15 Minute Life Changing Vegan Meals | What I Eat In a Day Vegan Lunch Ideas - Blog Vegan

Do you struggle with what to eat for lunch?  I know I do sometimes myself and hope that these three ideas help you. 

There's also nothing wrong with serving these for dinner either, in fact we do often with the first two options. 

Check out these ideas and let me know which one you try (it should be all 3). 

Vegan P.F. Chang’s Lettuce Wraps

Figuring out lunch as a vegan

Often with lunch I'm thinking it's time for takeout.

It's quick, it's easy, it's satisfying, it's expensive, doing this daily is just unreasonable.

Also what are the ingredients in this meal again? It's just not a sustainable way to live.

If you could come up with a few meals that meet the positive end of that criteria which are quick, easy, satisfying, now we can add affordable and sustainable and we can completely change our lives.

Each meal is aimed to be similar to takeout and or that at home lunchtime classic.

Starting out with these lettuce wraps inspired by PF Chang's.

This is an appetizer in the restaurant and I can never understand why restaurants would have these legendary appetizers and like meh meals.

Excuse my voice as I have gotten like zero sleep due to the kids having a hard time this week.

This appetizer used to cost me like seven to ten dollars, maybe even more I haven't been there in a long time.

I just know it wasn't cheap.

Now at home I can have this for a little over a dollar per serving but I can have like almost three to four servings.

Why super firm tofu helps time

I'm using a super firm tofu in this one.

Not only for texture but also because it speeds up the prep time.

Typically I would spend a ton of time squeezing out all of the water from my tofu.

But the firmer the toe you know the less of the foo.

That just doesn't sound as good as it as it did up here.

Tofu substitutions

Basically it's much less water in firm tofu But if you're allergic to tofu or maybe tofu just isn't your thing, I have used this with pea protein crumbles and or like other meat substitutes that are similar to chicken or beef.

Also some of the ingredients you can sub rather than just you know going out to buy it just for this recipe.

Such as like the rice wine vinegar for example you could use white wine vinegar or even apple cider vinegar which is typically more common as a like household staple.

Coconut aminos is another good one if you need this to be you know more soy free that will replace the soy sauce.

As for the water chestnuts they're super cheap and they're probably more common than you think.

I get them from walmart or target and they are just indispensable in this dish.

The taste is like nutty tart and sweet all at the same time and if you're allergic to nuts no worries because water chestnuts believe it or not aren't even nuts.

Well check with your doctor because if you eat it and tell your doctor that Andrew said it was okay I'll look you both dead in the eye and like shaggy it wasn't me.

Vegan Cheeseburger Wrap

Tips for Cooking Lentil Wraps

This may be only me but I feel lunch time in the day is the only meal time that I just can't control.

Dinner I can eat pretty much whenever I want.

Breakfast I can wake up earlier if I want. Can. Being the key word there.

Could, should might someday yeah I'm not doing that.

But lunch my whole life has always been timed, from grade school to an adult.

So I always feel like i'm being rushed even on weekdays I look at the clock like I can't wait till lunch.

But then I'm like today is Saturday you can eat when you want.

For me there are triggers that make me feel like I'm eating lunch.

One that I realized is that when I'm eating something handheld that in itself feels like lunch to me.

I mean even if it's take out right like I would have the platter in one hand and my food utility of choice in the next.

So finding foods for me that register and turn on that psychological switch was key.

Burgers for me at any joint would cost I don't know eight to ten bucks and maybe you get some chips maybe you get some fries maybe you don't get either.

Basically would be extra what was also extra was my dry cleaning bill as I could never keep my shirt clean with a burger.

So I broke down the classic burger and tossed it into a wrap and I love that my dry cleaner and I are no longer on last name basis anymore.

Oh and it cost me like right under a dollar.

So if you like using you know beyond or one of those other you know meat substitutes you can do that works really well in this recipe as well but obviously cost is a bit more.

In this recipe I cook the onions on high and that gets like that little charred bits on the ends of them and it really gives it that backyard classic cookout feel.

Lentils are perfect for me in this recipe as they come with a ton of health benefits but also they have a really good mouth feel as if you had actually crushed up a burger and or were using crumbles in this recipe.

Vegan worcestershire or worcestershire, I'm not sure how you pronounce it.

Either way it's a bit tough to come by it's uh also could be kind of pricey.

So often I swap this with steak sauce which is almost 100% vegan almost there's some that's not.

I also prefer more of a saucy cheese on this one I have a homemade one linked in the description.

These are super kid-friendly and they are amazing to travel with.

Just freeze them and take them to go.

Obviously if it's frozen you're gonna need a microwave wherever you're going or an oven oh and lentils also have great social benefits like if you want to keep a one-on-one meeting really short or if co-workers need some you know social distancing ambience lentils are your ally.

Vegan Tuna Salad

We couldn't afford a lot when I was younger so my mom cooked as often as she could and it was good.

So there was almost never a smell that made me feel like I then walked into the wrong house.

I taste everything with my nose first.

But when tuna was made I was pretty certain I was in the wrong house.

I'd have a shoe in one hand looking at my mom like lady you look like my mom but this don't smell like my house.

That didn't go well.

but I felt like that about any fish cooked in the house and although tuna wasn't my favorite.

I find I have less hesitation with this vegan version.

This classic obviously different from the first two meals as the idea here wasn't to replicate something that I would buy as takeout but rather to have something that was just common that I would make at home and take for lunch.

The chickpeas here are used to give the sandwich just you know some girth and some texture while the main texture comes from the hearts of palm and also the flavor coming from the dulse flakes.

These flakes may be a little bit more rare and harder to come by but what's more common is nori which is just another name for dry seaweed and nori is everywhere you know you crush those up and it actually replicates the flakes and I actually like this option better everything else here is fairly easy to come by and not a huge allergy concern outside of maybe the old bay seasoning which isn't a must in the recipe but it definitely goes a long way it's a pretty random ingredient but it's a really really good one especially on some like french fries.

All the recipes today are linked in the description with amounts and nutrition.

Check out one of my other videos here on budget or possibly some other meal ideas in general thank you so much for your time and for hanging with me even though I had the irregular voice today.

As always, Believe in good.

Peace.