4 Vegan Recipe Ideas + Sunday Meal Prep Tips
I think if you ask the average person they will say they eat out almost 4 times a week.
If you are looking for a way to budget and save better, meal prepping is where it’s at. Think about all the money you would save if you could stop buying $60 uber eats every other day. In a year, you probably would have saved enough to go to Paris 6 times.
And when you’re in Paris, by all means eat out!
I’ve found we save so much money on weeks that I meal prep. Now I can’t lie, I didn’t do it all time, but now I have made it a habit and commitment of mine to do.
It only takes 2 hours to cook everything you need for the week to store in your fridge and make yummy, colorful meals for yourself or for you and your family.
We all live busy lives, and sometimes our nutrition ends up falling through the cracks. But what is the point of living a busy life with all these goals we want to accomplish if we aren’t taking care of ourselves? We’re just cutting the years off our lifespan by not being healthy, which means less time to reap the rewards of all our hard work.
Needless to say, food matters, and nothing can beat a home-cooked meal where you know where the ingredients come from and can be better in control of what is going into your body.
Here’s some tips:
Pick your recipes and batch them: At the start of your week, pick 3 to 4 recipes that you can eat for lunch or dinner and batch to be able to have at least twice a week. If you can double 4 recipes then boom you have 8 meals already ready to go for the week. Any leftovers you have from those meals you can compile together for a more random meal during the week.
Cook ingredients sepearately: This means that when we are meal prepping, cook your proteins first (chickpeas, black beans, tempeh, tofu, or if you’re not vegan then your meats) and then cook your carbs, then your veggies, and last your sauces/things that can be chopped and stored like herbs. This creates a sense of organization while your cooking because there is a lot of ingredients to get through. I don’t recommend cooking recipe by recipe because that will just confuse you.
Store ingredients separately: In addition to cooking separatly, it is smart to store your ingredients separately. For example, don’t pour your sauce over your greens or pastas, sometimes that can make things soggy. So keep your chickpeas in their own container, greens in their own container, and so on. This way when it’s time to eat you can just throw everything into a bowl and enjoy.
Let’s get into the recipes:
Vegan Cheezy Pasta
Ingredients:
1 box of any type of noodle (preferably legume-based like a chickpea pasta)
2 medium sweet potatoes
1/2 cup cashews
1/3 cup vegetable bouillon
4-6 large garlic cloves
2 tbsp bbq sauce
1 tsp onion powder
2 cups of hot water
salt
Instructions:
Peel the sweet potatoes and chop them into chunks. Soak the cashews in hot water in a glass.
Boil a big pot of water and place the chunks into boiling water. Turn the stove down to medium heat and let them sit in the water uncovered for 10 minutes or until you can stick a fork through. Drain the sweet potatoes and put to the side to cool.
Cook the pasta according to packaging.
Place all the ingredients into a blender and blend until smooth.
Combine pasta with sauce and heat on low for a few minutes to thicken the sauce.
Serve with chopped parsley on top. (optional)
2. Chickpea Artichoke Mash Sandwich
Ingredients: 2 servings
230 g chickpeas drained
1/2 cup artichoke hearts
1/2 cup fresh spinach
2 tbsp vegan mayonnaise
1/2 tbsp fresh dill
1/2 tbsp lemon juice
1/4 tsp garlic powder
1/4 tsp onion powder
1/4 tsp lemon zest
1/8 tsp salt
4 slices of sourdough bread
Instructions:
Drain and rinse the chickpeas, place them in a bowl and smash with a fork until broken down, some texture is ok
Rough chop the artichokes and spinach, then add to the bowl together with the rest of the filling ingredients. Mix well to combine
Layer the artichoke filling in between 2 slices of bread and enjoy!
3. Mustard Tempeh Bowl
Ingredients: 2 servings
For the tempeh:
200 g tempeh (1 package)
2 tbsp of maple syrup
2 tbsp mustard
2 tbsp tamari
For sweet potatoes:
1 large sweet potatoe
salt
Rice:
1 cup brown rice dry
Veggie:
2 handful fresh bok choy
To serve:
1 avocado
4 tbsp sauerkraut
If you can’t find tempeh you can use tofu instead.
Instructions:
Preheat the oven to 180C/360F
Start with the narinade by adding maple syrup, tamari, and mustard to a smal bowl and combine
Chop the tempeh into cubes and add into the marinade. Toss tempeh into the marinade.
Chop the sweet potatoes and add to an oven tray lined with parchment paper.
Add the tempeh to the same sheet as the sweet potatoes and bake for 20 minutes.
Cook the rice according to packaging instructions
Wash the bok choy and if it is not already in small pieces, chop into small pieces. Add to a pan with a splash of water and steam on low heat for a few minutes.
Take tempeh and sweet potatoes out of the oven and add to the bowl with the cooked rice and bok choy.
Add saurkraut and avocado (optional)
4. Loaded Potato Nachos
Ingredients: 1 serving
1 cup yellow potatoes
1/2 tsp salt
Sauce:
1/2 cup of hummus
1 tbsp nutritional yeast
1 tbsp lemon juice
1/4 tsp salt
1/4 tsp onion powder
Beans:
1/2 cup black beans
1/2 tsp cumin
1 tsp paprika
1/4 tsp salt
Toppings:
1/2 handful fresh cilantro
2 tbsp corn kernels
1/4 red onion chopped
a couple of cherry tomatoes chopped
2 handfuls mixed greens
Instructions:
Preheat oven to 200C/360 F
Cut the potatoes into wedges and add them to an oven tray lined with parchment paper (add oil if you want or cook without). Bake for 30 minutes or until they get golden brown.
Now make the sauce by adding all sauce ingredients to a small bowl and stir to combine. Add splashes of water to thin the sauce until you get it to your desired consistency.
Drain and rinse beans and add to a pan with spices on low heat. Add a splash of water and simmer.
Chop the cilantro, tomatoes, and onion
When the potatoes and beans are ready, assemble a bowl! Start with mixed greens, potatoes, beans, toppings and lastly the sauce.