Lighter Culture Review & Plant Powered Pad Thai Recipe

 

The above photos are all food I’ve made using Lighter.  Tofu & Broccoli Tostadas, Spring Pea Soup, Plant Powered Pad Thai, Lower Fat Pesto, and Purple Cabbage & Edamame Salad.

Confession: I’ve outsourced half of my meal planning and grocery shopping, and IT IS AMAZING.  I’ve been using Lighter Culture meal planning and grocery delivery service to supplement our weekly meals.  Before you read the details, see if Lighter is available where you live.  If it is, trust me, read on.  If not, scroll to the end for an amazing recipe courtesy of the Lighter team!

What is Lighter?

Here’s what the Lighter team does: every week, they craft a meal plan for me, and arrange for all the groceries I’ll need to be delivered via a local grocery delivery service (they’ve teamed up with different ones across the country).  I approve the grocery list before the food is delivered, indicating any items I already own to reduce food waste (things like soy sauce, cinnamon, or local produce I may have in the fridge from the last farmer’s market.)  The day my groceries are delivered, I get access to all the recipes for the week online.

I pick the day of the week and a two hour window for my grocery delivery, and I pick the number of meals I’d like and which types.  I’m on the 9 meals a week plan, so each week I pick a variety of lunches, dinners and breakfasts depending on our schedule.

I even tell them how much time I have on average to cook, and how skilled I am in the kitchen.  They use that information to create a custom menu for me, and have the groceries delivered!

Why I love it: I originally signed up just to check the service out before I recommended it to people who want to eat healthier.  I had no intention of sticking with it.  After all, I’ve been eating a whole foods, plant-based diet for already two years.  I’ve got tons of recipes and cooking experience up my sleeves!  I don’t need Lighter to rescue me from the Standard American Diet, I already did that.  Go me!

Except… it’s amazing.  I’m trying new recipes every week.  I’m feeding the kids recipes that I would have skipped over doing the meal planning myself, convinced they’d never eat them.

I’m watching Will eat kale or spinach basil pasta and kicking myself for not being brave enough to serve it to him sooner.

Meal planning was one of the most stressful parts of my week, and when I didn’t get around to it, meal times were really stressful.  (Day 534 of burritos, anyone?)

I never thought I’d keep using Lighter, but now it’s one of the highlights of our week.

For more information, check out their FAQ: https://www.lighterculture.com/faq.  It answered all the questions I could think of before we decided to sign up.

Benefits of Lighter

I have more time to cook because I’m not spending as much time meal planning and grocery shopping.  I never get halfway through dinner prep and realize that I forgot to get the red pepper because Will and Andrew distracted me in the grocery aisle.

I’m finally serving leftovers because the recipes are all designed to make two meals.  Initially, I was a little disappointed because I’d been hoping for unique meal plans for each lunch and dinner.  But only cooking and cleaning up after a large meal every other day is amazing.  The recipes are designed with leftovers in mind, and have all kept well in the fridge for the few days before I serve them again.  I’ve been getting my groceries and new meal plan on Thursdays, cooking a lot on Friday, and then having leftovers ready to heat up all weekend.  That means we can show up to a healthy, prepared lunch and dinner after all our weekend adventures and spend time as a family instead of cooking.  It’s AMAZING.  It has transformed our weekends.

I’m saving money and reducing food waste.  I’m not impulse buying produce that looks good with no plan for how to use it, so I’m wasting less food, and saving money.  Lighter is designed to be budget friendly, so the meals take advantage of wholesome foods that are less expensive, integrating rice, beans and whole grains to balance out those fresh organic raspberries they sent to top the overnight oats.  The meals never feel cheap, but because every piece of produce enters the house with a plan, we’ve been saving money on our grocery bill.

I can have people over spontaneously. The recipes make enough for leftovers… or company!  My sister wasn’t sure until day-of whether they’d be able to come for dinner, and I was stress free.  I had a recipe and ingredients on hand for an awesome meal that would serve all of us, or serve just my family and we’d have leftovers.  It’s amazing to always have enough to share, or to skip meal prep and dishes two nights later.  You can’t lose.

Greg cooks more. Greg’s a fabulous cook, but I was in the habit of cooking every meal because it was easier than explaining my half-formed plans for dinner.  With Lighter, suddenly neither of us knows the plan for the produce in the fridge better than the other one.

I still plan some of our meals. I am on their lowest quantity meal plan, because I do love spontaneity.  I didn’t want to outsource meal planning completely and not be able to go to the farm stand and spontaneously put together a meal based on the seasonal produce.  I love that I can still see a recipe online and plan to try it that week.  Now it’s a pleasure and not a chore, because Lighter has my back for over half our weekly meals.

