For a variety of reasons that include the desire to improve her family’s health, reducing the impact on the environment, and meat shortages during the pandemic, our reviewer, Claire, has been looking for simple vegan recipes perfect for beginners like herself. She found that in a new cookbook by Marly McMillen Beelman, The Everything Vegan Meal Prep Cookbook. Here’s her take on how well the book works for everyday life.

Photo provided by the publisher.

Cookbook offers simple vegan recipes for beginners

Meal preppers and vegans, rejoice! Heck, meal-procrastinators and carnivores, rejoice, too! A total of 300 recipes for appetizers, desserts, breakfasts, lunches, and dinners that, 1) are especially conducive to being made ahead of time, and 2) don’t have an ounce of dairy or meat (but don’t taste like it), are included in The Everything Vegan Meal Prep Cookbook, by Marly McMillen Beelman.

The book begins with an overview of the benefits of the vegan diet, both from a health and an environmental standpoint, as well as a chapter on “Meal Prep 101,” which provides tips for economically and conveniently shopping for and storing the vegan recipes you’re about to make. The book is thereafter organized by types of dishes (i.e., breads, sandwiches, stews, appetizers, desserts).  Unfortunately, the book is not well set up to search for one particular recipe, especially if you are unfamiliar with the book, because the table of contents does not list the recipes individually and the appendix is organized by individual ingredient (i.e., corn, curry, rice). However, the title page for each chapter does include a list of each recipe in the chapter, so as long as you know what kind of dish you’re looking to make, this will help with navigating the book. If you find a recipe you enjoy and plan to make again, I highly suggest writing the page number down on the inside of the cover so you can get back to it quickly.

Chickpea Coconut Curry made from The Everything Vegan Meal Prep Cookbook.

Learn How to Make Simple Vegan Meals

While finding the quick vegan recipes may be a bit of a challenge, cooking them certainly is not. Ingredients are clearly listed, instructions are broken down into practical steps, and each recipe includes suggestions for storing and reheating if making your meals ahead of time. Over the course of about a month, I made two dishes every Sunday and ate them over the course of the week for lunch and dinner. On the busier weeks, I found myself flipping to the chapter on “One Pot and Slow Cooker Meals” to make quick vegan dinner ideas like the “Slow Cooker Sweet Potato Chili” and “Vegan Beef and Beer Chili.” For these super easy recipes, the “cooking” involved a total of chopping vegetables, opening some canned goods, and dumping it all in the crock pot. When I felt up to some actual cooking, I ventured to make recipes like “Sticky Sweet Tofu and Rice” (a personal favorite), “One Pot Chick Pea Coconut Curry” (a second personal favorite), “Vegan Spring Rolls,” “Lentil Sloppy Joes,” and two enchilada recipes (“Two Bean Enchilada Casserole” and “Skillet Enchiladas”).

Sticky and Sweet Tofu Rice.

All of these recipes tasted delicious, both freshly-made on Sunday and reheated at work for lunch on Friday creating a vegan weekly meal plan very doable. I opted to make these recipes because I am generally not a fan of the plant-based meats and these recipes were largely based on vegetables and non-dairy alternatives. Not once did I think a recipe needed some shredded chicken or ground beef to round it out; they all stood on their own as filling and dynamic-tasting dishes. Of course, there are several more dishes in the cookbook that center on a plant-based meat (i.e., “Vegan Baked Parmesan Chick’n”), though I was only brave enough to experiment with vegan beef crumbles in the chili dishes.

Two Bean Enchilada Casserole.

While going through this cookbook, I was reminded that a vegan meal recipes will not necessarily be a good source of vegetables. I encourage those using this cookbook to not shy away from adding some additional vegetables to the recipes; I added some steamed broccoli and carrots to the “Sticky Sweet Tofu and Rice” and subbed vegan chicken strips with cauliflower for the “Skillet Enchiladas.” I will also admit that I *gasp* did not always use vegan cheese or condiments for these recipes (my local grocery store caters more to the carnivores and does not have the best vegan collection of products). I tell you of this blasphemy to let you know the recipes will still taste delicious, but will not have the same ethical integrity. Sorry.

Veggie Spring Rolls

Overall I am very glad to add this cookbook to my collection. I have referred back to it numerous times since first receiving the book and it made limiting the amount of meat in my diet extremely easy. There are some very creative re-workings of infamously meaty recipes into fulfilling plant-based dishes (here’s looking at you, “Lentil Sloppy Joes!”) that will satisfy every preference of the diners at your dinner table.

You can buy this book of simple vegan recipes for beginners, or even more advanced cooks at area booksellers, or on this Amazon.com affiliate link.

Please note: RealFoodTraveler.com received a copy of The Everything Vegan Meal Prep Cookbook to facilitate this review. However, as is policy with our site, this did not influence the reviewer’s opinions which are her own, honest and true.

Hungry for more? Here’s a recipe from this book for Easy Vegan Lasagna. Here’s an article about a vegan ice cream shop, Salt & Straw, in Portland. And a guide to authentic vegan cuisine in Thailand. If you’re going to go on an American road trip to Yellowstone, we have a guide for eating vegan there too.

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