FAST High-Protein Vegan Meal Prep (1 Hour Per Week!)

Summary

This video details how to meal prep a week's worth of nutritious, high-protein vegan meals in just one hour. It focuses on making dishes that are quick to prepare but still meet daily nutritional needs, including 120g of plant protein. The meals incorporate nutrient-dense whole foods like beans, lentils, tempeh, nutritional yeast, seeds, and produce. Detailed recipes are provided for overnight oats, a lentil pasta salad, slow cooker chili, and cantaloupe and popcorn snacks. The video also analyzes the nutrient breakdown, showing how these meals deliver adequate intake of nutrients that vegans sometimes lack like calcium, iron, and B12.

Takeaways

• 😊 The meal prep focuses on being done quickly (in 1 hour), having high protein (120g per day), using no supplements, and hitting all nutritional needs
• 👍 The breakfast is berry and cream overnight oats made with oats, yogurt, maple syrup, cinnamon, frozen berries, hemp seeds, flaxseeds, sunflower seeds and soy milk
• 🥗 The lunch is a Greek lentil pasta salad made with chickpea pasta, baby kale, veggies, lentils, olives, sunflower seeds, salt and pepper
• 🌶 The dinner is a slow cooker tempeh chili made with tempeh, onions, bell pepper, carrots, garlic, beans, diced tomatoes and seasonings
• 🍈 The snacks are cantaloupe and nutritional yeast flavored popcorn
• 📊 The full day hits 120g protein and all amino acid, vitamin and mineral targets without supplements
• 💪 Good vegan sources of protein in the meals include tempeh, chickpeas, lentils, hemp seeds, nutritional yeast
• 🥗 Good vegan sources of iron in the meals include chickpea pasta, lentils, kidney beans, black beans and tempeh
• 🌞 The only vitamin not covered is Vitamin D which requires sun exposure or supplements
• 👍 Customize meal calories and portions based on your own nutrition needs using the calculator

Q & A

What are the key things the meal prep focuses on?

The meal prep focuses on getting it done quickly in under an hour, getting 120g of plant protein per day, using no supplements, and hitting all nutritional needs while targeting 2000 calories per day.

What are some benefits of using frozen fruit?

Benefits of frozen fruit include: it doesn't go bad quickly since it's picked at peak freshness, it's less expensive than fresh berries, and it's packed with nutrition.

How can you help keep the meal prep food fresh?

Tips to keep the food fresh include: storing the kale separately to add before eating, adding paper towels in the containers to absorb moisture, and making fewer meals at a time.

What are some high calcium vegan food sources used?

High calcium vegan foods used include: soy milk, tempeh, and kale.

What are good plant-based sources of iron in the meals?

Good plant-based iron sources include: chickpea pasta, lentils, kidney beans, black beans, and tempeh.

How is the B12 need met?

The B12 need is met using fortified nutritional yeast and fortified soy milk.

How can you meet vitamin D needs on a vegan diet?

Vitamin D can be obtained from supplements, fortified foods, or 15-30 minutes of sunlight exposure daily.

How can you calculate your specific calorie and nutrient needs?

You can use the vegan nutrition calculator on the Veganjim.com website to calculate your specific needs.

What appliances are used to save time in the meal prep?

A large pot to boil pasta water, an Instant Pot or slow cooker for the chili, and a salad spinner to reduce moisture in the produce are appliances used to save time.

What are the vegan protein sources used in the meals?

The vegan protein sources used include: oats, kite hill yogurt, hemp seeds, lentils, kidney beans, black beans, and tempeh.

Outlines

00:00

🚗 Starting off with a grocery list and getting prepared for 1 hour of total prep time

The video begins by stating the goals of the meal prep - to get it done quickly in 1 hour, have 120g plant protein daily without supplements, hit nutritional needs, and target 2000 calories. The instructions start with preparing boiling water for lunch while making the overnight oats for breakfast with oats, yogurt, maple syrup, cinnamon, frozen berries, seeds, and soy milk.

