Individual Cooking Lessons

Plant-Strong Weekly Meal Prep

Vegan | Whole-Food Plant-Based | Nutritarian

Make your week healthy and plant-based!  I will assist you in all areas of plant-based cooking and eating given your personal areas of interest and need. You'll make (and put in your fridge) plenty of yummy food, ready for easy throw-together meals to move you into whole-food plant-based eating immediately!

I specialize in getting busy working people organized to make weekly meal preparation a breeze and get you over the hump into healthy eating right away.

Feel good about what you eat!
With all of the confusion about food choices and cooking techniques, it’s easy to feel overwhelmed and be temped to just give up!

Help is Here! 

It’s also exciting, fun and easy. I will help you learn how to make choices and prepare foods that move you to thriving not just surviving! The whole foods plant-based diet is the answer for weight-loss without deprivation, disease control and overall well-being. Discover the true keys to make your own personal journey toward delicious choices. You will feel good about eating this way by doing it the right way with nutritionally balanced meals and snacks.

Working together, I help you find your own rhythm in your transformed kitchen, stock whole, minimally processed foods, manage your time and engage your senses. Determine the foods and preparation methods that work for you. We specialize in keeping it simple! Taking it step-by-step, with tried-and-true recipes you will discover how to make cooking fun, less time-consuming and pleasurable while effortlessly ditching poor eat habits.

I recently worked with Susan. She opted to have a one-day cooking session with me followed by several follow-up "accountability" phone calls. The method worked like a charm for her - great results that you can have too! 

"I recently found out about how a plant-based diet can be very beneficial for my condition, so I felt an urgent need to change my diet. I didn’t know where to turn so I opted to take the next step and get one-on-one coaching sessions including a personalized cooking class with Tracy of Veg-Appeal. I benefited from the cooking experience the most. Shopping for several recipes was an excellent experience learning to find the different alternatives. This was followed by cooking techniques and tasting. Being able to take the prepared items home lead to an easy transition into a plant-based diet. Our follow-up phone and e-mail conversations were the additional support I needed. Tracy listened to my concerns, offering great suggestions and helpful hints. Flash forward 5 months and I am down 40 pounds and off of all my medications. The experience was life-changing! She is a great nutritional coach, and I’m so thankful!"

  • Susan A. 

And Ken has this to say.... 

I came to the program wanting to improve cooking habits and consistency of in-home eating. I needed to lose some weight, reduce medication and improve my cholesterol and blood sugar levels.  Results were way beyond expectations!  I have more energy, stamina and enthusiasm for life, have shed over 10 pounds during the series without even trying, and my blood pressure is already dropping enough to reduce my medication! What more can I say but Thank You!

  • Ken C.

More Details

If you can't find all of your answers here, please check our general Cooking Lessons Page for lots of details (with a handy link back to this page!) 

Group Sessions

Pricing below is for classes with 1-2 persons. For sessions with 3-4 people check our group cooking lessons page. Want to plan a group session with 5 or more friends, family or colleagues? Sounds like a party! Please check our Cooking Parties Page or Corporate Wellness Page for pricing and details.

NOW is the time to make your FOOD work FOR you!
I can assist you in all areas of plant based cooking and eating given your personal areas of interest and need. Let’s get started!


In Person (San Diego) Online/Phone
Initial Chat 15 minute chat about your challenges, interests and how we'll work together. We'll also schedule your Intro Session during this call. Online / Phone only → FREE Add to Cart
On-Line/Phone Coaching Session. 45 minute in depth call to talk in depth about your current diet, kitchen skills, interests, goals, preferences, and how we will work together. A personalized 2 day meal plan is included to get you started - tried and true recipes to get begin your plant-based adventure. Online / Phone only → $75 Add to Cart
1 Session Includes intro session. Recipes (5-6) that we choose together based on your goals, including instruction on nutritious food choices, meal preparation and cooking. * Food costs are not included. $300 * 2 hours, 5+ recipes Add to Cart $150 1 hour 1-3 recipes Add to Cart
3 Session Package Includes intro session. Choose three 2-hour (in-person) or three 1 hour (on-line) sessions, 5-6 recipes each session that we will choose together based on your goals including instruction on nutritious food choices, meal preparation and cooking * Food costs are not included. $775* Add to Cart $350 Add to Cart
Personalized Grocery Store Tour 1 hour tour at a local San Diego store or via Skype. $85 Add to Cart $75 Add to Cart


Tracy Childs - Veg-Appeal InstructorAbout me, Tracy Childs - I've lived a whole-food, hi-nutrient, plant-based lifestyle for over 40 years and truly enjoy thriving through this compassionate, adventurous way of eating. That sounds like a long time but I do remember making the transition and the steps taken to get there! I'm an expert in plant-based nutrition and food preparation, a certified Nutritional Consultant, and hold a Certificate in Plant Based Nutrition from eCornell. I am a certified Food for Life instructor with the Physician’s Committee for Responsible Medicine, (since 2005) and as a founding co-director of Veg-Appeal.  I have recently worked as a chef at Dr. Joel Fuhrman's Eat to Live Retreat in Del Sur and have enjoyed teaching nutrition and cooking over a decade.  Recently, I was honored to create and provide over 100 recipes for the "Handbook to Higher Health Consciousness" by David Kater. I'm also the founder and director of PlantDiego, a local support organization for all things plant-based. 

I know about family eating struggles and can help! I have proudly raised two children and a husband as vegan/vegetarian ☺. I'm constantly grateful for the reward of helping others make food and diet choices for weight loss, and disease control by sharing my knowledge and love of food, empowering others to achieve and maintain their health goals through healthier lifestyle choices.

Contact Tracy at 858-735-9148 or info@veg-appeal.com to learn more.


Veronique M.
I started this journey in order to help me with my weight loss and to eat more healthy. My biggest challenges were planning and not knowing how to cook vegan food. With the help of Tracy, I was able to overcome those challenges. I would have never thought how easy it is to cook vegan meals and how little time it takes. Spending 2-3 hours on the weekend allows me to prepare my meals for the entire week. Tracy was also really helpful in giving me tips on storing food, using a wide range of different spices for taste and the menus she choose were very simple and based on my personal taste. Anyone can do this; you don't need to be a chef. I was able to lose 10 lbs in 12 days and with the tools I now have, I know I can reach my goal.  Veronique M.
Kristen O.  I’ve had the pleasure of taking two half-day vegan cooking classes from Tracy Childs. Her recipes for plant-based meals are imaginative, straight-forward, and delicious. She is a patient and thorough teacher. I look forward to working with Tracy again to learn more. If you’re interested in cancer prevention or recovery, don’t miss an opportunity to learn from Tracy.  Kristen O.
 

 

 We loved our private cooking class with Tracy! As a physician myself, I am always trying to set a good example of how to make meal planning easier and tasty for the whole family to enjoy.  We would recommend this to anyone who doesn’t know where to start for a healthier life and eating.

Dr. Al and Andrea Hassan

Dani T.  I have had several cooking classes with Tracy over the last 10 years, but recently had my first Vegan cooking class as I had started a 30 day Vegan Challenge. Tracy has to be one of the most knowledgeable and passionate plant based educators in San Diego. I highly recommend seeing Tracy if you are new to a plant based diet or if you have been Vegan for years. Tracy maxed out my two hours with her and went above and beyond helping me get started. I often refer to Tracy as the Vegan guru and she is. If I could, I would give her 6 out of 5 stars!  Dani T. 

Scroll To Top