Plant Fueled Meal Plans
Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ)
Meal Plans 101
Whether you are brand new to the Meal Plans or a seasoned Dirty, head over here to sign up! Once you sign up you’ll have immediate access to our super-powered classroom where you can browse and cook all of our Meal Plans and recipes going back to January 2018.
You will have access to our entire Meal Plan database and the Recipe Vault as soon as you sign up!
There are three subscription options to choose from:
Charged Monthly: The monthly cost is $25 USD. Your credit card will automatically be charged for renewal each month on the same date as your original purchase.
Charged Quarterly: The quarterly cost is $60 USD ($20 / month). Your credit card will be automatically charged every three months on the same date as your original purchase. We will send you a reminder two weeks before your renewal.
Charged Yearly: The yearly cost is $216 USD ($18 / month). Your credit card will automatically be charged for every year on the same date as your original purchase. We will send you a reminder two weeks before your renewal.
A new Gourmet Meal Plan and a new Simple Meal Plan hits your classroom at 12:01 AM Pacific Time every Friday.
Yes. All of our subscriptions are auto-renewing. You can view your billing cycle information and cancel at any time in the Subscription area of the classroom.
Cancellations take effect after your current billing cycle ends. You will continue to have access to your classroom until the last day of your billing cycle when your classroom closes. You’ll receive a confirmation email when you submit a cancellation.
Your classroom will close at 11:59 PM Pacific Time on the last day of your current billing cycle.
Absolutely, yes!
Head over to this page to sign up for our free Trial plans. Easy peasy!
Once you’re signed in to the classroom, you’ll see both #Trial (our sample Gourmet Meal Plan) and #SimpleTrial (our sample Simple Meal Plan). There’s more information about the Simple Meal Plans below.
Our free Trial does not include access to our Recipe Vault or access to past Meal Plans.
The Gourmet Trial plan was a subscriber favorite when it was originally introduced as #TakeOut. It features a variety of cuisines and was chosen for its broad appeal and versatility. Requesting a no-obligation free trial will introduce you to our meal plan structure with batch cooking and let you experience our state-of-the-art classroom as well as get a taste of our delicious recipes! Be sure to watch the Intro Video to get you started.
Trial plans do not include access to the Recipe Vault or past Meal Plans. It does include a Simple Meal Plan that you can follow if you want to spend less time in the kitchen.
The Trial plans don't expire, and will not automatically convert to a paying subscription. Sign up for our free trial here.
As soon as the Trial plan gets you pumped to sign up for the Plant Fueled Meal Plans, you can activate a paid renewing subscription in the Subscription area of your classroom. The Trial plans will remain in the All Meal Plans tab when you subscribe and you can search for them by hashtag (#Trial and #SimpleTrial) if you’d like to revisit them.
Yes. All of our recipes are whole food plant based, free of meat, dairy, poultry, seafood, eggs, refined sugar, refined flour, and oil. The focus is on veggies, beans and legumes, whole grains, fruit, nuts, and seeds. Sometimes we use minimally processed foods, like sprouted bread or tofu. We occasionally use (optional) maple syrup or coconut sugar in small amounts as sweeteners.
All of our Recipes and Meal Plans are whole food plant based, free of meat, dairy, poultry, seafood, eggs, refined sugar, refined flour, and oil. The focus is on veggies, legumes, whole grains, fruit, nuts, and seeds. Occasionally we will use minimally processed foods, like sprouted bread or tofu. We sometimes use (optional) maple syrup or coconut sugar in small amounts as sweeteners.
Each Meal Plan in your classroom is scalable and contains the following:
- The week’s Menu at a glance
- Meal Plan Notes and Tips
- Grocery List: a mobile-friendly, interactive checklist
- Prep List: a detailed, interactive checklist to maximize efficiency on your Batch Day with short, helpful video demonstrations
- Batch Day recipes (usually eight or nine recipes that you will make on your batching day—fewer for Simple plans!)
- Nightly Menu meal instructions (instructions for five delicious meals using items that you made on your batch cooking day and fresh items that you assemble the night you eat)
- Recipe photos
- The option to download and print a PDF of the entire Meal Plan or just the parts you want
The Meal Plan classroom allows you to select how many portions of each meal you want to make and then everything is calculated instantly and displayed for you, from the grocery list to the batching recipes.
Additionally, each week we offer a Gourmet Meal Plan as well as a Simple Meal Plan. The Simple plan is a more straightforward, less complex meal plan for following when time is tight or simple is just easier. More information about our Simple Meal Plans can be found below.
