Meal prepping is designed to simplify your life. After all, there’s nothing quite like getting home from work to find that yourdinner is already prepped, and all that you need to do is heat it up – or finish putting the already cut ingredients together. Sounds heavenly, right? This is particularly true for vegetarians, who often have extra meal prep to do, as their diets consist mainly of fruits, vegetables, beans, legumes, and other healthy options. But not to worry – we’re here to help!
On top of coming up with recipes and prepping them to save on time, this also allows you to diversify your meal options. Develop a menu ahead of time, and then use your meal prepping to ensure that you stick with it. You’ll need to – because everything is already cut, sliced, diced, and prepared, and you don’t want to waste it! Rather than fall into a rut of eating the same things all of the time (which is easy for a vegetarian to do), simply use this method to switch things up and stick with your new plan.
So, how can you incorporate fun meal prep into your vegetarian lifestyle? Let’s explore the options together.
Vegetarian Meal Prepping IdeasÂ
Meal prepping makes every time of day easier. Think of how nice it will be to get up in the morning realizing that your breakfast is all ready to go – or you have your fruit all sliced up and ready to put in the blender for juice or a smoothie. Lunchtimes and dinner will go smoothly as well, thanks to a little meal prepping at the beginning (or end, depending on how you view Sunday) of the week.
Before you get started preparing your meals ahead of time, you’ll need a few inspirational ideas and recipes. Here are some suggestions for each meal of the day, including snack time.
But we’ll give you fair warning – some of these delicious ideas may make you hungry!
BreakfastÂ
Yourbreakfast options can vary, depending on whether or not you eat eggs. Since some vegetarians rely on them for extra protein (and to enhance that “feeling full'' thermic effect part of their diets), they can become an important part of your diet.
Looking for meal prep suggestions here? Make some hard-boiled eggs over the weekend, and then place them in your refrigerator to ensure that they stay good. Start your morning with one and some toast or a bagel, neither of which takes much time to make, to ensure that you get out the door and off to work on time and full of protein.
If you prefer smoothies or juices in the morning, these are things that are easily prepared over the weekend as well. Just cut up the fruits and veggies of your choice and place them in handy containers – one container per smoothie or juice. This way, you have the option to add any other items that you want to include, such as protein powders, into the container. At breakfast time, just dump everything from the container into your blender or juicer and turn it on. Super easy, fast, and healthy. A triple win!
LunchÂ
Did you know that it’s easy to set up your lunches ahead of time? Vegetarians have plenty of options here, besides salads and sandwiches, both of which are easy to prep.
Look for something a little outside of the box – the bento box, that is. A bento box is a lunch box that is separated into sections, each of which contains a part of the meal. They keep it all separated, so nothing runs together and gets ruined. Since these boxes have lids, opt to set up a week’s worth of them all at once, ensuring that you have everything set for the week.
Cold Lunch Options
So, what should you include inyour lunch? How about peanut butter smeared celery or a glob of peanut butter surrounded by some whole wheat crackers? Include a few cut-up veggies of your choice (carrots hold up well) with a side of dip or dressing. In addition, some sliced fruits or a handful of berries can round things out nicely, ensuring that you have most of your food groups right there. Of course, adding a baggie of nut-filled trail mix as a snack or side to your lunch is always an option, ensuring that you have all of the protein that you need.
Hot Lunch Options
Of course, there are some hot lunch options as well. You aren’t entirely limited to cool or bento box options. Simply prepare some rice ahead of time, mixing in some diced vegetables to create a stir-fry that can be heated up each day. Just add some soy sauce when you’re eating it.
Pasta also holds up well in the refrigerator throughout the week, providing you with yet another hot lunch option. If you eat cheese, consider making a tasty pasta dish featuring alfredo sauce, or mix some mushrooms (full of protein) or simple vegetables into it as well, or go all out and use noodles made from cauliflower or other veggies, instead of the traditional forms of pasta.
If you prefer a red, tomato-based sauce, consider adding a side of cooked or raw vegetables to your lunch in order to get a balanced meal. No matter which pasta option you choose, all of them taste good and are easy to prep on the weekends.
DinnerÂ
At the end of the day, everyone likes a delicious, no-hassle dinner. Luckily, vegetarians have plenty ofdinner options. Whether you want to put together a tasty salad to make up for the heavy lunch and breakfast that you enjoyed earlier in the day, or if you ate light all morning and afternoon and need something heftier, then you have a number of meal prep decisions to make. This is where planning your weekly meals out ahead of time comes in handy.
Breakfast For Dinner
Looking for suggestions? What aboutbreakfast for dinner? Slice up your mushrooms, vegetables, and cheese ahead of time and use them as the filling for a tasty omelet. You’ll just need to crack the eggs when it’s time to make your dinner.
For side dishes, consider potatoes (shred them ahead of time and freeze them) or toast made from whole wheat bread. Also, consider adding some meat substitutes to your meal, such as faux sausage or bacon.
Keep It Light With a Salad
Of course, if you want something lighter for dinner, look no further than a tasty salad. Simply wash, shred, and dry your vegetables ahead of time, and then place them in an air-tight container so that they stay in good shape.
Consider a salad made of multiple types of lettuce, such as Romaine, leaf, Boston, and iceberg, as well as some shredded carrots, sliced cucumbers, radishes, sprouts, mushrooms, and more. If you like to make your own dressing, that’s also something that can be prepped ahead of time, placing it in a separate container until it’s salad time.
Hot Meals
Other meal ideas include some that we’ve already mentioned in the lunch category, such as pasta and rice-based dishes. These make great dinners as well. In fact, if you prepare them ahead of time, you have the option to make some for lunch and some for dinner, depending on your mood. It’s okay to go outside of your meal plan a little bit, as long as nothing goes to waste, and you simply switch things around.
As far as warm dinners are concerned, what about flatbread sandwiches? These are easy to prep ahead of time, as you just need to slice all of those vegetables and sauté them at dinner time. Put them into a piece of flatbread (either a pita pocket or a standard piece of flatbread will work), add some cheese, and place the whole thing into a panini maker. This will warm the bread and disperse everything evenly, making it easier to eat. And again, opting for some extra vegetables as a side dish is a fabulous idea.
There are so many dinner options for vegetarians that it’s hard to cover them all in one place. These pasta, salad, sandwich, and omelet ideas are just the tip of the iceberg. Feel free to come up with your own – as long as they can be prepped ahead of time, which is the entire point.
The easier you make it for yourself, the healthier you’ll eat! You’ll save time and won’t have to do a lot in the kitchen when you get home from work. Now that sounds like a great idea, doesn’t it?
In ConclusionÂ
As you can see, setting up your meals ahead of time allows you to diversify your diet. You won’t get stuck eating the same thing all of the time (a habit that many vegetarians fall into) since you have yourmeal plan set and everything’s properly prepped and ready to go.
You’ll also save a lot of time during the week, since your breakfasts, lunches, and dinners will consist of already cut vegetables and measured out sauces and seasonings. It will be easy to just throw everything together and heat it up when you get home, making your life much easier. Vegetarian meal prepping makes healthy eating a dream come true!
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Vegetarian Meal Prep Ideas | Budget Bytes