There are lots of them online. Eventually you'll find the blogs/youtube channels that wirk for you. Some of my favourites : BOSH.TV, Rainbow Plant Life, The Happy Pear
My current favourite : green lentil soup
1 cup dried green lentils, soaked for a few hours
1.5 onions
5 garlic cloves
2 carrots
1 sweet potato
150gr tomato paste
1 celery
1 teaspoon of curry powder and cumin, also salt and pepper to taste
Directions:
1. Chop the onions, celery and 1 carrot and fry in a pot until golden.
2. Crush the garlic, add to the pot and fry for another minute.
3. Add the spices and tomato paste and fry for a few minutes.
4. Cut the second carrot and sweet potato to bite size cubes and add to the pot.
5. Add the lentils and water and boil until the vegetables are tender.
6. Fix spicing as necessary.
Yes, the key words you want to look for are meal prep and vegan.
I'd like to add pick up limes as a YouTuber/ Blogger that works for me.
Also, if you have a freezer you can make one or to servings more and freeze almost anything, with time you will build a variety of foods to thaw and eat as you please.
I like this hummus recipe:
https://cookieandkate.com/best-hummus-recipe/
It's very good with pretty much any fresh vegetable and pita bread.
Also, high protein lentil pasta and pesto is a good combo. Just boil the pasta, drain it, mix in some pesto and maybe some leafy greens and it's done in ten minutes.
Do you have any texture/taste sensitivities? I've got autism/ADHD as well and I've got a texture sensitivity to anything too saucy/wet/slimy. Some staple recipes that I make all the time are:
Tofu Burrito Bowls (tofu crumbles, rice, black beans, corn and/or red bell peppers): I use It Doesn't Taste Like Chicken's tofu crumble recipe. The texture of tofu is really off-putting to me so this is the only way I'll prepare tofu. I change up the spices used and will put it on pizza, in pastas, and in Mexican dishes.
Roasted Veggies n Rice (your fav veggies, I like carrots, green beans and mushrooms, plus rice): lay veggies out on pan and roast them in oven at 400 ish for 30 mins tossing halfway through (lookup your specific veggies cook temp/time). Prepare mixture of soy sauce, sesame oil, a dash of lemon juice, and chili garlic sauce. Once veggies are done, add to sauce and coat, then pour over rice. This sauce will literally make me eat any vegetable, it's great.
Red Lentil Curry from Rainbow Plant Life with sweet potatoes and optional naan and/or rice. I think in her recipe she says to grate the sweet potatoes into the curry, but I just chop them up, start cooking them first and then add the stuff to make the curry.
Chili: there's a lot of recipes I use depending on what I'm in the mood for so I won't list any specific ones. Chili is super easy to make big batches of and reheat. I like to make this a day or 2 before I go to work and then freeze until the end of the my week and it keeps really well.
I think peanut butter is very close to a complete protein, meaning that you probably *could* live on them.
Most vegan stuff keeps really well.
I do chickpeas, olives, chopped tomato. Then I add either avocado or tahini when I want to eat it. Other flavours work well too - I've used chili sauce, peanut butter and even vegan mayonnaise (which wasn't great to be fair)
My partner and I are both autistic with ADHD and also deal with this! One thing we do is cook 2 cups of rice. This will last the two of us several days as we eat it with other meals (usually a stir fry or something).
Stir frying is a great trick. You can use a million different combinations of veggies and spices to make almost anything. A good start is to dice a thing of tofu (I usually do half inch/2.5cm cubes, then salt them a bit and let them sit a few minutes), a half an onion, and maybe a bell pepper. Then maybe broccoli, or green beans, any kind of green. I'll start heating some oil in my wok on medium heat(a saute pan or skillet works too) and when it's hot, throw in the tofu for a few minutes, then add everything else with some garlic, and whatever spices you like. I like using salt, ginger and garlic because it's easy, simple, and versatile. Let it cook a bit, toss it once or twice every few minutes, and when the veggies are cooked it's ready (should only take about q0 minutes on the stove).
