Q: “I’d like to go vegan but I’m a mom who works outside the home. My days are already packed full with work and family activities, how can I make room for this time-consuming new lifestyle? I need help! How can I eat vegan with my busy schedule?”

A: First things first, the most time-consuming part of being vegan is the transition stage. Once you’ve been vegan for a while it just comes naturally and you won’t have to think about it anymore. Really, I promise. So just remember that if you can commit to overcoming the learning curve “hump” you will succeed at being vegan!

Now, onto the advice for busy vegan moms and anyone who would like to make eating vegan simple and easy…

1. For easy vegan meals at home, consider buying or borrowing a cookbook that was designed for quick vegan cooking. Here are a few options:

• Fresh and Fast Vegan by Amanda Grant
• The 30-Minute Vegan by Mark Reinfeld
• Quick-Fix Vegetarian by Robin Robertson

Also, grab a copy of Vegan a Go-Go! by Sarah Kramer which offers all kinds of advice for eating vegan while traveling or on a busy schedule.

Other tips to make vegan cooking fit into a tight schedule include these:

• Plan ahead. A little bit of time planning out a meal calendar can save you a lot of time at the grocerty store and at the stove. For example, if I soak beans on Friday night then Saturday morning I can cook them in a slow cooker all day. They’re ready to eat with rice on Saturday night and there are plenty of leftovers for the rest of the week. That week we might eat the beans in a veggie pot pie, a soup, and mixed in with a succotash.
• Use appliances like rice cookers, food processors, slow cookers, microwaves, and pressure cookers. When used properly, these can save you significant amounts of time! For example, even though a slow cooker takes longer to cook something than the stovetop method, a slow cooker allows you to leave the kitchen and do other things while the food is cooking, giving you precious free time with your family or time to work.
• Remember it’s OK to take some shortcuts! Just because you’re vegan doesn’t mean everything has to be made from scratch. There’s likely some room in your menu for a bit canned soup or frozen foods. For example, you can often use the same spice mixes now for tofu or seitan that you used to marinade chicken in the past. Not everything about your meals have to change, just a few of the ingredients, that’s all!

2. For vegan-friendly restaurants in your area, check out Veg Guide at http://www.vegguide.org/ which lists all kinds of restaurants that have vegan options. And for suggestions on how to eat vegan at virtually any restaurant, read an article by PETA available online at http://www.peta.org/living/vegetarian-living/chain-restaurants.aspx where they make suggestions like these:

• Chipotle offers a vegetarian fajita burrito, but be sure to order it with black beans—the pinto beans are cooked with bacon.
• The pizza sauce and dough at Chuck E. Cheese, Little Caesars, and Papa John’s are vegan, while Pizza Hut uses vegan sauce, and its Thin ‘n Crispy and dessert crusts are vegan. By omitting the cheese and choosing your favorite vegetable toppings, you can easily make a delicious vegan pizza.
• The Garden Po’ Boy, the Portobello Wrapini, and the Spinach Veggie Wrap are your vegan options at Jason’s Deli. Be sure to ask about the vegan status of each of these dishes—it varies by location.
• Johnny Rockets features the Streamliner, a vegan Boca burger with grilled onions, lettuce, tomatoes, pickles, and mustard.
• P.F. Chang’s is one of the most vegan-friendly restaurant chains around. Its vegetarian menu is terrific, and everything can be made vegan, from appetizers such as Tofu Lettuce Wraps to entrées like Orange Peel Tofu.
• Starbucks has a sesame noodles dish, made with noodles, broccoli, carrots, red pepper, snap peas, tofu, pickled cucumbers, and sesame peanuts. The dish comes with a bar of Starbucks dark chocolate for dessert.
• Subway’s Veggie Delite—on Italian bread and without cheese and mayo—is delish! Want to spice things up a bit? After visiting Subway, visit the nearest grocery store, purchase some fake lunch meats, and load up your sub!

It might feel like a major challenge when you first go vegan, but in the long run it’s just every other challenge you’ve ever faced: it gets easier with practice. You can do this!

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