This post is sponsored by Kaslink AITO. Vegan meal prep: weekday meals x 5 post is all about making your weekdays easier. In this post I’ll share five recipes and a shopping list. The goal of my vegan meal prep is to get dinner on the table in 15 minutes. Another goal is to use all food = zero food waste.
Five part vegan meal prep: weekday meals x 5
Part 1: Planning
The most important part of meal prepping is planning. With a clear plan it’s much easier to create weekday meals so that there will be no food waste. I’ll have a precise list of ingredients which I know my family likes. We have a few picky kids here, so I make all our meals as kid-friendly as possible 🙂 I’ll also leave room for creativity.
When planning our weekday meals I write down kids’ favorite meals and my own favorites. I use this favorite meals list to create a menu for the week.
A typical week here includes these ingredients:
- Potatoes in some form: mashed potatoes / roasted potatoes / cooked potatoes
- Rice or millet. I love quinoa too, but my kids usually don’t like it – unless I “hide” it in some meal.
- Brotzeit: Brotzeit is German and it means “bread time”
- Pasta
- Tortillas / tacos / wraps
Then I will plan the following:
- Protein sources: My whole family is not vegan, but this meal plan is totally vegan. I use protein sources which I know my family likes. Unfortunately there are only a few sources which all family members like such as some store bought vegan “meat balls”, oat block (a tofu like protein made of oats) and tofu. Me and my husband have more variety in our protein sources (we love all legumes).
- Roasted vegetables: This week I chose broccolini and cauliflower. We also like broccoli, parsnip, turnip, sweet potato to mention a few.
- Fresh vegetables: cucumber, bell peppers, carrots, cabbage and romaine lettuce are always on our list. During summer time we also love tomatoes (sometimes also in winter time when I can’t resist buying them, although they are not as delicious).
- Spices and extras: this is the most important list of ingredients as the spices and extras actually make the meal. We can vary the flavor of our meals with for example AITO Oat Cuisine, oat-based cooking cream with three amazing flavors: “cheese”, onion and pepper. I also use unflavored AITO Oat Cuisine and spice the meal myself. These are some of the basic extras and spices we have as pantry staples:
- tomato puree, crushed tomatoes, ketchup
- curry paste, harissa
- soy sauce or tamari
- tahini and nut butters
- a variety of dried spices such as dried herbs, ground cumin, onion powder, garlic powder, turmeric, garam masala, curry, paprika, cayenne…
Weekday meals x 5: our menu for the week
As a result of thorough planning I’ll have our menu for the week ready.
This weeks menu:
- Day 1: Mashed potato with creamy mushroom sauce and vegan meatballs
- Day 2: Buddha bowl with cooked millet, oven roasted veggies, oatblock / tofu and creamy hummus.
- Day 3: Brotzeit: bread, fresh veggies, hummus, vegan meat balls
- Day 4: Pasta sauce made from leftovers: hummus pasta
- Day 5: Tortillas with all leftovers inside + oven roasted sweet potatoes.
Part 2: Shopping
We do most of our shopping online. It’s so convenient and saves us a lot of time and money too, since we don’t make impulsive purchases. The basic shopping list is saved on the store’s website and we adjust it weekly.
Part 3: Cooking
With our shopping done I’ll start by cooking all ingredients which can be cooked beforehand. We usually start the week by eating potatoes, so I’ll start by cooking potatoes. I will also batch cook millet / quinoa.
I won’t cook past nor rice at this point, because they are best freshly cooked.
Part 4: Chopping
Creamy hummus
While the potatoes and millet / quinoa are cooking, I’ll start chopping. I wash and dry the produce well, chop them and keep them in an glass container. This week I chopped:
- oven roasted vegetables: cauliflower, sweet potato. I also washed the broccolini (no need to chop it)
- fresh vegetables: cucumbers, bell peppers, carrots and cabbage
- others: mushrooms and oat block / tofu
Part 5: Blending
The last part of meal prepping is blending sauces, pastes, pestos and hummus. My kids are not big hummus fans (but why?! I have no clue 🙁 ), but I love to make hummus weekly or every other week. I make it extra creamy with AITO Oat cuisine and I don’t use any olive oil. This week I used cheese flavored Oat cuisine and it was soooo yummy. Hummus is such a good addition to any meal.
