Holy Mother of Joseph, I never thought I would become this organized to the point where I actually do a FULL WEEK VEGAN MEAL PREP. Can I get a HALLELUJAH!
Okay, I need to stop being over-dramatic.
A few weeks ago, I decided to get my hypothetical sh*t together and make an entire work week worth of food, so that
a) I could film it, and
b) I don’t have to worry about cooking or prepping food for the rest of the week.
I am generally quite good at prepping my lunches and making sure that I have food for a few days, rather than just cooking one meal at a time (who has time for this?!). But this was the first time I made an entire 5 days worth of food in one go, including all meals and snacks!
Full Week Meal Prep (YouTube Video) – see below for full ingredient list
[youtube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7tPYw9jjhhk]
Not going to lie, it did take a long time (probably around 2.5 hours, but this includes filming and taking photos). But it was so awesome to have all the food ready to go and not having to worry about it for the whole five days.
Not only did I do a full week meal prep, but I actually wrote down everything and EVEN wrote down all the ingredients AND measurements!! Who thought this would happen?
I do apologize in advance and say that these measurements are APPROXIMATE and I don’t know for sure how accurate they are (I don’t actually have measuring cups or spoons currently). But generally, I don’t do a lot of measuring when I cook, because most of the meals that I make are so simple that you don’t really need to measure… why complicate things if you don’t need to?
Full Weekday Vegan Meal Prep (Affordable)
Meal | Variation 1 | Variation 2 |
Breakfast | Overnight Oats
|
Overnight Weetabix
|
Morning Snack | Banana(s) or other fruit/veggies…whatever you like! | |
Lunch | Sushi bowl
|
Mexican bowl
|
Afternoon Snack | ½ cup edamame (soy beans that are heavenly) | |
Dinner | Sweet potato & potato chili (this ended up being a HUGE batch and I had a lot more than I thought, so I froze like half the amount!!)
Eat on it’s own or serve with rice/pasta/bread…whatever you want! |
Now, I get lots of questions regarding meal prep, so I thought I’d write down a few tips and answer some common concerns people may have.
Please note that i am NOT a meal prepping expert or a professional meal prepper (I wonder if that’s a thing…?). I am just another person learning as I go and trying my best to prepare good meals so that I stay on track, save money and hopefully become fitter.
Meal Prepping Tips and Common Questions:
- In the video, I show you the meals in the order that they will be eaten. While I was prepping though, I like to start by making the ingredients that will take the longest to cook, first.
- For instance, I cooked the barley (for the lunches) first in the rice cooker and while that was cooking, I started on chopping the sweet potatoes that needed to be steamed. Then I put the sweet potatoes in the steamer and while those were steaming, I started chopping the rest of the vegetables for the chili.
- I made the chili first because I knew that this would take the longest to cook but I just had to leave it cooking in the pot and didn’t need to do much else. While the chili was cooking, I finished up everything else.
- In order to make the food last longer without spoiling, make sure you put everything into the fridge as soon as possible. Don’t let your food sit in room temperature for too long (unless it’s fruit or something). This food lasted me the whole five days (I froze some of the chili because I made too much).
- Speaking of the chili – this is super freezer friendly and I always make big batches and freeze some of it for later.
- Once you’ve frozen something, only heat it up once to avoid food spoilage.
- I generally don’t freeze fresh vegetables – not sure what the rule is with this, but I feel that freezing fresh vegetables ruins it somehow. If I want to freeze produce, I like to cook it first, then freeze. I could be wrong about this…. too lazy to research! Hah… just google “can I freeze (insert food here)”
ANDDDDD that is it! I really hope you guys enjoyed this meal prep video and my “tips” – let me know if you like this type of video accompanied with a blog post and I will definitely do more. These are a lot of work, so your feedback and commentary are totally appreciated.
Love you guys 🙂
Thank you for the time and effort you put into this. It is inspiring and helpful 🙂
thanks for your lovely comment 🙂
Hey can you put the estimated prices of each ingridients if you’re convenient? Thanks btw!
Hi, I can try to do that next time 🙂 thanks for your suggestion!
