What my Entire Plant-Based Family Eats in a Day
I’ve written quite a few blog posts about what my girls, Baby V and Baby L eat in a day, but today I want to show you how what they eats fits into the larger picture of what our whole family eats. I’m a firm believer in not cooking multiple meals at once to cater to the individual tastes of each family member (because who has time for that!?), so today we’re going to take a look at how I feed my family without driving myself nuts!
What My Plant-Based-ish Husband Eats
First, let’s chat about my husband Ross for a minute. If you follow along with me on Instagram, you may have heard that Ross decided to go 100% vegan for the month of January. Wait Ilene, your husband isn’t already vegan?? Scandal!
Some folks were actually surprised to find out that Ross wasn’t already vegan (it was never a secret- he just very rarely eats non-vegan food so it doesn’t come up that much!) and people have had many questions about how that works in our marriage and if it upsets me, etc., so I thought I’d share a little about Ross’s food journey first.
When Ross and I first met almost 8 years ago, he very much lived a stereotypical bachelor lifestyle when it came to food. He had cereal for breakfast, often forgot to eat lunch, and frequented the burrito cart around the corner from his apartment for dinner multiple times a week. Even though he wasn’t used to a lot of the food I ate, (like macro bowls, green smoothies, nut-based began cheese, etc.) he loved going to different vegan restaurants on our dates and trying new things, and he was always so grateful to have homemade meal when I cooked (LOL!). He always had a big appetite and pretty much ate happily whatever was in front of him. He hardly even asked what the different ingredients were, and I quickly learned he was the least picky person on the planet- something that did not serve me well when I wanted to use him as a recipe tester for my cookbooks years later.
As much as food, particularly plant-based food, was such a huge part of my life, it really was never an issue in our relationship. When we moved in together and I started cooking more and more of Ross’s meals, he began talking about how much better he felt eating so many veggies and how he couldn’t believe how much processed food he used to eat. Of course, this truly thrilled me!
We had conversations about my reasons for not eating animal products (sustainability, animal welfare, health) but I intentionally never tried to push my reasons on him- that’s not good for any relationship.
He never declared that he was going to “go vegan”, but as time went on, he simply ate less and less meat and dairy, and more and more plants. Plus, he discovered a real love of veggie burgers and faux meats. Even though he would still occasionally order fish at a restaurant, take a bit of someone’s cheese fries or eat a non-vegan cookie if someone brought them to his office, by the time we got married in 2015, Ross considered his diet about 99% plant-based.
Vegan January
This past December, Ross decided that he wanted to experiment with eating 100% vegan for the month of January (Veganuary!). I wish I had more of a dramatic description of his month, but honestly he already ate so few non-vegan foods, that very little was actually different. I had little chuckle to myself because he made a really big deal out of it, while I was a little confused about what was actually going to be that different for him!
The biggest thing that came up was his coffee creamer. Ross has always used dairy half and half in his coffee and has never felt like the nondairy creamers that we’ve tried have been good enough. During the month of January, we tried a few different creamers but sadly we didn’t find one that he loves- yet! It seems like there are new vegan “dairy” products coming out everyday so I’m sure we’ll find his perfect creamer soon. For now, we’re a week into February and he’s still using the Califia Farms nondairy creamer that I like, so thus far he has not gone back to dairy.
The other issue (and I use the word “issue” very loosely because this is a major champagne problem) he encountered was his afternoon snack at work. His office has a snack room with some healthy and some not-so-healthy snacks, and every afternoon he grabs a cup of tea and a handful of M&M’s from the snack room. He made a really big deal out of missing his chocolate snack the first day of Veganuary, but then I came home the dark chocolate crispy gems …and problem solved!
Once the month ended, Ross didn’t run to the nearest steakhouse like some friends joked that he might. He realized that his Veganuary experiment actually wasn’t all that different from his regular life (ha!) but moving forward he plans to be more mindful about little things adding up to having a big impact, like his daily M&M’s.
What Our Plant-Based Family Eats in a Day
I’ve said this before, and I’ll continue to say it again until parents stop driving themselves crazy catering to everyone in their family- I do not believe in cooking multiple meals at once to cater to the individual tastes of each family member. There is no parent out there who has the time for that! If you’re thinking that’s easier said than done, I dive deep into my strategies for how to raise colorful eaters in my program, Colorful Kids.
At the time of writing this, Baby V is 3.5 years old and Baby L is 13 months old. Below, I’m sharing what a typical weekday and typical weekend day of food looks like for us. Everyone’s individual needs and tastes are different, but my hope in sharing this is that it may give you some food ideas if cooking for your family is feels like a struggle.