Day 1 RECIPE: Mashed potato with creamy mushroom sauce and vegan meatballs
This is the meal I cook on the day of the meal prep. It’s pretty easy and I save a lot of time and energy by using store bought gluten-free vegan “meat balls”. The ingredients are pretty good, and my kids like them – that’s the main reason for me to use them (my kids don’t always love my home made “bean veggie ball” experiments 🙂 ).
Day 1 RECIPE: Mashed potato with creamy mushroom sauce and vegan meatballs
Ingredients
Mashed potatoes
- 1,5 kg / 52 oz cooked potatoes
- 3 tbsp vegan butter
- 1/3 cups AITO Oat Cuisine unflavored cooking cream
- 1/2 - 1 tsp or to taste salt (depending on how salty the butter is)
Creamy mushroom sauce
- 200 g / 7 oz chopped mushrooms
- 1 tbsp soy sauce
- 2,5 dl / 1 cup AITO Oat Cuisine unflavored
- 1 tsp onion powder
- 1 tsp dried thyme
- salt to taste if needed
- 400 g / 14 oz vegan "meat balls"
Crunchy carrot and cabbage salad
- 3 carrots
- 1/4 small white cabbage
- 1/2 tbsp olive oil (not necessary)
- salt and pepper to taste
Instructions
- Add butter and cream to the cooked potatoes and start mashing until you reach the desired consistency. We often use organic potatoes and don't peel them before mashing.
- Cook chopped mushrooms in a dry pan to dry them (if they are very watery).
- Add soy sauce, cream and other spices and let bubble for a few minutes.
- Add vegan "meatballs" and cook for another few minutes.
- Grate carrots and cabbage and mix with sauce.
- Serve mashed potatoes with warm mushroom - "meat ball" sauce and crunchy salad.
Day 2 RECIPE: Buddha bowl with cooked millet, oven roasted veggies, oatblock / tofu and creamy hummus.
On the second day I love to eat easy and colorful bowl food. Bowl food is always lovely with the kids too, because they have so many different ingredients to choose from and can always find something delicious.
Day 2 RECIPE: Buddha bowl with cooked millet, oven roasted veggies, oatblock / tofu and creamy hummus.
Ingredients
- 1 head of small cauliflower Chopped on meal prep day.
- 1 bunch of broccolini Washed and dried on meal prep day.
- 1 block pf firm tofu or 2 Yosaoat oat blocks (similar to tofu but oat-based)
- olive oil, salt and pepper
- 4 portions of cooked millet On meal prep day I cooked 2,5 dl millet (1 cup) in about 7,5 dl (3 cups) water, which is more than we usually eat in one meal. I use leftovers through the week.
- chopped fresh vegetables Chopped on meal prep day.
- creamy hummus Made on meal prep day by blending 450 g / 16 oz cooked chickpeas, 3 tbsp lemon juice, 2 tbsp tahini, 2 tsp ground cumin, 1 tsp salt and 250 ml / 1 cup of cheese flavored AITO Oat cuisine cooking cream.
- fresh herbs such as cilantro
- lemon to squeeze on top of bowl
Instructions
- Place prepped vegetables and tofu / oat block on a baking sheet. Coat with a splash of olive oil, salt & pepper.
- Bake in 210 C / 410 F for about 15 minutes.
- NOTE: if the baking sheet is very full the veggies won't be super crispy when roasted, they'll be more of a baked consistency. If you want the cauliflower and broccolini to be crispy, just bake them on another baking sheet (and the tofu / oat block on another) so that there's more room for each veggie. You should then use the convection setting of the oven and be careful not to burn the veggies / oat block.
- Warm the millet either in a microwave oven (on a plate) or on a pan with some veggie broth / water.
- For the bowl: millet, oven roasted veggies, tofu / oat block, fresh veggies, herbs, hummus, a squeeze of lemon.
Day 3 RECIPE: Brotzeit: bread, fresh veggies, hummus, vegan meat balls
Midweek is a great time for Brotzeit which means bread time. Brotzeit is a typical Bavarian snack / dinner with bread, cheese, cold cuts and fresh veggies. This is the day we use some of our leftovers from day 1 and 2. Did you know you can make a delicious bread from leftover mashed potatoes 🙂 ?
