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The Vegan Week: Meal Prep Recipes to Feed Your Future Self [A Cookbook]
Prepare for your week with this smart, practical, and delicious guide to vegan meal planning from the Full Helping blogger Gena Hamshaw, author of Power Plates.
"Gena Hamshaw takes the perfection out of meal-planning, making fresh, cozy, plant-based meals accessible-no matter what your week might look like."-Kristen Miglore, author of Food52 Genius Recipes
Home cooking can be a challenge when life gets busy. Meal prep is the fix for having flavorful, nourishing meals to rely upon all week long. Gena, a longtime vegan with a demanding schedule, prioritizes nutritional balance as well as taste in this hands-on meatless primer. The Vegan Week will teach you how to batch cook varied, colorful, and comforting meals over the weekend, whether you have three, two, or even just one hour of time to spare.
Discover new, plant-based favorites like Tangy Cashew Lime Noodle Bowls and Stuffed Sweet Potatoes with Coconut Greens, as well as classics like Pasta e Ceci and Seitan Goulash. Gena will help you to use your time in the kitchen effectively, so that you create and store filling, flavor-forward recipes-recipes that you'll look forward to as the week goes by. This book is a roadmap to eating vegan food regularly, incorporating it into daily life even when things are hectic. Thanks to meal prep techniques and recipes, you won't have to choose between the demands of your schedule and your desire to prioritize taste, nutrition, and the joy of eating homemade food.
"Gena Hamshaw takes the perfection out of meal-planning, making fresh, cozy, plant-based meals accessible-no matter what your week might look like."-Kristen Miglore, author of Food52 Genius Recipes
Home cooking can be a challenge when life gets busy. Meal prep is the fix for having flavorful, nourishing meals to rely upon all week long. Gena, a longtime vegan with a demanding schedule, prioritizes nutritional balance as well as taste in this hands-on meatless primer. The Vegan Week will teach you how to batch cook varied, colorful, and comforting meals over the weekend, whether you have three, two, or even just one hour of time to spare.
Discover new, plant-based favorites like Tangy Cashew Lime Noodle Bowls and Stuffed Sweet Potatoes with Coconut Greens, as well as classics like Pasta e Ceci and Seitan Goulash. Gena will help you to use your time in the kitchen effectively, so that you create and store filling, flavor-forward recipes-recipes that you'll look forward to as the week goes by. This book is a roadmap to eating vegan food regularly, incorporating it into daily life even when things are hectic. Thanks to meal prep techniques and recipes, you won't have to choose between the demands of your schedule and your desire to prioritize taste, nutrition, and the joy of eating homemade food.
Editorial Reviews
"If you worry that meal planning would take the fun and spontaneity out of cooking, you need this gorgeous book. Gena Hamshaw puts the focus on delectable recipes, smart tips and strategies, and, perhaps best of all, a refreshing dose of flexibility. For everyone who loves home-cooked food but is pressed for time-in other words, most of us-this book just might give you your life back."-Joe Yonan, author of Cool Beans
Readers Top Reviews
genevieve
I love Gena Hamshaw's recipes! She's the only recipe author that I will buy any book from, no questions asked. The sauce and protein recipes in this book are especially amazing.
Zen*Yogi*Girlgene
I have several other books from this author so decided to try this one as I have always been impressed. This particular book is based on meal prepping, so no matter how crazy your week becomes - and mine do as a working mom who runs a sales team and spends 100 plus nights on the road - you can always have healthy plant based options! The recipes do not call for complicated and expensive shops, long prep times or complicated recipes which is huge and often a reason many forgo healthy options. These dishes can be made ahead, made in bulk with recipes that are easy to follow! There are a few key chapters to help you get started then this book is organized by food type: Protein, Veggies and Starches, sauces, spreads, dressings and dips. The we go into the traditional Breakfast, Snacks, Lunches and bowls, Stovetop meals. Oven means and desserts. I liked the snack as there were several ideas we can use for school lunches , the sauces - as those can transform many dishes and the lunch bowls. Though that said, every chapter had merit! The dessert chapter is also highly worth checking out...LOVED the Chocolate Pots de Creme and that is used began chocolate and not avocado and Cacao ( much as I love avocados....chocolate pudding made from avocado tastes lie chocolates avocado!!) and t4h salted tahini data caramel cups are insane! If you want to eat plant based without fuss, complication, expense and time - this is the book for you!