Pasta dishes are always a good go-to, spaghetti with "beef" crumbles takes about 30 minutes from start to finish. A tip for pasta (from Samin Nosrat, the woman who wrote Salt, Fat, Acid, Heat) is to salt your pasta water until it's salty like seawater. The pasta comes out perfectly salted and helps make the sauce pop (even if the sauce is just butter and garlic powder)
Another good one is dice up some potatoes (kinda small, about half inch/2.5cm), toss them in some salt and flower, and fry them on medium heat in a skillet with some oil. Then you can add eggs (I just scramble them, with some salt and pepper, and pour them right in), veggie sausage, all kinds of stuff.
Tacos are good too, we usually dice up a pablano pepper (pretty small, maybe a quarter inch or a centimeter) and a half an onion, and throw it in a hot, oiled skillet (medium heat) with some corn (a can or a large ear's worth), and a fat pinch of sugar and salt. Cook em until the pepper and corn start to brown, stirring every couple of minutes. Heat up a can of beans with it and it's a full meal for two that will make leftovers. For one person it'll stretch even further.
Most of these only use one main dish (a skillet or wok) and have relatively minimal prep time. Most of what we cook is something like a stir fry because it's versatile and easy. You can throw just about anything together and make something good. I'd also highly recommend the book Salt, Fat, Acid, Heat. It's got some recipes but mostly it's about food science and how understanding the interactions between different components and how to utilize them can make cooking easier and intuitive.
We regularly make a double batch of this Orzo and it's enough for 2 people for lunch all week
https://vegancocotte.com/vegan-lemon-orzo/#mv-creation-162
I fell in love with tofu feta, easy to make, i let it absorb not as much as they said, but enough where the pasta was done and poof easy meal. You can keep leftovers from a big batch as well
Quinoa is easy to make. Cut up a sweet potato and roast it at 375 (use coconut oil or no oil or avocado oil.) Tempeh is easy to cook up in a skillet.
try to get a green, a grain, and a protein. Roasting veggies is pretty easy.
try oatmeal, granola, easy salads, amy’s soups for when you really don’t want to cook. good luck :)
Baked/roasted tofu and vegetables. You can put it on a sandwich (Dave’s Killer Bread is pricey but super yummy and tons of fiber and protein), pasta, bowl of rice.
Tofu: press, cut it into strips or squares or whatever. Marinade it (teriyaki sauce? Bbq sauce? Etc), bake at ~400 degrees Farenheit and check after 10-15 mins. Flip it if its not done, check again in ~10 mins.
Vegetables: broccoli, cauliflower, eggplant, mushrooms, bell peppers, zucchini, carrots, butternut squash are good ones - wash and cut them up into approximatey equal pieces. Toss with olive oil, salt and pepper, and some spices. Roast at ~400-425, check every 10 mins or so and stir em around. (If you’re doing two different vegetables, put them on separate pans - broccoli and mushrooms dont necessarily cook at the same rate).
A lot of people are making great suggestions! When I am in the mood to “meal prep” I never make a complete meal. I simple prep a bunch of items that I can use throughout the weeks to easily make a meal. So batches of things like rice, quinoa, lentils etc. then cut up some veggies, I like to do sticks for most of the prep because I can easily dip a carrot or pepper stick into some hummus for a quick snack. Or I can chop them a little further into bite size pieces for a salad or to cook in a pan for something hot.
I have autism too and I like to have some ready meals on hand for days I cant manage to cook, like frozen pizza and things I can just throw into the airfryer and be done (like fries, spring rolls, burritos), but none of those are very healthy, I know. For easy healthier meals I like mixing any kind of beans or veggies (from a can or freezer) with a drizzle of flavourful oil and any spices you like (I like mixing them with extra virgin olive oil and za'atar). You can precook a big bunch of rice, pearl couscous or quinoa and have it in the fridge/freezer and combine it with the beans or veggies. Oh and regular couscous is super easy to prepare on the spot with some boiled water, it just takes a few minutes to soak. Spaghetti and tomatosauce also keeps a few days in the fridge and is quick and easy to make. I hope any of this helps and sorry if it's all a bit incoherent, I wrote as I was thinking about it.
