Really simple meal ideas

So you are trying very hard to eat vegan and are running out of ideas coz you're new to this or just don't have much time? This page is for you.

Recipes

Photo: bricolage108Most recipes do expect a fair bit of time and a good amount of ingredients to get that extra special flavour. However some are very simple. The ActiVeg recipes page includes links to recipes from the whole spectrum, including the truthfully named Simple Vegan Recipes. See also 101 simple vegan meals ready in 10 minutes or less.

You don't need recipes - just ideas

If you are in a hurry or feeling creative you really don't need recipes. You need the following:

• a basic idea of how to make food tasty and relatively balanced
• a basic idea of food preparation
• some nice ingredients
• and maybe some simple ideas to give you the idea

Tasty and balanced

I'm no nutrition expert, so read up on nutrition somewhere else if you want to know more. However, for a basic aim on balance, you include:

• a decent amount of complex carbs (wholegrains such as brown rice, wholemeal bread/pasta, potatoes etc)
• a major source of protein or two (e.g. beans, lentils, nuts, seeds, mushrooms, tofu, tempeh, fake meat, etc). Your carbs will also contain some.
• some vegetables, including green ones
• different ingredients than you had at your last meal, and a wide variety throughout the week

The key to tasty food is tasty ingredients, below are some top quick flavour input ideas (and there are many more on the Veggie Snow website):

• strong or rich flavours, such as sun dried tomatoes, nutritional yeast flakes, mustard, mushrooms, herbs, spices, peanut butter, tamari, coconut milk, vegan yoghurt, dairy-free cream, Cheezly, mock bacon, chopped fruit in savoury dishes - just chuck a few of these ingredients in or on your food and see what happens!
• ready made sauces, which can all add flavour mixed into your dish or on the side, such as: vegan pesto, dairy-free curry sauces, egg-free mayonnaise, hummus, chutney, ketchup
• a little bit of fat makes things richer, especially olive oil, vegan marg, avocado. Animal-free fats are often good for you, so don't be shy!
• your favorite ingredients

Basics of food prep

No cook meals

The simplest is no-cook - you just throw everything together on a plate and eat it after a bit of washing and chopping and opening packets.

This could mean raw food, for which there are a lot of ideas out there on the internet, or it could also include ready-made food that doesn't require heating, such as bread, hummus, ready-to-eat sausages, etc. You can have as many different things as you like.

Cooking stir fries

A stir fry is one of the easiest and most versatile types of cooking. The theory is simple:

• prepare all ingredients before you start
• lightly oil a wok or frying pan over a reasonable heat
• throw in the ingredients, starting with the longest-cooking first, usually onion, and stir often until everything is lightly cooked, adding a little bit of water and putting lid on if there are longer-cooking veg that need to steam in it.
• include spices and tamari to enhance the flavour

Soups, stews and chuck-it-ins

These are fairly liquid one pot meals. The basic principle is that you get a big pan, lightly fry the onion and spices, then add other ingredients and fluid in order of cooking time and stir from time to time, adding more moisture as necessary. The result can be a stew, a curry, a soup or a chilli. You can even add pasta in at the appropriate time for a studenty chuck-it-in meal.

Make the liquid tasty with the ideas above, plus veg stock, coconut milk and/or tomato puree.

Cooking time

As you cook more and more you'll get a stronger idea of how long things take to cook and what to put in your one-pot or pan meal first. Here is a rough guide to get you started:

• onions - can fry in at the start and cook as long as the longest other ingredient, and at least 10 mins until soft whatever.
• dried lentils - 40 mins or so for green/puy lentils, 20 mins for red lentils
• potatoes - need about 20-35 mins in boiling liquid, depending on size chopped to
• garlic and ginger, plus dried herbs
• carrots, parsnips
• mushrooms, broccoli, cabbage, greens
• tofu, tinned beans, nuts and seeds
• asparagus, mange tout peas, frozen peas, sweetcorn kernels
• fresh herbs and watercress - no time at all

Fun with a blender

You can make a great sauce for salad, bread, pasta, rice cakes, etc, by throwing stuff in a blender. A hand blender is a cheap and very handy tool. Tofu or avocado make great bases for pates which you can flavour up with other things. Just experiment.

Simple meal ideas

This is the bit to build on. These are just the beginning - invent your own and develop these ones.

• 'Bits' or Mezze: raid the fridge and the store cupboard for everything you can eat without much prep, and have a bit of everything.
• cooked rice, chopped avocado and egg-free mayonnaise
• wholemeal pasta, pesto, tinned kidney beans or pine kernels and steamed veg
• jacket potato with soya yogurt mixed with chopped chives or watercress
• Baked beans with anything you like, such as sausage & mash
• Cheezly, marmite, egg-free mayonnaise and lettuce sandwich - even nicer toasted
• Peanut butter and banana sandwich, and 50 more vegan sandwich ideas
• Fruit and nut salad - chop fruits, seeds and nuts, including dried fruit and even dessicated coconut, and you get a very tasty dish that can sustain you. Serve with soya yogurt or vegan cream cheese if you like.
• Popadums, chutney and salad
• salad - include greenery, and nuts/beans/tofu and you'll have a sustaining meal - for flavour and B-vits try sprinkling with lots of yeast flakes, olive oil and tamari
• quick pizza - on a pita bread or halved bagel, spread tomato puree, vegan pesto or herbs, olives, pine kernels and Super Melting Cheezly - place unde the grill until sizzled to your taste.
• fried onion, veg stock, boiling water and frozen peas - bend to make a great soup