Zen*Yogi*Girlg
I started following Gena's blog about two years ago and was so excited when this book came out. I love how Gena talks about "feeding your future self". I've been trying different recipes every week (my latest were the curried red lentils and the baked eggplant & tomatoes with chickpeas - both delicious!). I live alone, prepare for a couple of hours on the weekend and then freeze everything in portions as Gena suggests. Every evening, before I go to bed, I decide what I'm going to eat the next day and move the dish from the freezer to the refrigerator. When the morning comes and I'm rushing off to work, it's so easy and comforting to know that I'll have a nutritious and yummy lunch later in the day. I love the variety in this cookbook and Gena's personal comments about each recipe. Knowing how long the food will last in the refrigerator/freeze is extremely helpful. I'm a huge fan of Gena's and this cookbook!
A customer Zen*
I own nearly all of Gena's cookbooks as well as numerous plant based/vegan cookbooks. Her Power Plate would be my "island book" if I could only take one cookbook with me. It gave us many many nutricious and delicious meals. I did not hesitate to buy Gena's latest book and it seems to rival Power Plate. I don't know how Gena is able to come up with so many innovative, yet accessible recipes that just work. We made the taco salad tonight: The combination of chickpea-walnut taco meat (who thought of that combo), quinoa and vegetables, and the simple home made dressing made for another special dinner for my husband and me. Thank you so much Gena. Your books have made our whole food, plant-based lifestyle not only do-able, but fun.
Short Excerpt Teaser
Introduction
As a recipe developer, it's probably my job to tell you how easy and joyful cooking can be. I ought to assure you that you, too, can have a nutritious and flavorful homemade dinner on the table in thirty minutes or less.
I'll leave that message to another cookbook author, though, because, for me, getting dinner on the table is rarely effortless. I get overwhelmed easily and become discouraged when recipes go awry. If I haven't thought about what I'm going to cook, I'll default to pasta nine times out of ten. Try though I may, I'll probably never be the sort of person who can cook without a recipe-or at least a plan.
For all these reasons and many others, I meal prep.
I didn't always meal prep. Throughout my late twenties and early thirties, I balanced life as a recipe creator with being a graduate student in the health sciences. I was busy, but I worked from home. I could start preparing dinner in the early evening and cook at a leisurely pace. I even made a ritual of it, playing music and relishing the sight of my tidy mise en place. It's hard to imagine now that cooking ever felt so relaxing.
When I heard people complain that they didn't have time to cook, I was always a little skeptical. I took for granted the factors that influenced my own enthusiasm for being in the kitchen: freedom, flexibility, and time.
In September 2018, my routine shifted dramatically. I began my clinical internship year, which is the last stage of training for a registered dietitian. It's a year of intense fieldwork, and most of the assignments are carried out in hospitals and clinics.
My internship consisted of 41 weeks, 1,455 hours, 9 rotations, and more than 150 earlymorning wake-up calls (think 5 a.m.). My longest commute could be nearly four hours round trip. I loved the work, but it was mentally and emotionally draining. There was a lot of information to retain each day, and many of the patients that I encountered were very ill.
I had known that my internship year would be challenging, but I wasn't prepared for how exhausted I would be. Most of all, I wasn't prepared for how the experience would change my relationship with cooking. For the first time in my adult life, there was nothing appealing about the prospect of dicing onions and garlic at the end of the day.
I resorted to a steady stream of toast and frozen food during the first few weeks of my internship. It was efficient and economical, but the food lover in me languished. I missed creative flavor combinations, varied and colorful bowls, vibrant homemade sauces, and cozy comfort foods.
And that is when my journey with weekend meal prep began.
I'd loosely experimented with meal prep in the past, but I'd never had to confine my cooking entirely to the weekends. Now, I began devoting two or three hours on each Saturday and Sunday to batch cooking. By Sunday evening, I had enough food to pack, store, and heat up between Monday morning and Friday evening. And it was all food I love to eat: hearty, vegan, and nutritious.
Batch cooking had its downsides, of course. Sometimes it felt like a chore, especially when it conflicted with other weekend activities. The payoff, though, was priceless: nutritious, ready-to-eat homemade food for the entire week. By the time my internship year ended, I was a batch cooking evangelist-so much so that I was inspired to write this cookbook. I wanted to pay tribute to the strategies and recipes that had made my routine a success.
I started working on the book in spring 2020-almost exactly when coronavirus erupted in the United States. Meal prep was no longer a necessity for me, but with restaurants shuttered, I certainly needed to cook. What better time to develop recipes?