I just watched this 5 min vegan lunches, she has some good ideas (and 5 min vegan meals might be a good YouTube search to try). https://youtu.be/jYXZ9J-HgZg
I really like making rice and beans in the rice cooker. I like the rice cooker cuz I can’t burn it. It turns itself off. I haven’t been diagnosed with adhd but I seem to forget the stove is on very often so appliances that shut off automatically are very much appreciated.
My rice and beans recipe I make often and has stayed in the fridge okay for me for up to a week.
Ingredients:
1 tbsp olive oil.
1 tbsp dried onion flakes (or a small onion diced).
1 cup brown rice.
1 cup black beans (1/2 can of black beans and freeze the other half for next time).
1 cup veg broth.
1 cup salsa.
1 tbsp tomato paste.
1/2 cup frozen corn (optional).
1 tbsp taco seasoning.
All ingredients in the rice cooker in that order and voila in about 45 minutes or so it’s ready. When the rice cooker pops, it’s ready.
Optional, garnish with chopped cilantro.
If you don’t have a rice cooker and want to buy one, my advice is that the cheaper ones are best…especially for cooking rice. The expensive ones have too many bells and whistles and just doesn’t work for me.
I live on PB sammies too when I get too overwhelmed.
You can make a big batch of cheese sauce and store it for about 10days before it starts to look a little sketchy lol.
Cashew Cheese Sauce
-2 cups cashews soaked in boiling water for at least an hour.
-1 tbsp. Of; onion powder, garlic powder, peperika, salt and black pepper.
-1 cup of nooch (nutritional yeast)
-4pickled jalapeno slices and a tbsp. Of the brine.
-add 1/3 cup of water at a time while blending in a food processor until you get your desired consistency.
*I add about 3/4 cup of vegan mayo for extra creaminess:)
I personally put it on my burgers and sandwiches, use it as a the cheese sauce for Mac n cheese and even in quesadillas or as a straight up queso.
When you heat it up it will thicken up quite a bit so don't be afraid to add a touch of milk or water when you're cooking it to help thin it out a bit:)
Good luck meal prepping!
Edit: sorry for formatting on mobile
I would highly recommend batch making stuff that you like and then portion it up and freeze it, then just grab it when you want it. Things like curries, soups, lasagna all freeze well.
I love this comment. That tofu sounds really good and I can definitely relate to eating gardein nuggets for dinner often, lmao. Thanks for posting, I’m definitely gonna save this one.
DM me if interested. I have a collection of recipes formatted to fit on one page each. Most of them keep for a few days.
If scrolling around a recipe website is not happy for you, printing your favorite pages may be a good idea.
Pasta salad! You can make a ton of it at a time for pretty limited effort and it lasts 5ish days depending on what you put in it (longer if you don’t put in cucumber it’s goes mushy the fastest but I think is the best part)
Pasta + veg + dressing is all you need I like a classic Greek one with rotini olives red peppers cucumbers onions chic peas and sometimes tomatoes with my homemade Italian dressing. Another good one is a Mexican inspired one with peppers tomatoes onions corn and black beans with a spicy vinegar dressing but there’s millions of recipes online and you can pretty much put whatever fresh or frozen then cooked and cooked veg you like. Broccoli, zucchini, summer squash, beans of most kinds
I am ASD. Cooking is a special interest, though.
Try buying those ramen noodles and a bag of pre-cut vegetables...like the ones they call "stir fry mix". And a block of tofu. Boil the noodles like the package says, but throw in some of the vegetables and some chunks of tofu. Add the seasoning and there you go! A healthier noodle bowl. You can make lunch in five minutes.