I’m new to this vegan this and this helped me SOO much! Thank you!
so glad to hear! thanks for your comment <3 <3
thanks for all the prep you did for this video. For myself just going on a vegan diet lately. Love the simplicity of it all. Just wondering the cost of this weeks meals? What part of the world do you live in?
yay! I hope the video helped 🙂 Not really sure how much everything is but I don’t spend much on groceries as you might be able to see from my grocery haul videos 🙂 I live in the UK at the moment – London to be specific. One of the most expensive cities in the world! 🙁
Wow! That must have required so much effort :O Thank you so much for sharing, it’s super useful and gave me so much inspiration. Keep up the good work, I love your videos and your fun personality to pieces ^^
Thanks for the video, blog post, and inspiration! I’m trying to be at least half plant-based in my diet (with the other half being vegetarian) and new recipes are always appreciated!
ps – I like your name 🙂 I rarely ever meet or know of anyone else whose name is Rose!
Thanks! You are amazing! Bieg inspiration! Need more posta like that:)
Thank you for sharing this. What is the brand name of the containers you used for the oatmeal? They are perfect!
Lovely tips and great idea
thanks for this video and blog! you are eating a similar weekly plan to me, so the organizaiton and list really helps me with shopping this week! THANKS! what type of containers are those? I love the sizes!
Hi Michele, I got some containers from Poundland, but most of them broke so I wouldn’t recommend them. on Amazon, they’ve got takeaway containers that are pretty sturdy and for pretty cheap – I would probably recommend those? thanks for your comment!
Thank you so much for this!! This is EXACTLY what I was looking for a few weeks ago but couldn’t find anything of the sort with affordable everyday ingredients and a clear layout! I gave up in the end. But I’ve just stumbled across this on YouTube! HALLELUJAH! Thank you SO MUCH! I’ll be off to Tesco tomorrow to do some shopping and get what I need and will spend the afternoon or Wednesday’s actually cooking.
awww so glad I could’ve been of help! 🙂 good luck <3
Hi, I know I’m late but I’m just wondering if you use canned beans or if you cook them in advance? I’m new to this and I’m just trying to educate myself, thank you for this videos, they help so much
Hi Grace, I normally try to cook the beans myself but if I don’t have any cooked in advance and I’m in a hurry, then I use canned beans. If you use canned, just make sure you drain the liquids and rinse out the beans as best as possible 🙂
Hi there, I like to know, is the ingredient list you have above for the whole week recipes or just for a single serve? I mean you say 1 cup of this and that so if I am making if for 5 days I would need to add 5 cups instead? Thanking you in advance for your reply.
it’s per serving (other than the chili). sorry should’ve been more clear – and apologies for the super late response!
You’re amazing!! Thank you!
Can I use quick oats instead of porridge oats????Cant seem to find porridge ones! Thank you!
yup definitely 🙂
Made all of these and they are delicious! My kids even loved all of them! Could you make these recipes printable from a device?
that’s awesome! I’m thinking of writing an ebook soon with recipes 🙂
Do you cook or steam the sweet potatoes in advance for the sushi and Mexican bowls or just eat them raw?
definitely cook them in advance
I am finally excited for Monday! Thanks to your full week vegan meal prep, my refrigerator is stocked. I followed Variation #1 this time and plan on trying the other variation for next week. I completed the meal prep in two hours. The chilli made so much that I froze half for next week.
This post was so helpful and I look forward to more full week plans.
Are you able to post the macros of each meal for your week of meal planning ?
I don’t count my macros or calories unfortunately. but maybe in the future!
This was super helpful and I would love to see more content like this. All of the meals you showed sound delicious and seemed easy to prep/cook and put together. I’ll be trying this routine very soon!
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Is this expensive? I know your channel is called “cheap” but this really doesn’t look cheap. Any idea how much it would be for USD price to buy all this food?
no idea how much – it’d really depend on where you are at. most ingredients i’m using are afforable in most places.
