January the 1st 2020. And many of you are *hopefully* comitting to veganuary… or maybe you have just decided to eat more plantbased and are looking for some meal inspiration…. well then, here are 31 lunch or dinner ideas you can try making or incoporating into your weekly diet!

When you first start eating plantbased you may find it hard to know what to eat and you end up just eating salad, or you take away the meat and dairy but don’t replace it with anything so you end up unsatisfied, hungry and get cravings.

So my best tip is to 1) Remember to substitute what you take away. I.e switch dairy products for non dairy alternatives. And if you take away the meat or fish on your plate, don’t just take it away or substitute with more potatoes. Instead substitute it with tofu, tempeh, beans, soya products or something else that gives you protein.

Another tip is to write down all your favourite meals and find a way to veganize them. Now a days the majority of dishes can be veganized in one way or another. Though of course, you do have to be prepared for the fact that the dish won’t taste exactly the same. So some prefer to note veganize and isntead just recreate new vegan dishes which don’t try to replicate a non vegan dish.

I would suggest you write down a bunch of different meal ideas or recipes you want to try or try to recreate and have that as a back up for when you don’t know what to cook or eat. A good idea is also to have the list on your phone for the days you are tired and hungry and need to quickly shop for food.

Invest in some cookbooks or follow a bunch of vegan recipe creators online (such as myself 😉 Instagram: itsahealthylifestyle)

Also, here is a post with some good staple foods to always have at home &what’s in my fridge/freezer

And for more inspiration or cooking videos, you can follow me on my Youtube channel – IzzyM

Meal ideas

• Tofu “fish” and chips
• Green pea pesto pasta
• Beetroot hummus pasta
• Falafel (falafel, beetroot falafel, sundried tomato,sweet potato falafel) with rice, tahini, cucumber, tomatoes and pita bread or make a falafel bowl

*click the picture for the name of the dish*

• Tofu and vegetable skewers with peanut butter sauce
• Cauliflower wings – breaded/bbq/buffalo/sesame
• Vegetable pasta bake
• One pot taco pasta
• Tofu butter chicken

• Taco pie
• Green kale and tofu pie
• BBQ chickwheat with roasted vegetables
• 3 bean sweet potato and lentil chilli
• Sweet potato and peanutbutter stew
• Sweet potato crust pizza

• Tofu scramble with roast potatoes
• Chickpea pancakes – fill your favourite veggies and some sauce such as hummus,guacamole, salsa
• Red lentil and carrot soup with naan bread

• Eggplant schnitzel with brown rice or roasted potatoes
• Stuffed eggplant with quinoa and beans
• Chickpea buffalo salad, chickpea “tuna” salad, Tofu “egg” salad, Vegan chicken salad
• Quinoa chilli

• Vegan pasta carbonara with seitan bacon and peas
• Red lentil and vegetable lasagne
• Vegan orange ch*cken/chickwheat with rice and broccoli
• Broccoli, tofu and red lentil curry with brown rice, cashews and lime
• Vegetable & tomato casserole with garlic bread

• Roasted vegetable pasta with vegan meatballs
• Green pea burgers with roasted root vegetables and tzatziki
• Vegan “meat” stew with mashed potatoes
• Rice paper rolls

There you have many different dishes you can try out 🙂 I have plenty more recipes you can search for on my blog. Also a whole bunch of breakfast, snacks and desserts which you can check out.

So now it is just to get cooking and try different recipes, see what you like and what you don’t like!

If you try any of these recipes, let me know in the comments down below or on my Instagram (itsahealthylifestyle)