05:00

🥗 Making a protein-packed lentil pasta salad for lunch

Lunch is a Greek-style lentil pasta salad. The pasta is boiled then veggies like onions, peppers, cucumbers, and cherry tomatoes are chopped and added to a large bowl. The veggies are divided across containers, then lentils, olives, sunflower seeds, salt, and pepper are added. Balsamic vinegar is left out to prevent moisture and keep the meals fresh.

10:03

🍲 Putting together a vegetable-rich slow cooker tempeh chili for dinner

Dinner is a tempeh chili made in the slow cooker. Tempeh is crumbled and added with chopped onions, bell peppers, garlic, carrots, kidney beans, black beans, diced tomatoes, and seasonings like chili powder, cumin, and Chipotle powder. Once done, the chili is portioned out and topped with cilantro, green onions, and cherry tomatoes.

15:05

🥣 Prepping fruit and popcorn for healthy vegan snacks

Snacks are pre-cut cantaloupe and popcorn with nutritional yeast. The popcorn and "Cheesy" nutritional yeast provide protein and B12. The snacks are portioned out into containers to have ready alongside the main meals.

Keywords

💡Meal prep

Meal prep refers to preparing multiple meals in advance to save time and effort. It is a core theme in the video, which focuses on prepping healthy vegan meals for an entire week. The presenter aims to streamline meal prep to take only 1 hour total.

💡Protein

Getting enough high quality protein is a key focus. The presenter ensures each meal has 120g plant protein from sources like tempeh, lentils and nutritional yeast to support muscle growth and fat loss.

💡Micronutrients

Micronutrients like vitamins and minerals are essential to health. The video shows how a vegan diet can meet all micronutrient needs without supplements by incorporating nutritious foods.

💡Calories

The meals are designed for a 2000 calorie daily target. Understanding calorie needs based on goals is important. The presenter notes this target is good for fat loss.

💡Iron

Iron is called out as a nutrient some claim vegans do not get enough of. However the meals contain abundant iron via foods like lentils, chickpeas and tempeh.

💡Vitamin B12

B12 is another nutrient of concern on a vegan diet. The video uses fortified foods like nutritional yeast and soy milk to provide ample B12.

💡Vitamin D

Vitamin D is called out as requiring sun exposure, supplements or fortified foods since it is hard to get from diet alone. 15-30 minutes of sun is recommended.

💡Satiety

Protein is highlighted as being the most satiating macronutrient, helping you stay full. Getting enough is key for fat loss.

💡Freshness

Tips are provided to maximize freshness of the prepped meals over 7 days, like separating ingredients and using paper towels.

💡Efficiency

Efficiency is a major focus in the video, including prepping multiple elements at once and choosing shortcuts like canned beans to save maximum time.

Highlights

Full day of eating packed with 120 grams of plant protein and meets nutritional needs without supplements

All prep work done in a single hour to save time

High protein intake builds lean muscle and preserves muscle during fat loss

Protein is more satiating than other macros and helps burn fat

No protein supplements needed to meet protein and nutrient goals

2000 calories per day, adjust as needed for your goals

Make 7 days of vegan meal prep in 1 hour

Add frozen fruit - inexpensive, nutritious, fresh

Use salad spinner to remove moisture and keep food fresh longer

Slow cooker meals save time - just add ingredients and let cook

Exceeded all vitamin/mineral goals including the "tough ones" - calcium, iron, B12

Multiple vegan sources provided calcium, iron and B12

Only supplement needed is Vitamin D/sunlight

Adjust recommendations if different gender, body size, activity level

Use calculator to determine exact calorie/protein/nutrients needed

Transcripts

[Music]

this is seven days of vegan meal prep

that only takes one hour of total prep

time plus every day is packed with 120

grams of plant protein and meets all of

your nutritional needs without

supplements and in this video I'm going

to show you how to make it if you want

to download all these recipes and a

grocery list just click the first link

in the description with that let's Dive

In

[Music]

