Plant based/vegan meal prep, help appreciated!

ColdDawning
ColdDawning Posts: 36 Member
edited December 2019 in Food and Nutrition
Sorry for the long post, I talk/write too much. Short version: I would like some input/tips about how to plan out my meals, or what to cook, maybe even recipe suggestions using the ingredients I list below. I eat plant based, so no eggs or dairy, and no meat.

I've made a lot of progress the last 7 months in several different ways. I've finally started exercising (and I'm enjoying it), I've finished my education, and now I also have a job that pays well, and I'm currently looking for an apartment so that I can get my privacy back. However, I've gotten worse with food. I wasn't good to begin with, but now I hardly ever make anything myself. I'm tired when I get home from work, often hungry as well. Breakfast is the only meal I put some effort into, but it's turned into an endless cycle of toast and hot chocolate. For the past 2 months, everything is junk food, frozen ready-food, and sandwiches.

I want to stop buying ready made meals. Ofc it might be necessary at times, but I want to really try to cook my food myself, bake my own bread etc.

So far the plan I got is to make Sundays my meal-prep day. I know I want to make bread, hummus or similar and probably some sort of baked beans, maybe burgers made out of beans or peas, probably prep quinoa or buckwheat so that I can just scoop it up and add veggies and burgers/baked beans etc to it.
I've noticed that the stores have started to sell bags of food that is about to get tossed for a cheap price, often including large bags of bananas which I could chop up and freeze and make a smoothie out of every morning or evening. I have also considered having overnight oats since that's simple enough, and I could have bananas in that as well.

The items I'll have at home/be willing to buy and bring home:
  • Black, white and fava beans, green and yellow peas, sugar snap peas. Red, green, and black lentils.
  • Quinoa, buckwheat.
  • Potatoes, carrots, sunroots, red beats.
  • Yellow and red onion, leek, garlic.
  • Tomato, bell pepper, aubergine, zucchini, cucumber.
  • Kale, red cabbage, fennel, spinach.
  • Mushrooms of different sorts, but probably mostly the button mushroom that I can find in stores all year around.
  • Apples, pears, berries of different sort. Apples, oranges, and bananas are probably what I can most easily get hold of all year around.
  • Chili, ginger, horseradish.
  • Salt, black table pepper, cardamom, cinnamon, clove, rosemary, basil, thyme, coriander, oregano, sage, parsley, tarragon.
  • Mustard, vinegar, olive oil, coconut oil, rapeseed oil, flour, yeast, sugar, cocoa powder, oat milk. Probably some sort of ready-made broth.
  • Seeds and nuts of different sorts.

Any suggestions on what I could make that's easy, tasty and nutritious with the ingredients listed above? Is there any ingredient that you think I should definitely add to my list that would improve it? The reason I've made a list is because I got a bad habit of buying food and never using it, letting it go bad in the fridge. I'm done wasting food that way, so no more exotic ingredients that I don't understand.

Replies

  • I love savory crumbles and used to batch cook a big tray at a time - crumbled walnuts in the topping were an especially delicious treat. Basically I took whatever beans I had and diced up any root veggies and chucked it in with some stock, then topped it and bunged it into the oven. It doesn't get much easier. Very easy to portion out too.
  • ColdDawning
    ColdDawning Posts: 36 Member
    I love savory crumbles and used to batch cook a big tray at a time - crumbled walnuts in the topping were an especially delicious treat. Basically I took whatever beans I had and diced up any root veggies and chucked it in with some stock, then topped it and bunged it into the oven. It doesn't get much easier. Very easy to portion out too.

    Thank you for your reply, you made me realise that I forgot to add nuts and seeds to my list, so I did that now. Always have that at home, despite not touching them for months now!

    That does sound pretty good, I've never made anything like that before. How do you usually make the stock?
  • How do you usually make the stock?

    With a kettle and stock cube :D Honestly, I'm no whizz in the kitchen.

    Google "vegetable crumble" and you'll get loads of ideas - they're a bit like soups, as in you can use whatever you have to hand and it will turn out great.

  • ColdDawning
    ColdDawning Posts: 36 Member
    How do you usually make the stock?

    With a kettle and stock cube :D Honestly, I'm no whizz in the kitchen.

    Google "vegetable crumble" and you'll get loads of ideas - they're a bit like soups, as in you can use whatever you have to hand and it will turn out great.

