35 Vegan Meal Prep Ideas

These vegan meal prep ideas make it easy to fill up on plants! Find our best make-ahead recipes for plant-based breakfasts, lunches, and dinners.

If you want to eat more plants in 2026, these vegan meal prep ideas are for you! They include our best grab-and-go breakfasts, packable lunches, and make-ahead dinners—all healthy, delicious, and entirely plant-based. After weeks of holiday treats, I always start January in the mood for fresh, feel-good food. The easiest way to ensure I actually eat the nourishing meals I’m craving is by meal prepping. That way, when we’re running late for school drop off or I get bogged down with work, I’m not tempted to skip a meal or order takeout. I have a healthy option ready to go!…

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White Bean Soup

This white bean soup recipe is a cozy, healthy, and delicious one-pot meal! It's filled with creamy white beans, tender vegetables, and flavorful herbs.

This white bean soup recipe is the perfect cozy meal for a cold day. A savory, garlicky broth surrounds tender vegetables, kale, and creamy, protein-packed white beans. Fresh herbs and a squeeze of lemon juice round out its bright, earthy flavor. This white bean soup comes together in about 30 minutes, so it’s a perfect easy dinner for a busy weeknight. It’s also great for meal prep. In the winter, I love to make a big pot on the weekend and eat it for lunch all week. It tastes even better on days 2 and 3, after the flavors have had…

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10 Healthy Smoothie Recipes

These healthy smoothie recipes are an easy, delicious way to fill up on fruits and veggies. My family loves them for breakfast or as a snack!

These healthy smoothie recipes are packed with good-for-you ingredients! Think fresh fruit, vegetables, chia seeds, nut butters, and more. They fill these healthy smoothies with nutrients like fiber, protein, vitamins, and minerals…and they taste delicious too. If you’re looking for breakfast or snack ideas for 2026, these healthy smoothie recipes are a great place to start. Ranging from classic fruit smoothies to vibrant green smoothies to tropical and chocolatey blends, they’re satisfying, flavorful, and easy to make in minutes. My whole family loves these recipes (kiddo included!). I hope you will too! Healthy Fruit Smoothie Recipes Strawberry Banana Smoothie This classic…

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Paper Plane Cocktail

This paper plane cocktail is easy to make with equal parts bourbon, Aperol, amaro, and lemon juice. A modern classic, it's boozy, bright, and delicious!

Have you ever tried a paper plane cocktail? Invented in 2008 by New York City bartender Sam Ross, it consists of equal parts of four ingredients: bourbon, Aperol, Amaro Nonino, and fresh lemon juice. Bitter, sour, citrusy, and deliciously complex, this drink has become a modern classic, and I’m here for it. I’m embarrassed to admit that I didn’t actually get on the paper plane bandwagon until last year. Jack and I were snowed in at home for the week after Christmas, and for a fun, festive, and cozy activity, we made a new classic cocktail every night. This paper plane…

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Lentil Soup

Meet the BEST lentil soup recipe! Made with dried lentils, fresh vegetables, flavorful spices, and hearty greens, it's simple, healthy, and delicious.

This easy lentil soup recipe is warming, nourishing, and delicious. It’s packed with hearty greens, tender vegetables, and fiber- and protein-rich lentils. Fresh herbs and spices fill it with complex flavor, and a splash of vinegar adds a bright, tangy kick. It’s not just my best lentil soup recipe—it’s one of my best recipes, period. It’s been a staple in my rotation for years. Easy to make with pantry ingredients, it’s the perfect healthy dinner for a winter weeknight (save any leftovers for lunch the next day!). I hope you love this simple lentil soup as much as I do. Lentil…

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French Toast Casserole

This overnight French toast casserole recipe is the perfect breakfast for a crowd! It's simple and delicious, with a crisp topping and custardy middle.

