As an aspiring vegan for the past four years, I’ve found it difficult to be cost-effective with my meal preparations and still maintain a variety of some sort in order to avoid growing mundane with my cooking. The college years for me, like many other young adults who fend for themselves for the first time, were transformative because of that but in the best way possible. With a small part-time job working the max amount of hours and juggling a large class load simultaneously, I barely had time to sit down and watch an episode of my favorite show on Netflix. For lack of better terms, I was struggling to have meals readily available and be on top of eating a plant-based diet. If I decided to be lazy and not prepare some sorts of meals for the upcoming week, it would undoubtedly result in eating unconsciously. Some dinners would consist of cereal, popcorn, or whatever I could quickly get my hands on in a short time limit notice. If that didn’t happen, I would spend my money unnecessarily or, the worst of all, just skip dinner and starve.

It wasn’t always easy and the art of planning your meal choices is not something you’re innately born knowing. When it comes to creating any meal, I have learned that there are 5 essential components you need to create a substantial concoction: a grain, a protein option, vegetables, a fat source, and a sauce or dressing for flavor. For many of the meals I’ve thrown together on a whim that surprisingly ended up satisfying my hunger, it always met these requirements and I swear by this fool-proof formula with my life. The rule of thumb here would be to cook the protein first whether that be tofu, tempeh, lentils, chickpeas, beans, or seitan. Seasonings on the protein are optional as the sauce or dressing at the end will tie all the key players together here nicely. Next, the amount or types of vegetables you can add into the dish are boundless and extremely customizable. Say for example you would like to create a large batch of roasted vegetables to toss into a buddha bowl or cook into your pasta dish. What you decide to incorporate into your meal preps is absolutely up to you. I highly recommend meal prepping a large batch of at least 4 different types of vegetables to throw into meals or use as sides to complement smaller portions of other items.

While these are all may be rudimentary tips for creating bowls to take on the go, the other main concern is avoiding redundancy that will have you feeling sick after 5 days of the same food. The key is to make one to two different types of proteins, two different sauces or flavorings, an array of vegetables as mentioned before, two dark leafy greens, and a grain (I usually choose quinoa or barley but the grain is definitely optional). Mixing and matching your individually created foods is how you kick boredom to the side with your meals and also learn what different foods actually taste good together.

Last week, I wanted something that incorporated my normal protocol for quick meal preparations while demonstrating the ability to stretch out whatever I had in my fridge at the moment.

My Vegan Chickpea Frittata was a remodeled recipe from Making Thyme For Health except I omitted the 1/4 cup of olive oil and added in kale, red bell peppers, mushrooms, carrots, and sun-dried tomatoes. While the vegetables are completely up to your preference, the base ingredients are inexpensive and this recipe is extremely easy to follow for beginners.

INGREDIENTS

2 cups of garbanzo bean flour
2 cups of water
1/2 cup of non-dairy milk
1 teaspoon of Himalayan salt
1/2 teaspoon of black pepper
3 cloves of garlic, chopped finely
1/8 cup of nutritional yeast
1 tbsp olive oil
2–3 cups of your own vegetables, washed and chopped

DIRECTIONS

Set oven to 400 degrees
Mix the dry ingredients together first then the wet ingredients last.
Fold in the chopped vegetables last until they’re completely submerged
Line your skillet with oil that can withstand a high smoke point (i.e. coconut oil, avocado oil, grape seed oil, sesame oil, canola oil) or a parchment paper
Put into the oven for 25 minutes
Remove and let cool before eating

*To test if the frittata is undercooked, stick a knife or toothpick into the center and observe if there is any wet batter sticking to your tool when it’s pulled out.

With this frittata, I cut it up into 8 pieces to take to eat for either lunch or dinner. Due to my large stomach and enormous appetite, however just this item did not suffice. In my aluminum bento boxes, I made side salads that completed these meals well as part of my mixing and matching method for meal prep.

From first glance, this may look very cumbersome to arrange on top of the chickpea frittata yet I promise you that you will never be bored or disappointed when the clock strikes for lunch. The left side bento has a shredded red cabbage salad which I created with my leftover head, chopped carrots, and cashews for that extra fat. On the right is a refreshing cucumber dill tomato salad to pair with my main course. The big shocker here is that both of these side salads are made with olive oil, rice vinegar, salt, and pepper for dressing and they tasted absolutely delectable. The cucumber salad can be paired with virtually any dish because of its subtle acidic flavor that brings a fresh crunch to your mouth. the red cabbage salad packs a kick with the natural probiotics cultivating from fermentation and loads of antioxidants to fight off your body’s negative offenders. The mushrooms were a free gift I received from Seattle’s food bank after volunteering and they were cooked in a mere five minutes with olive oil, salt, and pepper to perfection.

When I tend to follow this rule of thumb for meal prepping on the weekends, the entire process takes me two hours at most depending on how daring I’m trying to be with my cooking that day. Those two hours lead to a week’s worth of real meals and the peace of mind knowing that I saved money, time, and effort, to feed my body well.

Let me know other meal prep hacks you have come up with throughout your cooking experiences. I’m always open to suggestions and ideas on how to waste less food, eat better, and save a dollar here or there.

With Love,

B

How to Make the Most Out of your Meals