These and budget-friendly and delicious
Finding family-friendly easy vegan lunch ideas can be really hard if you are on a budget. We have over 50 healthy vegan recipes that you can make for lunch that won’t blow your food shopping budget.
All of these are kid-friendly and can be made in advance ready for school or work.
If you are looking for more vegan food ideas then have a look at:
71 Budget Vegan Slimming World Recipes for the Whole Family
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Vegan lunch recipes for beginners
If you are a beginner cook and are not sure how to meal prep then these tips below we help.
When it comes to our plant based lunch ideas you do need to do a bit of meal preparation before hand. We make sure that we make a meal plan at the start of every week and list everything we need for every single meal.
Getting the kids involved is a great way to make sure that they are happy to eat everything too. Using the below vegan lunch ideas with our vegan dinner ideas post can help you fill up your meal plan easily.
Then make a shopping list from your meal plan.
We then make anything that can be frozen over the weekend. So for example, the eggless pancakes freeze great and we defrost them in the morning for the lunch box. The same goes for the scones or any sauces that we make.
The soups and smoothies are normally made the night before and put into the fridge. They are great vegan lunch ideas on the go, especially for teenagers that may not have much time at lunchtime.
The burgers and risotto are all made the night before too.
Make sure that you have good plastic, air-tight containers to put the food it so it’s nice and fresh when you come to eat it. We use these KICHLY Plastic Airtight Food Storage Containers* as they come in all different shapes and sizes.
If you are looking for a bit of spice or for meals that you’ve never tried before then have a look at Spicentice.
They send you out these little packets of spice with the exact instructions and method on that you can use over and over again.
We use them when we are stuck in a food rut and don’t really know what to cook. What we love the most about them is that you can keep the card to make the recipe all over again.
Try Spicentice here using our code LASAVE20 and save 20% off every purchase*.
They are Slimming World friendly, vegan, and perfect if you want to spice up your family meals.
We have cooked loads of budget family meals with Spicentice that includes many of the recipes below.
51 vegan lunch ideas
We’ve included everything you need for the best delicious vegan lunches that you can eat on the go or at the office.
We’ve included everything from one pot curries to bean salads and pasta salads.
The Best Eggless Pancakes Recipe Ever
We make these in advance and freeze them. You can defrost them easily under the grill for a few minutes and add them to the lunch box. Read how we make these Eggless Pancakes recipe here.
Sweet Potato Carrot Soup
We make this at the weekend and freeze it in containers. This is a healthy soup recipe that is really smooth and warms up quickly in the microwave. This is how we make our Sweet Potato Carrot Soup recipe here.
Vegan Shepherd’s Pie
This is a great leftover recipe. We make extra and take leftovers for lunch the next day. This comes in at under 82p a head for four people. This how we make our Vegan Shepherd’s Pie here.
Quorn Spagetti Bolognese
This is our go to leftover recipe. Cook the spagetti in the morning while you’ll doing breakfast and add the sauce to the pasta once ready. When you want to eat it, chuck it into the microwave for a minute to warm it up.
Fake cheese scones
The yeast extract gives these that cheesy flavour. We freeze these and defrost them overnight when we need them. The kids love them as in their lunch boxes for school.
Homemade vegan bagels
These bagels are everything you’d expect. They come out fluffy with the soft bubbles. We freeze them and defrost as and when we want them. The kids love them toasted with vegan chocolate spread. The perfect treat school lunch!
Chickpea curry jacket potatoes
We make the chickpea curry the night before for dinner and use up for leftovers. Bake the potato in the microwave while making breakfast then add the curry on top. We then cover ours in foil before adding it to the lunchbox as it’s normally still warm by lunch.
Curried squash, lentil & coconut soup
This is a great winter recipe that we all love. We use frozen squash as we can’t get through a whole one. It works just as well and is cheap.
Falafel burgers
We make these the night before and add them to fridge. The kids like their burger buns soft so we just add the falafel in and wrap. For the adults, we toast the burger buns.
Mushroom risotto
We make this in advance and freeze. It makes a great on the go lunch idea as you can eat it straight out of the plastic pot.
Pasta arrabiata
This is one of our favourite. We boil the pasta in the morning and defrost the simple sauce. We try and add as many grated vegetables as possible and whizz it up to make a smooth sauce.
Stuffed sweet potato skins
These are made in the morning. Turn the oven on to 180 fan and prick the potatoes. Put them into the microwave for around 4 minutes a potato. Scoop out all the inside and add in your spring onions and frozen peppers. We add vegan cheese too. Bake for 15 minutes. We then wrap them up to keep the heat in ready for lunch.
Homemade spinach and mushroom pizza
A great takeaway alternative. We make the base first with flour, dried yeast and water. Roll it out and add your passata, mushrooms and spinach. We sprinkle ours with vegan cheese. We make this the night before and put it in the fridge once it’s cooled down.
Mushroom burger
We make these the night before and warm them up before we add the bun. You can also swap the mushroom for tinned black beans.
Cauliflower & almond soup
We roast the cauliflower and almonds before we whizz it up. It freezes really well.
Vegan fried rice
We make this in the morning as it’s pretty quick to made. Add any vegetables you have while cooking the rice. We love to add turmeric and cumin for some extra taste.
