Easy Vegan Freezer-Friendly Meal Prep

With this easy vegan freezer-friendly meal prep, eating a balanced diet with delicious and nourishing meals becomes so much easier! This vegan freezer-friendly meal prep includes 6 recipes that are perfect for freezing (you can also keep them in the fridge of course) and all you need is 2 hours!

What are the benefits of freezer-friendly meal prep?

Setting aside a little bit of time on a specific day to meal prep for the upcoming days means you'll have healthy and nourishing meals available without having to cook every day. Especially if you have a hectic life, this can make developing healthy and sustainable eating habits so much easier!

The benefits of freezer-friendly meal prep is that it can last much longer! Prepped meals should optimally be stored in the fridge no longer than 3 days. Depending on the type of dish, a little longer may be okay. If you freeze your meal prep instead, you needn't worry about those 3 days because it lasts much longer.

Freezer-friendly meal prep is great to have on hand as an "emergency solution" when you need a healthy meal quickly and you maybe didn't have time to meal prep or cook. Maybe when you come home after traveling or you have a very busy time ahead, you'll be super thankful for a delicious meal in the freezer.

What meals can you prep and freeze?

Not all meals work well for freezer meal prepping. Things like salads or pasta mixed with a sauce are best stored in the fridge and eaten within a few days. Here are a few meals that can be frozen and work well for freezer-friendly meal prep:

• soups (try adding as little liquid as possible or else you'll be freezing water and using up valuable freezer space, you can always add more liquid/water when reheating) - check out this blog post for delicious and healthy vegan soup recipes
• curries - like this lentil curry or this pumpkin curry
• stews
• pasta sauces
• burger patties
• muffins - sweet and savory
• pancakes
• tofu and bean chili
• bread can also be frozen (slice it before freezing and then you can take out individual slices and reheat them in the toaster)
• vegan spreads (this may seem surprising, but I actually got great results freezing a homemade cashew cheese)
• lasagna (pre-bake it)

Pro tip: If you do want to freeze pasta + sauce, store them separately. This way the pasta doesn't get too mushy.

How long can you keep meal prep in the freezer?

Frozen prepped meals can last in the fridge for up to 3-6 months. I recommend using see-through containers (like glass) so you know which meals is in which container. Alternatively, you can add a little label and also write down the date that you froze it. This makes it easier to thaw and reheat the "oldest" meals first.

How do you thaw frozen meal prep? Can I microwave it?

The safest way to thaw and reheat frozen meals is to place it in the fridge to defrost the night before. Then, when it is no longer frozen, but cooled, you can reheat it in the oven, on the stovetop or in the microwave.

Some meals can also be reheated in the toaster like frozen bread slices or frozen pancakes.

A good idea is to store individual portions in small containers. Then you don't need to reheat everything but just as much as you need. For very small portions, an ice cube tray is a neat idea! Once thawed, meals shouldn't be refrozen as this increases the risk of bacteria growing in the food. Also, small containers make it easier to play Tetris in your freezer and use up ALL of that valuable freezer space!

If you do find yourself short on time and need to reheat something straight from the oven, I'd recommend adding it to a pan or saucepan on the stovetop and gently reheating it. If you have soups, sauces or curries, you can add a little water to the pan/saucepan as well.

With the microwave, it might reheat the food unevenly and parts may still be frozen while others are very hot. To prevent this, you can reheat the meal in small increments and stir in between to make sure everything is heated evenly.

Should I put my meal prep in the fridge or in the freezer?

This depends on when you plan on eating your meals. If you'll be eating them within the next 3 days, store them in the fridge. Anything after that and I'd recommend storing them in the freezer.

All meals in this vegan freezer-friendly meal prep can be stored in the fridge as well as the freezer, so just go with whatever is suitable for you.

Easy vegan freezer-friendly meal prep overview

Alright, let's get into the fun part! Here's what meals you'll be making with this freezer-friendly meal prep:

• lentil muffin tin "meat" loaf - best served with mashed potatoes, carrots, peas and gravy (or tomato sauce)
• black bean burger patties - serve with burger buns or on their own, I like to reheat them in a saucepan, you an add a little bit of oil for frying if you like
• pumpkin soup - makes a great light meal or appetizer
• lentil and broccoli curry - serve on its own, with rice/quinoa or with naan
• sundried tomato and walnut sauce/pesto: you can use this as a pasta pesto/sauce, or as a dipping sauce for baked potatoes/tofu
• salted double choc snack balls (seriously, I would double the recipe and store them in the bottom of the freezer so no one else in your households finds them, they're so good!)

