This video provides a budget-friendly vegan meal prep Ideas guide for five days, costing under $10 per day and providing 2400 calories and over 100g of protein daily. The creator, Derek from Simnett Nutrition, purchased all ingredients from Walmart in Canada, aiming for the cheapest options and planning recipes to use ingredients across multiple meals. He notes that while he chose canned beans and lentils for convenience, cooking them from scratch could further reduce costs. He also advises caution with store-bought sauces due to high salt and sugar content.
Here are the meal prep highlights:
- Cost and Shopping
- The total cost for all ingredients was $61.82 CAD, which is approximately $45 USD, working out to $9 per day.
- He recommends checking for organic options as they are sometimes not significantly more expensive, especially for grains like rice, oats, and pasta, which often have high pesticide residues.
- Basic spices like garlic powder, onion powder, salt, and pepper were assumed to be already available.
- Breakfast: Tofu, Chickpea, and Veggie Frittata
- Ingredients: Russet potatoes, onion, mushrooms, extra firm tofu, drained chickpeas, water, fresh parsley, cherry tomatoes, red bell pepper, green onions, salsa, onion powder, garlic powder, turmeric, salt, and black pepper.
- Preparation: Sauté chopped potatoes, onion, and mushrooms. Blend tofu, chickpeas, and water until smooth. Mix the blended base with chopped parsley, tomatoes, bell pepper, green onions, salsa, and spices. Pour into a baking dish, smooth, and top with sliced cherry tomatoes. Bake at 350°F (175°C) for about an hour.
- Serving Suggestion: Serve with salsa or ketchup and fresh tomatoes.
- Nutritional Information (per serving): 489 calories, 39g protein, 53g carbs, 17g fat.
- Lunch: Pasta with Lentil Tomato Sauce
- Ingredients: Onion, mushrooms, strained lentils, garlic and herb pasta sauce, rotini pasta.
- Preparation: Sauté chopped onion and mushrooms. Add strained lentils and pasta sauce. Cook rotini pasta according to package directions. Strain pasta and cool with the sauce.
- Serving Suggestion: Garnish with fresh parsley.
- Nutritional Information (per serving): 882 calories, 36g protein, 167g carbs, 7.2g fat.
- Dinner: Brown Rice with Black Bean and Broccoli Stir Fry with Pad Thai Sauce
- Ingredients: Brown rice, onion, broccoli, canned black beans (strained and rinsed), Pad Thai sauce.
- Preparation: Cook brown rice according to package instructions. In a frying pan, add chopped onion, broccoli, and strained black beans. Add Pad Thai sauce and stir.
- Serving Suggestion: Add extra Pad Thai sauce and fresh avocado on the side.
- Nutritional Information (per serving): 825 calories, 25g protein, 155g carbs, 13g fat.
- Snacks: Apples and bananas.
- Freezing and Storage:
- All meals can be frozen, but it’s best to freeze only the main components and add fresh items like tomatoes, salsa, or avocado just before serving.
- Avoid reheating food in plastic containers as they can leach plastic into food.
- Full Day Nutritional Breakdown (including snacks):
- Approximately 2396 calories, 102g protein, 428g carbs, and 38.8g fat.
- Micronutrients: The video highlights low levels of B12 (suggesting supplementation for vegans), Vitamin A (can be increased with carrots, sweet potatoes, dark leafy greens, or mango), and Vitamin D (suggesting supplementation). Iron levels are notably high (346% of daily recommended intake). Sodium is very high, likely due to canned ingredients and store-bought sauces, which can be controlled by cooking beans from scratch and making homemade sauces.
Source:
youtube
Via:
@Simnettnutrition
