Vegetarian meal prep ideas: 40 easy, high-protein breakfasts, lunches and dinners

The short answer: these vegetarian meal prep ideas cook in one or two sessions, hold up in the fridge and keep you full because every container has a protein.

• 40 ideas across breakfast, lunch, dinner and snacks
• Proteins: chickpeas, lentils, tofu, tempeh, eggs and Greek yogurt
• A two-hour Sunday prep plan
• A shopping list and a storage chart
• Next step: Plan it with the Meal Planner & Grocery List ($3.99).

These vegetarian meal prep ideas are built for real weeks: meals you can cook in one or two sessions, that hold up in the fridge, and that keep you full because every container has a protein. You'll find 40 ideas across breakfast, lunch, dinner and snacks, a sample two-hour Sunday prep plan, a shopping list and a storage chart, so the food you prep actually gets eaten.

Most of these are budget friendly too, since beans, lentils, eggs and grains are some of the cheapest proteins you can buy. For a full priced menu, see our vegan meals on a budget, 40 recipes under $2 each. A big pot of lentil soup is one easy way to turn a bag of dry lentils into several lunches.

High-protein vegetarian building blocks

Vegetarian prep works best when you cook components, not just recipes. Pick one from each row and you have a meal.

The Mayo Clinic's guide to a vegetarian diet notes that vegetarians should pay attention to protein, iron, calcium, vitamin B12 and omega-3s. Mixing beans, grains, eggs, dairy and leafy greens across the week covers most of those. If you eat no eggs or dairy at all, lean more on tofu, tempeh, lentils and fortified foods, and ask your doctor or a dietitian about vitamin B12.

Vegetarian breakfast meal prep ideas

1. Spinach, pepper and feta egg muffins.
2. Overnight oats with chia, peanut butter and banana.
3. Greek yogurt parfaits with berries and walnuts.
4. Black bean and egg breakfast burritos (freeze well).
5. Baked oatmeal squares with apple and cinnamon.
6. Chia pudding with coconut milk and mango.
7. Cottage cheese bowls with fruit and granola.
8. Tofu scramble with veggies, packed in containers.

Vegetarian lunch meal prep ideas

1. Chickpea, cucumber and feta grain bowls with lemon dressing.
2. Black bean burrito bowls with rice, corn and salsa.
3. Mason jar salads with lentils (dressing on the bottom).
4. Pasta salad with white beans, tomatoes and pesto. Start from our pasta salad recipe and skip the salami.
5. Hummus bento boxes with eggs, pita and vegetables.
6. Peanut noodle bowls with edamame and shredded cabbage.
7. Lentil and roasted vegetable soup.
8. Mediterranean wraps with falafel and tzatziki.
9. Quinoa tabbouleh with chickpeas.
10. Curried egg salad lettuce wraps.

Vegetarian dinner meal prep ideas

1. Three-bean veggie chili.
2. Tofu and broccoli stir-fry with brown rice.
3. Chickpea and spinach coconut curry.
4. Sheet-pan halloumi with peppers and sweet potatoes.
5. Black bean enchiladas.
6. Lentil bolognese over whole-wheat pasta.
7. Stuffed peppers with rice, beans and cheese.
8. Baked ziti with spinach and ricotta.
9. Sweet potato and black bean tacos.
10. Vegetable fried rice with eggs.
11. Red lentil dal with rice.
12. Tempeh teriyaki bowls.

Prefer to cook fresh on the night? See our healthy vegetarian dinner ideas.

Vegetarian snack prep ideas

1. Hard-boiled eggs.
2. Roasted chickpeas.
3. Hummus and cut vegetables.
4. Edamame with sea salt.
5. Trail mix portions.
6. Cheese and whole-grain crackers.
7. Energy bites with oats and peanut butter.
8. Apple slices with nut butter.
9. Yogurt cups with seeds.
10. Homemade bean dip.

A two-hour Sunday vegetarian prep plan

1. 0:00 Start a pot of quinoa or rice and preheat the oven.
2. 0:10 Chop vegetables for two sheet pans; roast them.
3. 0:20 Press and cube tofu, toss with soy sauce and bake on a third tray.
4. 0:30 Simmer a pot of lentil soup or chili.
5. 0:50 Whisk egg muffins and bake while the soup cooks.
6. 1:10 Make two sauces and portion them into small jars.
7. 1:30 Cool everything quickly, then portion into labeled containers.
8. 1:50 Mix overnight oats for the first three mornings.

Store vegetarian meal prep safely

Cooked vegetarian meals follow the same food safety rules as any leftovers. USDA's Food Safety and Inspection Service advises refrigerating cooked food within two hours and eating leftovers within three to four days, or freezing them. Keep your fridge at 40°F or below. The FoodSafety.gov cold food storage charts list fridge and freezer times for eggs, soups and other common foods. A simple habit: prep for three or four days at a time, and freeze portions of soups, chili and burritos for the back half of the week.

Shop and plan once a week

Write your chosen ideas on a weekly planner, then build one shopping list from it. Start with staples you can buy in bulk: dried beans and lentils, rice, oats, canned tomatoes, frozen vegetables and eggs. Our guide to meal planning on a budget shows how to plan around sales, and the main meal prep ideas guide has more mixed recipes if part of the household eats meat. Feeding a family? See how to meal plan for a family. New to planning? Here's how to start meal planning, with three sample weeks.

Planners that make prep easy

The Meal Planner & Grocery List ($3.99) has a weekly meal planner, a grocery list sorted by aisle, a meal prep checklist and pantry and freezer inventories, so you know what's already cooked. Save the winners in the Family Recipe Binder ($6.99), which has recipe pages, an index and a fillable version you can type into. The Household Binder ($6.99) adds a meal planner and grocery list to the family calendar and bill tracker.

Want more protein ideas? Our high protein meals list includes plenty of meatless options built on lentils, tofu, Greek yogurt and cottage cheese. If you eat meat too, our healthy meal prep ideas mix both. Compare beans, tofu and more on our plant based protein page. For press, bake and sauce methods, open our tofu recipes.

Need one big batch for the week? Our vegetarian chili freezes well for 4 to 6 months. Want a broader cookbook-style list? See our vegetarian recipes with a 7-day plan.