If you are new to vegetarian cuisine check out our:

• tips and suggestions on what to eat
• making basic vegetarian meals
• shortcuts to vegetarian cooking
• Links to weekly meal plans

Vegetarian cuisine is rich with variety and tradition

Try Asian stir fries, Indian curries, Ethiopian stews, hearty soups, Italian pastas, creative salads, Latin American tacos and burritos, avocado sushi, chili, oven-roasted vegetables, and much more. 

Getting started

What to Eat
This Veggie Challenge page has meal suggestions and tips for those just starting out such as: eating out, ordering in, and adjusting the meals you currently make.

Basic vegetarian meals
Hearty soups, stir-fries, pasta, salads and more – suggestions for preparing a delicious and satisfying vegetarian meal.

Shortcuts to vegetarian cooking
Tips for shopping, meal preparation, and cooking that can save you hours in the kitchen.

Vegan breakfast ideas
Toast, cereal, granola, muesli, hot oatmeal, apple pancakes, miso soup, tofu Scramble. See our breakfast page for plenty of delicious recipes and tips.

Meal plans

The following plans will give you an idea of what a vegetarian or vegan may eat during the course of a day or week.  You can follow them precisely, or use them as a guide and substitute ingredients and recipes. 

VegCooking.com: Vegan menus
Two-week sample vegan menus with recipes. Includes a version that can be printed.

Vegetarian Meal Plans blog
Healthy vegetarian meal plans and grocery lists posted weekly with recipes posted daily. Each week there are five delicious dinners. Eggs and dairy are sometimes used. She also provides a list of recommended pantry staples to have on hand.

One week vegetarian menu with recipes. A weekly grocery list can be printed out. This plan includes both eggs and dairy. They recommend drinking a whole cup of milk both for breakfast and dinner which seems excessive.

Custom meal plans 

NutritionMD – make your own meal plan
Custom meal planner and shopping lists: Get menu ideas to plan meals for the whole week, and print out recipes and a shopping list of all the ingredients you'll need. It is a bit of work to set up – for each meal you choose from a list of items. Start by creating a free account.

Screen shot of a sample meal plan form at NutritionMd.