Shopping list for this freezer-friendly vegan meal prep

Here is everything you need for this freezer-friendly vegan meal prep:

• vegetables and fruits
  • 3 onion, medium
  • 1 red onion, small
  • 6 cloves of garlic
  • 3 large carrot
  • 1 pumpkin, medium
  • 1 apple
  • ginger
  • 1 lemon
  • 6 medjool dates
• pantry items
  • 4 tbsp tomato paste
  • 1 can lentils (approximately 250 g drained)
  • 2 cups black beans (canned/cooked)
  • 1 can coconut milk (400 ml)
  • 1 cup red lentils (dry), the ones that cook in 15-20 minutes
  • ⅛ cup chickpea flour
  • ¾ cup oats
  • ¼ cup seitan (powder)
  • vegetable broth
  • 1 tbsp soy sauce
  • 1 can sweet corn (approximately 200g)
  • jalapeño slices
  • 6-8 sundried tomatoes
  • 2 tbsp cocoa powder
  • chocolate chips
• nuts/seeds
  • 1 tbsp flax seeds
  • 4 tbsp tahini
  • 1 cup walnuts
  • ½ cup almonds
• spices
  • 4 tbsp nutritional yeast
  • 2 tsp smoked paprika
  • 1 ½ tsp cumin
  • salt
  • pepper
  • 1-2 tbsp curry paste or curry spice blend
• frozen
  • 2 cups broccoli

You will also need food containers to store your prepped meals (check out this post to learn more about choosing the right meal prep containers) and kitchen equipment: muffin tins (for 8-10 muffins), a food processor, a hand blender/mixer (alternatively you can blend the soup in the food processor) and two large pots (or one large pot and one large pan).

Instructions for this vegan freezer-friendly meal prep

Step 1 - preparations

Before we get started, preparing a few things will make this meal prep session smooth and stress-free:

• Check that you have all ingredients that you will need and preferable lay them out so you can easily access them
• Make sure you have enough meal prep containers available to store your meals once they are done
• Make sure the kitchen is clean and you have counter top space available for putting things down

Step 2 - lentil muffin tin "meat" loaf

We will start with the lentil muffin tin "meat" loaf. These will go into the oven and once they are, we can focus on the other meals. For the lentil muffin tin "meat" loafs, here is what you need:

• 1 onion, medium
• 1 clove of garlic
• 1 large carrot or 2 small ones
• 1 can lentils (canned and drained), approximately 250g
• 2 tbsp tomato puree
• 2 tbsp nutritional yeast
• 1 tsp smoked paprika
• ½ tsp cumin
• 1 tsp salt
• ⅛ cup chickpea flour
• ¾ cup oats

1. First, preheat your oven to 180C or 350 F.
2. Roughly chop the onion, garlic and carrots and add them to a food processor. Pulse a few times until finely chopped but not mushy.
3. Add the drained lentils, tomato puree, nutritional yeast, smoked paprika, cumin and salt. Blend until it comes together.
4. Finally, add the chickpea flour and oats and blend until just incorporated. Don't worry if it tastes a little bit odd now, the taste of the chickpea flour will become less prominent during baking.
5. Spoon the mixture into your muffin tin (slightly grease them before or spray them with cooking oil if the muffin tin is prone to sticking). It makes roughly 8 muffins.
6. Bake in the oven for roughly 25 minutes.

Step 3 - pumpkin soup

While the lentil "meat" loaf muffins are baking, we can focus on the pumpkin soup. You'll need:

• 1 onion, medium
• 2 cloves of garlic
• roughly 20 g ginger
• 1 medium pumpkin
• 1 carrot
• 1 apple
• vegetable broth

1. Roughly chop the onion, garlic and ginger. Since we will blend the soup later, you don't have to be ultra precise here.
2. Add to a large pot and cook for roughly 5 minutes on a medium-high heat with a splash of water or a little oil.
3. In the meantime, remove the seeds from the pumpkin and cut it into little cubes. Also remove the seeds from the apple and cut into small chunks. Roughly cut the carrot as well.
4. Add the pumpkin, apple and carrot to the pot and fill it up with vegetable broth until everything is just about covered. Use as little water as possible to not make the soup too watery.
5. Let it simmer on medium heat for roughly 30 minutes, stirring occasionally. Then turn off the heat and at the end of this meal prep, blend it until smooth.

Step 4 - black bean burger patties

At this point, the lentil muffins should be just done so remove them from the oven and let them cool before removing them from the muffin tin (just leaving them at room temperature til the end of this meal prep is fine). Now is also a good point to clean the food processor so we can use it again.