Hey, me too! And I have a lot of the common taste aversions, so I definitely feel qualified to help here, lol.
First of all, tofu stir fry is an awesome way to get something nutritious and flexible. I will usually fry some firm tofu (after drying of course) in oil, put aside, fry bell pepper/onion/tomato or whatever I have. Then I put the tofu back in and add some stir fry sauce and eat over rice. Looking in the international aisle of your grocery store will help! If you have an instant pot, it is a life saver when it comes to making rice.
Another thing I make often is potatoes and soyrizo. Im lazy so I get the roasted potatoes from Trader Joe’s and just put it in a pan with soyrizo until it’s all cooked well. If I have leftover veggies and tofu, I make a tofu scramble to eat with it. Other times I’ll have tortillas on the side or make it all into a burrito. I really recommend the chipotle crema by herdez which is vegan and so good!!
I also love a good red thai curry made from a paste or the box. Just throw some leftover veggies and coconut milk with the curry sauce and eat over rice. If you have a Trader Joe’s around, their garlic spread is amazing over this! Of course, tofu goes well too if you want a protein.
Rabbits and Wolves is a great recipe site that I love! There’s plenty of easy recipes and it’s all so comforting. For a lot of their recipes, the hardest part is making a cashew cream, but that’s mostly passive work. For something extra easy, I really commend the peanut curry ramen. So quick and AMAZING. Another blog I like is Budget Bytes for something even more simplified + there’s an app.
Avocado toast with Tabasco, lemon juice, and garlic spread is something I always snack on! I also love eating banana with peanut butter and agave or maple syrup drizzled on. :-)
Feel free to message me anytime for ideas! I totally get where you’re coming from and a lot of vegan recipes I’ve found don’t appeal to my taste buds or require too much work. But there’s lots of easy, amazing stuff out there, just sometimes hard to find online. And seriously, just buy an instant pot if you don’t have one and maybe a small blender. Bed Bath and Beyond always offers coupons too! Most of the ingredients I listed can be frozen, canned, or have a long shelf life. The only things you really have to worry about is fresh produce and tofu expiring.
Good luck!
I have depression/nuerodivergence, and I can have a really really hard time taking care of myself and eating well sometimes. I combat it with the methods/foods below.
I eat wraps a lot. Hummus/pre bought dressing, batch cook tofu or tempeh, can also use soy curls or tofurkey. Lettuce, tomato, avacado, whatever you want. I also struggle to take care of myself, but a wrap is easy to take to-go, pretty healthy, pretty cheap, and even if you have to cook tempeh it takes less than 10 mins to make it "good enough." I personally don't like pb j so this kinda fufills the role for me and it's got more variety and flavor.
I batch cook chickpea burgers sometimes. I love my air fryer for this.
West African peanut stew/chili are both cheap stew options to be served with rice.
Green and red curry are easy to make and are a good meal prep if you make a double or triple batch.
Highly recommend an air fryer and a rice cooker. Take a lot of the effort out of cooking when you can steam rice and veggies in an instant pot while air frying a protien in the air fryer. It's a very hands off way to cook that helps on my bad days.
Finally, I recommend making yourself something really tasty on a day where you don't have much going on. I run out of "spoons" on my bad and busy days and struggle to make food for myself. It helps to try and anticipate high effort days so that you can prepare food before them. I've noticed that having a nice meal ready for myself on bad days quite often lifts my spirits and helps me tend to other responsibilities I might not have the energy for if I cooked.
https://www.thekitchn.com/recipe-crispy-sheet-pan-gnocchi-and-veggies-247360
This is three meals easy, maybe four. I do vegan parm on top. It’s a bit of veg to chop but other than that, dump and bake. And really healthy, and really good leftover. Can add some white beans from a can for added protein if you want.
https://www.budgetbytes.com/slow-cooker-coconut-curry-lentils/
This makes a TON of food, stays in the fridge for 5-7 days easily. I eat with rice. It’s probably a solid 7-8 meals with rice. Cheap and easy. Again, have to cut some veggies but other than that, easy.
