Plan-a-Plate: Nourish your life, plan your plate.

Here at Plan-a-Plate we promote healthy living for all. In The Hague, around 4000 people make use of the food bank and around 3000 people struggle to feed themselves and/or their families at all. The main perception is that a healthy diet is expensive, and that it is impossible to maintain a healthy lifestyle when on a budget. Those who have little money to spend on food might not be concerned with putting food on the table that is healthy, because they are just concerned with putting food on the table period. We aim to show that it is possible for everyone to maintain a healthy diet by providing them with food workshops in their homes. In these workshops we will show families how to cook healthy meals on a budget, and how to shop for healthy food in a budget friendly manner. We ask you to contribute to our start-up so that we can help those who perhaps did not even view healthy living as an option, maintain a healthy lifestyle, which will hopefully not just enrich their diets but also their lives.

Why workshops?

We want to have a social aspect, we believe this will be more impactful for the families. If we show them how they can prepare the meals in their own home and sit down with them there and plan the meals, we show them how they can implement it right from their kitchen or dining room. This way they will see the possibilities in their own home rather than in a remote location.

Where will your money go?

The money will go towards running pilot workshops, trying out recipes that work and are tasty so that we can provide families with healthy but also tasty food and the money will go towards buying planners for families in which we will write down their meal plan.

From left to right: Laura, Ali, Lakeshia & Maria-Pia

Our team

Ali Reza Reshadatzadeh

Ali is a Computer Science student. Due to his strong sense of responsibility to tackle hunger, Ali always manages to remind us of the values and reasons why we began with this project. Also, he contributes all the technical and computer knowledge that we need for this project. We could not do this without him! Ali’s favorite food is ghorme-sabzie, a traditional Iranian dish. He is passionate about this project because he believes that in society, everyone has a responsibility to take care of one another. Ali likes to think of everyone as family and he believes that, like in a family, we ought to help each other in times of need. 

Laura Buijtenhuis 


Laura is a China Studies student. Within the group, Laura is our motivator and enthusiast. Whenever we encounter challenges, or we lose inspiration, she keeps us going and maintains us positive. Also, her organizational skills are fantastic so she makes sure that the project is in order and up to date. Laura’s favorite food is bloemkoolschotel, a Dutch dish which consists of cauliflower, potato and minced meat, cooked in the oven. She is passionate about food and healthy diets because she works out a lot, and she realizes that when she eats healthy she feels stronger and more energetic. This made her want to share this lifestyle.

Lakeshia Tjin Liep Shie

Lakeshia is a Japan Studies Student. In our group, Lakeshia is our best self-critic. She is able to see everything from a business perspective and so makes sure when we get ahead of ourselves, we come back to realistic thinking. Lakesha’s favorite food is any and every kind of risotto. Like Laura, she is passionate about food and healthy diets because of her active lifestyle. Lakeshia goes to the gym four times a week and feels the value of a healthy diet. The better she eats the better she feels. This made her passionate about healthy living and she want to be able to share this with people who find it challenging to maintain a healthy lifestyle. 

Maria-Pia Sodre Verhaagen

Maria-Pia is an International Studies student. Within the group Maria-Pia is the researcher. She is also full of ideas and tries to think of creative solutions to problems. She is the checker, and always makes sure that the project is fool proof before going on to the next stage. Maria-Pia’s favourite food is tropical fruits, which she could eat from morning to night. Her particular favourites are passion fruit, guava and mango. Maria-Pia maintains a healthy and balanced diet on a daily basis, which forms part of the reason why she is passionate about the project. She believes that you don’t have to be rich to maintain a healthy diet, you just need to organize yourself and plan ahead. She believes that eating healthy is the best thing you can do to be prepared for anything in life.