Hey there, it's Gen and welcome back to my podcast nutrition for vegan families. Today, I want to talk to you about vegan meal plans and how you can strategically use meal plans to make your vegan diet so much easier for your family. So the first thing I want to talk about is really how often you have probably signed up for meal plans, or even for recipe books as well. And basically tried your hardest to follow these meal plans that have been advertised as the be all and end all and the ultimate vegan diet to follow and super easy and so convenient, and whatever. But you've ended up giving up on them because they actually make your life harder, not easier. Although I bet, you haven't actually realized that. And you've just felt guilty that you can't actually get your family to follow a meal plan. And then you'll see online, all of the reviews from people who go on about how life changing these meal plans were, and how amazing they were an easy to follow. And, again, you're just you feel more guilty and more inadequate, that you can actually make your family follow them. So today, I want to start out and say it's not you, it's them. It's not that there's anything wrong with you or that you're inadequate in any way, it's that those meal plans just weren't designed for you. So today, what I want to do is talk about why those meal plans don't work for you, and why you haven't been able to follow them. And then actually tell you what you need to be considering in order to put together some meal plans, or what you need to be considering when you look at signing up for some meal plans so that you can then use meal plans for your family, but they'll actually really be able to help you and make things easier. Let's talk about why your meal plans might not be working, or the ones that you signed up for in the past. So first off, one of the reasons might be that they weren't actually written by vegans. Now I know this sounds kind of crazy. But the thing is, non vegans really don't understand what vegans eat. For them. Basically, a vegan diet is just all the food they eat minus the meat and the dairy, but they don't understand that we eat in a completely different way to them. So I find that when you have read meal plans that are written by non vegans, they go one of two ways generally, either they go for Super obscure vegetable food like silver beet and toast you on millet that you have no idea where to actually find the ingredients for and no idea how to cook. And you've never really had before. And so you probably aren't going to even eat it to be honest. And the chance of your kids eating it is like zero. Or they just leave you to figure it out for yourself. I once signed up for a meal plan before I was a nutritionist, and it advertised itself as having vegan plans. So I signed up. And when I got in there, I actually discovered that the vegan plants were the omnivore plans. But the recipes all had a warning on them saying these may not be vegan ingredients, and you may need to find substitutes. So they didn't even put the time into put the substitutes in. They just told me I had to do it myself. And it took me hours to go through the the ingredient list the sorry, the shopping list each week and find substitutes for everything. And then it also took ages to actually make sure the recipes that I was using could have substitutes. Because some of them really, I mean, back then there weren't anywhere near as many vegan food substitutes. So a chicken breast recipe back then you really didn't have anything apart from just to pay some tofu, which I mean it did work but then they had a lot of steak recipes and he just back then there were no replacements for steak unless you wanted to sit there and make a seat and steak from scratch every night. Which Yeah, that's not gonna happen. So the first problem is if the recipes aren't actually written by a vegan, then they probably don't understand how to make substitutes. They might even not might not even bother to make the substitutes as I found, and they probably don't understand what recipes we actually eat. So if you discover that I would definitely say goodbye to those meal plans. The next thing is that the meal plans probably weren't written by busy parents. Unless you're a busy parent yourself. In this day and age, you have no idea what it's actually like for busy parents. So you can't make a meal plan that works for busy parents. I've seen so called family friendly meals in different meal plans, where the recipe took over an hour to put together and cook I think there was one which was a taco casserole or something, and it took a good 15 or 20 minutes to get all the casserole ingredients together. And then it took another 15 minutes to get the source made. And then I had to make a salsa on top of that, I just I don't have time to do that most weekday evenings. So the recipes that they have done might be simple and easy for someone with no kids, or a single person or even someone with older kids. But that doesn't mean that they're simple and easy for a busy parent with young kids. So make sure that you're factoring in that as well, when you're looking at your meal plans they need to be designed and actually family friendly. Now the final one is that maybe the meal plan, people just don't have kids. So they actually don't understand