5 vegan freezer meals you can prep in 1 hour! Sharing 5 plant-based recipes, a printable shopping list and video prep tutorial so you can do the same.
We love eating vegan dinner recipes 2-3 times a week, but it can be a real challenge to find good recipes! So often freezer meals are full of processed ingredients or are meat-based. So today I'm flipping the switch and showing you how to prep five plant-based freezer meals!
I am so excited to be kicking off a new series with you guys. The goal is to post once a month some big meal prep posts like this, with printable shopping list and video prep tutorial.
Meal prep can be intimidating when you first start, and I am creating the video series that I wish I had when I started!
Don't forget to pin this post to save it for later!
These vegan freezer meals are
- made with healthy, wholesome ingredients
- ready in under 1 hour
- made in the slow cooker (4) and on a sheet pan (1)
Vegan freezer meal ingredients
To make this super easy for you, I've created a printable shopping list with everything you need to get meal prepping!
Click to download your printable shopping list
Tips
- I recommend purchasing pre-cut and cubed butternut squash to save on prep time!
- print out all your recipes before starting
- label all your bags with the name, date, and full cooking directions (so you don't have to look up the recipe on cook day)
Equipment
To prep these recipes, you will need
- gallon sized freezer bags (though I am showing glass containers, I don't like this method as they are extremely heavy)
- sharpie
for labelling bags - a 6 quart slow cooker for cook day
- a good quality sheet pan for cook day
- a good quality knife, a can opener, a garlic press, and a box grater
for labelling bags
for cook day
, a 
, a 
, and a 
Step 1- chop all your veggies
After labelling your bags, chop all your veggies out at once!
- Dice 3 onions
- Slice 1 red onion and 2 bell peppers
- Cube 4-5 sweet potatoes (1- 1 ยฝ inch cubes)
- Peel 6 cloves garlic
- Slice 1 lime in half
- Grate 3 tablespoons of ginger
- Peel, scoop out and cube your butternut squash (or use frozen squash like I did!)
Step 2- open all cans & spice jars
To make it really easy when we portion things out, I like to open all my cans. I don't drain my beans until just before portioning them out.
I also take all the lids off my spices, HOWEVER- beware that you may mix your lids up when putting them back on so if that bothers you, skip this step.
Step 3- portion everything out!
Lay the printed recipe in front of each bag/container and work your way through the ingredients list.
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Having everything pre-chopped and all your cans opened really helps this process!
I add my frozen ingredients last because you don't want them to thaw before putting them back in the freezer.
1. Vegan Crockpot Chili
- On prep day- place all ingredients into the freezer bag
- On cook day- thaw completely before cooking, then add everything into the slow cooker. Cook low 6-8 hours
- Serve with-ย cheese (or vegan cheese), tortilla chips, yogurt (or coconut yogurt), and avocado.
Get the printable Vegan Crockpot Chili Recipe here!
2. Chickpea Butternut Squash Fajitas
- On prep day- place all ingredients into a freezer bag
- On cook day- thaw completely, then dump it all out onto a sheet pan. Roast at 425ยฐF for 25 minutes, stirring it up halfway.
- Serve with-ย 8-12 six inch tortillas, yogurt (or coconut yogurt), avocado, cilantro, and/or salsa
Get the printable Chickpea Butternut Squash Fajitas recipe here!ย
3. Butternut Squash Daal
- On prep day- place all ingredients except for the stock in a freezer bag
- On cook day- thaw completely, then dump into the slow cooker. Add 3 cups vegetable stock. Cook on low for 8 hours. Add lime juice and adjust salt before serving.
- Serve with- naan bread or rice.
Get the printable Butternut Squash Daal recipe here!
4. Vegan Slow Cooker Tikka Masala
- On prep day- place all ingredients into a freezer bag.
- On cook day- thaw completely, then dump into a slow cooker. Cook on low for 5 hours. Add 2 cups small cauliflower florets, 1 cup frozen peas. Cook for 1 more hour.
- Serve with- rice or naan bread.
Get the printable Vegan Slow Cooker Tikka Masala recipe here!
5. Vegan African Peanut Stew (Slow Cooker)
- On prep day- place all ingredients except for the stock into a freezer bag.
- On cook day- thaw completely, then dump into a slow cooker. Add 4 cups of vegetable stock, and cook on low for 6-8 hours. Add 2 handfuls of spinach just before serving.
- To serve- bread.
Get the printable Vegan African Peanut Stew (Slow Cooker) recipe here!
Vegan freezer meals FAQ
Can I cook these in the Instant Pot? Maybe? I haven't tried. Some recipes have been cooked by readers in the Instant Pot, so I'd scan the comments on those posts to see if it's been done.
How long can I freeze these for? Up to 3 months. Honestly, I've gone longer and haven't noticed any taste from freezer burn.
Can I cook these from frozen? I haven't tried. Usually I would say no for food safety reasons, but since these are plant-based, it may be possible. I have only tested with completely thawed out recipes.
Do you have questions? Ask them below and I will do my best to answer them!
