There are many ways to become vegan. Some people will go cold turkey, some prefer to gradually ease into it by cutting out meat and dairy, and others go vegetarian first. A great way to sample veganism is to go vegan for a week.
Being vegetarian for a week is a goal that is easily achievable. While going vegan for a month in January for ‘Veganuri’, May for ‘No Meat May’ or any other time for a one month vegan challenge can be a great idea, one month may seem like too big a commitment for some. .
Setting yourself a goal of just seven days to focus on eating a vegetarian diet is short enough that you can easily achieve it, yet enough to see some benefits.
Benefits of going vegetarian for a week
- Check out the vegan lifestyle – Trying a vegetarian diet for seven days can help you decide if you should consider doing it long term.
- be self educated – You’ll learn how to easily read food labels, look out for animal products, and which foods are accidentally vegan.
- Try new foods – Your vegan challenge is the perfect time to try new ingredients that you haven’t tried before
- Find vegetarian options – Vegan mince is cheaper and healthier than beef mince. But is it delicious? Now is the time to find out if you want to swap for good.
- lose weight – A healthy vegetarian diet is naturally lower in calories than an omnivore or vegetarian diet, so you’re likely to lose a pound or two a week as a vegetarian.
- Save animal life – Check out some of the calculators you can find online to see exactly how many animals you can save in a week
A step-by-step guide to eating vegan for a week
1. Know the rules
For the purposes of this challenge, it’s best to focus on food. Don’t worry about things like deodorant or toilet paper that have been tested on animals or alcoholic beverages that may contain traces of animal products. Let’s keep it simple:
- no meat
- no fish
- Any dairy products (that contain milk)
- no eggs
2. Organize your fridge, freezer and cupboards
Take a look at your kitchen and categorize all the foods you already have at home into vegan and non-vegan. You may want to select a fridge shelf, a freezer drawer and a kitchen cupboard where you keep all your non-vegan food so you know it’s off-limits for the week. It’s much better to do it now than when you’re hungry and looking for something to eat.
3. Meal planning
You really don’t want to go out and buy avocados, aubergines, and asparagus and then find that you really have no idea how to put them together. Planning your meals will reduce food waste and save you money too.
Some dishes will be vegetarian versions of things you love, like swapping your meat mince for vegan mince in your spaghetti bolognese. Other foods will be things you’ve never eaten before, so do some research and think about what you want to try.
If cooking isn’t your forte, there are vegan meal delivery services that can send you vegetarian meal prep for the week.
4. Make a shopping list
There are some vegan staples you may need that you don’t already have in your home. These include:
- Plant-based milk – There are many varieties, I would recommend starting with soy milk for tea, oat or almond milk for coffee and whatever you like for cereal.
- Margarine – Butter is not vegan but margarines such as Vitalite and Flora Plant Butter are
- Nutritional Scream – It looks strange but vegetarians add it to almost every meal because it tastes great and is extremely healthy
- Meat substitutes – Sausages, burgers, mince, chicken nuggets and pies are all readily available, as are things like tofu and tempeh. Just be careful because some vegetarian fake meat products are not vegetarian
- Agave nectar – If you usually have honey, you’ll want this in your inventory
- Can be vegetarian – Hellman’s Vegan Mayo is great for making or dipping your own coleslaw or potato salad
Other vegetarian foods that should probably be on your list include:
- Seasonal fresh fruits
- Salad vegetables, mushrooms, peppers, corn on the cob
- potatoes
- Avocado
- the bread
- Rice, couscous, quinoa
- the pasta
- hummus
- nuts
- Cereal or oats
- Baked beans, mixed beans, lentils, chickpeas
- Tinned tomatoes, passata, tomato puree
- Onion, garlic, pepper, vegetable stock, mixed herbs and spices
- Chocolates, Biscuits, Sweets, Cakes and Ice Creams
5. Go shopping
The best places to buy food are large supermarkets, health food stores and local greengrocers and markets.
Small supermarkets lack many important vegetarian options, so it’s better to go big where supermarkets are concerned. In January, you’ll find a much wider range of vegan foods in supermarkets than at other times of the year.