so for this meal prep we're focusing on

a few key things the first is I want to

get into the kitchen and get it done as

quickly as possible so I don't love

spending my entire day in the kitchen

I'm sure you don't either so all the

prep work for this entire week of meals

can be done in a single hour number two

we want to maintain a high protein

intake every single day of meals

contains 120 grams of Whole Food plant

protein which is really important for

both building lean muscle and also

preserving lean muscle when you are

focusing on Fat Loss another important

tip is that protein is actually more

satiating than the other macronutrients

and it also helps you to burn fat more

quickly and speaking of protein intake

we are not using any protein supplements

which leads me to number three which is

that we are not using any supplements

whatsoever in this meal prep but we are

also hitting all of our micronutrient

targets that's the vitamins and minerals

that we need to be healthy and fit

vegans number four for this meal prep we

have a Target daily calorie intake of

2000 calories now if you're trying to

accomplish some specific fitness goals

it's really important that you

understand your body's daily calorie

needs

depending on your body composition and

fitness goals 2 000 calories might be

too high or too low and if that's the

case for you then you can go ahead and

adjust these meals for Me 2 000 calories

would put me in a moderately aggressive

caloric deficit which means that this

meal prep would help me to burn fat

pretty quickly so just be sure to adjust

your calorie Target based on your goals

so we're going to be making seven days

or an entire week of vegan meal prep

let's get started with breakfast

so for breakfast we're going to be

making Berry and cream overnight oats

but before we jump in and start making

breakfast we're going to actually start

boiling our water for our lunch because

we're trying to save as much time as

possible during this meal prep so in a

large pot bring three to four quarts of

salted water to a boil

while that's heating up start making

your oatmeal line up seven glass or

Tupperware containers then add half a

cup or 40 grams of oats into each next

add half a cup or 112 grams of kite Hill

Greek style yogurt to each of the

containers this kite Hill Greek yogurt

happens to be one of the highest protein

plant-based yogurts but there are other

great vegan brands as well then we'll

add one tablespoon or 20 grams of maple

syrup and a single teaspoon or about 3

grams of ground cinnamon on top

so the next thing that we're going to

add is a half cup of this frozen fruit

blend to each of these containers and

the thing that I really love about

frozen fruit actually there are a few

things one it doesn't go bad quickly so

it's picked at the peak of freshness and

then it's instantly Frozen so you're

getting the freshest berries possible

it's also inexpensive it tends to be

less expensive per unit weight than

getting fresh berries and frozen fruit

is just packed with nutrition follow up

the berries with two tablespoons or 20

grams of hemp seeds hemp Chia and ground

flax seeds are great sources of omega-3

fatty acids finally We'll add two

tablespoons or 16 grams of sunflower

seeds which is a great source of vitamin

E to finish off our oats we'll mix in

three quarters of a cup or 180

milliliters of unsweetened soy milk to

each container so once everything is in

the containers go ahead mix them up put

the covers on put in the fridge and then

they're ready to go every morning for

breakfast you can also add the milk in

the morning to make it a little bit

pressure and if you would like to eat it

warm you can go ahead and heat it up in

the microwave all right now we've got

breakfast ready to go I'm just going to

put the lids on and throw it in the

fridge our water is boiling so we're

going to get prepared with lunch

so for lunch we're going to be making a

Greek style lentil pasta salad

begin add two boxes or 396 grams of

Bonza chickpea pasta to the boiling

water

set a timer for seven minutes or

whatever the Box recommends while the

pasta is cooking line up seven

containers and add about three cups or

63 grams of baby kale to each container

one nutrient that we always want to be

conscious of is calcium we want to make

sure that we're getting enough of it and

this baby kale is a great option there

are lots of different veggies that have

tons of calcium but we're going to go

with baby kale for this meal prep next

chop up one onion four bell peppers

three cucumbers and add them to a

separate large bowl top off the bowl

with two small packages of cherry

tomatoes once the pasta is done boiling

drain and rinse the noodles under cold

water pat dry if needed and set aside to

cool

so not only are veggies totally packed

with nutrition they're also really low