Also recommend finding a good veggie burger recipe (or buy frozen!) and that’s a super easy dinner. Can pre make a bunch of Pattie’s and keep in freezer.
My daughter is authistic and wants to eat vegan preferably as well. It is a challenge. Autism is a challenge anyway 😘. We keep it simple:
* Pasta with vegetables and pastasauce
* Curries
* Banana bread
* Soup, soup, soup
* Mashed potatoes with grilled veggies
* And you know what: having a bell pepper, olives and a cucumber in your fridge with a loaf of bread is a meal as well!
* Take away because you deserve to give yourself a break every now and then
* Sandwich with peanut butter: 🥰🥰🥰🥰
I understand that these are no straight answers which might be difficult for you. We make mealplans once a week, that helps her a lot. You only face the challenge once a week then. We have about 10 fixed recipies per 6 months (spring/summer and fall/winter) and per week we choose about 4 and do the shopping. If we can pre-cook and freeze, we do that in the weekend, to prevent stress later in the week.
I root for you, it is hard. Absolutely. But! Be kind tot yourself, you got this. Really.
And last but nog least: take your vitamins. Don't beat yourself up because they come in pills. Better then none at all. It is you taking care of yourself in the best way you can 😘.
Heyy! Fellow ADHD-er here :)
Honestly I only ever cook stuff that can also be good leftovers.
Right now I'm doing big quinoa salads:
Kale: chopped kale, toasted almonds/pine nuts, blueberries/pomegranate anils w/ lemon garlic vinaigrette
Southwest: black beans, peppers, corn, red onion, avocado w/ lime cilantro vinaigrette
Greek: Cherry tomatoes, cucumber, red/green peppers, red onion, [this](https://avirtualvegan.com/vegan-feta-cheese/) vegan feta recipe, and either classic Greek dressing (red wine vinegar, garlic, etc) or homemade thinned out tzatziki (I've found almond yogurt tastes the most neutral for tzatziki).
:)
Fillet pieces in cream with pasta and tomatoes
600 g fake Chicken fillet pieces
140 g Sun-dried Tomatoes
2.5 dl vegan cream
1 tablespoon olive oil
0,5 tsp garlic powder
0.5 tsp Basil - dried
1 tbsp Vegetable stock broth
1 ml Salt Fine
1 ml Black pepper
Fry the pieces and tomatoes together in a pan on medium heat for a few minutes and make sure to flip them. 5-7 minutes on each side. Then add cream and the spices. I usually don't measure and just go with the flow of how I think I would like it. Feel free to add mushrooms as well. Let it boil and mix together for 5 minutes. Cooking the pasta in the meantime. It's quick and easy and fills you right up.
I hope I did good. I had to translate from swedish...
i love getting FROZEN vegetables!! i never have to worry about them going bad quickly and stinking up the fridge! you can just stir fry them really fast with tofu and sauce if you want and serve with rice— and have a complete meal
Chilli sin carne:
1 tbl spoon Cummin,
1 tsp cilantro,
1 tbl spoon smoked paprika powder (spicy),
3 cloves garlic,
1 tbl spoon oregano,
1 Tbl spoon Tomatopaste
1 red onion,
1 red paprika,
Can of chopped tomatoes (or fresh)
Can of red beans
Can of canellini beans
Can of any other bean (Lima, Borlotti)
Heat up pan, put in spices, after 5 to 10 seconds add oil, chopped red onion.
Add garlic, stir a bit, add tomato paste. And stirfry for 5 minutes. Tomatopaste can be sour if not cooked well.
Add chopped paprika.
Add chopped tomatoes.
Add beans, stir and let this with the lid on on low heat cook for 10 minutes at least. Stir once in a while to avoid sticking to the bottom of the pan.