what you need to do to factor in kids tastes. Now you might be one of the super lucky, lucky parents whose kids will just eat anything you put in front of them. But I guarantee that not all of your kids are like that. I don't think I've ever met two kids who will eat all the same things. So the last thing you want to do is spend 30 to 40 minutes cooking dinner, and then discover that when it's all done, you actually have to make something separate for your kids because they won't eat what you've already made. I don't know how many times that happens. You're sweet potato and turnip hash casserole with three bean lime salsa is completely useless if you also have to make spaghetti bolognese afterwards so that your kids have something to eat. So how do you actually make a meal plan that will work for your family and make your life easier? Well, there are some things that you need to do that will make meal plans work. And I'm just going to go through those now. So what you need to do first is start with familiar recipes and ingredients. Now when I say familiar recipes, I'm not sitting here saying only use those five recipes that you've been using over and over again for the past six months, and your kids are so sick of that they burst into tears every time they say that that's what you're having for dinner. What I mean is stick with familiar kind of styles of foods. So if you have done lentil Bolognese to death, look for some different pasta recipes, like maybe just a tomato sauce with vegetables in it. Or you could do I've got a really good sun dried tomato and cashew sauce, or my kids love. One of the meals in my meal plans is a roasted capsicum and cashew sauce Minh. And it comes out this super like toxic orange color. It's crazy. For my kids love it because I tell them that it's toxic sludge on their on their pasture. So there are heaps and heaps of different sort of recipes. So have a look for some other things that are similar to what you're cooking but a little bit different. By the same token, if you're a real pasta and pizza Italian type style family, then bringing in a whole bunch of Mexican recipes is really not going to work. You can definitely sort of bring in one or two to try. But I really wouldn't recommend switching everything over immediately to completely different recipes because your kids are probably never going to have never actually seen you know tacos or whatever before if you've never really made them before. And they'll kind of look at them and be like oh my goodness What does this bring me back my lentil Bolognese. So yeah, really focus on either. W hen you're looking at the meal plans if you've signed up for one, look for recipes that are similar to the sorts of foods that you're already eating. Also make sure that there are ingredients that you're reasonably familiar with as well. And then make a list of those sort of recipes so that you can use them in your plans. I certainly don't say Don't try new recipes. But do those on the weekend or on evenings or sort of daytime, this isn't just limited to dinners, do those when you have more time and when you can actually be relaxed about it, because kids tend to try new things better when they're relaxed, and you will be able to make it better when you actually have some more time. So keep the familiar easy recipes for when you're busy. And don't have much time through the week, Also, make sure that you're also factoring in foods that your kids will actually eat. We all dream of the day when we will spend our time in the kitchen and put together a meal that just looks amazing and delicious. And our kids will come up and they will say, Mom, thanks for making such a delicious dinner, this looks amazing. And then they'll eat a whole lot. But unfortunately, that's just a fantasy. Really, it's never gonna happen. So what you need to do in order to make meal plans actually work for you is factor in what your kids will eat. For instance, my youngest won't ate bolognese sauce. So when we have tofu bolognese, we have moved on from lentil to tofu, Barney's. When we have it, he will have the spaghetti. And I will put a small amount of the source on the side. Now I go through sort of techniques like this in my course healthy vegan kids, which is my kids nutrition course that will be open next month. So I'll give you a lot more detail about that in that course, but for now, so I put a small amount of sauce on the side. And then I give him carrot and capsicum sticks and some hummus to have as well. So that means that he is still joining us for dinner, and still having the Bolognese. But he's actually getting a decent dinner as well, instead of the other option would be are sitting there fighting over trying to get him to make Bolognese and then him ending up having a peanut butter sandwich for dinner. Instead afterwards, which all that does is basically teach him to wait and then have have a peanut butter sandwich afterwards. And it's very demoralizing for me that he won't actually eat his dinner. And it's just not fun all round really. So when you're looking at your recipes, choose most of your recipes to be ones that your family will actually eat. Or if there are recipes that they won't eat, factor that factor that in. So my husband and I have been loving eating red curry lately, Thai red curry. And but