    Sounds easy enough x) thank you for the tip!
  • Katmary71
    Katmary71 Posts: 6,534 Member
    You can make a ton of stuff with that list! I want to come cook at your house! I make dry beans/legumes once a week plus a soup or chili at least once a week. You have great fixings for salads and Buddha bowls. Last night I made 15 Bean Gumbo. Do you have a pressure cooker? An Instant pot is great for dry beans. My favorite split pea (assuming by green pea you meant split) is Plant-based Gabriel's split pea soup. Use 6 jalapenos, I've added barley and potatoes and each worked well. I don't know how to link stuff on my phone and usually meld a few recipes together. The bean gumbo is from an old Moosewood cookbook. If you do have a pressure cooker Vegan Under Pressure cookbook is supposed to be good, I'll either get that or Plant-based Gabriel's cookbook next. I'm not either, just eat a lot of plant foods.
  • nuzziek
    nuzziek Posts: 69 Member
    An easy way to transition into meal prepping would be to make a giant pot of vegetable stew! If you have a crock pot or an Instant Pot (I highly recommend getting an Instant Pot!), you can make a nice big batch on Sunday and eat it all week. Good luck! Your ingredient list for the week looks great. Maybe add some tofu or beans for more protein.
  • ColdDawning
    ColdDawning Posts: 36 Member
    edited December 2019
    Katmary71 wrote: »
    You can make a ton of stuff with that list! I want to come cook at your house! I make dry beans/legumes once a week plus a soup or chili at least once a week. You have great fixings for salads and Buddha bowls. Last night I made 15 Bean Gumbo. Do you have a pressure cooker? An Instant pot is great for dry beans. My favorite split pea (assuming by green pea you meant split) is Plant-based Gabriel's split pea soup. Use 6 jalapenos, I've added barley and potatoes and each worked well. I don't know how to link stuff on my phone and usually meld a few recipes together. The bean gumbo is from an old Moosewood cookbook. If you do have a pressure cooker Vegan Under Pressure cookbook is supposed to be good, I'll either get that or Plant-based Gabriel's cookbook next. I'm not either, just eat a lot of plant foods.

    Thank you for all the tips! I realised that I forgot to mention lemon and lime, haha, two of my favorite ingredients! Oh well :blush: I don't have a pressure cooker, but I have considered getting one, maybe I should!

    nuzziek wrote: »
    An easy way to transition into meal prepping would be to make a giant pot of vegetable stew! If you have a crock pot or an Instant Pot (I highly recommend getting an Instant Pot!), you can make a nice big batch on Sunday and eat it all week. Good luck! Your ingredient list for the week looks great. Maybe add some tofu or beans for more protein.

    A second point to the pressure cooker! Tofu I do buy sometimes, so that I could probably let myself have in the future too, beans I will definitely have :)
  • ColdDawning
    ColdDawning Posts: 36 Member
    I think I'll make a new thread with the ingredients and just recipe tips, since I'm such a bad cook. Thanks for all the replies in this thread! :blush:
  • lemurcat2
    lemurcat2 Posts: 7,885 Member
    There are some useful YouTubes -- Cheap Lazy Vegan and a newer one I recently discovered and enjoy (although I am not a vegan, just like including vegan recipes) called Pick Up Limes.

    An old website that is still accessible is Yumyumvegan, and I think it has some good recipes, although hasn't been updated for a while (she has a cookbook that is likely at some libraries).

    Good general advice -- think in terms of a grain, a bean/lentil, and vegetables. Plus include fruit.

    I always recommend 101cookbooks as a nice site that allows you to search by vegetables you want to use, and which always inspires me.
  • kshama2001
    kshama2001 Posts: 27,886 Member
    edited December 2019
    Katmary71 wrote: »
    You can make a ton of stuff with that list! I want to come cook at your house! I make dry beans/legumes once a week plus a soup or chili at least once a week. You have great fixings for salads and Buddha bowls. Last night I made 15 Bean Gumbo. Do you have a pressure cooker? An Instant pot is great for dry beans. My favorite split pea (assuming by green pea you meant split) is Plant-based Gabriel's split pea soup. Use 6 jalapenos, I've added barley and potatoes and each worked well. I don't know how to link stuff on my phone and usually meld a few recipes together. The bean gumbo is from an old Moosewood cookbook. If you do have a pressure cooker Vegan Under Pressure cookbook is supposed to be good, I'll either get that or Plant-based Gabriel's cookbook next. I'm not either, just eat a lot of plant foods.

    Thank you for all the tips! I realised that I forgot to mention lemon and lime, haha, two of my favorite ingredients! Oh well :blush: I don't have a pressure cooker, but I have considered getting one, maybe I should!

    nuzziek wrote: »
    An easy way to transition into meal prepping would be to make a giant pot of vegetable stew! If you have a crock pot or an Instant Pot (I highly recommend getting an Instant Pot!), you can make a nice big batch on Sunday and eat it all week. Good luck! Your ingredient list for the week looks great. Maybe add some tofu or beans for more protein.

    A second point to the pressure cooker! Tofu I do buy sometimes, so that I could probably let myself have in the future too, beans I will definitely have :)

    I cook dry beans overnight in the slow cooker - do you have one of those?

    My mom just cooks dried beans on the stove top, so lots of options :)
  • kshama2001
    kshama2001 Posts: 27,886 Member
    I was going to suggest you google "vegan rice and beans" but don't see rice on your list - is there a reason for that or was it an oversight?

    On https://www.allrecipes.com/ you should be able to use "vegan" as the keyword and then add ingredients. Ex: https://www.allrecipes.com/search/results/?wt=vegan&ingIncl=fava beans&sort=re

    Here are all their vegan recipes: https://www.allrecipes.com/recipes/1227/everyday-cooking/vegan/
  • ColdDawning
    ColdDawning Posts: 36 Member
    edited December 2019
    Thank you all for the suggestions! No, I do not have a slow cooker, but I have considered buying those as well. Atm I am leaving my dried beans in water overnight and cook them in the morning, that works alright, but maybe a slow cooker would be nice. I'll have to think about it.

    I've excluded rice since it has to travel around the globe to get to me, and I also got options, such as buckwheat and quinoa, that fills the same function as rice. I know some other things on my list are not that local, such as bananas, but those are a bit trickier to replace in smoothies and such.