For the black bean burger patties, we'll need:

• 3 cups black beans (cooked/canned and drained)
• 1 tbsp soy sauce
• 2 tbsp tahini
• 2 tbsp tomato paste
• 1 tbsp flax seeds
• 1 clove of garlic
• 1 small red onion
• 1 tsp cumin
• 1 tsp smoked paprika
• ½ tsp salt and pepper each
• 1 can sweet corn (drained), approximately 200g
• a few jalapeno slices (I prefer pickled), depending on your spice preferences
• ¼ cup walnuts
• ¼ cup seitan (powder)

1. Leave the oven on at 180C or 350 F.
2. Add the black beans, soy sauce, tahini, tomato paste and flax seeds to the food processor and blend for 1-2 minutes until no more black bean chunks remain.
3. Add the clove of garlic, red onion (roughly chopped), cumin, smoked paprika, salt, pepper, sweet corn, jalapeno slices and walnuts and blend until well incorporated but not mushy.
4. Finally, add the seitan powder and pulse a blend for a minute.
5. Line a baking tray with baking paper or a baking mat and form patties. The mixture should be enough for 10-12 patties, depending on how big you make them. I like to use a quarter cup measuring cup to make sure they're all roughly the same size. If the mixture is very sticky, slightly wet your hands to make handling easier.
6. Bake them in the oven for 25-30 minutes, flipping them after 20. Then remove them from the oven and let them cool to room temperature before adding them to a food container.

Step 5 - lentil and broccoli curry

You'll need:

• 1 onion, medium
• 1 clove of garlic
• 1 small knob ginger
• 1-2 tbsp curry paste or curry spice blend
• 1 carrot
• 1 cup red lentils (dry)
• 1 cup water
• 2 cups frozen broccoli
• 1 can coconut milk (400 ml)

1. First, finely chop the onion and mince the garlic and ginger. Add to a pot or large pan and cook with a splash of water or a little bit of oil on medium-high heat for 5 minutes.
2. In the meantime, cut the carrot into small pieces.
3. Add the curry paste/spice blend with a splash of water to the pan and cook for another 5 minutes, stirring frequently.
4. Next, add the chopped carrot and dry lentils to the pan with approximately a cup of water. Let it simmer for roughly 10 minutes, stirring occasionally and adding a little more water if necessary.
5. Then, add the coconut milk and let the curry bubble away for another 10 minutes.
6. Finally, add the frozen broccoli, give it a good mix and turn off the heat. (Of course, if you wanted to eat the curry straight away, don't turn off the heat so the frozen broccoli can thaw and heat up. But since we'll freeze this anyways, there's no need for that.)
7. You can add salt and pepper at this point. But what I like to do is add it right before serving. This way, I have to use less salt.

Step 6 - sundried tomato & walnut sauce

Congratulations! You're almost done! So far we have done all of the baking and cooking and only need to use the food processor for the next two recipes.

• 6-8 sundried tomatoes
• ¼ cup walnuts
• 2 tbsp nutritional yeast
• 1 clove of garlic
• 2 tbsp tahini
• lemon juice of 1 lemon + 1 tbsp lemon zest
• ¼ tsp salt and pepper each

1. Add all ingredients to a food processor and blend until smooth, scraping down the sides if necessary. If the mixture is too dry and doesn't come together, you can add a little bit of water at a time.
2. Transfer to a small food container to freeze. I like to use silicone ice cube trays because I can freeze individual portions and it's very easy to remove.

Step 7 - salted double choc snack balls

To finish things off, we'll make a sweet recipe. You will need:

• 6 medjool dates, pit removed (if they are very dry/hard, you can soak them in water for 5 minutes)
• ½ cup almonds
• ½ cup walnuts
• pinch of salt
• 2 tbsp cocoa powder
• chocolate chips

1. Add the dates to the food processor and blend until they form a sticky paste. Add a splash of water if it doesn't blend well.
2. Add the almonds and walnuts and blend until everything comes together and there are no large chunks left. The mixture should start to form a ball.
3. Add the salt and chocolate powder and blend until incorporated.
4. Finally, add the chocolate chips and pulse a few times.
5. Form little snack balls and place them in a food container. I like to use a large, flat one so that I don't have to stack them.

You're done! Now it's time to put all of the delicious meals into food containers, let them cool slightly and put them into the freezer.

Did you make this easy vegan freezer-friendly meal prep?

Please leave a comment below, or share this post. You can also tag me on instagram – I would love to see your creations!

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