Looking for vegan meal plans for beginners? Ready to get healthy, lose weight and feel great? In this post I share the five vegan meal plans for beginners that are perfect for anyone looking to lose weight permanently, as well as improve your immune system and overall well being.
What is a vegan meal plan?
A vegan meal planner is an app or a website makes it easy to plan, shop and prepare healthy vegan meals for beginners all throughout the week. You can easily make your own meal plans, however if you are just getting started on a vegan diet, you may want some assistance from professionals who specialize in plant-based diet and nutrition. This is why I created this list of five vegan meal plans for beginners to give you a quick run through of your options.
Why choose a vegan meal plan for beginners?
A vegan diet, also known as a plant-based diet, is proven to drive weight loss, improve immune system function, as well as help reverse and prevent most of the most common diseases that cause the majority of deaths each year.
Why choose a vegan meal plan for weight loss?
A low-fat whole food, plant-based vegan diet is a proven permanent weight loss diet. Here’s more from the Physicians Committee for Responsible Medicine on why they promote a vegan diet as a permanent weight loss diet:
Plant-based diets can help you lose weight and keep it off because they are packed with fiber, which helps fill you up, without adding extra calories. Aim for 40 grams of fiber a day, which is easy to do when you move vegetables, fruits, whole grains, and beans to the center of your plate.
By skipping meat, cheese, and eggs and limiting oils, you’re also removing a significant amount of fat from your diet. This helps keep the pounds off, because 1 gram of fat—from beef, fish, or oil—has 9 calories. Compare that to 1 gram of carbohydrate from potatoes, bread, or beans, which has only 4 calories—fewer than half of the calories found in 1 gram of fat.
Big list of vegan meal plans for beginners
Below is a big list of meal plans and meal planners that focus on helping beginners embark on a plant-based diet. They also focus on oil-free, low-fat, whole food cooking and nutrition.
Meal Planner
A meal planner is a tool that helps you plan your own weekly meals. This tool is a template that you fill in with your favorite dishes and ingredients. Create your own menu and shopping list based on ingredients you already have on hand.
Why use a vegan meal planner?
Using a meal planner is great if you’re a beginner plant-based cook. Most meal planners include animal products in their grocery shopping lists. This is undesirable if you’re planning vegan meals because these ingredients are not part of a vegan diet.
Using a meal planner that follows the diet you enjoy makes it easy to plan a healthy, plant-based diet and stick to a weight loss diet. It also helps spark your imagination and gives you guidelines to follow so you stay motivated.
Easy Vegan Meal Planner™
Ready to plan your vegan meals? This simple, four step meal planning system is easy to follow and will help take the stress out of meal prep.
Learn more about the Easy Vegan Meal Planner™ >
Vegan meal planner for weight loss
This meal planning system can also be used as a vegan meal planner for weight loss. This system was created to follow a whole food, plant-based diet (WFPB) which is also known as a weight loss diet. The meal planner follows the Daily Dozen by Dr. Michael Gregor as well.
I’ve created, what I think is, the best vegan meal planning system using PDF printable and spreadsheet templates. This easy-to-use vegan meal planning system can be used on any device and can be printed with minimal ink for handwriting your meal plan. And, it’s just $19.95 – instant download.
Why pay for weekly or monthly meal plans when you can create your own using templates? This system helps you can create healthy and delicious meal plans that fit your food budget and meet your nutrition goals.
A meal planner is great for:
- Weight loss meal planning
- Vegan meal planning
- Diet meal planning
- Plant-based meal prepping
- Menu planning
- Meeting your nutrition goals
- Ensuring your are eating enough food throughout the week
- Staying inspired
- Creating a weekly meal plan
Learn more about the Easy Vegan Meal Planner™ >
Meal Plans
Meal plans are pre-made weekly or monthly menus that are sent to your inbox or device. Some are PDF format, and some are app-based. Some allow modifications to the menu, some do not.
Forks Over Knives Vegan Meal Plans
You may be familiar with the Forks Over Knives documentary (which can be watched on Netflix). If you aren’t familiar, here’s a brief synopsis from their website:
Forks Over Knives examines the profound claim that most, if not all, of the chronic diseases that afflict us can be controlled or even reversed by rejecting animal-based and processed foods.
The major storyline traces the personal journeys of Dr. T. Colin Campbell, a nutritional biochemist from Cornell University, and Dr. Caldwell Esselstyn, a former top surgeon at the world-renowned Cleveland Clinic. On separate paths, their discoveries and groundbreaking research led them to the same startling conclusion: Chronic diseases including heart disease and type 2 diabetes can almost always be prevented—and in many cases reversed—by adopting a whole-food, plant-based diet.
Now, you can eat the Forks Over Knives way in the comfort of your own home with their affordable and easy-to-use vegetarian weight loss meal plans. Here’s a quick list of the benefits of using the Forks Over Knives meal plans quoted from their website:
- Vegan meal planning made easy – With weekly meal plans, Forks Meal Planner takes the hard work out of making delicious whole-food, plant-based meals the whole family will enjoy.
- No more ‘what’s for dinner?’ – Our team of chefs create personalized meal plans for you every week with delicious recipes that will be on the table in 35 minutes or less.
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Every meal plan can be customized to suit your needs for the week.
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Every recipe is 100% plant-based and designed to appeal to the whole family – A whole-food, plant-based diet has been shown to prevent or even reverse chronic conditions such as high cholesterol, heart disease, and type 2 diabetes.