in calories given the amount of food

that you can eat that's one reason that

I love adding in things like these

cucumbers and the red bell peppers and

the calories that are in these veggies

are just really packed with nutrients

now when you're prepping for an entire

week of food it's really important that

the food doesn't start going bad kind of

on day six and seven so one way to

combat that is to make sure that we're

not adding moisture to these containers

so one really efficient way to remove

the moisture from this mixture is just

using a salad spinner you could just dab

it with a towel or some paper towels but

you can normally remove more of the

moisture by using a salad spinner

honestly a salad spinner is probably my

favorite Appliance to use in the entire

kitchen

well maybe

okay so I just decided to weigh this

whole mixture and it's about

2230 grams or 2.23 kilograms which is a

heck of a lot of food so I just went

ahead divide that by seven so I could

know how much I need to put in each one

that's about 318 grams it might be a

little bit different for you depending

on the size of all of the produce that

you got but I'm going to go ahead and

divide this up all right so instead of

weighing each container individually I

just zeroed out the scale so I'm just

going to look for the number minus 318

doesn't need to be exact but I want to

get it pretty close

okay just to get a little bit of the

extra moisture out of the pasta I'm also

going to go ahead and spin this quickly

that was a pasta

we got a visitor in the kitchen

I don't think you like pasta do you

this guy's name is Mr pumpkin

and honestly I was never a cat person

but uh he's been changing my mind a

little bit over the last few months

foreign

cup or 200 grams of canned lentils to

each container lentils are a great

source of protein fiber and iron and

canned lentils specifically are great

for saving time since you don't have to

cook them from scratch just be sure to

drain and rinse them to get rid of as

many bubbles as possible because those

can cause gas next throw in about two

tablespoons or 40 grams of Olives into

each container this is about 10 whole

olives finally top off each container

with two tablespoons or 16 grams of

sunflower seeds and a quarter teaspoon

each of iodized salt or about one and a

half grams and black pepper about half a

gram using iodized salt is a really easy

way to help meet your iodine needs for

the day

all right so the last step would be to

add one to two tablespoons of balsamic

vinegar but to keep these meals fresh we

don't want to add moisture so this is

something that you would just add in

when you're ready to eat a meal so you

can go ahead and mix this up but I'd

actually recommend that you leave it

unmixed because the veggies and the kale

on the bottom should stay as fresh as

possible so we don't want to get any

extra moisture on them but a few tricks

to make sure that your food is lasting

longer or one you can take out the kale

and just leave it on the side and then

add it to every single meal before you

eat it another thing that you can do is

you can actually add a little bit of

paper towel to the top of the last four

days of your meal prep so I could just

go ahead like that and add a cover and

that will help to absorb some moisture

over the next few days so another way to

keep your food as fresh as possible is

to just make fewer meals at a time you

can do a 4 Day meal prep instead of a

Seven Day meal prep if you click the

link in the description we have a four

Day meal prep ingredients list as well

that you can use all right so that's it

for lunch let's jump into dinner so for

dinner we're making slow cooker tempeh

chili we're going to be using an instant

pot but you can use a crock pot as well

start by crumbling three packages of

tempeh with your hands and add them to

the slow cooker next prepare your

veggies by finely chopping two onions

one green bell pepper four large carrots

six cloves of garlic and then add those

all to the slow cooker we'll then add

lots of fiber and extra protein by

adding two cans of drained and rinsed

kidney beans and two cans of black beans

to the pot each of these cans is labeled

as a 15 and a half ounce can which is

about 12 ounces after you rinse and

drain the beans that's about 340 grams

from each can or 680 grams of both

rinsed and dried kidney beans and black

beans follow that up with two 28 ounce

cans or 1 587 grams of fire roasted

diced tomatoes for seasonings add in 4

tablespoons or 32 grams of chili powder

two teaspoons or 6.5 grams of garlic

powder 2 teaspoons or 4 grams of cumin 4

teaspoons or 2.8 grams of Chipotle

powder and two teaspoons each or 12

grams of iodized salt and black pepper

finally add 4 cups or 946 milliliters of

water to the pot all right so I'm going

to go ahead and mix this up and the

