Vegan meal prep
Meal prep is the single change that makes plant-based eating stick, because it removes the 6 p.m. decision. Two hours on Sunday, one grain, one legume, one sauce and one roasted tray, and the week assembles itself. Every recipe below states how long it actually keeps.
Key facts
- Recipes
- 10 with full nutrition estimates
- Average protein
- 16 g per serving
- Fastest recipe
- 10 minutes
- Cheapest serving
- $0.35
10 of 10 recipes
Red lentil dal
Twenty-five minutes, six servings, freezes for three months. The most cost-effective protein on this page.
- Protein
- 18 g
- Kcal
- 380
- Time
- 25m
- Cost
- $0.60
Ingredients and method
- 500 g red lentils
- 2 onions
- 4 garlic cloves
- Thumb of ginger
- 2 tbsp curry powder
- 1 tin chopped tomatoes
- 1 tin coconut milk
- 1.2 l water
- Spinach to finish
- Soften the onion, garlic and ginger, add the spices for a minute.
- Add lentils, tomatoes, coconut milk and water; simmer 20 minutes, stirring so nothing catches.
- Wilt spinach through at the end. Cool fast, portion, refrigerate 5 days or freeze 3 months.
Chana masala
Chickpeas hold their shape all week, so this improves rather than degrades by Wednesday.
- Protein
- 17 g
- Kcal
- 420
- Time
- 35m
- Cost
- $0.75
Ingredients and method
- 3 tins chickpeas (or 400 g dried, cooked)
- 2 onions
- 4 garlic cloves, ginger
- 2 tsp cumin, 2 tsp coriander, 1 tsp garam masala, ½ tsp chilli
- 2 tins chopped tomatoes
- Lemon
- Brown the onions properly — 12 minutes, not 4. This is the whole flavour base.
- Add garlic, ginger, spices, then tomatoes; cook down 10 minutes.
- Add the chickpeas and simmer 10 minutes. Finish with lemon juice off the heat.
Sheet-pan tofu and vegetables
One tray, 30 minutes, four lunches. Store the tofu and vegetables together, the sauce apart.
- Protein
- 21 g
- Kcal
- 440
- Time
- 35m
- Cost
- $1.40
Ingredients and method
- 600 g firm tofu, pressed and cubed
- 2 tbsp cornflour
- 2 tbsp oil
- Broccoli, peppers, red onion
- 3 tbsp soy sauce
- 2 tbsp maple syrup
- 2 tsp sesame oil
- Toss the tofu in cornflour and oil — this is what gives a crisp edge in the oven.
- Roast at 220 °C for 25 minutes, adding the vegetables halfway.
- Mix the sauce separately and add on the day you eat it, not before.
Black bean burrito bowls
Rice, beans, corn, salsa, avocado on the day. The archetypal component prep.
- Protein
- 19 g
- Kcal
- 520
- Time
- 30m
- Cost
- $1.10
Ingredients and method
- 300 g brown rice
- 2 tins black beans
- 1 tin sweetcorn
- 2 tsp cumin, 1 tsp smoked paprika
- Lime
- Salsa and avocado to serve
- Cook the rice and cool it quickly, spread on a tray.
- Warm the beans with the spices and lime until thick, not soupy.
- Box rice, beans and corn together; keep avocado and salsa separate and add fresh.
Lentil bolognese
Brown lentils and walnuts give the bite. Freezes better than any meat sauce.
- Protein
- 20 g
- Kcal
- 460
- Time
- 45m
- Cost
- $0.95
Ingredients and method
- 350 g brown or puy lentils
- 1 onion, 2 carrots, 2 celery sticks
- 4 garlic cloves
- 2 tbsp tomato purée
- 2 tins chopped tomatoes
- 100 g walnuts, chopped fine
- 2 tbsp soy sauce or miso
- Oregano, bay
- Sweat the soffritto slowly for 15 minutes; this replaces the depth meat would give.
- Add purée, lentils, tomatoes, walnuts, herbs and 500 ml water. Simmer 30 minutes.
- Season with soy sauce or miso for umami. Portion and freeze up to 3 months.
Quinoa chickpea salad jars
Dressing at the bottom, leaves at the top — five days without sogginess.
- Protein
- 16 g
- Kcal
- 430
- Time
- 25m
- Cost
- $1.30
Ingredients and method
- 250 g quinoa
- 2 tins chickpeas
- Cucumber, cherry tomatoes, red onion
- Parsley and mint
- Tahini, lemon, garlic for the dressing
- Cook and cool the quinoa.
- Layer jars: dressing, chickpeas, quinoa, hard vegetables, then herbs and leaves on top.
- Seal and refrigerate. Shake into a bowl when you eat.
