Are you interested in vegan meal prep and want to save time when cooking? Perhaps you also recognize yourself in the following behaviours and want to improve your diet. Healthier, more efficient and delicious shape. I used to either dawdle in the morning or get up too late, then quickly go to the bakery and grab something to go and eat on the way. Of course, this was neither healthy nor particularly good for my wallet.
I now thankfully avoid sugary white flour products from the bakery. Instead, I enjoy a wholesome diet and save valuable time in the process - simply by planning cleverly. If you fancy a quick, tasty and healthy meal, then this post is just the thing for you!
For orientation, here is a brief overview of the contribution:
What is vegan meal prep?
The term meal prep comes from the English language, "meal" means meal and "prep" is short for "preparation". Vegan Meal Prep therefore means, that you prepare your vegan meal as (time) efficiently as possible.
How much and how long you prepare is an individual matter. Some people want to cook ahead for the whole week and then store the food in the fridge or freezer. Others simply prepare breakfast for the following day in the evening while they are cooking their dinner.
Task: Ask yourself what best suits your needs and goals and plan accordingly. It also depends on how often you normally eat during the day. For example, if you intermittent fasting and only eat lunch and dinner, you need to prepare differently than if you eat morning, noon and night and like a few snacks in between.
4 benefits of meal prep for vegans
Vegan meal prep helps you to conjure up healthy and delicious dishes in a manageable amount of time. This is just the beginning of a long list of benefits that I would like to present to you in more detail here:
- Healthy
- No slips
- Save time
- Save money
1. healthy
As you plan your diet and mainly cook for yourself, you can simply Omit additives and preservatives and only eat sugar if you want to. The Meal Prep also makes it easier for you to vegan slimmingbecause you are eating according to a plan. So you can simply Control quantitiesyou are less likely to have food cravings and you will soon have a a better attitude to life.
2. no slips
With vegan meal prep, you are less likely to slip up in your diet. Because by preparing your meals you reduce the risk of deviating from your plan and eat unhealthy or animal products. Especially when you get hungry or are on the go, you reach more quickly for foods that you actually wanted to do without, because often cause of nutrition-related diseases are.
3. save time
Whether you're just quickly preparing breakfast for tomorrow while you're cooking or cooking ahead for the whole week on Sunday evening, either way you'll save time. With vegan meal prep, you combine the preparation, have to Fewer handles make Rinse off less and thus have more time for other, important things in your life. Especially if you are also a vegan diet in everyday working life Meal Prep really is a great relief.
4. save money
Eating out is expensive. Especially for vegan food or dishes, you can quickly pay a few euros more than for the animal version. If you take care of yourself during your lunch break instead of ordering in or going out to eat, you can easily and Save money sustainably.
8 tips for vegan meal prep
Do you want to make your meal prep vegan? Then let's get to my best tips! Here's a brief overview before I explain them to you:
- Make Meal Prep Day
- Prepare breakfast glasses
- Cook double quantity
- Use dips and soups to make use of leftovers
- Use filler
- Conjure up bowls to use leftovers
- Include healthy snacks
- Consciously take time
For info: Many of the experiences, ideas and advice can of course also be implemented if you do not eat a purely plant-based diet.
1. make Meal Prep Day
Use one day a week as a Meal Prep Day where you can Pre-cook pulses & wholegrain productssalad dressings, dips, sauces or pestos. You can freeze sauces and dips in ice cube trays and defrost as required. The Pulses and whole grain products should not be seasoned yet, so that you can use them for different dishes.
You can use red lentils for a bolognese, a dhal and kitchari, for example. You can do the same with couscous, bulgur, wild rice, green spelt, lentil noodles, chickpeas and many other foods. Millet, for example, is also great for breakfast and as a side dish for a main meal.
Tip: On Meal Prep Day, start by getting an overview of the cooking times and make a short plan of what you want to start with. Start with the things that take the longest and then prepare other things in the meantime and use the time while your food is cooking or baking to get your kitchen ready.
2. prepare breakfast glasses
Many people want to save time, especially in the morning, and breakfast jars are perfect for this. That's why this is one of my favorite tips for vegan meal prep. I use the following for this Preserving jarsin which I prepare my breakfast in portions.
On Meal Prep Day, I fill five preserving jars with rolled oats, pumpkin seeds, nuts, cocoa, cinnamon and possibly dried fruit. During the week, I take one of the jars every morning and cook the contents with Plant milk and fresh fruit to make a porridge. Alternatively, you can also leave some plant milk and fruit at work, take the jars with you and add fruit and plant milk during your breakfast break.
Tip: I mainly add variety to my breakfast with different spices and fruit and at the weekend I treat myself to something completely different. You can find more inspiration in our article on vegan breakfast ideas.