Simple sweet stuff

Want a dessert without effort? Here are some ideas with no nutritional censoring:

• sliced bananas and soya custard, hot or cold
• vegan ice cream (eg Swedish Glace) soya cream, chopped fruit, dessicated coconut, and biscuits
• tortilla wrap containing banana and vegan choc, quickly fried or microwaved
• plain soya yogurt and fruit puree
• chocolate mousse: melt a bar of dark vegan choc and mix into soya custard with a sprinkling of sugar. Set for a couple of hours in the fridge.
• blend frozen bananas with soya cream and a teaspoon of vanilla essence and or a squeeze of fresh lime juice

Ready-to-eat things in the shops

On top of the usual veg, fruit, dried fruit and nuts, there is an endless variety of ready to eat vegan food in the shops. There aren't so many ready-meal options (one of the reasons we keep healthier!), but there are also many things that you can quickly put together to make an instant meal. Just mix and match.

• avocado - excellent instant substitute for pate or butter
• nut butter - filling and nutritious
• bread, wraps, crackers, rice cakes
• hummus, vegan pate
• stuffed vine leaves (often in a tin)
• olives, sun dried tomatoes in oil, artichoke hearts
• falafel, samosas, pakora, bhajis (check ingredients)
• ready to eat sausages such as Taifun tofu weiners and Vegi Deli Sage & Marjoram sausages
• Cheezly, Scheese, or vegan cream cheese such as Toffuti
• crisps and naughty things like that
• braised tofu - comes in a squat tin and you can eat it uncooked, in a salad, sandwich, stir-fry or whatever
• smoked tofu or fake meat - slice this thinly in salads or sarnies with chutney or dressing
• veg curries and dahl (check for dairy products)
• tinned beans or chick peas - drain, mash with a fork, add some chutney or herbs, and you have a simple pate. You can sort this in even the most basic corner shop.
• sweet stuff: soya custard, yogurts and desserts; dairy-free ice cream; dairy-free chocolate, such as most posh dark choc (eg Green & Blacks); biscuits that happen to be vegan - see the Animal Free Shopper.

Interesting vegan food can be found all over any supermarket, so if you are new to finding them ask a shop assistant for specific things you are looking for - they'll usually be able to find someone who knows!

Key places to look for inspiration include the "Free From" and international food sections, particularly Mediterranean and Asian.

Also, even the dullest health food shops can have interesting things in their chiller cabinet and more dairy and meat alternatives than most supermarkets.

Have fun and experiment! The worst that can happen is that you won't try something again, but more than likely you will!

Author: Sophie Fenwick-Paul

Comments

Add your comment

Audit

Story posted by on 2007-08-27 23:13:54.

Story last updated by on 2007-08-28 00:44:06.

Featured Articles

A guide to being active, plus vegan info sources

Basic vegan nutrition

Veganism is often heralded as a very healthy way to eat. It certainly can be, and has more chance of being so than standard western eating habits. It avoids many of the dangers of omnivorous diets, as well as containing much better quantities of most essential nutrients. However, there are still some key nutrients we need to search out and help other vegans be aware of, to keep us in tip top condition and avoid risks. Then it can be a healthy diet for life for us all.

That's why we developed this key vegan nutrition page for everyone.

Read more.

Medication and vaccination

Most medicines are tested on animals and many contain animal ingredients. We vegans and vegetarians all have to make our own minds up about the medicines we use, by being well informed and listening to all views.

Widely varying opinions exist on the pros and cons of different medications, particularly vaccinations. These lead to different conclusions from different people, with strong views even amongst professionals on each side, even before you get to the animal welfare issues. We will not pretend to know the efficacy and potential side-effects of drugs here.

Being vegan or vegetarian does not mean you automatically doubt the value of any vaccination and western medicine per se, any more than it means you will believe in every alternative that comes along. This is a separate consideration.

Read more.

Babies and Kids - Vegan Parenting

We have a growing set of articles on common vegan issues for parents. Do contact us if you have anything to add to the articles we already have or any feedback - we'd love to hear from you!

Read more.

Presentations and Cookery Demos

the ActiVeg news alert email list

Eating vegan for the environment

Recipes to inspire people

Starting up a vegan business

There are some enterprising vegans out there wanting to make and sell lovely products. ActiVeg claims no great knowledge about setting up businesses, so always get professional advice and talk to others who have done similar. However, here are a few ideas to consider to get you going. Feel free to add your experiences and comments below.

Read more.

Inspired to make a difference

Becoming an ActiVeg contact

LVW to AVN upgrade

This document highlights the changes made to LVW when it matured into ActiVeg Network

Read more.

Alternatives to animal products used in food

There are many animal products  in food production and cooking used for their particular structural or chemical characteristics, which often have good animal-free alternatives.

This article will help manufacturers consider alternatives to animal products so as to increase their market share, by  improving food choice for religious and food intollerance groups, without exiting the food's main market, as well as raising awareness of both the animal-based products and equivalents from plants, minerals and synthetic compounds.

Read more.

Kid's Party Menus

Sophie's random remedies

What works for me to solve every day maladies, or at least lighten them. Check with a doctor and all that jazz.

Read more.