The base roasting tray
Not a meal — the component that turns four other things into meals.
- Protein
- 6 g
- Kcal
- 210
- Time
- 40m
- Cost
- $0.60
Ingredients and method
- 2 sweet potatoes
- 2 red onions
- 3 peppers
- 1 head broccoli
- 2 tbsp olive oil
- Salt, pepper, cumin
- Cut everything to a similar size and spread across two trays — crowding steams rather than roasts.
- Roast at 220 °C for 30–35 minutes.
- Cool and refrigerate 5 days. Use in bowls, wraps, pasta and soups.
Three sauces for the week
Tahini-lemon, peanut-lime and salsa verde. Five minutes each; they carry everything else.
- Protein
- 4 g
- Kcal
- 120
- Time
- 15m
- Cost
- $0.35
Ingredients and method
- Tahini, lemon, garlic, water
- Peanut butter, lime, soy sauce, chilli, ginger
- Parsley, capers, olive oil, vinegar
- Whisk each set of ingredients with enough water to reach a pourable consistency.
- Store in small jars — tahini and peanut keep 5 days, the herb sauce 3.
- Loosen with water before serving; they all thicken in the fridge.
Three-bean freezer chilli
Cook once, eat six times over a month. Better on reheating.
- Protein
- 19 g
- Kcal
- 410
- Time
- 45m
- Cost
- $0.85
Ingredients and method
- 1 tin each kidney, black and pinto beans
- 2 onions, 2 peppers
- 4 garlic cloves
- 2 tbsp cumin, 1 tbsp smoked paprika, 1 tsp cinnamon, chilli to taste
- 2 tins chopped tomatoes
- 1 tbsp cocoa
- 200 g frozen sweetcorn
- Soften the onions and peppers 10 minutes, add garlic and spices.
- Add tomatoes, beans and cocoa; simmer 25 minutes until thick.
- Stir the corn through at the end, cool fast, freeze in single portions.
Five-jar overnight oat batch
Ten minutes on Sunday removes five breakfast decisions.
- Protein
- 18 g
- Kcal
- 430
- Time
- 10m
- Cost
- $0.70
Ingredients and method
- 300 g rolled oats
- 1 l fortified soy milk
- 5 tbsp chia seeds
- 5 tbsp maple syrup
- 500 g frozen mixed berries
- Divide oats, chia and syrup between five jars.
- Add 200 ml soy milk to each and stir.
- Top with frozen berries, lid on, refrigerate. Eat within 4 days.
What to get right
Prep components, not identical boxes
Five identical lunches are eaten twice and abandoned. The same grain, beans and roasted vegetables become a burrito bowl, a salad, a soup base and a pasta dish depending only on the sauce.
Know the real fridge life
Cooked grains and legumes hold 4–5 days at 4 °C; dressed salads collapse within a day; blended sauces with fresh herbs last 3 days. Cool food within an hour and refrigerate in shallow containers — reheating rice that sat out is the one genuine food-safety risk here.
Freeze in single portions
Curries, chillis, soups and bolognese all freeze well for 3 months. Portion before freezing: a frozen block of four servings gets defrosted, half eaten and refrozen, which is where quality and safety both suffer.
Cost drops sharply at scale
Dried chickpeas cooked in bulk cost roughly a third of tinned. A 2 kg bag of oats, a 5 kg sack of rice and dried lentils are the backbone of a plant-based grocery bill under most budget targets.
Questions people ask
How long does vegan meal prep last in the fridge?
Cooked grains, beans, roasted vegetables and stews keep 4–5 days at or below 4 °C in airtight containers. Dressed leaves last a day, cut fruit two days, and blended fresh-herb sauces about three. Freeze anything you will not reach by day five.
What is the cheapest vegan meal prep?
A pot of red lentil dal with rice comes in near $0.60 a serving; chana masala from dried chickpeas is similar. Buy legumes and grains dry and in bulk, use frozen vegetables, and treat tofu and meat analogues as the occasional upgrade rather than the base.
How do I stop meal prep getting boring?
Change the sauce, not the components. The same rice-and-black-bean base becomes Mexican with lime and chipotle, Indian with a tempered spice oil, or Mediterranean with tahini and lemon. Keep three sauces in the fridge and rotate.
Can I meal prep tofu without it going rubbery?
Yes — press it, bake or fry it until firm and golden, then store it undressed. Tofu sitting in sauce for four days turns soft and sour; add the sauce when you reheat.
Other meal hubs
Reviewed 2026-08-24 by the Veg.ac editorial team · Data: USDA FoodData Central; McCance & Widdowson's The Composition of Foods · Free to reuse under CC BY 4.0 with a link back.