Vegan shopping ...

After my post on facebook and instagram (my fridge after shopping) I've had some people asking for my shopping list and meal plan. So I decided I'd just blog about it. Now before you get your hopes up I just have to tell ya... Its not too exciting. As of late  my list has dropped most processed food and I have to saw it feels pretty empowering. I love to walk past the "junk" and straight to the fresh fruit and veggies! I love the way I feel feeding my family with what I feel are the best options. And it just makes me happy.

Here is my basic list. It changes depending on the season and my mood at the store.

strawberries
blueberries
bananas (lots and lots)
apples
grapes (lots)
pineapple
lettuce
broccoli
carrots
spinach
raw oatmeal
cereal (healthy)
raisins
frozen berries
frozen mixed veggies
frozen broccoli
edamame
honey/agave nectar
wheat flour
raw almonds
tofu
salsa
red pasta sauce
soy milk
dry beans
whole wheat pasta
rice/quinoa
hummus
black bean pasta
unsweetened applesauce

I shop at Costco so I buy all of this in bulk.

Here are my "add on's"

watermelon
cantaloupe
cauliflower
asparagus
pears
peaches
plums
almond milk

As far as a meal plan goes... I don't have one. My main "plan" is to get as many fruits and veggies in ALL of our meals as I can. When I cook rice or quinoa I add frozen mixed veggies (green beans, peas, corn, and carrots). When I make pasta I add veggies to the sauce (broccoli, cauliflower, carrots). I don't think you can add to many vegetables. When we first went vegan this concept didn't seem to make sense to me. I was so used to having a meat, starch, and veggies on the side. With being vegan the veggies are the star. The meal is basically vegetables. Now that we eat vegan I don't think I could go back to eating the "other" way. I love the way I feel! Anytime we have a "cheat treat" (doughnuts, cookies, ice cream...). We will have one maybe once a week. I start to feel guilty. Like I'm cheating on my vegan ways.

I also bake our bread. I make our tortillas. We don't use oil. We use applesauce. I just swap it for the oil. I'm all about making things easy! My bread recipe is simple. Tortillas recipe simple. I love to cook but with how crazy our house can get I cant spend a lot of time thinking about/cooking meals. We have fruit in our green smoothies and for snacks. For "treats" I make banana ice cream. I know that we are leaning to the extreme side of things and that this isn't for everyone but it works for us.

We've had times since becoming vegan that we would "cheat" more than we should and we pay for it. We have stomach aches and heads that hurt. I become bloated, my weight goes up, and I feel so lazy! I really can't believe how lazy I feel... I just want to nap and lay around and I'm not as happy.

I'll have to post some recipes to give you more ideas of how we eat.