High-Protein Vegan Meal Prep: One Sunday Cook, Five Days of Meals

Most vegan meal prep goes wrong in the same place. Five identical containers of rice and roast vegetables look good in the fridge on Sunday night, taste fine on Monday, and by Wednesday you are eating toast over the sink because you cannot face container number three. They are usually light on protein too, which is why you are hungry again at three o’clock.

This plan does it differently. On Sunday you cook five components, not five meals. Tofu, lentils, quinoa, a tray of roast vegetables with chickpeas, and a peanut sauce. Each weeknight those same components turn into something different, so Tuesday does not taste like Monday, and nothing takes more than fifteen minutes to put together.

The whole Sunday cook is about 90 minutes, most of it with the oven doing the work. It feeds one person breakfast, lunch and dinner for five days. Cooking for two, double everything. The times barely move, you just need both oven racks.

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How much protein this actually gives you

Roughly 85 to 100 g a day, depending on the tofu you buy and the night of the week. Here is where it comes from, one day at a time:

• Breakfast, overnight oats: about 19 g, from oats, soy milk, chia and hemp seeds
• Lunch, tofu and quinoa bowl: about 40 to 45 g, more than half of it from the tofu
• Dinner, built on lentils: about 23 to 34 g, lowest on Friday and highest on Monday

For comparison, Australia’s Nutrient Reference Values put the recommended daily intake of protein at 64 g for men and 46 g for women aged 19 to 70. This plan clears both with room to spare. If you train hard or have specific needs, a dietitian can tell you what your own number should be.

The figure moves most with the tofu. Firm tofu labels in Australian supermarkets range from about 12 to 15 g of protein per 100 g, so check yours. Extra-firm sits at the top of that range and also bakes up better.

The Sunday cook

• Prep time: 30 minutes
• Cook time: 1 hour
• Total time: 1 hour 30 minutes
• Serves: 5 days of breakfasts, lunches and dinners for one

The order matters more than any single step. Lentils go on first because they need no attention. The oven goes on next and stays full for the hour. Everything else fits around those two.

Ingredients

For the baked tofu:

• 900 g firm or extra-firm tofu, two or three blocks depending on size
• 3 tablespoons soy sauce or tamari
• 1 tablespoon maple syrup
• 1 tablespoon sesame oil
• 2 tablespoons cornflour

For the lentils:

• 2 cups (400 g) dried brown or green lentils, rinsed
• 1 bay leaf
• 1 teaspoon salt

For the quinoa:

• 1½ cups (255 g) quinoa, rinsed
• 2¼ cups water

For the roast vegetable tray:

• 1 large sweet potato, cut into 2 cm cubes
• 1 head broccoli, cut into florets
• 2 red capsicums, cut into strips
• 1 red onion, cut into wedges
• 1 x 400 g tin chickpeas, drained, rinsed and patted dry
• 2 tablespoons olive oil
• 1 teaspoon smoked paprika
• Salt and pepper

For the peanut sauce:

• ½ cup (130 g) smooth peanut butter
• 3 tablespoons soy sauce or tamari
• Juice of 2 limes
• 1 tablespoon maple syrup
• 1 clove garlic, grated
• 4 to 6 tablespoons hot water

For five jars of overnight oats:

• 2½ cups (200 g) rolled oats
• 3¾ cups (about 925 ml) soy milk
• 5 tablespoons chia seeds
• 10 tablespoons (about 100 g) hulled hemp seeds
• Frozen berries or a sliced banana to serve

Method

1. Start the lentils. Put the lentils in a large saucepan with the bay leaf and cover with water by about 5 cm. Bring to the boil, then simmer uncovered for 20 to 25 minutes until tender but still holding their shape. Add the salt in the last 5 minutes, drain, and spread on a tray to cool.
2. Heat the oven to 220°C (200°C fan) and line two large trays with baking paper.
3. Press the tofu while the oven heats. Wrap the blocks in a clean tea towel and put something heavy on top for 10 minutes. The drier the tofu, the better it bakes.
4. Cut and coat the tofu. Cut into 2 cm cubes. Toss with the soy sauce, maple syrup and sesame oil, then sprinkle over the cornflour and toss again until every cube looks dusty. Spread in a single layer on the first tray.
5. Load the vegetable tray. Toss the sweet potato, broccoli, capsicum, onion and chickpeas with the olive oil, smoked paprika, salt and pepper on the second tray. Crowding is what makes vegetables steam instead of roast, so use a third tray if it will not fit in one layer.
6. Roast both trays for 30 to 35 minutes, turning everything once halfway. The tofu is done when it is golden and firm at the edges. The chickpeas should rattle when you shake the tray.
7. Cook the quinoa while the trays roast. Bring the quinoa and water to the boil, cover, drop the heat to low and cook for 15 minutes. Take it off the heat, leave the lid on for 5 minutes, then fluff with a fork and spread it out to cool.
8. Make the peanut sauce. Whisk the peanut butter, soy sauce, lime juice, maple syrup and garlic, then add hot water a tablespoon at a time until it pours slowly off a spoon. It thickens in the fridge, so leave it a little looser than you want it.
9. Set up the overnight oats. Divide the oats, soy milk, chia and hemp seeds between five jars, stir each one well, and put the lids on. Leave the fruit off until the morning you eat them.
10. Cool everything before it goes into containers. Warm food sealed in a container sweats, and that water is what turns day-four food soggy. Twenty minutes on the bench is enough.
11. Pack the lunches. Divide the quinoa, tofu and roast vegetables between five containers. Pack the peanut sauce in its own jar and spoon it on the day you eat it. The lentils go into one large container for the week’s dinners.

