Navigating the plant-based cooking world can be challenging.  Also, cooking for one can be daunting.  When you combine the two, it can seem overwhelming to create delicious, healthy vegan meals for a single person.  On one hand, you don’t want to have a lot of leftovers.  Yet, you want interesting variety.  Plus, you want a shopping list that isn’t 10 pages long.  And, you want to keep things budget-friendly.  There’s a lot to consider!

I’m here to help.  I’ve put together my helpful tips on how to manage solo-cooking.  Here is Part Two of my Essential Chef’s Tips for Cooking for One. Here is how you Stay Healthy on a Whole Foods, Plant-Based Vegan Diet.

For Part One, please read:

Tip 7: “Veg-Up” Single Serving Dishes

Try to find ways to that you can add colorful vegetables to some of your favorite single-serving dishes.  Recipes for sandwiches, burritos, stuffed potatoes, scrambles, and wraps can easily be “vegged-up” to make them healthier.  Try adding a handful of spinach on your sandwich, put an extra bell pepper in your burrito, stuff your potato with broccoli, and add some mushrooms to that scramble.  These veggies will add nutritious fiber, which helps keep you full longer.  Plus, they add delicious flavor for a more satisfying meal.

Chef Katie’s Favorite Veg-Up Shopping List:  Take some help from the store by adding these convenient veg-up items to your shopping list.  Pre-washed bagged baby spinach can be added to sandwiches and wraps.  Or, wilt it into pasta and soup.  Frozen broccoli and cauliflower can be used to veg-up stir-fry and Twice-Baked Stuffed Potatoes.  Buy some pre-sliced mushrooms for Fusilli Pasta.  Or, pick up frozen Cauliflower Rice to add to vegan risotto or Veggie Fried rice.

Tip 8: Add Grains or Beans to Make it a Meal

To transform a simple snack into a satisfying, plant-based meal, think about adding grains or beans.  Remember, complex carbs like brown rice, black beans, and lentils are the base for a whole foods, plant-based diet.  These foods provide lasting energy and leave you satisfied.  Otherwise, if you only eat fruits and veggies, you’ll likely still be hungry or feeling lethargic.

Making a hearty plant-based meal can be as simple as adding a can of chickpeas to a Big ‘Ole Italian Salad.  Or, try adding some cooked quinoa or frozen brown rice to veggies for a healthy vegan twist on Fried Rice.  Stretch a vegetable soup into a satisfying Peruvian Stew with frozen corn and quinoa.  Add a can of red kidney beans to Chipotle Chili.

Chef Katie’s Starchy Carb Tip:  Besides canned beans and cooked grains, starchy carbohydrates can also help stretch a meal.  Whole foods carbs like frozen beans, corn, roasted potatoes, and sweet potatoes all provide sustaining energy.  I usually keep a few of these on hand to add to stir-fry, tacos, or a bowl with broccoli and tahini for easy and convenient meals.

Tip 9: Keep a List of your Go-To Favorite Recipes

As you gain more experience cooking whole foods, plant-based recipes, you’ll start to accumulate a must-have list.  Keep this list of dishes in a convenient location like your phone or the front of the fridge.  This trick is especially helpful when cooking for more than one person.  In fact, keeping a list of loved dishes can be incredibly helpful for couples and busy families.  That way, it’s easy reference to figure out what to make on a busy weeknight.

Chef’s Kid-Friendly Tip:  If you’re looking to get kids more excited about eating healthy, get them involved.  You can buy a Forks Over Knives magazine and have the tear out recipes they want to try.  Or, take them to the grocery and ask for their help picking out produce.  In the kitchen, kids can help with simple tasks like rinsing beans, stirring sauce, and measuring for muffins.

