vegan meal ideas

[1moreRep]

hello,

my children and i wish to have 2 vegan meals a week to help the environment / dip our toes into the water if going plant based.

So what are your fave easy vegan dinner options? i thought i'd cracked breakfast with honey on toast and then realised the honey!!

We eat loads of curry, chilli, stir fries and pasta bakes. I try to rely on vegetables and pulses rather than fake meat substitutes. Chick peas and tofu are really useful!

What sorts of things do you like to eat?

The bbc good food website is a good place to start. Most vegetarian recipes can be fairly easily veganised.

we eat a lot of pasta- is pesto vegan? beans? i was thinking small changes may make a big difference.

Small changes is definitely a good way to go.

Pesto often isn’t even vegetarian because of the Parmesan. You can buy vegan versions (which are more expensive) though. It’s also very easy to make in a food processor and significantly nicer than shop bought.

All the baked beans I’ve bought are vegan. Beans and a jacket potato is my go to easy tea!

Jamie Oliver's veggie chilli with roast sweet potatoes is easy and delicious and you can make a big batch and freeze. You just wouldn't add the sour cream or find an alternative.

www.jamieoliver.com/recipes/vegetables-recipes/veggie-chilli/

Pasta is made from durum wheat, you can’t grow or process that in the UK. If you are going vegan for the environment try to find meals made from in season items grown in the uk and not processed.. other wise there is no point.

BBC and Waitrose websites both have in season recipe sections.

www.mumsnet.com/Talk/vegan/3707631-Can-we-please-have-a-What-I-ate-today-thread-vegan-style

This is a great thread with tons of vegan meal ideas. If you see any you like and want the recipe just post on there and someone will find it for you!

I make a vegan bolognaise using the Merchant Gourmet lentils instead of meat. Nice with spaghetti or in lasagne.

Do you like mushrooms? Big far mushrooms make a nice alternative to burgers. Good with oven chips and salad for a lazy meal. The Sainsbury's spicy bean burgers are also vegan and very nice.a

All sorts of curries can be vegan and as easy or complicated as you want them to be.

Chilli with lots of mixed beans instead of meat.

Sainsbury's Shroomdogs for vegan sausage and mash.

Pad Thai with tofu - make an easy sauce with peanut butter, chilli sauce and soy sauce plus chilli and coriander.

For some breakfast ideas you can have toast with jam or peanut butter or Flora (all varieties are now vegan) or if you miss real butter then Naturli (only in Sainsburys, about twice the price of Flora) is the absolute best alternative out there. Or porridge/cereal with soya milk or oat milk (I think they are the most similar to cow's milk, oat milk is more expensive but Sweetened Soya milk is quite similar to cows milk, fortified and approx the same price by volume). I actually prefer Unsweetened Soya milk in my coffee to how I remember cows milk as I don't like sweet coffee. Or obviously fruit (a banana split down the middle and spread with peanut butter is really yummy) or smoothies, there are vegan yoghurts available for yoghurt and granola etc. The easiest way is to make small adjustments so you were on the right track with switching your toast topping rather than going balls to the wall spirulina spinach smoothie from the outset and setting yourself up to fail.

You mentioned pasta, there are vegan mince alternatives but now if I make pasta I just usually make a vegetable, tomato based sauce with chopped tomatoes, onions, maybe mushrooms and peppers etc, adding marmite for umami flavour and b vitamins is a good idea. I have also made a creamy garlic mushroom pasta with soya milk which is nice.

Instagram is a great source of free vegan recipes in video form which I find really helpful, following Bosh on there and saving a few recipes you fancy is a good place to start.

thanks all, i never knew pasta wasn't eco friendly! i think i'll do beans on toast and go from there.

i cooks lot but i was hoping to have vegan meals as my easy night

This is a good time of year to get in to the habit of making soups! I make my soup quite thick then use leftover as a pasta sauce. I know it's been mentioned pasta is not the best for the environment but what about gnocchi, giant cous cous, that sort of thing?

Some pasta meals I make -
Creamy mushroom and leek - using oatly creme fraiche.
Mac and cheese - I make a bechemel sauce the same way just sub the dairy for non dairy.
Roasted red pepper sauce.
Spicy tomatoe sausage ( vegan sauasges)
Meatballs and spaghetti ( I use sainsburys meatless balls.)

Hope this helps.

Lentil ragu www.bbcgoodfood.com/recipes/lentil-ragu
Chickpea curry/dahl
Lentil curry/dahl
Falafel burgers www.bbcgoodfood.com/recipes/5605/falafel-burgers
Chilli www.bbcgoodfood.com/recipes/vegan-chilli
Cottage pie healthylivingjames.co.uk/lentil-shepherds-pie/
Satay sweet potato curry www.bbcgoodfood.com/recipes/satay-sweet-potato-curry
Lentil loaf www.roseelliot.com/recipes/main-dishes/easy-lentil-roast
Nut roast
Tray bake realfood.tesco.com/recipes/aloo-gobi-traybake.html
Tesco vegan pizza
Lentil meatballs www.olivemagazine.com/recipes/healthy/lentil-meatballs-with-fresh-tomato-sauce/
Bean burgers
Tuscan bean stew
Chickpea tagine
Chickpea stew www.jamieoliver.com/recipes/vegetable-recipes/sicilian-cauliflower-chickpea-stew-with-fluffy-couscous/

Pasta is a super easy vegan option. Normal pesto has cheese in but you can buy vegan pesto (sacla has a few different ones, and there are also eco brands and I think some supermarket brands) and use normal dry pasta (I would use wholewheat though as contains more protein). There are also lots of pasta sauces you can do vegan - lentil bolognese, a vegan puttanesca (so the same as normal puttanesca but without anchovies), tomato sauce with herbs/garlic etc.

Someone upthread mentioned environmental cost of pasta, but pasta made with durum wheat is not going to have a huge environmental cost. It might be made with ingredients from outside of the UK, but the carbon footprint of their transport is likely to be low because it isn't flown in. There was a good food programme a couple of months ago on the BBC about carbon cost of food that the participants were really surprised by e.g. bananas from south america have a low carbon footprint.

Other good easy options are soups (e.g. potato and leek, lentil, ribolita), bean chilli and curries (dal is especially easy - my DP makes one using curry paste, an onion, and split red lentils - just puts everything in the pan with stock and simmer for 30 mins).

If I was you, I would start simple. Introduce non-vegan milks, butters and yoghurts. Remember, beans on toast and jacket potatoes with different toppings are great. Most pre-rolled pastries are vegan so why not make your own fillings and have pasties? Lentils are brilliant to pad things out with, so cottage pie for example. Make your own pizzas and tomato sauce from scratch, as a family activity and top with Asda' free from Mozzarella, it melts and doesn't taste too bad. Make muffins with vegan yogurts and flax eggs. Lots of stir fries, check the noodles to see what is vegan.

Once you have made the dairy changes, then it isn't too bad.

The juice in chickpeas can be used to make Meringues, pancakes, it's actually incredible stuff!

Hère are a couple of good books that I have found helpful for family meals.