Storing the Sunday cook

Everything keeps for four to five days in airtight containers in the fridge. The roast vegetables go first, so if you want lunch on Friday to be as good as lunch on Monday, freeze the Friday container on Sunday night and move it to the fridge on Wednesday.

Cooked lentils freeze well. If you know Thursday is going to be a takeaway night, freeze a quarter of them and they are there for next week instead of going off in this one.

The week, night by night

Breakfast and lunch are the same every day, and that is on purpose. Two meals you do not have to think about leave room for dinner to change. Each dinner below uses about a quarter of the lentils and takes fifteen minutes or less.

Monday: lentil bolognese

Soften a chopped onion and two cloves of garlic in a little oil, add a tin of crushed tomatoes, a tablespoon of tomato paste and a teaspoon of dried oregano, then stir through a quarter of the lentils and simmer for 10 minutes while 80 g of pasta cooks. If you want the full version with carrot and celery for a slower night, the lentil bolognese is the one to cook.

Tuesday: lentil tacos

Fry a quarter of the lentils in a hot pan with a teaspoon each of cumin and smoked paprika, half a teaspoon of chilli powder and a splash of water, mashing a few as you go so they hold together. Pile into warm corn tortillas with shredded cabbage, lime and whatever salsa is in the fridge.

Wednesday: the ten-minute soup

Wednesday gets the easiest dinner because Wednesday is when most plans fall over. A quarter of the lentils, a tin of diced tomatoes, two cups of vegetable stock and a handful of frozen spinach, simmered for 8 minutes and blitzed half-smooth with a stick blender. Two slices of wholemeal toast on the side. If the plan has already slipped by Wednesday, there is a whole article on why the healthy eating plan tends to collapse and it is not about willpower.

Thursday: lentil and coconut dal

Warm a tablespoon of curry paste in a saucepan, add the last quarter of the lentils and a 270 ml tin of light coconut milk, and simmer for 10 minutes with a big handful of spinach stirred through at the end. Serve over rice. For a proper curry on the weekend, the chickpea curry comes from the same cupboard.

Friday: clear-the-fridge fried rice

The lentils are gone by now, so Friday’s protein comes from the freezer. Fry a cup of cooked rice (a microwave pouch is fine) in a hot pan with a cup of frozen shelled edamame, any stray vegetables, a splash of soy sauce and a squeeze of lime. About 17 g of protein comes from the edamame alone.

Frequently asked questions

How long does vegan meal prep last in the fridge?

Four to five days for cooked tofu, lentils and quinoa in airtight containers. Roast vegetables are the first thing to lose their texture, usually around day four. Freezing the last day’s lunch on Sunday and moving it to the fridge midweek gets around that.

What is the highest-protein vegan food to meal prep?

Of the ingredients in this plan, tofu gives the most protein per meal, at around 12 to 15 g per 100 g depending on the brand. Tempeh and seitan are both higher again and meal prep just as well: the baked seitan keeps for a week in the fridge and can replace the tofu here one for one.

Can you freeze cooked tofu?

Yes, although it changes the texture. Frozen and thawed tofu turns chewier and more sponge-like, which some people prefer, and it soaks up sauce better. Baked tofu cubes freeze for about two months. Thaw them in the fridge overnight rather than on the bench.

Do you have to eat the same lunch every day?

No. The peanut sauce is the easiest thing to swap. A lemon and tahini dressing or a jar of good salsa changes the whole bowl without changing the prep. If you want more variety, the meal prep bowls post has three different lunches that use the same method.

• Vegan Meal Prep
• high protein vegan
• vegan meal plan