Hello, I wanted to say that I really liked your vedios from the moment I saw your youtube nickname “cheaplazyvegan”. Haha. It’s so perfect name for your channel. thank you for all of your inspiring vedios 🙂 In this vedio, I wondered where can I get the container that you used in this vedio?
thanks for your comment 🙂 I got the containers from random places and some of them I got from Poundland (I used to live in London at the time). I don’t recommend poundland containers though haha if you look on ebay or amazon you could find some decent looking containers
d
After seeing a german powerlifter who is vegan, I decided to give it a try. Not knowing what to eat I found your youtube video. And well, the breakfast is already in the fridge and my chilli is cooking. What surprised me the most is the price. I’m making enough for 6 days, for two persons (my and my girlfriend), and thte total was 50 EUR (around 60 dollar), and this includes ingredients that last longer then this batch (chiaseeds, flaxeed, maple syrup). Thank you so much for making this post.
that’s amazing!! thanks for your comment 🙂 sorry for the late response – hope you enjoyed it.
Everything looks amazing! For the two bowl recipes, do you eat those cold or re-heat (microwave?) when you’re read to eat? (I’m assuming the chili is re-heated prior to eating.)
I ate the lunches cold 🙂 like a salad! thanks for your comment!
okay… i have a few questions. Do you eat 3 times the same lunch in a week? and few times the same dinner in a week? What we see in the video is really wat you eat during your work days? Or do you have different batches in your freezer, so you can eat something else every day?
I like the idea of prepping meals. I work from 4 in the afternoon until midnight. So it’s handy to prep meals and take them with me, but i don’t want to eat the same lunch or dinner three times a week…
And avocados… don’t they turn brown? Sorry if I sound sceptical. I am a little. Normally I only keep cooked food for 2 or maximum 3 days… not 5!
It depends on what type of meal-prep I do. Normally I don’t do a full week’s worth of meals like this one, but I did it this time around mainly so I could save time during the week and also to show you guys how. I sometimes freeze meals if I am getting sick of eating the same thing. You can delay the browning of the avocados by squeezing lemon juice on them. Feel free to make meals for however days you feel comfortable. 3-4 days is fine – I just wanted to show an example of something you could prep for 5 days.
I loved this video and post. Thank you for sharing!
ahhh I ended up watching “full week vegan prep” on youtube last night and I loved yours!!!!
I really need to get my s**t togheter as well hehe… Thanxs for the inspiration!
Can I ask a few questions?
Do you keep your food in the fridge for a week or freezer?
The chia, do I need to add something (I have just used them for pudding, like almond milk and stuff)…
I hate the kitchen so again – thanx for the video!!!! <3
(and sorry for my swedish-english B-) )
Hi Linda, sorry for the late response!
When it comes to fridge vs freezer, it depends on how many days I’m making the food for and also what the food actually is. If there are fresh veggies in the dish, I don’t freeze it. For this meal prep, everything held up fine in the fridge for the 5 days – I did freeze some the chili though because I made a lot.
And chia seeds, you wanna make sure you add them with some sort of a liquidy thing or a yogurt so they can become softer.
hope this helps! sorry for the late response!
thanks,
Rose
thanx!! 🙂
Thank you so much for this post! It was truly helpful and easy to follow. Quick question for ya, in regards to the chili, how big is a serving size for each day. On your video and pics I see 3 large containers so I’m a little unsure. Thanks so much!:)
I just found your channel and your blog. Your meal prep is so inspiring. You make it look so easy!
Where did you get the containers to prep in/ what brand are they?
I loved this post and its very amazing.
Thank you for sharing
the ingredients for the sushi bowl and stuff is it for 1 or for the whole batch that fits in 5 containers
Love all your hard work on your blogs. I have frozen chopped onions and whole green peppers without cooking them, when I get a good price on them. I wouldn’t put them on a salad, but you can use them in cooking.
Hi Thanks for your efforts. I may have missed it, but where do you get the containers ?
omg…not only are you hilarious and very entertaining..you’re also pretty clever and a bad ass meal-prep-learn-as-you-go-er?. And as I’m learning to destress, simplify and explore MY NEW vegan diet (I know, yaaay me!?) you actually help me SO MUCH with the Video AND this Blog post! …and please excuse my hysterical screaming here, it’s just.. I am thrilled to bits that I’ve found you! You’re awesome!! just keep on being yourself and I’m going to happily watch every video (while I’m enjoying my laziness on my couch, of course! ?) Thank you!??