XO
Ally G says
This looks amazing! My teen and I are going to make these together! We are working on life skills and meeting them where they are. They are nervous about using a stove so we are working on that but also working together to make slow cooker & Instant Pot & air fryer meals so they can see there's still a ton they are able to do. These really look great - thank you!
Amanda says
Why don't you include the recipe on what to stuff into the bags on the same page with all the other instructions?!?! How absolutely frustrating toggling back and forth from page to page... even more so with all of the constant ads! Only made it through to get the recipe and instructions for 1/5 recipes. Very disappointing and waste of time.
Jasmine @ Sweet Peas & Saffron says
Hi Amanda, thanks for your feedback. It would be a very long blog post + hard to navigate if we included all of these recipes in one post. Thanks for your feedback regarding the ads. We are always striving to keep the user experience as simple as possible, however, it costs a significant amount of money to publish these free recipes. In order to keep it free for you, we rely on advertising to cover those expenses. Thanks for understanding!
Carolyn Miranda says
Thank you so much for this, it's awesome! I made all five yesterday and put them in the freezer. This is my first time trying freezer meals and I'm so impressed with how you laid out all of the instructions- it's very comprehensive.
On your recommendation, I did purchase the freezer bag stands ahead of time, and it is absolutely worth it. I actually wash and reuse my freezer bags, so before even making these meals I started using them as stands to dry my bags after washing them. It makes drying time much faster! So they were definitely worth the investment, and were wonderful for the actual food prep.
I'm a big Instant Pot user, so originally I thought I would try to translate the recipes to the Instant Pot, which I'm sure is possible. But I'm home on maternity leave, so I do have time to use the Crockpot- so I figured, why not? After making the recipes yesterday, I realized I had enough ingredients to make another batch of the tikka masala, which I didn't freeze, but cooked directly in the Crockpot today. I think for this particular recipe at least, it wouldn't turn out as well in the Instant Pot, but would most likely still work (possibly even directly from frozen) if you didn't have the time for the slow cooker. As far as the recipe itself, we've only had this one so far, and my Indian husband gives it a thumbs up!
Just one comment, I didn't use canned beans or corn- I cook my own beans and chickpeas in the Instant Pot and freeze them, and I used frozen corn. I just measured them on my kitchen scale. I just noticed some discrepancies between the shopping list and the recipes, in the measurements. For instance, the grocery list says the cans of black beans should be 15 oz cans, but on the chili recipe, it calls for a 19 oz can of black beans. No big deal I'm sure, whichever amount you add.
Other than that, I would love to see more vegan freezer meal recipes from you! There are surprisingly few on YouTube. Thank you so much!
Jasmine @ Sweet Peas & Saffron says
Hi Carolyn, wow - it sounds like you have a freezer full of delicious meals waiting for you! Nice work on meal prepping all 5 of these. We're so glad to hear you found the freezer bag stands useful as well. Thanks for letting us know about the discrepancy, we will take a second look at that. Thank you so much for leaving such a thorough rating and review!
Suzanne says
Thanks for these recipes, they look awesome! Approximately how many servings are in each dish?
Jasmine @ Sweet Peas & Saffron says
Hi Suzanne, it will say in the recipe card of each post. The vegan crockpot chili is 8 servings, chickpea butternut squash fajitas are 4-6 servings, the slow cooker butternut squash lentil curry is 8 servings, the slow cooker tikka masala is 6 servings, and finally the vegan slow cooker peanut stew is 8 servings. I hope that answers your question! Enjoy!
Suzanne says
Thank you so much! I hope to make the meals today for my daughter who is expecting her first baby in a few weeks. I am sure they will come in handy!
Stephenie says
I am committing to prepping meals on weekends in 2022! We eat out far too often since we both work full time. Thank you so much for doing all this work for us ๐ค
Steve says
Hi if I plan on cooking these all this week can I make then as instructed but keep them in the fridge as opposed to freezing them if i plan on cooking them within 405 days? thanks
Meagan says
I can't find the printable shopping list for this. Where is the link?
Christina Lippert says
Please share the shopping list!! I need this type of meal planning support!! Keep making theseโ itโs fabulous!!!!
Meagan Varley says
I'm serious. I did this a few months ago and it was a lifesaver, but now that the shopping list is gone, it's a huge disappointment Hopefully SweetPeas&Saffron can hook us up again...
Denise Bustard says
Hey guys, sorry about that, we had a technical issue with one of our plugins. I have manually uploaded the shopping list into the post. Let me know if you have any issues!
Elisa says
Can you convert the timing to an instant pot ?
Denise Bustard says
Hi Elisa! I now have an Instant Pot version of the chili: https://sweetpeasandsaffron.com/instant-pot-vegetarian-chili/, however I have not made the others in the Instant Pot. Sometimes people comment on the post if they do cook it in the IP, so feel free to look through the comments on the other posts ๐
Chelsea Sloggy says
I love how you write out your instructions - truly so easy to follow! Thank you for making meal prep easy. We're so excited to try these!
Denise Bustard says
Hi Chelsea! I'm so glad to hear the instructions were clear, it can be a challenge to write out a meal prep plan in an easy to understand way. I hope you enjoy the recipes!