Much to my surprise, it was difficult to get back into the habit of meal prep. In fact, I hardly wanted to cook at all. As the country saw a renaissance in sourdough bread baking and other time-intensive culinary hobbies, I struggled to heat up frozen vegan meatballs. Like many people who live alone, I spent the early months of the pandemic isolated and afraid. The depression I've struggled with throughout my adult life moved in and clung to me like a stubborn fog.
It was yet another humbling reminder that cooking is anything but easy when life is especially hard. I slowly found my way back to meal prep, one recipe at a time.
I began modestly, preparing a dressing or sauce, a vegan protein, and a soup or pasta dish each weekend. As the weeks went by, I was able to add more dishes to my routine: casseroles, sheet pan meals, and grain bowls. My confidence returned, and so ...
As a recipe developer, it's probably my job to tell you how easy and joyful cooking can be. I ought to assure you that you, too, can have a nutritious and flavorful homemade dinner on the table in thirty minutes or less.
I'll leave that message to another cookbook author, though, because, for me, getting dinner on the table is rarely effortless. I get overwhelmed easily and become discouraged when recipes go awry. If I haven't thought about what I'm going to cook, I'll default to pasta nine times out of ten. Try though I may, I'll probably never be the sort of person who can cook without a recipe-or at least a plan.
For all these reasons and many others, I meal prep.
I didn't always meal prep. Throughout my late twenties and early thirties, I balanced life as a recipe creator with being a graduate student in the health sciences. I was busy, but I worked from home. I could start preparing dinner in the early evening and cook at a leisurely pace. I even made a ritual of it, playing music and relishing the sight of my tidy mise en place. It's hard to imagine now that cooking ever felt so relaxing.
When I heard people complain that they didn't have time to cook, I was always a little skeptical. I took for granted the factors that influenced my own enthusiasm for being in the kitchen: freedom, flexibility, and time.
In September 2018, my routine shifted dramatically. I began my clinical internship year, which is the last stage of training for a registered dietitian. It's a year of intense fieldwork, and most of the assignments are carried out in hospitals and clinics.
My internship consisted of 41 weeks, 1,455 hours, 9 rotations, and more than 150 earlymorning wake-up calls (think 5 a.m.). My longest commute could be nearly four hours round trip. I loved the work, but it was mentally and emotionally draining. There was a lot of information to retain each day, and many of the patients that I encountered were very ill.
I had known that my internship year would be challenging, but I wasn't prepared for how exhausted I would be. Most of all, I wasn't prepared for how the experience would change my relationship with cooking. For the first time in my adult life, there was nothing appealing about the prospect of dicing onions and garlic at the end of the day.
I resorted to a steady stream of toast and frozen food during the first few weeks of my internship. It was efficient and economical, but the food lover in me languished. I missed creative flavor combinations, varied and colorful bowls, vibrant homemade sauces, and cozy comfort foods.
And that is when my journey with weekend meal prep began.
I'd loosely experimented with meal prep in the past, but I'd never had to confine my cooking entirely to the weekends. Now, I began devoting two or three hours on each Saturday and Sunday to batch cooking. By Sunday evening, I had enough food to pack, store, and heat up between Monday morning and Friday evening. And it was all food I love to eat: hearty, vegan, and nutritious.
Batch cooking had its downsides, of course. Sometimes it felt like a chore, especially when it conflicted with other weekend activities. The payoff, though, was priceless: nutritious, ready-to-eat homemade food for the entire week. By the time my internship year ended, I was a batch cooking evangelist-so much so that I was inspired to write this cookbook. I wanted to pay tribute to the strategies and recipes that had made my routine a success.
I started working on the book in spring 2020-almost exactly when coronavirus erupted in the United States. Meal prep was no longer a necessity for me, but with restaurants shuttered, I certainly needed to cook. What better time to develop recipes?
Much to my surprise, it was difficult to get back into the habit of meal prep. In fact, I hardly wanted to cook at all. As the country saw a renaissance in sourdough bread baking and other time-intensive culinary hobbies, I struggled to heat up frozen vegan meatballs. Like many people who live alone, I spent the early months of the pandemic isolated and afraid. The depression I've struggled with throughout my adult life moved in and clung to me like a stubborn fog.
It was yet another humbling reminder that cooking is anything but easy when life is especially hard. I slowly found my way back to meal prep, one recipe at a time.
I began modestly, preparing a dressing or sauce, a vegan protein, and a soup or pasta dish each weekend. As the weeks went by, I was able to add more dishes to my routine: casseroles, sheet pan meals, and grain bowls. My confidence returned, and so ...