The Meal Plans provide a structured plan to help you create a series of five meals. These meals are presented as dinners, but they can be eaten whenever you like. Our scaling feature makes it easy to prepare enough to have leftovers to eat for another meal. We also have many free yummy breakfast recipes on the blog and in the Recipe Vault.
You can definitely do this! Making the free recipes on the blog is a great way to dip your feet in the yummy plant based waters. When you’re ready for a structured plan and just want to follow along each week, we got you!
Nope, this is not a diet at all. This is about the quality of the food you eat, not the quantity. Following the Meal Plans will help you embrace eating whole plant foods as the foundation of your nutrition each day and, over time, fueling on mostly whole plants can lead to major lifestyle changes.
While the Meal Plans are not designed for weight loss or gain, if you have weight to release you are likely to find that eating a whole food plant based diet consistently over time can help you reach a healthy weight for your frame. You are also likely to find that you feel better and have more energy. Molly wrote this blog post about weight loss and eating whole food plant based to break it down.
The short answer is no. Check out this blog post about why we keep the focus of the Meal Plans away from dieting and calorie / macro counting. This one touches on the abusive nature of dieting, and this one explains why the plans are not about weight loss or weight gain.
This way of eating is about fueling your body with nutrient-dense foods and learning to recognize true hunger signals so you can fuel your body as it needs fueling. Eat when you’re hungry and stop eating when you are no longer hungry before you feel full in your stomach.
If you’re always really full after a meal, add a quarter less to your plate the next time you eat and see how you feel. If you’re not feeling full enough after you eat, add a quarter more to your plate the next time you eat and see how you feel.
This is all about getting in tune with your natural hunger signals and your miraculous body.
For more help with this, check out our Lighten Up program.
It depends on your kiddo, but we have lots of people who report that the Meal Plans are kid-friendly.
Some things they will like. Some things they won’t. If they don’t like four things in a row, maybe they will like the fifth thing you give them. Keep trying and don’t give up! Getting your babes to eat healthy plant foods from the get-go is one of the best things you can do for them! Click here to view an awesome interview with Dr. Yami, a plant based pediatrician.
In most cases, absolutely! Our recipes and Meal Plans contain a wide range of unprocessed whole plant foods and the recipes are forgiving and versatile. If you have food allergies, sensitivities, or other dietary restrictions, a little creativity is all you need. Additionally, commonly desired characteristics (like Gluten-Free or Soy-Free) are labeled on our recipes to make them even easier for you to navigate.
Between our handy-dandy substitution guide that we provide to subscribers and our private Facebook group, you should have no trouble finding good substitutions. However, if you're struggling, feel free to reach out. We're always happy to help.
Our Meal Plans take the planning (from what to cook, what to buy, and how to prepare it) out of your weekly routine. We focus on nutrient diversity so that you get a wide range of nutrients each and every week. We also plan weeks to reduce food waste, so that’s one less thing to worry about.
Even if you already eat healthfully, these plans will make your life easier and keep you from getting into a food rut.
Yep! Once your subscription is activated, you’ll get immediate classroom access. Your subscription includes access to all the Meal Plans and recipes in our database as well as access to new Meal Plans as they are released every Friday. You will continue to have access as long as you’re an active subscriber.
We ask that you please do not share the Meal Plans or recipes. We put a tremendous amount of work into hand-crafting our recipes and Meal Plans each week. This is what keeps our business running and our employees paid. If you want to share recipes with your peeps, please share the free recipes from our blog.
We do, however, encourage sharing the food that you make from Meal Plans. That is A-OK! If someone loves it and asks for the recipe, send them to our Meal Plan page where they can sign up for a free trial and make some yummy noms!
Absolutely! Find out more here.
Yep! Read more about our Recipe Vault below.
You can read about our Plant Fueled Meal Plans subscription refund policy here.
Simple Meal Plans
The Simple plans include all the features of our Gourmet plans, but are created following this basic guidance:
- No more than six batching items (and one of those items is washing greens!)
- The batching recipes themselves will never be over complicated
- Side dishes and “extras” are kept to a minimum or left out
- Nightly meals will require minimal time and effort to get on the table (after batch cooking is done)
Not necessarily. They will often use some of the same batching recipes (the ones that aren’t too complicated), but put together in unique ways to create easy meals.
It was just easier this way 🙂 Plus, they will often share some of the same batching recipes.