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Save time with weekend prep! – Your weekend prep guide helps you save time and money by letting you know which items you can batch cook ahead of time and refrigerate or freeze for future meals.
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Flexible – Every plan can be customized with hundreds more recipes you can swap in anytime.
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Simple, affordable pricing – Members save an average of 20 hours meal planning and grocery shopping per month, all for less than the cost of a take out meal!
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Forks Meal Planner can be accessed on any device – Open your grocery list at the store on your mobile device and check off items as you shop. You can also print recipes, weekend prep guides, and grocery lists with ease.Community Support – Draw on the community for support, success stories, tips, and lots of inspiration.
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Intolerances supported – The meal planner is customizable to support diets free of nuts, soy, and gluten.
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Get meal plans starting at just $2.30/week – Try your first meal plan, for free! No credit card required, try a plan for 30 days. Full access starts at just $2.30 per week.
Physicians Committee for Responsible Medicine 21-day Kickstart
The Physicians Committee for Responsible Medicine is one of the leaders in evidence-based nutrition. Founded in 1985 by Dr. Neal Barnard, this organization has been offering plant-based cooking classes, literature and videos for decades. Their synopsis is that a low-fat, whole food, plant-based diet is the best diet for permanent weight loss. I am a former cooking instructor for PCRM “Food For Life” program and encourage all of my readers to review the PCRM website, and try out their free 21-day Kickstart program. Here’s what they have to say about this vegetarian meal plan:
Join the Physicians Committee’s 21-Day Vegan Kickstart to receive meal plans, recipes, and advice from nutrition experts.
The 21-Day Vegan Kickstart is supported by decades of research showing that a plant-based diet can help you reach a healthy weight and lower your risk for heart disease, type 2 diabetes, and other chronic diseases. Our low-fat plant-based recipes, developed by chefs, dietitians, and experts in vegan cuisine, provide nutritious meals that are both healthy and delicious. Within 21 days you will start to see results and won’t look back!
A plant-based diet, full of fruits, vegetables, whole grains, and legumes, is a powerful way to achieve good health.
These foods are low in saturated fat, free of cholesterol, and packed with vitamins, minerals, phytochemicals, and fiber. People who eat a plant-based diet lower their risk for heart disease, type 2 diabetes, obesity, and many other health conditions.
Join the 21-Day Kickstart >
In addition to the PCRM 21-Day Kickstart, you can also read their Vegetarian Start Kit for free, or purchase a printed booklet by visiting Physicians Committee Shop.
Engine 2 Plant-Strong Meal Planner
The Engine 2 Diet was created by Rip Esselstyn, son of world renowned heart doctor Dr. Caldwell Esselstyn. This meal plan focuses on health, wellness and delicious, hearty plant-based meals that are great for men, women, children and those who are looking to lose weight on a vegetarian diet. Here’s what the creators say about the Engine 2 Plant-Strong Meal Planner:
Whether you’re following the Seven-Day Rescue Challenge or the traditional Engine 2 Diet, The Plant-Strong Meal Planner makes it easy! In a few simple steps, you can plan, shop and cook 100% plant-strong meals that satisfy your whole family and fit your lifestyle. Our guidelines are based on the groundbreaking work of Dr. Caldwell B. Esselstyn, Jr., and we’re here to support you in achieving your goals!
After you take a personalization quiz, we recommend plant-strong recipes that we think you’ll love. Choose meals you’d like to try, and we create a handy grocery list for you that you can edit, print and shop with on your phone — or even get groceries delivered.
Get a fresh selection of personalized recipes every day, create as many menus and grocery lists as you want, automatically double recipes for leftovers, adjust the number of servings on each recipe to accommodate guests, print grocery lists and recipes, chat with a friendly expert 7 days a week, see full nutritional analysis, receive exclusive E2 tips via email and more for $14/month or $99/year. (That’s only $1.90/week!)
Learn more about the Engine 2 Plant-Strong Meal Planner >
Weight Watchers (WW)
In recent years, Weight Watchers (also known as WW) has embraced the vegan diet and now includes a vegan meal plan option for its members. Here’s what they have to say about their vegan diet plans for weight loss:
On WW, you can enjoy a plant-based diet and never go hungry! Need proof that the program’s vegan recipes deliver? Below you’ll find a day’s worth of food—including breakfast, lunch, dinner, and snacks—that will fill you up, fuel your day, and keep you on track to reach your goals.
How myWW by WW (Weight Watchers reimagined) works:
- When you join, you’ll unlock a personal assessment that gets to know your eating habits, food preferences, lifestyle, and activity level.
- Based on your answers, we’ll scientifically match you with a color (Blue, Green, and Purple) that guides you toward food choices geared for your goals.
- Your WW app will be personalized with your food and activity tracker, Connect groups, FitPoints®, and more.
- Get the structure you need – You’ll get a plan that’s so customized and flexible, you can reach your goals and stay on track.
- Eat smarter with a daily SmartPoints® Budget – Our science-based SmartPoints system is personalized for your age, height, weight, and sex to help you lose weight and build healthy habits from home.
- Access support anytime – The award-winning WW app and expert-led weekly Workshops provide practical, easy-to-use tools and techniques to help along the way.
Learn more about vegan meal plans at Weight Watchers >
Further reading:
- Easy Vegan Meal Planner™ {Instant download}
- Easy Vegan Meals for Kids [PDF printable recipes]
- Why oil-free? Learn why you should eliminate added oils from your diet
- Here’s the science behind why added oils are bad for our bodies
- Oil-free Vegan Cooking 101
- Here’s 4 benefits of oil-free cooking
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