Plant-based Basics: Stocking your kitchen

This is the first in a series of posts about plant-based basics. I am still relatively new to this lifestyle (about 9 months in transition, 4 months fully plant-based), but I have learned so much along the way and want to share!

Keeping your kitchen stocked with go-to meals and snacks is a game changer. Even if you're not fully plant-based but just looking to incorporate more plants into your diet, having easily accessible options is key to success.

I don't keep allll of these things on hand at once, but most of them I do! I've divided this up as well by staples, fancy extras, and seasonal goodies. By no means does your kitchen have to look like mine, but I'm all about giving inspiration, so hopefully I can open your mind for some new things to try!

My biggest tip when switching to a healthier lifestyle or to plant-based is to never buy a new ingredient without a plan to use it. I've spent a lot of money over the years buying random superfoods with no real understanding of how to practically work them into my cooking. To save money and energy, I recommend buying staples that you already know how to incorporate and if you are venturing to something new, find a recipe or have some kind of inspiration of how you will incorporate it! Once you become familiar with it, it's a lot easier to organically use in your cooking!

STAPLES:

Most of these have a long(er) shelf life and are relatively less expensive! I try to buy them in bulk or stock up when I find them on sale. I get organic when I can, but don't stress about that if your finances are saying otherwise...

• Lentils

• Brown rice

• Quinoa

• Black beans

• Chickpeas

• Vegetable Stock

• Ground Flax seed

• Cashews

• Frozen Strawberries/blueberries

• Oat/almond milk

• Peanut Butter

• Gluten Free Oats

• Chia Seeds

• Hummus

FANCY EXTRAS:

These are more expensive, not necessary, but nice additions if you're feeling it:

• Frozen Pitaya

• Coconut flakes

• Spirulina

• A good plant-based protein powder (I like Truvani)

• Cocao nibs

• Coconut water

• Medjool Dates

• Goji berries

SEASONAL GOODIES

Fruits and veggies are the most important and largest part of my diet. Obviously this list changes season to season, year to year. In fact, I try to buy one new piece of produce every week that I have not tried before. I find that people (myself included) tend to gravitate towards the same produce over and over again. To keep your body happy and healthy, trying new (especially local) produce is really beneficial.

That being said, here are a few things that often make it home with me from the store/market:

• Tomatoes

• Spinach

• Kale

• Onion (red is my all-time favorite)

• Bananas

• Sweet potatoes

• Russet, baby, fingerling (or any other white) potatoes

• Mango

• Blueberries

• Squash

• Lemon/Limes

• All the herbs (cilantro, parsley, mint, oregano)

These are my no means the only things that I eat, but they make up a majority of my meals and snacks! I left out a lot (like spices), but again this is just a good base list. I can easily toss many of these together to create a bunch of different meals throughout the week.