Day 3 RECIPE: Brotzeit: bread, fresh veggies, hummus, vegan meat balls
Ingredients
Unleavened potato flatbread (makes 6)
- 300 g / 10,5 oz leftover cold mashed potatoes This is about 3 dl / 1,3 cups tightly packed potato mash
- 100 ml AITO organic Oat drink
- 40 g / ~1 dl / 0,4 cups oat bran or rolled oats would work too
- 195 g / ~3 dl / 1,3 cups bread flour or regular wheat flour
- 1 tsp salt
- 3 tbsp oil
Other Brotzeit ingredients
- Fresh veggies
- Vegan "meat balls" There was a few left from our Day 1 dinner so we ate the "meat balls" cold 🙂
- Hummus
- Cheese My kids hate vegan cheese but they like Yosaoat Oat block as "cheese".
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 225 C / 437 F
- Mix all potato bread ingredients and make 6 flatbreads.
- Bake in the oven for 15 minutes or until firm. Eat warm with vegan butter and other Brotzeit ingredients.
Day 4: Pasta sauce made from leftovers: hummus pasta
The fourth day is all about using leftovers creatively! If you have millet, roasted veggies and tofu / oat block left from day 2, you can use them all to make pasta sauce. Did you know millet is AMAZING in a pasta sauce? It is so creamy on it’s own and especially when you add creamy cheese flavored AITO Oat cuisine!
Day 4: Pasta sauce made from leftovers: hummus pasta
Ingredients
- 1 package of firm marinated (or smoked) tofu or one package of Yosa oat oatblock If there are not enough leftovers from day 2.
- ~1 tbsp oil for cooking
- All leftovers from day 2. If you have a lot of hummus left, you can still save some for other days. I used about 1/2 cup of hummus for this pasta.
- 5 dl / 2 cups / 2 packages of AITO Oat cuisine, cheese flavored
- Pasta for four
- Fresh herbs
Instructions
- Cook dried and cubed tofu / oat block in a pan until crispy. Set aside.
- Cook pasta. Note: add a generous amount of salt to the pasta water, this makes the pasta taste super delicious!
- Cook all leftovers from day 2 in a pan with 2 cups of oat cream. Let bubble for a few minutes and serve warm with pasta, extra tofu/oat block and fresh herbs.
Day 5 RECIPES: Tortillas with all leftovers inside + oven roasted sweet potatoes.
It seems that days 3-5 are all about leftovers! And it’s a very good thing because leftovers make the best meals 🙂 Day 5 is one of our favorite meals: tortillas / tacos or wraps and we can use ALL our leftovers from the week inside the wraps. I used pulled oats as my protein soure this time, but kids chose a non-vegan one…and that’s okay. I try my best to feed vegan food for my family but I’m also okay with them choosing non-vegan foods, too. I find this relaxed attitude works best with my fam, and it actually makes my kids eat more vegan food than they would eat if it was *forced*.
Day 5 RECIPES: Tortillas with all leftovers inside + oven roasted sweet potatoes
Ingredients
- 2 sweet potatoes Chopped on meal prep day
- Wraps
- All leftovers from the week. We still had some oatblock, hummus and fresh veggies.
- More fresh veggies, Romaine lettuce, fresh herbs, unsweetened vegan yogurt / creme fraiche, grated vegan cheese.
- Vegan protein source of choice.
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 225 C / 437 F.
- Place chopped sweet potates on a baking sheet lined with parchment.
- Coat in oil, add salt and pepper.
- Roast in the oven for about 15 minutes or until soft / crispy a bit on the edges.
- Warm wraps and fill with sweet potatoes and all leftovers, veggies, fresh herbs, vegan yogurt
Notes
Shopping list
- 2 kg potatoes
- 2 sweet potatoes
- 2 bunches of broccolini
- 1 cauliflower
- 1 cabbage
- 4 cucumbers
- 4 bell peppers
- 1 kg carrots
- 3 bunches of Romaine lettuce
- ~ 200 g mushrooms
- fresh herbs such as parsley and cilantro
- lemons
- avocados
- 4 packages of Yosaoat Oatblock or 4 packages of firm marinated tofu
- 2 packages of vegan "meat balls" or homemade if you have time
- 2 cans of cooked chickpeas
- millet
- pasta
- 2 Kaslink AITO Oat Cuisine
- 3 Kaslink AITO Oat Cuisine, cheese flavored
- 1 Kaslink AITO organic Oat drink
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