After a lifetime of western diet, I struggled with knowing what to eat and at first was hungry all the time. But over the past months, I’ve really hit my stride and find it's now easy and surprisingly cost effective to cut out meat & dairy. It helps to find friends and share recipes too. For supplements, I take glucosamine and a broad multivitamin mostly for the vitamin B12, D & calcium. I was taking fish oil, but now I’m not sure it’s a good idea for me. To make sure I get enough of the right foods, I use the app “Daily Dozen” for to track my day. Here is the website: https://nutritionfacts.org/daily-dozen-challenge/. It’s also good website for recipes. There are lots of websites with non-meat/dairy options for your favorite recipes. Click on Recipes: https://nutritionstudies.org/
Breakfast:
~Each week, I cook 1 cup of steel-cut oats & 1cup of barley (separate pots). That makes about 8 cups and I mix them together in large bowl with cinnamon & vanilla. I have that for breakfast every other day, adding blueberries, raspberries, mango, etc. No sweetener needed; it’s delicious! I often add an apple with tablespoon of peanut butter & large mug of green or oolong or chamomile tea.
Other breakfast options:
~whole wheat toast topped with mashed avocado and toppings like sliced cherry tomatoes, spinach, lemon juice, red pepper flakes, vegan parmesan.
~Whole grain bread topped with any kind of pure nut butter & a banana
~Whole grain bran flakes (with no additives at all) with ~¾ unsweetened non-dairy milk
Lunch or dinner:
~Every 3-4 days, I make a big bowl of chopped salad with diced veggies – whatever is in season like cucumber, red & green sweet peppers, green onions, carrots, radishes, cherry tomatoes and maybe cauliflower. Each day I eat 1-1/2 cup of this, adding balsamic vinegar & pepper for flavor and sometimes avocado slices.
~Cauliflower crust pizza –top it with sauteéd veggies… mushrooms, onions, tomato, etc. If you don’t want to make your own, Costco has a good cauliflower crust pizza (although not vegan).
~I usually have 2-3 favorite frozen crock pot soups in 2-serving packets. Here is my favorite vegan chili recipe. https://www.acouplecooks.com/vegetarian-chili/amp/
~For my easiest meal, I put frozen broccoli (or other veggies) in bowl, pour any kind of soup over top & microwave. The veggies double the soup volume and adding a slice of whole grain toast makes an amazing, easy meal.
~I sometimes buy packaged salad mixes and add extra veggies and/or avocado; whatever I have in fridge. Aldi’s has 3 good and inexpensive salad mix choices - just toss the cheese.i think their veggies are organic.
~Here's a yummy vegan sloppy Joe’s recipe: https://minimalistbaker.com/vegan-sloppy-joes/
~I keep home-made, frozen cooked lentils & black beans available and pop some into my soup or salad to bump up protein as needed.
~Mexican food is a great way to add beans and legumes to your day (although the cheese has to go or buy vegan cheese). I buy fresh salsa at Aldi’s and make my own batch of easy refried black beans with cumin & chili powder & freeze portions in muffin tins.
~Daily 2-3 tablespoons of mixed seeds/nuts and 1-2 teaspoons of flax seeds.
~I still eat some fish and eggs but am tapering off.
~4 servings of fruit – blueberries, raspberries, apples, cherries, grapes, bananas, oranges, lemon/limes, etc.
~Spices – cumin, turmeric, ginger, chili spices, cayenne, bay leaves, oregano, cinnamon, nutmeg, vanilla, peppermint…
~Treats – 2 oz dark chocolate with ½ C raspberries, 1 corn muffin… still looking for healthy treat ideas.
~Beverages: simply water with or without lemon and tea with non-dairy milk
I also try out vegetarian restaurants, particularly Indian food, to get new ideas.
Hope all this provides some insight; I’m obviously over enthusiastic about it! 😀 Wish my Mom (who died of breast cancer) could see how I’m eating the way she used to encourage me to do <3.

Make sure if you use dairy or meat you get hormone free / organic grass fed . Up the Whole Foods fruit , veggies , nuts ect