whole grains, and Sunwarrior vegan protein powder. I’m opting to include vegetables that are higher in protein, like spinach and I’m specifically choosing to use peanut butter because it contains the most protein/serving of all nut butters. Again, my goals are specific to me and my lifestyle. It’s important to understand what your individual needs are.

So what did my grocery list look like?

• Whole Grain Bread (I bought Natures Own Whole Grain bread)
• 3 Avocados
• 3 Cans of Chickpeas
• Tomato
• Mini-Cukes
• Peppers
• Lemons
• Ginger
• Unsweetened Vanilla Coconut Yogurt
• Hummus
• Carrots
• Almonds
• Lettuce
• Spinach
• Fresh Salsa
• Sunwarrior Protein Powder (Ordered from Amazon)
• Vitamin Water Zero
• Seaweed Snack
• Corn
• Stevia

Items I already had:

• Brown Rice
• Mustard
• Coffee
• Cashew Milk
• Frozen Broccoli and Brussel Sprouts
• Black Beans
• Oats
• Peanut Butter
• Onions

  

  We also bought some whole grain pizza dough for our Sunday dinner. My husband left a portion of this thin crust dream dairy-free for me 🙂 Super easy: Red peppers, onions, Italian seasoning, whole-grain pizza dough, and a tiny bit of oil to grease the pan. 

Wondering what fantastic pieces of plant-based amazingness I’m going to make with these ingredients? Stay tuned for the next blog post 🙂