reason that I love slow cooker meals so

much is because they really help to save

time all you need to do is throw all the

ingredients in turn it on and then you

can go do other things while your meal

Cooks set your slow cooker on low for

six to eight hours or on high for three

to four hours the chili will thicken as

it cools once the chili is done divide

evenly into seven containers and top off

with fresh cilantro green onions and

cherry tomatoes

foreign

so the last thing that we're going to

prep are our snacks we've got some

cantaloupe here and we also have some

popcorn that we're going to add

nutritional yeast to so these snacks are

really easy to prepare in fact you can

go ahead and buy pre-cut cantaloupe

however you are going to pay a premium

for that so you can just grab some

regular cantaloupe and chop it up

yourself and for the popcorn we just

decided to grab these bags to save some

time now as far as how you portion these

out into containers either you can

choose a larger container such as this

one and put a few days worth of either

the cantaloupe or the popcorn in there

you could also decide to go with a

smaller single serve container like this

one or you could just use a Ziploc

baggie as well add 14 cups or 133 grams

of total popcorn to one or multiple

containers

then add 14 tablespoons or 112 grams of

nutritional yeast and spread evenly

across the popcorn fortified nutritional

yeast is one of the best sources of

vitamin B12 and it also has around 8 to

10 grams of protein for just two

tablespoons it has a Cheesy nutty taste

that goes great on popcorn then Shake It

Up to combine add seven cups total of

cantaloupe or 483 grams to one or

multiple containers the vitamin C in

cantaloupe can enhance your iron

absorption if you eat it alongside your

meals

so that's it for our meals let's dive

into the nutrition breakdown

all right so here's our full day of

eating as you can see we clocked in at

120 grams of plant protein we also hit

all of our essential amino acid targets

so yes clearly plants have protein and

in fact all plants actually contain

protein we've also exceeded all of our

micronutrient goals for vitamins and

minerals even the ones that people claim

that you can't get enough of on a vegan

diet like calcium iron and b12 so for

calcium soy is a great source of calcium

there was soy milk in the breakfast and

also tempeh in the dinner which is soy

as well and kale is a great source of

calcium which we added to the lentil

pasta so for iron we actually surpass

100 of our daily iron needs in lunch and

dinner alone and we almost surpass it in

breakfast as well so if I open up a

detailed view we can see that the

chickpea pasta has a bunch of iron the

lentils also are totally packed with

iron as you can see there and then the

chili the kidney beans black beans and

also the tempeh are all great sources of

iron too for B12 the nutritional yeast

and soy milk that we use for this meal

prep were both fortified with B12 and

it's important to note that not all

nutritional yeast is fortified with B12

so if you are relying on nutritional

yeast or some other product to get all

of your B12 make sure that it is in fact

fortified

so here you can see that the nutritional

yeast that we used was fortified with

over 300 percent of our daily needs for

B12

as you can see here we've hit all of our

vitamin needs but the one in particular

that I'd like to touch on is vitamin D

and that's really the only vitamin that

you need to get through supplements

fortified Foods or by just getting out

and getting Sun there's a reason that

vitamin D is called the sunshine vitamin

so you just need to get outside for 15

to 30 minutes with your arms and legs

exposed 15 minutes if you have lighter

skin and 30 minutes if you have darker

skin it is important to note that the

daily recommended intakes of these

vitamins and minerals are based on my

needs I'm a pretty athletic guy I weigh

about 190 pounds most people will need

less micronutrients than me but two

important exceptions to note are iron

and folate which menstruating women need

more of however with this meal prep both

the iron and folate are high so you're

totally covered there to figure out your

exact calorie protein and micronutrient

needs you can use the vegan nutrition

calculator on our website you can just

head to the veganjim.com com and click

on calculator or there's a link in the

description as well

this video If you enjoyed it then I know

you'll love our free plant-based

nutrition course the plant powered body

in this comprehensive course I'll teach

you exactly what you need to eat to burn

body fats building muscle balance your

hormones improve your gut health and

much more just click the link in the

description to get instant access thanks

again and I'll catch you in the next

video

[Music]

thank you