Tip 10: Take Help From the Store with Frozen and Canned Ingredients

Take some help from the store when it comes cooking.  Adjusting to a plant-based diet can already be tricky.  However, there are tons of healthy, whole foods, vegan ingredients at the grocery that can save you time and energy.  First, in the produce section, don’t be afraid of using pre-cut and bagged veggies like broccoli florets, shredded red cabbage, and cauliflower rice.  In the frozen section, grab a few bags of frozen spinach, broccoli, corn, and peas to keep on hand.   From the center aisles, pick up a few cans of canned beans, canned lentils, and crushed tomatoes to stock the pantry. A bag of mixed frozen vegetables and some whole grain pasta can make an easy vegetable soup.

Chef Katie’s Label Reading Tip:  Double-check the ingredients label of anything that comes in a package.  The shorter the ingredient list, the better.  Most importantly, avoid packaged items that have added oils, sugars, and preservatives.

Tip 11: Use Whole Grain Pasta For a Satisfying, Quick, Plant-Based Dinner

At the end of a long day, dinner can often be the last thing you want to think about.  As a chef, this is true even for me.  When I don’t feel like going to the store and dirtying a bunch of pans, pasta is my quick, go-to plant-based dinner.  Keep your pantry stocked with a few pasta shapes and sizes.  Spaghetti noodles are great, but so are gemelli, shells, fusilli and other small shapes.  You can clean out some of the veggies in the fridge with a Roasted Pasta Salad.  Or, make a Quick Green Pasta.

Chef Katie’s Noodle Tip: When it comes to pasta, think beyond your typical noodles.  Besides typical spaghetti, try some of the other whole foods pastas.  You can find noodles made from chickpeas, brown rice, quinoa, lentils, and even black beans.  Plus, don’t forget about Asian noodles.  Buckwheat soba and brown rice pad thai noodles are delicious whole foods, plant-based options.

Tip 12: Check that Ingredient List: Keep it Under 7 Ingredients

One of the first lessons I recall from culinary school was how to simplify a recipe.  Early in our schooling, Chef asked us “What can you take out of a recipe?”  When trying to cooking for one person, this is a helpful reminder to keep things simple. 

When you find a new plant-based recipe you want to try, check out the ingredient list.  First, consider the entire list of ingredients and the name of the dish.  Second, consider the overall flavors of the finished dish.  Is it spicy?  Is it sweet?  Then, see if there are any ingredients that can be omitted.

Often, this trick works best for soups, stews, or casseroles.  You can often leave out a carrot or 1 teaspoon granulated onion and still have a delicious dish.  Also, this is helpful when recipes only call for ½ or ¼ of a whole ingredient.  Just because you don’t have ½ bell pepper or ¼ onion, doesn’t mean you shouldn’t try a recipe. 

However, this tip is also great for making quick, satisfying snacks and salads. A healthy plant-based salad can easily be made from avocado, corn, and tomatoes. Or, you can enjoy an oil-free vegan snack with just peanut butter, apples, and whole grain bread.

Chef Katie’s Ingredient Swap Tip:  If you’re looking to swap out an ingredient, try to stay in the same family. Alliums (like shallot, onion, leek, and scallions) can often be substituted for each other. Nightshades like bell peppers and tomatoes can be swapped in recipes. Plus, zucchini and summer squash, apples and pears, or kale and chard can often be used interchangeably.

Tip 13: Buy From Bulk

A helpful budget-friendly tip when cooking for one is to buy from the bulk section of your grocery.  The bulk section often has a variety of grains, beans, nuts, and dried fruits.  In fact, some even have dried spices in bulk.  The beauty of the bulk section is that you can get only as much of a plant-based ingredient as you need.  If you just need ¼ cup of almonds, get it here.  If you just want a small batch of steel-cut oatmeal, get the oats from the bulk section.

Buying in bulk will help reduce the amount of food waste you have.  No more half-used bags of dried pinto beans sitting in your pantry for months.  Therefor, you save both money and space.  Plus, the ingredients in the bulk section are rotated more frequently.  In turn, that means they’re often fresher than the packaged items on the shelf.

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