3. cook double quantity
There is hardly an easier way to save time in the kitchen than to cook a double portion and use it the next day. For example, you can Prepare twice as many oven vegetables (as actually required) and use the leftovers the following day as stir-fry vegetables. Or you can cook a large portion of unseasoned millet for dinner and use the leftovers the next morning for breakfast with an apple, cinnamon and almond butter.
4. use dips and soups to use leftovers
Leftover vegetables, such as baked vegetables, steamed broccoli or pieces of carrot, can be made into a delicious meal with a few chickpeas, some nut butter or olive oil and a few spices. very quickly mix a delicious dip. If you sauté an onion and some garlic, bring everything to the boil with a little water and puree, you'll quickly have a delicious soup.
5. use filler
Fillers are foods that you can use to spice up your meal and make it bigger if you don't have enough left over for a meal from the previous day. The following are particularly good for this Nuts, seeds, cooked chickpeas, tofu, frozen peas, olives or raw vegetables. It's best to always have a few fillers on hand, as you can add variety to your prepared foods.
6. bowls to conjure up leftovers
Nothing is better for using up your leftovers than a large bowl. You can make many Various food scraps with a delicious dip and a few fillers like olives or chickpeas combine into a delicious bowl. Bowls are also ideal for lunch breaks because you don't have to heat them up.
Notice: In Western countries, far too many Food thrown awaywhich is an unnecessary burden on the environment. Using bowls to recycle leftovers instead of throwing them away is a good step towards a truly sustainable diet. sustainable nutrition.
7. include healthy snacks in between meals
If you like to snack regularly, it is a good idea to eat a larger amount on your Meal Prep Day. Energy Balls, Oat Bars, Peanut Protein Balls. or another snack of your choice. This way you can guarantee that you won't reach for unhealthy products when you have a craving.
8. consciously take time
Take your time and dally while cooking so that cooking doesn't become just another task on your to-do list. Cooking can, may and should be fun! Especially at the weekend, it's nice to swing a cooking spoon and have fun doing it. Of course, the fun is best enjoyed in company. Invite friends over for a cooking evening and cook something together that would normally be too time-consuming!
Good meal prep containers
There are many different containers that are suitable for your vegan meal prep. Depending on the purpose, I usually use...
- Glass lunch boxes (is available here in a set*)
- Stainless steel cans (you get here*)
- Oilcloths (you can find here*) or
- Preserving jars (is available here*).
It is important that your Meal Prep containers leak proof, food safe and BPA free are. It's best to have containers in different sizes. It is particularly practical if you have a few tins with a Partition wall have to store different components separately from each other.
-
Oilcloths13 € -
Stainless steel lunch box17 € -
Preserving jars30 €
Tip: Glass boxes are a little heavier than stainless steel tins, but they are suitable for the oven. However, if a low weight is important to you, it is better to use stainless steel tins as meal prep containers.
Weekly plan for vegan meal prep
The vegan Meal Prep weekly plan is designed for three meals a day. On Sunday, there is a more elaborate Meal Prep Day, on which you prepare a lot of things for during the week. While you're making dinner, you should also take care of lunch for the following day.
Important: The dishes and Meal Prep ideas are just a rough guideline for you and can can be supplemented and refined as desired.
The Destination of the vegan Meal Prep weekly plan is a A varied, healthy diet with minimal time expenditure. You can achieve this by combining foods that have already been cooked into new dishes and cleverly utilizing leftovers.
Sunday
Breakfast: Buckwheat pancakes
Noon: Vegan sandwiches with tofu, fresh vegetables and plant-based spread
Dinner: Oven vegetables and Hummus
Sunday is your vegan meal prep day. Soak enough chickpeas in the morning at the latest, preferably the day before. During the course of the day, cook chickpeas and wild rice separately, bake a protein banana bread and make oven vegetables for your evening meal.
You also make hummus from some of the cooked chickpeas and keep the rest in the fridge. Prepare the portioned breakfast jars for your breakfast during the week. You can prepare the breakfast jars as muesli, overnight oats or porridge.
You can find suitable recipe suggestions here:
Monday
Breakfast: Muesli from the breakfast jar
Noon: Vegan sandwiches with hummus, chickpeas, vegetables and olives, protein banana bread
Dinner: Pan-fried vegetables with chickpeas and wild rice
For dinner, heat the remaining oven vegetables with chickpeas, wild rice and a little coconut oil in a wok. In the meantime, prepare the salad for Tuesday lunch and fill a breakfast glass with plant milk to soak up the flakes.