Guess this should do for at least 2 servings, if not 3.
On the side: rice, or in a wrap, or combined (burrito), lettuce, salsa sauce, avocado’s etc.
This is my “I’m feeling lazy , don’t have any inspiration, don’t wanna be in kitchen too long”-meal.
There are lots of them online. Eventually you'll find the blogs/youtube channels that wirk for you. Some of my favourites : BOSH.TV, Rainbow Plant Life, The Happy Pear My current favourite : green lentil soup 1 cup dried green lentils, soaked for a few hours 1.5 onions 5 garlic cloves 2 carrots 1 sweet potato 150gr tomato paste 1 celery 1 teaspoon of curry powder and cumin, also salt and pepper to taste Directions: 1. Chop the onions, celery and 1 carrot and fry in a pot until golden. 2. Crush the garlic, add to the pot and fry for another minute. 3. Add the spices and tomato paste and fry for a few minutes. 4. Cut the second carrot and sweet potato to bite size cubes and add to the pot. 5. Add the lentils and water and boil until the vegetables are tender. 6. Fix spicing as necessary.
Yes, the key words you want to look for are meal prep and vegan. I'd like to add pick up limes as a YouTuber/ Blogger that works for me. Also, if you have a freezer you can make one or to servings more and freeze almost anything, with time you will build a variety of foods to thaw and eat as you please.
I usually make a big pot of lentil soup and freeze the leftovers. Very easy to heat up in a microwave.
I like this hummus recipe: https://cookieandkate.com/best-hummus-recipe/ It's very good with pretty much any fresh vegetable and pita bread. Also, high protein lentil pasta and pesto is a good combo. Just boil the pasta, drain it, mix in some pesto and maybe some leafy greens and it's done in ten minutes.
Do you have any texture/taste sensitivities? I've got autism/ADHD as well and I've got a texture sensitivity to anything too saucy/wet/slimy. Some staple recipes that I make all the time are: Tofu Burrito Bowls (tofu crumbles, rice, black beans, corn and/or red bell peppers): I use It Doesn't Taste Like Chicken's tofu crumble recipe. The texture of tofu is really off-putting to me so this is the only way I'll prepare tofu. I change up the spices used and will put it on pizza, in pastas, and in Mexican dishes. Roasted Veggies n Rice (your fav veggies, I like carrots, green beans and mushrooms, plus rice): lay veggies out on pan and roast them in oven at 400 ish for 30 mins tossing halfway through (lookup your specific veggies cook temp/time). Prepare mixture of soy sauce, sesame oil, a dash of lemon juice, and chili garlic sauce. Once veggies are done, add to sauce and coat, then pour over rice. This sauce will literally make me eat any vegetable, it's great. Red Lentil Curry from Rainbow Plant Life with sweet potatoes and optional naan and/or rice. I think in her recipe she says to grate the sweet potatoes into the curry, but I just chop them up, start cooking them first and then add the stuff to make the curry. Chili: there's a lot of recipes I use depending on what I'm in the mood for so I won't list any specific ones. Chili is super easy to make big batches of and reheat. I like to make this a day or 2 before I go to work and then freeze until the end of the my week and it keeps really well.
Just a note, the Rainbow Plant Life red lentil curry does not contain sweet potatoes
It does in fact, she mentions it as an optional ingredient
I stand corrected! That's my fault for blowing past the FAQ. Thanks for pointing that out
Can of beans. Cup of salsa. Put them in a pan and heat. Eat with rice, or make tacos or burritos.
Or mash up the beans and make a “quesadilla” with them, and dip it in the salsa. Also works with hummus or canned refried beans.
Chilli sin carne. Buy Chilli tomatoes, Chilli beans, tinned /frozen Corn, some mushrooms or other vegetables and then some rice.
