Our vegan meal-prep guide will arm you with the knowledge you need to make a plant-based diet doable and delicious.
With the New Year comes new health goals. For some, this could mean getting more sleep or meeting your 30 minutes of daily exercise target, while others may want to adjust their diet by cooking nourishing meat-free meals at home.
Healthy cooking for the body and planet starts by inching toward a more plant-based, vegan diet on a more regular basis. This can take the form of one fully meatless meal per day or per week—it’s not an all-or-nothing endeavour. And achieving this is far easier and much more enjoyable when the prep is done in advance, meaning you’ll stick with it beyond January.
Often, vegan cuisine gets labelled as time consuming, but it’s not too much more so than other types of diets. Planning ahead is the crux of any successful diet from omnivorous to wholly plant based. With tricks, tips, and balanced make-ahead dishes, your breakfast, lunch, dinner, and everything in between are covered.
And don’t feel the need to stick to these recipes as prescribed. If there’s a grain, herb, fruit, vegetable, or protein that you’d like to add to either use up or spice up leftovers, employ that instead or in addition. The easy-breezy nature of the meal plan takes the fuss and precision out of the vegan diet.
Take one afternoon per week to cook, and the rest of the week is all about assembling. Vegan meal-prep is affordable, healthy, and, when you get into the groove of it all, even a little bit fun.
Recipes
Warm Hazelnut Milk Porridge with Berries and Salted Almond-Coconut Butter
Make-Ahead Salad Bar Bowls
Coconut, Coffee, Banana, and Cacao Nib Power Batons
Eggplant Burgers with Roasted Tomato Jam and Arugula
Grapefruit and Vanilla Coconut Yogurt with Raw Nut Crumble
Meal-prep must-haves
The buildable recipe components that vegan meal-prep fans are never without. Take each component and shape an entirely new dish—the prep potential is limitless.
- balsamic vinaigrette
- cooked brown rice or quinoa
- homemade trail mix
- hummus
- kale salad/steamed kale
- kimchi
- lentil soup
- prepared dairy-free pesto
- quick-pickled vegetables
- roasted sweet potato cubes
- smoked tofu
- steamed broccoli florets
- tahini dressing
- veggie burgers
Plant-based substitutes
Explore the eclectic world of vegan cuisine, while keeping the textures and flavours you love, with this list of common ingredient substitutes and ratios.
Eggs
- 1 Tbsp (15 mL) ground flax or chia seeds mixed with 3 Tbsp (45 mL) water, chilled (1:1)
- equal measure of mashed banana (1:1)
- equal measure of applesauce (1:1)
Butter
- vegan butter (1:1)
- coconut oil (0.6:1)
- organic canola oil (0.6:1)
- grapeseed oil (0.6:1)
- mashed avocado (1:1)
Cheese
- nutritional yeast (1:1)
- nut cheese (1:1)
Cream
- coconut milk (1:1, prepared)
- cashew cream (1:1, homemade)
- puréed silken tofu (1:1)
Gelatin
- agar agar (1:1)
Honey
- maple syrup (1:1)
- brown rice syrup (1:1)
- agave nectar (1:1)
Granulated sugar
- vegan sugar (1:1)
- date sugar (1:1)
Mayonnaise
- vegan mayonnaise (1:1)
Meringue desserts
- aquafaba (1:1, whipped canned chickpea water)
Milk
- nut and seed milk (1:1, prepared or homemade)