First of all, we’re stoked you’ve been around long enough to remember the Quick Batch option! Next, the new Simple plans are similar to the old Quick Batch offering with one main difference. We are giving nightly meal instructions / recipes with the Simple plans. The Quick Batch did not include this.
Yes! It is in the Meal Plan classroom and it is called #SimpleTrial. Definitely try it out and see what you think! The link to request is over here.
While our Simple plans have fewer ingredients overall, there is still an emphasis on delicious flavor.
The Simple plans weren’t offered until February, 2021.
All of our Meal Plans (both Gourmet and Simple) are hand-crafted and custom-built by our Meal Planners (AKA Wizards). They design each plan for maximum nutrient-diversity, out-of-this-world flavor, and minimal food waste, as well as efficiency when prepping, batching, and putting together nightly meals. So, we don't have any way to mix and match meal plans due to their individual nature.
If you'd like to make a couple of meals from the Simple plan and a couple from the Gourmet, you're welcome to, but we don't have a way to automatically combine them.
You’re also welcome to choose a couple of meals from a Meal Plan as well as a couple of individual recipes from the Recipe Vault to make each week. Our Recipe Vault allows you to favorite recipes, add up to 10 single recipes and generate a custom grocery list (My Selection), as well as mark recipes for cooking later (My Cook List).
Because the Recipe Vault consists of single recipes, building a custom grocery list in the Recipe Vault will not generate comprehensive batching instructions.
This really requires a human touch and is only available in our Meal Plans.
Recipe Vault
The Recipe Vault is where all the individual recipes from the Meal Plans can be accessed. They are scalable, searchable, savable, and you can even create a custom grocery list from up to 10 different recipes set to your custom portions!
Yes, you can easily do this by clicking on the heart icon in a recipe. All of your hearted recipes will be in the My Favorites tab in the Recipe Vault section of the classroom.
Yep, you can filter recipes in the All Recipes section by many characteristics, including those that freeze well. Be sure to watch the Intro Video in the Recipe Vault section of the classroom to learn about all the helpful features available.
You can! You can search for one or many different ingredients in the All Recipes tab of the Recipe Vault.
Let’s say you have a bunch of quinoa, mushrooms, and chickpeas you need to use up. Type those ingredients into the search box and every recipe that has all three of those ingredients will pop up. Easy peasy.
Yes! We have many search options that allow you to filter by different categories.
Easy! Simply click on a recipe and a preview card will pop up. At the bottom of the card will be all the Meal Plans in which the recipe has been used. If you want to view recipes from a specific Meal Plan in the Recipe Vault section of your classroom, you can search for the Meal Plan title in the All Recipes tab.
You can also view all past plans and the meals from them at this link here.
Not right now, but perhaps in the future.
No, not yet. We may add this in the future.
Yes, common allergens are noted on each recipe. There is also an allergen search feature to make searching for allergy-friendly recipes super easy, this can be found in the filters panel on the All Recipes tab.
Yes you can! You can scale each recipe up to 10 portions.
Yes! You can select up to 10 recipes and a grocery list will be automatically generated to include all of the ingredients you will need. This list reflects the portions you choose for each recipe.
The Recipe Vault section allows you to favorite recipes, add up to 10 to a custom grocery list (My Selection), as well as mark recipes for cooking later (My Cook List). Because the Recipe Vault consists of single recipes, building a custom grocery list in the Recipe Vault will not generate comprehensive batching instructions or a Prep List. These require a human touch and they are only available in our Meal Plans.
There will be two different grocery lists: one for the Meal Plan (depending on how many portions you want of each meal) and one for the recipes you’ve selected in the Recipe Vault (depending how many portions you want of each recipe). The Meal Plan grocery list will be accessible in the Meal Plan area of the classroom, and the My Selection grocery list will be accessible in the Recipe Vault section of the classroom.
If you want to shop from both lists, we suggest having two tabs open on your mobile browser, with one list open in each tab.
Currently, no, but we will be adding this feature in the future.
No. But we have a free trial of our Meal Plans, which allows you to see the Meal Plan classroom to give you an idea of how it all works. More information about our Trial plans can be found above.
Yes, the new recipes that are available each week are the individual recipes from the most recent Meal Plans.
Groceries and Kitchen
We have people from all over the world using our Meal Plans, including Australia, United Kingdom, Cyprus, Cayman Islands, Virgin Islands, Ireland, Canada, Finland, Germany, South Africa, New Zealand, Singapore, Netherlands, Dubai, Japan, Hong Kong, Brazil, Malaysia and more.