my kids won't eat it. And I don't expect them too because it's quite complex, and it's spicy, and they're not up to that much spice yet. So I would actually rather enjoy my red curry than try to make them eat the red curry. So what I do on those nights is if we're having red curry, well, I will plan it for us and have a really nice and flavor some spicy. And I will make sure I have leftovers for my kids to have instead. So basically that means I just increased the serving size of one of the other meals through the week that I know that they'll eat. And then I really hate that for them. And then everyone's happy. So as well as thinking about what your kids will eat. Something else to look at is look realistically at what your week is like not only when I say that I don't just mean how much time you have available and where you eat your meals, but also think about how much energy you actually have through the week. So for me personally, I get to Thursday night and I'm just done. I do a lot of cooking. My husband and I kind of share dinners these days. But it used to be that I was cooking all of the family meals and doing extra cooking for on different blog recipes and other recipes. So I was cooking here, and I was just done by Thursday night. And we started having takeaway on Thursday nights. And that's something also make sure that you give yourself takeaway nights or eating out for dinner nights. But if you plan them, then it means that you actually can get good takeaway. Whereas I find, and this is what was happening to me on the Thursday nights is that when I was exhausted, we weren't going and actually having something nice for dinner, I was just looking up on UberEATS. And just finding the closest thing that offered something that was vaguely vegan, and just settling for that. And it was never good. Like, we don't have any restaurants around where I live that actually do decent vegan food. So I wasn't having good, nice food on the nights when I couldn't be bothered. And I was generally waking up the next morning, not feeling 100% Because I actually react to a lot of foods. Yeah, it just, I mean, it just wasn't fun. So what I did instead, was actually started planning my favorite foods on Thursday nights, often it would be sort of a bake, like, maybe there's like in the meal plan, there's a sausage and veg bake, which is so good because it's with gravy. And it makes it feels like a mini kind of baked dinner. But it's really easy to make. So I would put easy, but favorite meals on that Thursday night. Because you are so much more likely to eat a meal, if it's one of your favorites than if it's something like a red lentil doll or with rice or something like that's really not going to advertise you on the nights when you just don't feel like cooking. So that is how I've really take a notice of my energy levels. And I know that I don't have a lot of energy on a Thursday. So I don't put meals that take a lot of effort on a Thursday. Other things to consider, you know, where do you work? Do you work? Maybe you don't work? Maybe you're at home with the kids? How much time do you actually have to put together lunch. There's no point if you work in an office, putting in a lunch that takes a salad or something that takes half an hour to put together a home. Because you know, you probably don't have the facilities to do it in your office. Again, if you've got kids, and they're running around crazy, well, you don't want to be sitting there trying to chop up a gourmet lunch when you're trying to deal with them. If your kids go to school, do they need school lunches. Now I happen to have my vegan lunchbox vault as well, which gives you specific recipes for kids lunches in addition to the meal plans I'm going to talk about as well. But make sure that the recipes you've got actually go in meal plans, make sure that they're not free as well. And make sure that they're easy and quick to pack and meal plans so that you're not having to make like I've seen pictures of meal plan of lunchboxes sorry, where someone has got up and made an entire noodle dish in the morning to put into the lunch boxes. And I'm sorry, I do not have time to do that in the mornings. So make sure that those recipes work. What about breakfasts. So for me, I really am not good at breakfast, I am not a morning person. And I really don't do breakfast well at all I am at home. So I work from home. So it's not even that I don't have time. I could make a breakfast but I just don't. And I've found that in the mornings, I have to have something that is super, super simple and easy to grab and go. So one of my favorite recipes is my breakfast slice which I can make up and cut it up and just put it in the freezer. And I just grab it out of the freezer and I can just eat it. And it is so much easier. And it means that I actually get breakfast because if I don't eat breakfast, so I'm not one of these don't eat breakfast people. If I don't eat breakfast, I ended up having like cheese and cheese toasties for the whole day after lunch because I'm just craving carbs. But I need to have something but I really don't have the energy to do it. So I make sure that my meal plan is always always has a really easy meal to have in the mornings something I can just grab from the freezer so that I don't have to put any effort in. So