Want to eat more plants but don't know where to start? You're in the right place! This page highlights:

Why you'd want to eat more plant-based meals, with resources that educate and inspire 🤓,

What to stock in your Pantry 🫙, 

and How to save Money so that this lifestyle is sustainable. 💲

Follow this up by visiting my Recipes for Fast, Easy, and Affordable plant-based recipes. 

Let me help you get more rooted in plants!

I. What is plant-based eating? 🌿

Plant-based eating simply means you get most of your diet from plants. This doesn't mean you have to 100% commit to never eat meat or animal products ever again (unless you choose to), but that you're primarily eating plant foods. We know that the more plants we eat, the healthier our bodies tend to be. Plant-based eating includes fruits, veggies, whole grains, beans and other legumes, nuts and seeds, and oils (although we recommend limiting oils to reap the most health benefits). 

II. Why eat plant-based? 🌿

I'll start with my personal "Why" - I'm a huge proponent of preventive medicine, making diet and lifestyle choices to reduce my risk for chronic conditions, especially since heart disease, diabetes and cancer has impacted our immediate family. I know I can't eliminate all risk, but I want to take responsibility for what I can control.

I'd like to provide several fantastic resources below that provide evidence-based research detailing the benefits of eating more plants, and the detrimental effects of SAD, the Standard American Diet. I highly recommend starting with watching Forks Over Knives, then reading Body on Fire, and then subscribing to the Plant Strong podcast. 

Watch: 

Forks Over Knives (2011)

The Game Changers (2018)

Plant Pure Nation (2015)

You are What You Eat (2024, series)

Live to 100: Secrets of the Blue Zones (2023, series)

Read:

Body On Fire: How Inflammation Triggers Chronic Illness and the Tools We Have to Fight It (Aggarwal, Rao, 2020)

The Starch Solution (McDougall, 2012)

The China Study  (Campbell, 2016) - *A standard in plant-based eating. I'm currently working my way through this sizable text. It discusses the benefits of a plant-based diet in detail. Heavy on research, this is an evidence-based jackpot for nutrition nerds like myself. There is also a smaller, spinoff book titled The China Study Solution (Campbell, 2016), which is next on my list to read! 

Blood Pressure Down* (Brill, 2013) -*Not purely plant-based, but a great read on addressing/preventing hypertension after you've gotten down the basics.

The Blue Zones Solution: Eating and Living Like the World's Healthiest People (Buettner, 2017)

Listen (podcasts):

the PlantStrong podcast

Favorite Cookbooks:

Plant You (Bodrug, 2022) 

Deliciously Ella (Woodward, 2015).  *Uplifting cookbook that first sparked my plant-based eating interests.

Oh She Glows (Liddon, 2014) - My first cookbook after going dairy-free. 

**FALL IN LOVE WITH YOUR LOCAL LIBRARY! - I check out cookbooks ALL the time for inspiration!!

III. My Top 7 Tips to Save Money at the Grocery Store 🌿

(Originally posted 2/2024, Updated 5/2026)

• Shop at a value grocery store - Examples in our area include Walmart, Aldi, and Lidl. If trekking through a huge Walmart sounds daunting, especially if you have a physical challenge, shop at one of their smaller Walmart Neighborhood Market stores, or order it for pick-up. (By the way, pick-up is another great way to save money; you see the bill add up as you throw things in your virtual shopping cart). If you have an Aldi or Lidl, use them. Find a store you enjoy shopping at, that doesn’t feel like such a chore. Our family is small, so I take advantage of Lidl’s half-sized shopping carts…because, how cute are they? P.S. I’m not referring to the kiddy carts…but they are just doubly cute!

• Buy generic - This is huge, friends. While we have a few items we prefer name-brand on, we typically buy generic on almost everything. Take canned black beans, for example. Generic at our local store is $0.90 for regular, $1.25 for organic (which is lower in sodium), over $2.00 for name brand in the “International” section. *It is almost always cheaper to buy generic items than it is to buy name brand with a coupon. (And coupons are not usually for healthy foods, but rather processed junk food items.) 

• Reduce/Avoid Pre-packaged Meals - This is another biggie. I can pack a lunch much cheaper (and healthier) than I can buy frozen entrees. I do keep some in the freezer for a rainy day, but I don’t buy them each week. Not only does the cost quickly add up, but they really pile on the sodium.

• Don’t drink your calories - Think of sodas as a treat, if you drink them at all. We call them “empty calories”, because the calories quickly add up without making you feel full. Also, it’s easy to spend a lot of money on drinks. Try to drink water, or water with lemon. Or consider herbal teas.

• SEE-FOOD - Store any meal-prepped items and any leftovers in transparent storage containers in your fridge. You’ll forget about what you can’t see. I love food storage containers - glass ones, BPA free plastic ones, you name it. So much so that when Hubby and I were dating, he bought me rubbermaid containers for our first Valentine’s day together. I can hear the gasps now, but you know what? I loved his practicality, and he got them in my favorite color. Point is, they reduce food waste and the temptation for excess take-out.

• Eat on Repeat - Learn to love leftovers (if they can last in your house) - When people tell me they won’t eat leftovers, I am completely confused. Like, do you love wasting money and cooking more than you have to? No thanks. Find meals you love, and consider eating them a couple days in a row.

• Eat On Repeat, Part II - Also, find meals you really enjoy, and make them often. (Hopefully my Recipes can help!) Love a healthy breakfast cereal or smoothie? Or a certain dinner recipe? I’ve eaten a variation of the same smoothie since 2016, and it works for me. Hubby loves my “To Thai For” Peanut sauce with broccoli and rice, so I make this recipe often. And I tend to gravitate toward the same five packed lunches on rotation. This may sound boring to some, but it keeps the grocery list simple, and I can meal prep almost on auto-pilot once I memorize a common recipe. 

• Meal prep - In my 20+ years of cooking, I’ve worked 55+ hours and I’ve worked much fewer hours at my job. I’ve found a way to make home cooked meals happen, and brought lunch to work most days. Find what works for you. The last thing you want to do is come home late from work and have to cook a lengthy meal, or to repeatedly eat greasy drive-thru food on your lunch hour all week. 

Hopefully VegWithMandy can help, since most meals are made in 30 minutes or less. What can you do to speed things up? Prep lunches for the week ahead, and pre-chop veggies or make sauces. For example, on Sundays I make two types of salads for our lunches and put them in individual food storage containers so they’re ready to grab and go. I might also chop some onions or potatoes, or roast some veggies ahead of time, or even make a sauce we’re going to need for later in the week. That way when we come home from work, a 30 minute meal may only take fifteen or twenty. 

• BONUS TIP- Avoid/limit meat and cheese, and caution with the fakes. It’s probably no surprise on a plant-based recipe site that I’d advocate for reduced animal product consumption, but hear me out. Let me tell you that cutting out meat/cheese saves a LOT of money, but only if you don’t replace it with some of their expensive fake counterparts. If you plan to fully transition to a plant-based diet and need those substitutes for a while, go for it, but keep in mind that they often cost *more* than the real thing, and some are just as loaded in fat (although perhaps less inflammatory ones).  P.S. Can I just mention that my seasonal allergies improved after I stopped eating dairy? UPDATE to Original Post (7/2024): More recently, I’ve been playing with some healthier meat-substitutes and have found some I enjoy and are low in fat/saturated fat.