Tips for using Lighter: 

Experiment with the type of meals, day of the week, and appetite size until you find what’s right for your family.  We originally said we had large appetites because we run a lot, but found because the kids eat so little we ended up with way too much food.  We’ve cut it back, and now we’re really happy with the amount each recipe is making.

Be sure to list any allergies you have, and take advantage of their food dislikes column so the meal plans are tailored to your family’s preferences.  That said, be adventurous!  I have tried and loved some recipes I never would have picked out of a cookbook (edamame and purple cabbage salad, for example… the name doesn’t do it justice, it’s drowned in a gingery peanut butter sauce that’s to die for).

Don’t be afraid to modify a recipe slightly for your family – I don’t cook with oil, and was originally sad that this wasn’t an option, but then realized that I’m completely comfortable modifying the recipes accordingly.

Other services I’ve tried: I’ve tried several other healthy meal services and none of them come close to Lighter.  The Purple Carrot delivered all the ingredients to prepare really tasty recipes, but with way too much packaging and the pricing wasn’t competitive.  Veestro sent microwaveable meals that were convenient… but again, way too much packaging and who really wants to eat microwave meals, no matter how gourmet?  (I wanted to love every healthy meal service out there, I really did.)

Back to Lighter –

The Lighter team hasn’t endorsed this post in any way, and I’m not receiving anything from them except all the above benefits from using their service.  I wanted to try their service and share it with people because I think it has the ability to save people time and money.  Lighter makes it incredibly easy for you to eat meals that are better for your health, the environment, and the animals we share the earth with.  I believe in their mission, and I’m impressed with how they’re carrying it out.

Above: Co-Founder of Lighter, Micah Risk, on the cover of a recent Runner’s World magazine. When I e-mailed Lighter to ask permission to use a screen shot of their menu in my review, she said in her reply “I checked out your blog– I love it! I’m a runner too! I actually just got back from the Falmouth race on the Cape.”  Um, yes.  I kind of knew that you’re a runner.  BECAUSE YOU WERE ON THE COVER OF RUNNER’S WORLD. There are very few vegan runners (and probably no vegan running bloggers) who don’t know who Micah Risk is.  She knocks our socks off.

Not only did Micah give me permission to share the menu screen shot in my review, she also sent me a fabulous recipe to share with you!  I love Lighter.

Wait until you taste this sauce – Greg said it was hands down the best pad thai recipe I’ve ever made.  Try it for yourself!

A Lighter Recipe: Plant Powered Pad Thai

INGREDIENTS

Rice noodles, 4 ounces

Tofu, extra firm, 1 block

Peanut butter, 4 tablespoons

Frozen broccoli, 2 cups

Carrot, 2

Olive oil, 2 tablespoons

Garlic, 4 cloves

Lime, 2

Apple cider vinegar (or white/rice vinegar), 3 tablespoons

Soy sauce, 4 tablespoons

Water, 0.5 cup

OPTIONAL- Green onion, Sriracha

DIRECTIONS 1. Heat olive oil over medium heat in a large flat saute pan.

1. Drain the tofu and cut into small cubes and place them in the warm pan in a single layer. Regularly flip the tofu so it doesn’t stick to the pan, and so it gets an evenly golden brown cook on each side. (This will take 10-15 minutes.)
2. Produce Prep: While the tofu is cooking, wash the carrot. With a peeler, peel the carrot lengthwise into long ribbons. Not a lot of time? Just chop up the carrots into bite-sized pieces. Peel and mince the garlic.
3. Heat water in a pot and cook the rice noodles according to the directions on the box. (Don’t overcook them!)
4. After 10-15 minutes of tofu-cooking, add the broccoli to the tofu pan. If you don’t love raw garlic, add the garlic here! Cook for another 5 minutes, or until broccoli is warm throughout. Add the carrot ribbons to the tofu right before you turn off the heat to give them a very mild cook.
5. In a deep bowl, mix peanut butter and all the seasoning ingredients (except the lime) together. If you have salted peanut butter then you may want to decrease the soy sauce (and increase water by that amount) so the dressing doesn’t come out too salty. To combine all the ingredients, whisk vigorously with a whisk or a fork. Some find it easier to shake up the ingredients in a tightly sealed jar. Drain the noodles and place them back in the pot (removed from heat). Mix the sauce with the noodles while they’re still hot.
6. To plate, top with tofu and vegetables, and squeeze a lime wedge onto the dish before serving.
7. Kid-Friendly Tip: Pru, the official 6-year old Taste Tester of Lighter, says this dish is better than pizza. We hope your little one loves it, too!

Sent to me by Micah Risk, Director of Nourishment  www.lighterculture.com

Many thanks to Micah, Alexis and the team at Lighter Culture for letting me share this fabulous recipe with my readers, and for planning our dinners and arranging our grocery delivery so we can hang out as a family instead 🙂

You can use code SEED2015-1765 to get $10 off your first order – thanks Lighter!