really have a look and have a really really Stick look at your life and your lifestyle. And pick recipes that are going to fit in with your, with how much time you have. Okay, and my final tip that I've kind of alluded to in the last one, this is kind of a bonus one. On the nights when you really don't have time, and you know, you're going to be busy planning something really good for those nights, you are far more likely to eat something that you really like. And you're far more likely to put just that bit of effort into throw together something that's really good. On the nights when you have no energy than you are. If it's something that you really don't like the idea of, I guarantee that if you've just got boring meals in there, on your busy nights, when you don't have a lot of energy, you're gonna end up having takeaway or duck into the shop to buy a snit salon chips or something. Okay, so just to wrap up those tips. Again, first art, start with familiar recipes and ingredients. So make sure that they're if not the same recipes, but something similar to what you're used to eating and keep the new and exciting recipes for the weekend or when you have more time. Secondly, make sure you factor in what your kids actually eat there is they're part of your family. And there is no point trying to put together a meal plan when you know your kids just aren't going to eat it. That doesn't mean you have to just eat the foods that they eat. But if you're bringing in a recipe that is something that they're not likely to eat, then make sure you are also serving something that they will eat as well. As I've said before, I do teach this a lot more in my kids nutrition course next month. And finally make it work for your lifestyle. On the days when you're really busy. Give yourself super quick and easy meals. On the days when you have more time, well, then that's when you can start doing the recipes that take a little bit more time and effort to cook. Now, if you don't want to have to figure all of this out from scratch, I have actually put together a set of 12 weeks of family friendly meal plans. These meal plans have been written by a busy mum, me. So the recipes are mostly I mean, there are some recipes that take more effort for the days when you want to put more effort in. But the recipes are super quick, most of the recipes are 20 to 30 Minute Meals. But I also have a whole heap of no prep meals. So these meals are for those nights when you just cannot be bothered. And you just want to throw together something and just put it on the table and be done with it. So these recipes use freezer and pantry friendly ingredients so that you can basically have them on hand whenever I always recommend people pick the ingredients for one or two and just have them there for if something comes up. And they don't have time to cook whatever they were going to cook before. And you can just throw them together, as I said really quickly with things that you can just keep in the fridge, the freezer or the pantry for whenever you need them. They also have a category of sort of fakeaway meals for the nights when maybe you do feel like takeaway, but maybe you're in the same circumstances me where you don't have many decent takeaways around. So they're all meals that are really quick and easy to throw together as well. But they are vegan versions of some of the common takeaway things. Now they're not just in the plans. They're full plans. S o they've got breakfast lunches, dinners and snacks. And the recipes that are in there have got full nutrition breakdown so you know what nutrients you're getting from them. As a vegan nutritionist, I have put them together to make sure that they're optimized for the nutrients that vegans need. And you can see all of the different recipes and see that they're high in iron, the high end Zink the snack recipes are also high in energy because energy is really important for vegan kids. And finally, they're designed to be fully customizable to fit into your lifestyle. So you get the plans, but you also get 600 recipes in the index. So you can swap in any of the recipes in the index. If you don't like one of the recipes, it's there. You also have as I said, there's no During prep meals that you can put in for your super busy nights. And they're in an easy category in the index as well. They also come with weekend prep instructions so that you can spend an hour or two on the weekend and save so much time through the week, you'll end up with a lot of your snacks and lunches or in the freezer ready to go through the week and your meals will be cut down to about 10 minutes when you do all the prep stuff. So that's really helpful too for making sure that it's nice and easy for busy parents. So I will put the link for the meal plans down below so you can get some more information. I have also put a link for a free seven day plan that you can have a look at just to get an idea of what the recipe is like. It's not in the system though, so you don't have the customizability and stuff that you will have when you sign up for the full plans. So I hope that that that today's podcast has helped you get an idea of the things that you can do to really make meal plans work for you and to make your meals much quicker and easier and suit your family better. I will talk to you again soon.