Loaded fries
This is made the night before. Cut the sweet potatoes into chip sizes and add to the oven for 20 minutes. Add the peppers, tomatoes and any other vegetables you have and fry.
Tomato alfredo
This is a leftover recipe that we make the night before. It’s a great lunch time meal that really fills you up.
Cauliflower buffalo wings
We use hot sauce for these. We make these in the morning as it’s just cauliflower florets, paprika, pepper and salt then bake.
Chipotle tacos with black beans
Tacos are great as they aren’t very messy. We use black beans and a range of salad to fill ours.
Piri piri tofu bake
We add sweet potato, spring onion and peppers to ours. A bit of paprika, really spices them up.
Butternut squash risotto
We use frozen squash for this. This is made the night before as it can take an hour to shimmer down.
Lentil and quinoa soup
This is easy to make at a weekend. We whizz it up as the texture can be quite close.
Falafel and roast pepper bagel
We use our homemade bagels and make the falafel the night before.
Chipotle tofu burrito bowl
This is really easy as you can add whatever you want. We add carrot, spinach and lettuce with grilled tofu and a bit of lemon.
Thai Quorn lettuce wraps
These are great for making the night before. You can wrap the Quorn fillings in the lettuce. It can be a little messy to eat though.
Chilli quorn nachos
These make a great Friday lunchtime treat. We put the nachos in a plastic pot and add vegan yogurt with the cooked Quorn mince.
Roast cauliflower salad
Roast the cauliflower in the oven the night before then add it to your choice of salad in the morning. This stops the salad from going slimy.
Charred corn salad with avocado
We put the sweetcorn in the oven for a crisp finish.
Pumpkin pie smoothie
We love smoothies for quick lunches when you really don’t have time. We whizz these up in the morning while making breakfast. For this we use Almond milk and frozen pumpkin.
Mushroom hash
We mix mushroom with carrots, potatoes and peas. This makes a great recipe for times when you have loads of vegetables going off. Fry it off in the morning while you are making breakfast.
Linguine with chilli and tofu
The linguine does need to be cooked in the morning that you plan to eat it. The tofu can be grilled.
Hummus and pomegranate flatbreads
We oven cooked the pomegranate and spread the hummus over the flatbreads. We add any salad we have.
Roasted vegetable couscous with basil
The couscous does need cooking in the morning but the vegetables could be done the night before.
Beetroot falafel
These are made in advance and defrosted in the morning. They do make a bit of the mess when you eat them but they are full of flavour!
Carrot cake smoothie
With thick almond milk and carrot this tastes lush! We add soya yogurt and a bit of cinnamon too.
Mixed bean chilli
We made loads of these and freeze it as it goes great in the quesadillas below. We defrost it and reheat the kids but leave ours in till we need to eat it.
Black bean quesadillas
Using the same mix as above we then grill the quesadillas and add to our lunch boxes.
Aloo gobi
We make us with cauliflower and potatoes and add as many spices as we can find. The kids like cumin, coriander, ginger and garlic but add chilli at the end of the adults.
Spiced roast chickpea salad
This is done in the morning as it’s so quick to make. Roast the chickpeas while making breakfast and add them to the salad of your choice. We grate carrot and add spinach for the kids.
Cauliflower steaks
You can add these roast steaks to anything. We have salad with ours.
Thai green curry bowl
We have ours with tofu and cauliflower rice. The actual curry we made in advance but the cauliflower rice we make int he morning as that only needs frying for a few minutes.
Moroccan chickpea soup
This can be made in advance and defrosted in the morning. We then re-heat it in the morning for the kids and re-heat ours at work.
Thai carrot soup
You can spice this up as much as want. The kids like theres plain but we like to add chilli flakes to the top.
Stuffed quorn peppers
This tastes best when you roast the peppers in the morning. The stuffing for the Quorn mix can be fried up pretty easily.
Minestrone
We use pasta but you can use noodles for this. We also add chopped tin tomatoes and frozen vegetables like onion and pepper.
Bean tacos with chilli salsa
Make the filling early and just add it to the tacos that morning. Make sure you wrap them tight as they can get messy in a lunch box.
Chia and almond bowl
This has such a creamy texture. Make this the night before and leave it in the fridge for the morning.
Chickpea and aubergine curry
Roast the chickpea and aubergine in the oven. This is a leftover recipe that goes great with cauliflower rice.
Related Posts:
- 101 Aldi Recipes That Will Give You Dinner Ideas For Tonight
- The Ultimate £1 Per Head Budget Meal Planning List
- 51 Quick Vegan Meals for Kids
Chili tofu with cashews
This curry is quick to make. We add soya yogurt at the end when the curry has cooled for that thicker texture.
Coconut and chocolate smoothie
This is a great treat for lunch. We use chocolate powder and coconut milk to make this really thick.
We hope these easy vegan lunch ideas will help you to fill up your meal plan.
Laura x
If you enjoyed this post and would like some more family friendly budget recipes or meal plan ideas, then head over to the budget food section here on Savings 4 Savvy Mums where you’ll find over 30 cheap posts dedicated to helping you cook and shop wiser for less. There’s enough tips to help you save over £300 a month! You could also pop over and follow my family food Pinterest boards for lots more ideas on how to eat well and spend less; Family Meal Plans on a Budget, Budget Family Meals & Budget Slimming World Recipes for Families.
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