First, don’t beat yourself up. Doing something completely different from what you’ve always done isn’t easy. I don’t know if you’re the main food shopper and preparer in your house, but I can give you some tips as to what I do as the only one in my family who doesn’t eat meat or dairy.
I’m a huge meal-planner. I often have meals and shopping lists planned out two weeks in advance. This helps big time with making sure I know that I have what I want to eat. I try to make most of my meals in a manner that meat and cheese can easily be substituted out, or added later. For instance, I’ll make vegan chili or soup and then separate out my portions and add meat to the rest. I make a lot of tacos, burritos and burrito bowls, and I’ll make baked tofu as well as a meat, like ground beef or chicken so that people can put what they want in it. We also often have make-your-own pizza, where I make personal sized pizza crusts and everyone picks their own toppings. Some things, like mashed potatoes, or pancakes I just make dairy- free and no one even knows the difference. Some things are impossible to keep the meat separate from the rest of the meal- like lasagna. I make two lasagnas- one vegan and one non-vegan and freeze half of each for another meal.
My kids are teenagers and I did not feel like it was right to suddenly stop cooking for them the foods they like and are used to. They do eat meat and dairy, but overall eat very healthy- lots of fruits, vegetables and whole food and very little processed food. I figure they’ll figure it out on their own if they want to be vegan, and if I push it I’m just going to push them away from making that choice. They see what I eat, and I talk to them about it when the opportunity arises. I just found out this week that my older son’s prom date is vegan , and I think he’ll probably be more willing to hear the message from her than from his old mom.
As for cravings- they just take a while to go away, just like any time you try to cut out crappy food from your diet. I can’t even count the number of times I woke up saying I was going to start eating healthy, but couldn’t even make it until lunch without totally giving in. Get the junk food out of your house, and have a list in your head of foods you can eat if you find yourself away from home without a healthy snack. I’ll go into a grocery store and buy a banana and some trail mix and that usually gets me through. And find vegan treats that you like- and treat yourself sometimes.