Hi gang! I am a "newbie". Personally I have been able to eliminate meat and most dairy from my diet but my husband and 2 children have not followed suit. So, knowing that chucking everything in my fridge is not an economical or realistic way to get started, any one have a good transition plan they used to first go vegetarian...we'll work up to vegan soon. :)

I used up what I had and as it was done, I replaced it with vegan subs.  When I ran out of milk, I bought almond milk.  When we were finished with the fresh meat, I started making meals with alternative proteins like beans, seitan, quinoa, etc. 

Sometimes it might take a while to build up a taste to the alternatives.  My better half did not change with me, but eats vegan meals for dinner.  He REALLY loves seitan, specially when it's browned in a pan and added to other dishes.  He said he could eat it everyday because it tastes like and has the texture of chicken/pork.  Tofu and tempeh is another story.  Neither one of us have really found any recipes that changed out minds on those items. 

Now the canned meats/fish I donated to a local food bank.  I figured that they could use the food, and I wanted to not have an excuse to drag on the transition.

Good luck!

Part of my plan is using "real" food with very few vegan subs. I've found it a lot easier turning other people on to vegan food when I use familiar ingredients. Although tofu, seitan and tempeh can be delicious, you will never pass them off as "meat" so there's no point in even trying. Find recipes for those ingredients that are made to work with what they are instead of trying to make them something they're not.

In the meantime, here's a whole list of vegan recipes that have gotten rave reviews from all my very non-vegan taste-testers =)

http://sneakyvegan.blogspot.com/p/recipe-index.html

Good luck!