This French toast casserole recipe is the easiest way to make French toast for a crowd. Instead of standing at the stove, flipping slices to order, you pile cubed bread into a casserole dish, douse it in a rich, cinnamon-spiced custard, and bake it with pecans and brown sugar on top. It’s a breeze to make on the morning you plan to serve it, but you can also assemble it a day ahead and let it sit overnight in the fridge. The next morning, just add the nutty topping, pop it in the oven, and bake! This French toast casserole…

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Baked Ziti

This baked ziti recipe is the easiest way to feed a crowd! Saucy, cheesy, comforting, and flavorful, this fuss-free pasta is always a hit.

This baked ziti recipe features layers of saucy pasta, creamy ricotta, and melty mozzarella cheese. Easy to assemble and always a hit, it’s one of my go-to recipes for feeding a crowd. I based this recipe on the baked ziti I ate as a kid. Reliably present at every potluck or party I attended, it was my favorite comfort food. I loved the jumbles of noodles mixed with tangy tomato sauce, gooey cheese, and Italian sausage or ground beef. These days, I skip the meat, but this baked ziti recipe is still hearty, satisfying, and packed with flavor. Try it on…

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Cinnamon Rolls

These easy homemade cinnamon rolls are soft, gooey, and delicious! They're my family's favorite holiday breakfast. Make-ahead instructions included!

This cinnamon roll recipe is my family’s favorite holiday breakfast! Easy and delicious, it makes the best cinnamon rolls I’ve tried. They have a soft dough filled with a rich brown sugar and cinnamon swirl. A gooey vanilla glaze (or cream cheese frosting!) takes them over the top. I first shared this recipe in 2019, inspired by the cinnamon rolls my mom made on Christmas morning when I was growing up. Now with over 350 5-star reviews, it’s since become a reader favorite! I recently updated it with new photos, make-ahead and freezing instructions, and tips for cinnamon roll success.…

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Homemade Hot Chocolate

This homemade hot chocolate is creamy, thick, and flavorful, made with both melted chocolate and cocoa powder. It's a perfect cozy treat for a cold day!

This hot chocolate recipe is so much better than a powdered mix! Made with two types of chocolate—a chopped bar and cocoa powder—it’s deliciously rich, creamy, and just the right amount of sweet. It’s super easy to make too—it comes together with 5 simple ingredients in under 10 minutes. We’ve already made this homemade hot chocolate a few times this December, and I have a feeling that it’ll stay on repeat all month long. It’s the perfect warming treat for a cold winter night, especially if you have a kid (like ours) who loves cozying up under the Christmas tree…

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Pignoli Cookies

Learn how to make pignoli cookies! These Italian pine nut cookies are chewy, nutty, and full of rich almond flavor. They're perfect for the holidays!

These pignoli cookies are a new addition to my holiday cookie lineup, and I already can’t get enough of them. A toasty, crunchy pine nut crust surrounds the chewy cookies, which are bursting with almond flavor (my favorite at Christmastime). They’re easy to make with 7 ingredients, but I think they’d be the star of any holiday cookie plate. I first tried pignoli cookies on a trip to Italy years ago, and I re-discovered them more recently at a bakery near our cottage in Michigan. I bought so many over the last few summers that I knew I had to…

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Creamy Potato Soup

Warm up on a cold day with this easy potato soup! Thick, creamy, and loaded with toppings like green onions and cheese, it's the ultimate comfort food.

This potato soup recipe is the ultimate comfort food for a cold day! It’s like a loaded baked potato in soup form—the thick, creamy, savory soup is piled high with toppings like sour cream, shredded cheese, and green onions or chives. Jack loves it so much that he can polish off half the pot in a single night. Luckily, this potato soup comes together in one pot with simple ingredients, so it’ll be easy to keep in our rotation this winter. It’s one of those recipes that’s so much more than the sum of its parts. You start with humble…

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A food blog with fresh, zesty recipes.
Photograph of Jeanine Donofrio and Jack Mathews in their kitchen

Hello, we're Jeanine and Jack.

We love to eat, travel, cook, and eat some more! We create & photograph vegetarian recipes from our home in Chicago, while our shiba pups eat the kale stems that fall on the kitchen floor.