Giving Up Meat? These Vegetarian and Vegan Apps Can Help (2024)

I gave up meat just before New Year's 2007. I was at the Jewish Museum looking at photos of the writer Isaac Bashevis Singer. He looked slight and elderly, but radiated joy and kindness. I paused at a photo of Singer in a delicatessen, a place I'm sure smelled of the steamy, salty cooked preserved meats I knew well from my childhood; corned beef between pillowy slices of rye bread or crisp Hebrew National hot dogs. Underneath the photo were some words about Singer's vegetarianism and a quote from him: "In relation to them, all people are Nazis; for the animals it is an eternal Treblinka."

I haven't eaten meat since.

My decision to stop eating meat coincided with the beginning of the year, and while it wasn't a resolution per se, it is often one for other people, enough so that you'll see mention of "Veganuary" around in January. It's tied to a 31-day challenge to go vegan for the month, but has become a sort of catchall phrase for anyone aiming to cut down on their animal consumption as a goal for the month.

If you've just given up eating meat, whether it's for health, climate, or animal welfare reasons, it's easier to stick with if you have options easily available to you and some support. That's what the resources below are for. Having an app handy when you're trying to find a restaurant where you can have a range of options or a way to find cruelty-free beauty products or shoes will simplify your life.

Whatever led you here and wherever you are on your journey of making a change in your life, I hope these apps support you on that path (and I'd love to hear about any others you have found in the comments!).

Finding plant-based recipes on sites and apps that have meat options among them can mean lots of time wasted when you’re hungry for dinner. Forks (Android, iOS) has over 600 recipes (with new ones added weekly) that are all vegetarian or vegan. Aside from this convenience, the app itself has lots of handy features: the ability to make a categorized shopping list right from a recipe, simple instructions, and the ability to add notes.

Are you a prepper? No, not a disaster one, a meal prepper. If so, then you’ll benefit from Forks Meal Planner (Android, iOS) which plans out a week’s worth of meals (which you can change up according to your tastes), creates shopping lists, and features a batch cooking guide so you’ll be all set up for a week of culinary success by Sunday. You can find a weekly meal plan and 65 recipes on the free version and the paid version has nearly 1,500 recipes and customization features.

New York Times bestselling cookbook author Angela Liddon runs the Oh She Glows blog that has vegan recipes for snacks, smoothies, entrées, and lots more. The app (Android, iOS) has over 175 of those recipes in an easy-to-view style with features like the ability to lock the screen to keep your phone from turning off while cooking and to cross out steps you’ve already completed.

If looking up recipes and shopping for the right ingredients is overwhelming at first or if you just don’t have the time for it, Green Chef is a good solution. The meal-kit delivery service has a plant-friendly option where you can choose from vegan and vegetarian options. Download the app (Android, iOS) to make your selections on the go. You can even customize the recipes by upgrading or swapping out proteins. The ingredients arrive pre-measured and prepped and the sauces are already blended. PCMag’s Deputy Managing Editor of Software Jill Duffy reviewed Green Chef and gave it an outstanding rating, saying “I can't express just how much I enjoyed Green Chef's meals.”

If you want meals that are already prepared and just require heating up or an all-vegan meal-kit, you can find both with Purple Carrot. The meal kit meals provide the ingredients that you prep and cook while the prepared ones require five minutes or less in a microwave. The app (iOS) lets you manage your schedule and track your deliveries.

Instead of combing Yelp for places to eat around you that just might have vegan options, you can find them on Happy Cow. This app (Android, iOS) works worldwide to help you find restaurants with vegetarian- and vegan-friendly options. There are filters for delivery, takeout, gluten-free, and more. You can find photos and reviews from the community as well.

It’s easy to assume that all alcoholic beverages are vegan but that’s not the case. Barnivore is a website that stays updated with which drinks are free of animal products in ingredients and production. While Barnivore itself does not have an app, PlantyBar (Android) has one that utilizes its data. iOS users can save the site’s mobile-friendly lists to Notepad.

While the Whole Foods app’s (Android, iOS) most frequent use is probably to display the QR code that gets you about a dollar off your expensive groceries if you’re an Amazon Prime member, there are other features. You can set the app to your store and then filter products by dietary preferences, including vegetarian and vegan. You can also order pre-made lunches and dinners to go, as well as scheduling grocery pickup and delivery.

There aren’t lots of fast-food places that have veg-friendly options but you can always count on Taco Bell. The app (Android, iOS) lets you order and pay ahead for pickup and delivery and keeps track of how many points you’ve earned toward free tacos.

Whatever podcast app you have can be used to listen to shows that focus on veg-related topics. The Plant-Based Morning Show is co-hosted by New York Times bestselling author Matt Frazier and ultrarunner Doug Hay who talk about the plant-based headlines of the day. The pair also host No Meat Athlete Radio, which has guest interviews, as well as tips on nutrition, running, training, lifestyle, and habit changes.

For plant-based news and recipes, try Vegetarian Zen. They cover everything from reimagining leather to how to make seasonal treats.

There are only 12 episodes of The VegNews Podcast but the guest interviews on them serve as great inspiration, particularly if you’re just embarking on a meat-free or less-meat lifestyle.

There are so many reasons to stay away from Facebook (Android, iOS) but if you do use the app, it can be very helpful to find local vegetarian- and vegan-friendly places in your neighborhood by joining local plant-friendly groups.

Surveying the vastness of a drugstore or beauty store, you might turn around and walk out instead of trying to figure out which of the thousands of products are vegan and/or cruelty-free. But with the Sephora (Android, iOS) and Ulta (Android, iOS) apps, you can easily filter products and even see which are in stock in what store and, of course, you can also have them delivered right to your door.

There are lots of vegan leather options for outerwear and accessories out there but they're not always easy to find without looking reading through the descriptions for individual items. At Matt & Nat, every item is vegan, always. Its app (Android, iOS) has a large range of stylish bags, shoes, belts, coats, and more.