Suggested Reading: Best supermarket for vegetarian food
Health food stores can also be a good source of delicious vegetarian food. These stores mostly stock pills and medicine rather than food, but some have great produce sections. And when buying fruit and vegetables, the freshest, cheapest and most eco-friendly produce is usually found at local independent shops and markets.
If you want something special, check out a specialist vegan online supermarket such as The Vegan Kind Supermarket.
6. Plan ahead when eating out
The number of vegan restaurants may be few, but you’ll find that almost every restaurant will have some vegan options on the menu. Chain restaurants usually have large menus and therefore tend to be the most popular for vegans.
If you don’t have a say in choosing the venue, for example if it’s a friend’s birthday celebration, check out the menu online. If there aren’t any vegetarian options, you can call the restaurant and there’s a good chance they’ll be able to make you whatever you want on a few days’ notice.
Suggested Reading: Are McDonald’s fries vegan?
7. Educate yourself
Knowing more about the reasons why people become vegetarians can be very inspiring. There are plenty of vegan documentaries you can watch such as ‘Cowspiracy’ which explains the link between animal agriculture and climate change, ‘What the Health’ which shows the link between diet and disease and ‘Earthlings’ which shows how animals are treated on farms.
8. Take a multi-vitamin
A healthy vegetarian diet can easily provide you with all the vitamins and minerals your body needs, with the exception of B12. This is because B12 comes from the soil that animals eat and stores in their bodies. A great vegetarian source of B12 is nutritional yeast that you can add to anything.
To make sure you get everything you need during your vegan week, taking a daily multivitamin pill is the easiest way to make sure you’re covered.
Suggested Reading: The best vegan multivitamins
9. Don’t be a perfectionist
If you slip up, it doesn’t really matter. Remember that just trying a vegetarian diet for a week is a great step so if you accidentally eat something that isn’t vegetarian, forget it and move on. Veganism isn’t about being perfect, it’s about doing what we can to reduce animal suffering.
Vegan weekly meal plan
The foods that everyone enjoys are different, so it’s always a good idea to create your own meal plan rather than following someone else’s too rigidly.
However, if you’re looking for a quick and easy vegetarian meal plan for the week that doesn’t require any special ingredients and doesn’t require you to spend a lot of time cooking, take a look at the table below.
Typical Vegetarian Weekly Meal Plan:
| day | breakfast | lunch | dinner | snacks |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| monday | Avocado and tomato on toast | Jacket potatoes with beans and homemade coleslaw | Spaghetti Bolognese with Vegan Mince | Carrot sticks and hummus |
| tuesday | Weetabix with soy milk | Hummus, carrot and salad sandwiches and crisps | Tofu curry with rice | fruit salad |
| on wednesday | Baked beans on toast | Lentil soup and bread | Vegan Sausage and Bean Casserole | corn bran |
| Thursday | Porridge topped with bananas | Vegan cheese and ham sandwich with salad | Vegan burgers, wedges and corn on the cob | Celery and peanut butter |
| Friday | The fruit is honeydew | Vegan hot dogs and chips | Italian vegetable stew | mixed nuts |
| saturday | Vegan sausage on toast with ketchup | Vegetable soup and bread | Salt and pepper tofu, sweet and sour vegetables and noodles | Vegan ice cream |
| sunday | Scrambled Tofu, Sausage, Hash Browns, Mushrooms, Beans and Roasted Tomatoes | Vegetable fingers in a tortilla wrap | Mushroom Stroganoff and Rice | nachos |
What to Expect When You Go Vegan for a Week
The health benefits of switching to a vegetarian diet may start too quickly for some people. Within days of going vegan you may notice:
- more power – Your body doesn’t have to use as much energy to digest food so you feel fuller
- Excessive bowel movements – Vegan foods are often high in fiber which cleanses your colon meaning you will go to the toilet more often
- good skin – More fruits and vegetables mean more vitamins and antioxidants that will improve skin conditions like acne
- lose weight – You can naturally eat fewer calories so expect to lose a pound or two
- swollen – For some people, extra fiber and more diverse gut bacteria can cause bloating, but this will go away after a few weeks as your body gets used to it.
It’s important to know that there are some potential negative side effects to vegetarianism. All these are temporary, but it is good to be aware of them before starting