Typical weekday:
Breakfast: Oatmeal with seasonal toppings (fruit, nut butter, non-dairy yogurt, granola, raisins, etc.)
We’ve established a routine where Ross starts a pot of oatmeal as soon as he wakes up in the morning. Oatmeal and PB & J’s are pretty much the only two foods he knows how to make, but having him take care of breakfast on weekdays has been really major for me, since I often spend my entire workday cooking on top of making all of our other meals. Once the oatmeal is ready, Baby V helps him add the toppings to each bowl, which is a really cute bonding moment and morning routine for them.
Lunch: Since the girls are off to school and daycare, Ross is off to work at his office, and I work from home, we don’t usually all eat the same thing for lunch. You can see these examples of what I usually pack in the girl’s lunchboxes. Before Baby L was born, I used to pack a sandwich with hummus and carrots (or something similar) for Ross, but we’ve been struggling to find enough time in the mornings lately so he usually buys something near his office (but it’s our goal to start packing his lunch again!). My lunch can really vary from leftovers from the previous night’s dinner, to a dish I may be recipe testing that day, but my favorite easy lunch is always a macro bowl since I usually have all the ingredients ready in the fridge.
After school snack: Seasonal fruit, smoothies, apples with peanut butter, avocado toast, carrots and hummus, crispy chickpeas, or an energy homemade bar or ball like this carrot cake ball recipe.
Dinner: On weeknights, we usually eat meals that can either be prepare in advance or take very little time to make. You can find all of our favorite seasonal meals in The Colorful Family Table (ps-I wrote a whole book about what my family eats!), plus here are some of our favorite dinners that I’ve posted on the blog:
- Crockpot Chili
- Sweet Potato Mac n’ Cheese (I usually make a triple batch of the sauce to freeze so I can put it together quickly)
- Creamy Tahini Sweet Potato Stew (I’ll let this simmer on the stove earlier in the day while I’m working, then easily reheat for dinner)
- Easy Fresh & Savory Pasta (ready in under 20 minutes!)
- Kabocha Squash & Lentil Stew
Desert: Baby V will sometimes ask for “something sweet” after dinner, which may be a few chocolate chips (she thinks 2-3 chocolate chips is a major treat, haha!), some fruit or maybe cookies we baked together. It’s my goal to help her establish a healthy, empowered relationship with food, and part of that has been showing her how desserts can fit into our lives as a normal food. I try to keep food neutral, so nothing is “good” or “bad”, giving her space to listen to her body and learn how to eat the foods that make her feel her best. I have SO much more to say on this topic, and go much further into how to do this in Colorful Kids.
Want even more recipes? Click here to get my ebook, Toddler-Approved! Ideas for Breakfast, Lunch & Dinner, for free!
Typical Weekend Day:
Breakfast: I usually make a fun brunchy breakfast like pancakes, waffles or tofu scramble.
Lunch: More often than not, it’s some kind type of sandwich. Eggplant “Bacon”, Chipotle “Chicken” and Balsamic Sweet Potato Grilled Cheese are a few of our favorites. We also often eat the Tofu “Egg” Salad Sandwich from The Colorful Family Table because it’s so quick to throw together. At this moment, since the girls go to sleep so early, we’re more likely to take the girls out to a restaurant for lunch than dinner, so we usually do that once a weekend.
Afternoon snack: Usually the same ideas as listed in “afternoon snacks” but we are often out and about at this time and may pick up smoothies or baked goods somewhere fun.
Dinner: If we’re home in the afternoon, I might make something that has a little longer prep time, like Creamy Coconut Polenta or Biscuit-Topped Veggie Casserole. We also have a lot of fun making pizza and letting the girls help with the toppings.
Dessert: I love baking with Baby V, and we’ll usually find time to make a batch of cookies (like these Chickpea Chocolate Chip Cookies), or a no-bake, low-sugar treat like Tahini Fudge Crispies or Pumpkin Pie Bites.
This is just a small peek into some of our family’s favorite meals, but my latest cookbook, The Colorful Family Table, is loaded with 100 family-favorite, plant-based recipes!
Introducing Colorful Kids!
I know that finding and preparing plant-based recipes is only half the struggle when it comes to getting more colorful plants onto your family’s table. I created the upcoming program Colorful Kids, to share straightforward strategies that will make mealtimes easier and help you help your little ones establish a healthy, empowered relationship with real food.
This course is designed for busy mamas, so it cuts right to the chase with short audio chapters (perfect for listening to in the car or on a stroller walk), printable cheat sheets and recipe booklets. Enrollment is now open!
