[Meal Prep] One day of cooking = 7+ days of food

Protein-packed veggie meatballs and spaghetti sauce

Welcome to the first email of the meal prep series!

I meal prep every Sunday. Or at least, I try to.

Meal prepping saves time, saves money, and saves hassle.

I love NOT having to think about what to eat during the work week.

I’m tired enough from work. The last thing I want to do when I get home from the office is cook.

I know it might be surprising because I share so much food related content on social media!

I challenge YOU to try meal prepping!

If you want to see more of what I meal prep, and even better if you want to join me (!!!), then head over to the #weekly-cooking-challenge in the free Friendly Vegans and Friends Discord community!

So here’s what I made this week.

🍝 Veggie Meatballs

I was craving meatballs. I don’t know why. But I roughly threw these ingredients together based on what I had in my cupboard. I got the ingredient ratios from a random vegetarian meatball recipe (which was unfortunately very cheese heavy).

Ingredients

Dry Ingredients

• 1 ½ cups oats

• 1 cup pecans (walnuts would work too)

• ½ teaspoon garlic powder

•  ½ teaspoon dry sage

• 1 teaspoon dry oregano

• 1/2 teaspoon salt

• ⅛ teaspoon black pepper

Wet Ingredients

• 2 teaspoons lemon juice

• 8 ounces firm tofu (1 pack)

• ½ cup water

Method

1. Blend together the dry ingredients: oats, pecans, garlic powder, sage, oregano, salt, and black pepper. Pour into a bowl and set aside.

2. Blend together the wet ingredients: tofu, water, and lemon juice. Pour into the bowl with the dry ingredients.

3. Mix everything together and shape into balls.

4. Cook! Either fry, or bake.

   1. If frying: Fry in shallow oil until deep brown on all sides.

   2. If baking: Bake at 375 degrees for 45 minutes. Optional: brush the veggie balls with oil before baking.

5. That’s it! You could eat them plain, but I would suggest eating them with some sort of sauce, like spaghetti sauce.

Serena’s Simple Spaghetti Sauce

I love alliteration, don’t you?

Ingredients

• 2 onions, diced

• 2 garlic cloves, minced

• 2 large carrots, diced

• Cooking oil

• 2 cans of tomatoes (796 mL or 28 oz each can. I used 1 crushed, and 1 diced)

• 1 tbsp tomato paste

• 1 tbsp red pepper flakes

• Salt to taste.

• A handful of basil from the garden

• 1/4 cup red lentils, rinsed (I just wanted to use these up and add some extra protein).

🍅 Method

1. Dice the onions and cook in a pot over medium heat in some oil, or water if you prefer that.

2. In the meantime, mince some garlic and dice some carrots.

3. Once the onion is slightly brown (after 5-10 minutes), throw the garlic, carrot, and red pepper flakes in. Let everything cook for another 10 minutes.

4. Throw in the fresh basil, tomato paste, and red lentils. Stir.

5. Add in the canned tomatoes. Make sure to wash the lids before you open the cans! You never know what might have pooped on those cans in the warehouse, lol.

6. Turn the heat up high! Bring everything to a bubbling boil, then immediately turn the temperature down to medium-low and let simmer for 45 minutes.

7. That’s it!

All this has lasted me a week.

Because I doubled the meatball recipe. And I think it’ll last longer. I need to make more sauce! I’ve been eating this every night for dinner. It’s repetitive, but it’s tasty, and it’s fast. I love NOT having to think about cooking during the work week!