This easy one-week plant-based meal plan offers a way to stay healthy when you don't have a lot of time to cook.
Update:
This is a simple meal plan I created a couple of years ago. If you are looking for additional support and guidance, I encourage you to check out my 2020 Plant-Based Meal Plan series.
Easy One-Week Plant-Based Meal Plan
The recipes in this easy one-week plant-based meal plan are quick to prepare and feature simple ingredients. [ps2id id='easy-meal-plan' target=''/]
Sunday
- Breakfast: Chickpea Flour Scramble
- Lunch: Perfect Salad or leftovers
- Dinner: Rice-Cooker Pasta
Monday
- Breakfast: Oatmeal Mix
- Lunch: Greek Sandwich Wrap or leftovers
- Dinner: Mushroom Quinoa Soup
Tuesday
- Breakfast: Superfood Smoothie
- Lunch: Perfect Salad or leftovers
- Dinner: Black Bean Mango Buckwheat Salad
Wednesday
- Breakfast: Pumpkin Oats
- Lunch: Black Bean Wrap or leftovers
- Dinner: Minestrone
Thursday
- Breakfast: Chia Seed Pudding
- Lunch: Perfect Salad or leftovers
- Dinner: Pumpkin Quinoa Burgers
Friday
- Breakfast: Oatmeal Mix
- Lunch: Turmeric White Bean Cucumber Sandwich or leftovers
- Dinner: Rice and Beans
Saturday
- Breakfast: Instant Pot Buckwheat Porridge
- Lunch: Perfect Salad or leftovers
- Dinner: Slow Cooker Lentil Soup
Snacks
While I did not include snacks in the daily menus, I often need a three p.m. pick-me-up. The treats I usually reach for include:
- Fresh fruit
- Dark chocolate covered raisins
- Energy bites
Also, you may have noticed lunch offers some flexibility. All of the dinner recipes shared in this plan hold up well as a packed lunch. Make extra helpings when you prepare dinner and you'll be one meal ahead. If you work outside the home, you can even pack your lunch the night before!
Plant-Based Meal Planning Tips
Here is some additional information to help you take the next step and begin to develop your own meal plans:
- Plant-Based Grocery List
- Plant-Based Meal Planning Guide - Part 1
- Basic Plant-Based Meal Plan (Plant-Based Meal Planning Guide - Part 2)
I hope you found this information helpful. I welcome questions and comments.
Linda Erts
Hi Margaret, Thanks so very much for making the one week plant based meal planner! This is just awesome for someone like me who is trying to eat less meat but becomes perplexed as in what to make? I've been looking at the recipes and there are some I'm definitely going to put in the meal rotation. I'm planning on first trying the oatmeal mix. I also like my cereal with some chew and crunch so this looks like a good option to try. Never thought about not cooking the oatmeal. I've made the slow cooker lentil soup and it's very good, a keeper for our family. The perfect salad recipe really is perfect and making the ingredients in small bites does make a difference!
So thank you again for these recipes in a weekly format, I can't wait to try them.
Margaret
Great! Glad you found this information useful Linda! 🙂 I love my morning oatmeal. I let it sit for about 15 or so minutes - while I do my morning stretches - which I find gives it a nice balance between a creamy and chewy consistency.
Heidi
Love this, thank you! I manage to miss seeing the Tumeric White Bean until today, that's on my to do list for this evening. Yum!!!!
Margaret
Hi Heidi - so glad you found this post helpful! 🙂 Hope you like the Tumeric White Bean Spread!
jessica
Hello, do you have a shopping list for this meal plan?
Margaret
Hi Jessica - I don't have a shopping list for this particular meal plan - although that's a good idea. I will try to update the post to include one in the near future. In the meantime, my Plant-Based Grocery List article explains how to stock your kitchen so you can easily prepare meals very much like the meals featured in this one week plan. Thanks for asking!
Jessica
Thanks for getting back to me so quickly! I will check it out!!
Ruth Butler
Great meal ideas
Margaret
Glad you found it helpful!
Rhonda Holmes
Hi Margaret, what a professional and helpful website, thank you so much. I wondered if you're concerned about the higher arsenic levels in brown rice. I know soaking it helps, but I'm that lazy cook, too!
Margaret
Hi Rhonda - thank you for your kind words! I have become more mindful of the amount of rice I eat because of the concern with arsenic levels. For example, I've always preferred rice milk because it's one of the few plant milks that does not contain any thickening agents. But I've started to make my own cashew milk instead (it's one of the easier plant milks to make.) Also, I try to buy the Lundberg brand of rice because they tend to have lower levels of arsenic.