Meal prep ideas?

boydwgrossii

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  1. Vegan newbie
I work in construction and have a second job. I don’t get a lot of cooking time so I want to start meal prepping my lunches and suppers for the week.
Any ideas on what I can make that I can eat for suppers and lunches without spending money on ingredients I will use for one meal and it will go bad before I use it again?
 
I work in construction and have a second job. I don’t get a lot of cooking time so I want to start meal prepping my lunches and suppers for the week.
Any ideas on what I can make that I can eat for suppers and lunches without spending money on ingredients I will use for one meal and it will go bad before I use it again?
Ah... good question. You've come to the right place.

I'm retired now but the quarantine has re-emphasized my need to meal prep, because I limited my shopping to once a week and also because I didn't want to waste any food.

Before I was retried (but still now) I did a lot of bulk food preparation. I even did it before I was vegan.

I believe I have written quite a bit on those subjects here. So have others. you'll have to search around to find them but I'm sure you'll find some good stuff.

some of my favorite authors/influences/bloggers have also written on those subjects.

Planning is super important. I actually make a weekly meal plan. I used to actually make an entry for each meal for each day of the week. Which is still a good idea - how else can you make sure you don't end up not eating grilled cheesed sandwiches the last 3 days of the week. But now, maybe partly because I'm practiced and also because none of my plans seem to survive the week, I do it more like here are 7 good lunches and here are 7 good dinners.

I just became a fan of this chef.


Over night oats is a great breakfast to eat and have prepared ahead of time. I've found that they last 7 days. so I can make 3 - 4 servings at a time and then have them every other day. Eating them every day is a possibility but I still wouldn't make more than 4 servings at a time.

Back when I was working I found that I liked to have what I would call emergency meals. I would make a whole loafs worth of PBJs, cut them in half and freeze them. You can always stick a couple in your lunch box. and you can eat them while driving too. I also have some tips and tricks for those if you want them.

My other emergency meal was buritoes. I would freeze them and then just nuke them when I needed them. you can also throw them in a lunch box or eat them in a car. I have a some great directions for those if you need them.

I make a big pot of Cuban black beans and a big pot of rice and then combine the two in single servings containers (you can even use ziplock bags) and freeze them.

I do the same thing with Lentil stew and mashed potatoes. Let me know if you need recipes.

Bulk prep for salads is great. Here is a good video.

Some of my favorite youtubes have good ideas on the subject.

Sarah's vegan kitchen is great. just go to her channel and search "meal prep"
The Cheap Lazy Vegan is also a great resource. same thing just go to her channel and search "meal prep. "


Let me know if you need any more info.
 
wow @Lou you, as always, have gone above and beyond and I hope that @boydwgrossii appreciates the time you've spent, so many great suggestions

there are a ton of youtube videos out there, from vegans, who have meal prep videos and I am sure a quick google search will bring them up

Emma JC
Find your vegan soulmate or just a friend. www.spiritualmatchmaking.com
 
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Thank you! I noticed something else here recently. I noticed that the recipes I’m looking at make four servings or so. Have any of you ever made a meal like that and just eat it for multiple meals? Would that count as well?
 
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Thank you! I noticed something else here recently. I noticed that the recipes I’m looking at make four servings or so. Have any of you ever made a meal like that and just eat it for multiple meals? Would that count as well?
Absolutely.
Its rare that I cut the recipe in half or quarters. (I'm just a single guy).
The only time I might cut a recipe in half is if I don't have a pot big enough.
in fact many of my recipes are for 6.
Zip lock bags are life savers.
you can get one of these things * that make filling them easy. but its not that hard to fill them up with just a measuring cup. I actually use the measuring cup - it helps with portion control.
or if you have a good collection of Tupperware you can just use that.
Tupperware stacks better. Zip lock bags laid flat are more space efficient. You can even sort of stack your zip lock bags in the frig or freeze in a rectangular box. I happen to have a Tupperware that is perfect for five or six bags.

Since most meal are freezable you can have different things almost every day of the week.

*
 
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Thank you! I haven’t had to worry about portion control with Plant based nutrition. The amount of calories I need during the summer times make it challenging to sometimes finish a meal.

What are your favorite soups? I made a tomato soup the other day with chickpeas, oh sweet potatoes, and peaches. The peaches were really nice touch although the chickpeas texture didn’t seem to fit.
 
Thank you! I haven’t had to worry about portion control with Plant based nutrition. The amount of calories I need during the summer times make it challenging to sometimes finish a meal.

What are your favorite soups? I made a tomato soup the other day with chickpeas, oh sweet potatoes, and peaches. The peaches were really nice touch although the chickpeas texture didn’t seem to fit.
I think @Emma JC is our resident soup expert.
(I'm more of a salad guy in the summer)

Two suggestions.

1. check out the VF search function. Search for "soup", titles only.
†here must be 20 or 30 soup recipes.

2. Check out CopyMeThat. My first recipe is from My CopyMeThat. It's a website and an app. If you remember the days when we used to cut recipes out of newspapers or magazines, or copy them out of books, or pass recipes around the break room - This is like that - but the 21st century version. Anyway super easy way to get collect and organize your recipes.

Feel free to visit my CopyMeThat page.

Oh one more thing: you might notice that all of my recipes are from different web sites. you might bookmark those sites and come back and search them for soup recipes later.

here are my favorite soups (some of which I think I got from Emma :) )
Oh, BTW Emma and I are InstantPot enthusiasts but every IP recipe can be made on the stove top.








 
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I love to make a bean veggie soup, which is what @Lou is referring to - I do my beans in the crockpot first but you can easily use canned beans of any variety - I like the small white beans like Northern or Navy and mix them with Pinto and/or Black. Then I just start with onion and garlic and add any veggies I have available like celery, broccoli stocks, carrots, parsnip, cabbage and then add some potato or sweet potato, sometimes some frozen corn - I add lots of spices and for stock I use whatever I have available (usually a low salt mix) and then I also add some miso and/or red chili paste for more flavour.

It makes a huge pot and the leftovers I usually freeze so that I have a least another meal or two for the two of us. It is so nice to pull out a container of soup from the freezer and not have any work to do for dinner. I often serve it will some bread and sometimes it has lots of garlic on it.

Emma JC
Find your vegan soulmate or just a friend. www.spiritualmatchmaking.com
 
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That sounds good!

I may need some salt in it. Part of my condition is that I’m prone to hyponatrimia and my genetics are prone to high sodium so it’s a weird balance.

Is there any variant of a good tasting grilled cheese?
 
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Is there any variant of a good tasting grilled cheese?

Taste is pretty much up to the taster.
However I am a big fan of Field Roast Chao. Just the regular kind. But again that is my personal taste.

One of the "non-taste" considerations is what is now referred to as "meltability". and meltability IS a quality that can be obejectified.

Unfortuetly you will probably have to do some exploration and experimentation. but with all the new vegan cheeses available I would think that eventually you will find something you like.

To help you get started, or give you a head start.




 
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I may need some salt in it. Part of my condition is that I’m prone to hyponatrimia and my genetics are prone to high sodium so it’s a weird balance.

as per Dr McDougall's suggestion we put our salt on our food when we serve it - that way it is easier to taste and make the brain happy and it doesn't just dissolve away into the soup

Emma JC
Find your vegan soulmate or just a friend. www.spiritualmatchmaking.com
 
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Agreed!

a friend of mine was in a class where they discussed sodium intake. The take away:

1. Food is canned/preserved with salt.
2. Then we use salt too cook…
3. Aaaaaand salt at the table.

That’s too much salt.

so he said they were teaching the same thing. Salt at the end.