It might take a little creativity and you may have to make a few substitutions, but you can make it work and the food will still be yummy.
Check out our substitution document if you are having trouble finding a particular ingredient. This document also includes a tab for global names of ingredients that are commonly used in our Meal Plans.
If there is a health food store in your town you will be fine, even if it is a small health food store. If there is only a conventional grocery store in your town, that works too, but you may need to order some specialty ingredients online. Or check out our substitution document for alternate options.
Bottom line: you can make it work even if you live in a small town.
If you have some skillets, pots, pans, a cutting board, a sharp knife, a blender, some baking sheets, a few mixing bowls, and a salad spinner you can knock out the Meal Plans.
If you have an Instant Pot (or other pressure cooker) and a food processor, you will knock them out faster and easier. The recipes don’t need fancy equipment.
Below are two blog posts that go over the kitchen essentials:
This depends on how experienced and comfortable you are in the kitchen and whether you’re following the Gourmet plans or the Simple plans. If you’re familiar with cooking and batching, it will typically take you between three and four hours to batch a Gourmet plan. Simple plans will take much less time.
If you’re not experienced, it will take you longer. That said, you will get faster the more you do it. Keep in mind that the time you spend in the kitchen batching is time you will not spend in your kitchen throughout the week.
Here are some blog posts about helping you shave time off your batch cooking sessions:
Technical
In your customizable private classroom. You can sign into your classroom or make an account right here.
The Meal Plans are accessed through a virtual interface, so you can live anywhere in the world and have access to them. All you need is a computer and an internet connection.
Our release schedule is based on Pacific Time (PT). A new Meal Plan is added every Friday at 12:01 AM PT. That means if you live in New Zealand, the Meal Plan will be available around 7:30 AM each Saturday morning (also, Daylight Saving Time might come into play too!).
Yes, indeed! The classroom works great on tablets, iPads, and smartphones.
Yes! Head over to the Account Preferences section of your classroom where you can customize the format of your PDF downloads.
Email delivery is a moving target. If you are expecting email from us that hasn't arrived or you’ve suddenly stopped receiving them, check out our guide below.
If you follow these suggestions and you are still not receiving email from us, please reach out, we are glad to help.
GENERAL ADVICE (start here)
- Inbox search: It's always a good idea to search your inbox first (including Spam or Junk folders) to see if our email filtered to a folder you weren't expecting. Simply search for our email address: [email protected] in the search field of your inbox.
- Add us as a contact: Add our email address, [email protected] to the Contact / Approved Senders List in your Inbox.
- Work email: Corporate or institutional email addresses are often problematic for email delivery because of tight security settings. If you signed up for the classroom or the Saturday Love Letters using a work email address and are not receiving our content, email us ([email protected]) with a personal email address and we are glad to switch your profile over to use that one instead. You can also change your preferred email in the Account Details area of your classroom.
GMAIL
In our experience, Gmail has the best delivery rates.
- Gmail may deliver our emails to the "Promotions" tab. You can click and drag an email from Promotions to the "Inbox" tab and Gmail will know to deliver our emails there from then on out.
- If you are not seeing an email from us that you are expecting, search your inbox for our email address: [email protected]
HOTMAIL, LIVE MAIL, MSN, OUTLOOK
These providers may require that you authorize our domain for email delivery.
Please follow these steps to do so:
- Sign in to your account and click on the "Settings" cogwheel in the top right of the screen
- From the list, click on "View all Outlook settings"
- Select "Junk Email"
- Add "[email protected]" and "[email protected]" to the "Safe Senders and Domains" list
COMCAST
Try adjusting the Spam Filter on your Comcast account. For many accounts, Comcast sets the Spam Filter on by default. This filter automatically deletes anything that Comcast *thinks* is spam without giving you the opportunity to view the email. You will want to turn this OFF. Read this link for information on how to turn off that filter.
If that option doesn’t work for you, we suggest switching your email address on file with us to another provider. You can do that in the Account Details area of the classroom or you can let us know and we'll take care of the rest.
Google Chrome, Microsoft Edge, Safari, Firefox all work with our classroom. Our classroom will not work with Internet Explorer (IE). IE is no longer supported by Microsoft and presents security issues. If you are having trouble logging into the classroom with IE, this is why. Please choose a different browser.
First, be sure that you are not trying to access the classroom using Internet Explorer.
If not, are you using a corporate network to try to access the classroom? Corporate networks can be problematic for classroom access because of tight security measures. Please try to sign in on a personal network.
