Vegan Meal Ideas

We have researched, watched videos on, and tested out about million vegan recipes (some great and others maybe not so much). We decided to give you a guide for a few of our easy, vegan meals are that are both cheap and quick to make. Most of these do not have a set recipe so we will try to explain as well as possible but you can add as much as you want of most of the ingredients and the meals will still turn out great.

Now let’s start with dessert 

Our favorite easy and cheap vegan dessert is banana nice cream. We generally switch up the recipe every time we make it. We usually blend together two already cut & frozen bananas, almond milk, and PB2 (a powder healthy peanut butter alternative). Then, we freeze the mixture for a few hours so that it forms into the consistency of ice cream. You can add other ingredients such as agave syrup, maple syrup, protein powder, etc. to change the flavor to fit what you prefer. You also can add in spinach for extra veggies without the taste! In this photo, we added coconut chips from the brand Dang, which we highly recommend because they are delicious.

Next up is simple vegan pizza. We love pizza but found it very hard to join in when our friends would want pizza for dinner so this is the perfect solution. We generally get flatbread (from the brand Flatout but can be any). Then, we add pizza sauce, Daiya cheese (you can use any vegan cheese or use none), and whatever toppings you want to add. You can easily incorporate many vegetables into this meal by adding mushrooms, spinach, tomatoes, etc. 

One of our favorite breakfasts to make is tofu scramble. First, you have to dry your extra firm tofu. This can be done by wrapping in paper towels (or mesh towels) and putting weight on top of it for 30 minutes. Then you can mash up tofu with a scoop of turmeric, black pepper, and other spices of your choice. If you want to add vegetables, you can let the vegetables cook for a few minutes before adding the tofu since the tofu does not take long to cook. This takes scrambled eggs to a whole new level. Then, you can add whatever you want on top. We added sriracha for this photo (because let's be honest, what don't we add sriracha to?). 

The next meal that really simple (and insanely cheap) is overnight oats. You can add as much oatmeal as you want and double that amount in nut milk. We usually do 1/2 cup of oatmeal and 1 cup of milk. Then you can add whatever toppings you want. We usually add PB2 and agave syrup. Then you let it sit in your fridge overnight and in the morning, you have a delicious cold and sweet breakfast. You can also add toppings in the morning such as granola, berries, or coconut chips to add to it. 

In our opinion, one of the best “starter” vegan meals is a Buddha bowl. We have inserted two photos of Buddha bowls that we have made that are both very different to show a variety of things that you can do. Usually, you start with some type of base – rice or quinoa. Then you can add whatever veggies, tofu, and toppings that you want. This is a good way to use up leftover veggies and can be tailored to whatever flavors you like best! You can make these Indian inspired by adding chickpea curry on top or Asian inspired by adding teriyaki tofu. You can get creative when making Buddha bowls. 

The first Buddha bowl has quinoa as a base and then we added asparagus, tofu, broccoli, cauliflower, and sriracha. 

The second Buddha bowl has rice as a base. Then we added potatoes, tofu, and avocado. 

A few notable vegan meal mentions (that we usually eat too fast to get photos of) are: 

Easy vegan chili that consists of drained black beans, kidney beans, tomatoes, onions and a can of chili sauce. You can heat all of the ingredients up on the stove and serve on top of a bake a sweet potato. This meal is about as easy and cheap as it comes which is a win in our book. 

We also love roasting chickpeas for a snack, making almond yogurt parfaits (with mixed berries, granola, and peanut butter), and easy vegetables to snack on such as cucumbers and carrots. 

And lastly, one of my favorite vegan health drinks is a turmeric latte. We follow this recipe

with agave syrup replacing the honey. You heat up almond milk, turmeric, agave syrup, cinnamon, fresh ginger, and black pepper (this sounds crazy but it activates the turmeric) together on the stove. This creates a very easy and delicious health drink.