Plant-based meal-prep week: lentil soup and lime quinoa

How much you will cook

For one person, this makes six servings: five lunches and Sunday dinner. Make the full four-serving recipe of Italian-style lentil soup and half the recipe of Lime quinoa with black beans, giving two servings. Breakfasts and the other dinners stay open.

Your Monday-to-Friday lunches

Shopping for this week

The columns give the amounts you will use. Check your spices and pantry first. When a recipe needs half a can, you still buy the whole can; freeze the unused half separately on opening day or use it promptly in another meal. It is not an extra ingredient for the planned dish.

ml means measured volume here, including dry ingredients and grated cheese: 240 ml is one US cup. tbsp = 15 ml; tsp = 5 ml. Can sizes refer to the weight before draining. Chili seasoning means a mild US-style blend, not pure hot chili powder. Optional garnishes are listed in each recipe.

Sunday: cook and divide

The original soup recipe takes 75 minutes. Late Sunday afternoon works well: one serving becomes dinner, and Tuesday lunch is still within 48 hours. Use vegetable stock to keep the week plant-based.

Eat one serving for Sunday dinner. Cool two promptly and refrigerate them for Monday and Tuesday. Cool and freeze the fourth on Sunday for Friday. Shallow individual containers make the split easy.

Tuesday: the second batch

On Tuesday evening, make the quinoa recipe with half the ingredients. The original time is 30 minutes, with cooling and packing afterwards. Chill both servings promptly for Wednesday and Thursday.

Eat the soup hot. The quinoa also works as a cold lunch, provided it stays properly chilled, so you can skip the office microwave on two days. Cilantro and lime give it a different flavour from the hearty soup.

Keep it chilled and ready to eat

Keep the fridge at 5 °C or colder and eat refrigerated cooked food in this plan within 48 hours. Chill perishables within two hours, or one hour above 32 °C. Use ice packs for the commute and refrigerate lunch again when you arrive.

Move Friday’s serving into the fridge on Thursday and eat within 24 hours of fully thawing. Reheat food once and thoroughly; leftovers should reach 74 °C at the centre. Follow stricter package instructions where applicable.

Cooking for two

For two people, make twice the Sunday quantity and the full Tuesday recipe. That gives ten lunches and two Sunday dinners. If one recipe serving leaves you hungry, plan more of the dish or a side.