You can find suitable recipe suggestions here:
Tuesday
Breakfast: Overnight oats from the breakfast jar
Noon: Salad with wild rice and fresh vegetables, protein banana bread
Dinner: Chickpea coconut curry with green curry paste, wild rice, broccoli and coconut milk
For dinner, fry the green curry paste, chickpeas and broccoli with coconut oil in a large pan. Add the wild rice, coconut milk and a little water and simmer. Season to taste with spices of your choice, salt and pepper.
You can find suitable recipe suggestions here:
Wednesday
Breakfast: Muesli from the breakfast jar
Noon: Leftovers from chickpea coconut curry, protein banana bread
Dinner: Pasta with lentils bolognese
Cook a double portion each of pasta, millet and red lentils. Cook a bolognese for dinner with the pre-cooked red lentils, onion, garlic, tomato puree, tomatoes and dried herbs. In the meantime, prepare the cashew cream in the blender and the pasta salad for Wednesday.
You can find suitable recipe suggestions here:
Thursday
Breakfast: Porridge from the breakfast glass
Noon: Pasta salad with cashew cream, pickled cucumber, tomato and peas, protein banana bread
Dinner: Millet patties with steamed vegetables and peanut sauce
In the morning, boil the contents of the breakfast jar with a little plant milk and fruit to make porridge. In the evening, mix the cooked millet from the previous day with a little buckwheat flour, onions and spices to form a firm mass, shape into patties and fry in oil. At the same time, steam a double portion of side vegetables and make a quick peanut sauce with peanut butter, hot water, nutmeg, salt and pepper.
You can find suitable recipe suggestions here:
Friday
Breakfast: Muesli from the breakfast jar
Noon: Salad with fresh vegetables and millet patties
Dinner: Dhal from red lentils, served with potatoes
For dinner, cut a double portion of potatoes into bite-sized pieces, boil in salted water and, in the meantime, heat some coconut oil with cumin, fenugreek seeds and a chili pepper in a pan. Add the garlic, pureed tomatoes and the lentils. Season to taste with salt, pepper, nutmeg and garam masala and mix in some of the cooked potatoes.
You can find suitable recipe suggestions here:
Saturday
Breakfast: Golden millet with turmeric, cinnamon & apples
Noon: Soup made from steamed vegetables
Dinner: Potato gratin with cashew yeast flakes melting
For breakfast, sauté an apple with a little coconut oil and cinnamon. Add the rest of the millet, turmeric and a little plant milk, heat through and season with a sweetener of your choice if necessary.
For lunch, use the leftover vegetables from Thursday. Sauté some onion and garlic with olive oil in a pan. Add the vegetables and hot water and puree everything. Season to taste with salt and pepper and garnish with fresh herbs.
For the potato gratin, sauté an onion and garlic clove with a little olive oil and pour in soy or oat cream, then season with nutmeg, salt, pepper and marjoram. Preheat the oven and, in the meantime, slice the remaining potatoes from the previous day. Then put everything together in a casserole dish and prepare a cashew-yeast flake melt in a blender. Pour the melt over the potatoes and bake briefly. Garnish with chives or parsley and serve.
You can find suitable recipe suggestions here:
Book Tip: If you are looking for more tips and inspiration for suitable weekly plans, I can warmly recommend the Book "Vegan Yack Attack's Plant-Based Meal Prep" by Jackie Sobon* recommend!
More vegan meal prep recipe ideas
Here I have a few more good vegan meal prep recipe ideas. Some meals are well preparesuch as the overnight oat muesli mix or the lentil pasta salad. Other meal prep recipe ideas are ideal remnant recyclers such as Chia Chai Millet or Kitchari. Banana Bread, Energy Balls and Hummus are perfect Meal Prep Dishes for snacks.
The following recipe list is of course not exhaustive, but is only intended to give you an overview and inspiration for vegan meal prep recipe ideas:
- Protein banana bread
- Energy Balls
- Peanut protein balls
- Kitchari
- Overnight Oat muesli mix
- Lentil noodle salad
- Hummus
- Thai Crunch Salad
- …
Healthy and quickly supplied with vegan Meal Prep!
-
Cookbook Vegan cliché goodbye!20 € -
Eat animals13 € -
Vegan is nonsense!24 €
With vegan meal prep ideas, you can eat a balanced, time-saving and delicious diet. At the same time, you mainly eat dishes you have prepared yourself, so you don't consume any additives or sugar and you also save money. You now have everything you need for successful implementation.
I hope you enjoy the delicious meal prep recipes! Let me know in the comments if you have any other tips to improve the vegan meal prep week plan!
All the best,
P.S.: You can find more inspiration on the topic of nutrition in our articles on Nutrition without substitute products, Nutrition and the environment and our book Cooking for the climate.
