5 Healthy Vegan Meal Prep Ideas
With school starting back and work returning to the office, you may find yourself once again faced with the perpetual challenge of knowing the right thing to eat every day. When you’re vegan, you also have certain restrictions that can limit your daily choices, especially if you don’t bring your own meals.
That’s why meal prep can be one of the most beneficial parts of your routine. We are here to offer five healthy vegan meal prep ideas that will make you look forward to lunch.
Why Meal Prep?
When you’re following a vegan diet and lifestyle, planning and preparing your meals in advance comes down to more than just making day-to-day meals easier: it can also help you meet your required nutrients.
Veganism introduces an elevated risk for malnutrition in regard to certain vitamins and minerals, Planning your next meals in advance will help to ensure you reach your daily nutritional needs. Meal prep makes this easier by allowing you to plan and prepare several days’ worth of meals at once – saving you time in the kitchen throughout the week.
5 Healthy Vegan Meal Prep Ideas and Recipes
Quinoa with Roasted Vegetables
Topping quinoa with your choice of roasted vegetables is a great choice if you’re looking for something lighter without sacrificing texture, flavor, or nutrients. This can be a quick meal that is easily prepared in advance and packaged to eat later in the week.
In fact, by cooking a larger serving of quinoa and vegetables, you can store several meals out of this recipe.
It’s also versatile. Top with your favorite vegetables roasted in your oil and herbs of choice and serve on a bed of quinoa. You can even swap quinoa for rice if you prefer.
By getting creative with the vegetables you choose to incorporate, and shopping for local in-season produce, you’ll be able to create a healthy meal that stores easily and tastes just as good on day two.
Prepare Grains in Advance
We understand that sometimes certain foods just aren’t as good when prepared in advance. Certain vegetables or fruits can brown faster once they’re prepared, such as apples or avocados, and it can make a meal you spent time planning and preparing unpleasant.
However, even if you decide to wait until the day before or the day of to prepare parts of your meal, cooking your grains in advance can be a quick and easy way to succeed at meal prep.
Some grains, such as rice, can even be better after a few days stored. In fact, certain recipes call for day-old rice, allowing you to experiment with your meals and explore your nutrition by incorporating new recipes into your weekly vegan meal prep.
Vegetarian Chili
This family-favorite comfort food goes beyond weekly meal prep by being freezer friendly, allowing you to stretch out a single meal for weeks, if not months. This is also a high-volume meal, meaning it will fill you up with smaller portions.
And the best part? You can make it with nearly any vegetable.
The base is founded on beans, diced tomatoes, and tomato paste with your common kitchen seasoning (salt, pepper, paprika, cayenne pepper, and, of course, chili powder). From there, you can also add in zucchini, bell pepper, celery, corn, or any other vegetables you’d like.
After allowing it to cook on the stove until the beans are tender, you can serve it with your choice of toppings, from vegan cheese and sour cream to crushed crackers.
Utilize Leftovers
Whether you cooked the night before or treated yourself to vegan takeout, storing and preparing your leftovers can be one of the best ways to fill a gap in your weekly menu. It also helps reduce waste while while also saving money.
If you don’t have access to an area to cook your meal during the day, there are also of plenty options, such as salads or certain vegan pastas, that taste just as well cold.
Heat-Free “Raw” Tacos
This meal is just one example of the variety of dishes you can serve cold.
The basis for this recipe is cooked lentils topped with seasoning as your taco “meat”. While this step involves cooking, the rest is served raw, and even this is designed to be served cold or at room temperature, making it the perfect meal prep meal.
While you can wrap this in tortillas, you can also utilize vegetables for a healthier meal. Our top choices are lettuce wraps or stuffed bell peppers.
Lastly, you can either go ahead and top your tacos with your choice of vegan cheeses and sour cream, salsa, or avocado. Another idea is to package them on the side to add on top whenever it is time for you eat.
Make Healthy Vegan Meal Prep Easy with Willow Bistro
Willow is a vegan restaurant giving classic bistro comfort food an upscale twist while using 100% vegan ingredients. You can enjoy a great vegan lunch at our restaurant or enjoy lunch in your office or home with our pickup and delivery services. Wherever you decide to spend your lunch break, we look forward to serving you high-quality vegan cuisine.