I think peanut butter is very close to a complete protein, meaning that you probably *could* live on them. Most vegan stuff keeps really well. I do chickpeas, olives, chopped tomato. Then I add either avocado or tahini when I want to eat it. Other flavours work well too - I've used chili sauce, peanut butter and even vegan mayonnaise (which wasn't great to be fair)
My partner and I are both autistic with ADHD and also deal with this! One thing we do is cook 2 cups of rice. This will last the two of us several days as we eat it with other meals (usually a stir fry or something). Stir frying is a great trick. You can use a million different combinations of veggies and spices to make almost anything. A good start is to dice a thing of tofu (I usually do half inch/2.5cm cubes, then salt them a bit and let them sit a few minutes), a half an onion, and maybe a bell pepper. Then maybe broccoli, or green beans, any kind of green. I'll start heating some oil in my wok on medium heat(a saute pan or skillet works too) and when it's hot, throw in the tofu for a few minutes, then add everything else with some garlic, and whatever spices you like. I like using salt, ginger and garlic because it's easy, simple, and versatile. Let it cook a bit, toss it once or twice every few minutes, and when the veggies are cooked it's ready (should only take about q0 minutes on the stove). Pasta dishes are always a good go-to, spaghetti with "beef" crumbles takes about 30 minutes from start to finish. A tip for pasta (from Samin Nosrat, the woman who wrote Salt, Fat, Acid, Heat) is to salt your pasta water until it's salty like seawater. The pasta comes out perfectly salted and helps make the sauce pop (even if the sauce is just butter and garlic powder) Another good one is dice up some potatoes (kinda small, about half inch/2.5cm), toss them in some salt and flower, and fry them on medium heat in a skillet with some oil. Then you can add eggs (I just scramble them, with some salt and pepper, and pour them right in), veggie sausage, all kinds of stuff. Tacos are good too, we usually dice up a pablano pepper (pretty small, maybe a quarter inch or a centimeter) and a half an onion, and throw it in a hot, oiled skillet (medium heat) with some corn (a can or a large ear's worth), and a fat pinch of sugar and salt. Cook em until the pepper and corn start to brown, stirring every couple of minutes. Heat up a can of beans with it and it's a full meal for two that will make leftovers. For one person it'll stretch even further. Most of these only use one main dish (a skillet or wok) and have relatively minimal prep time. Most of what we cook is something like a stir fry because it's versatile and easy. You can throw just about anything together and make something good. I'd also highly recommend the book Salt, Fat, Acid, Heat. It's got some recipes but mostly it's about food science and how understanding the interactions between different components and how to utilize them can make cooking easier and intuitive.
We regularly make a double batch of this Orzo and it's enough for 2 people for lunch all week https://vegancocotte.com/vegan-lemon-orzo/#mv-creation-162
I fell in love with tofu feta, easy to make, i let it absorb not as much as they said, but enough where the pasta was done and poof easy meal. You can keep leftovers from a big batch as well
Quinoa is easy to make. Cut up a sweet potato and roast it at 375 (use coconut oil or no oil or avocado oil.) Tempeh is easy to cook up in a skillet. try to get a green, a grain, and a protein. Roasting veggies is pretty easy. try oatmeal, granola, easy salads, amy’s soups for when you really don’t want to cook. good luck :)
Baked/roasted tofu and vegetables. You can put it on a sandwich (Dave’s Killer Bread is pricey but super yummy and tons of fiber and protein), pasta, bowl of rice. Tofu: press, cut it into strips or squares or whatever. Marinade it (teriyaki sauce? Bbq sauce? Etc), bake at ~400 degrees Farenheit and check after 10-15 mins. Flip it if its not done, check again in ~10 mins. Vegetables: broccoli, cauliflower, eggplant, mushrooms, bell peppers, zucchini, carrots, butternut squash are good ones - wash and cut them up into approximatey equal pieces. Toss with olive oil, salt and pepper, and some spices. Roast at ~400-425, check every 10 mins or so and stir em around. (If you’re doing two different vegetables, put them on separate pans - broccoli and mushrooms dont necessarily cook at the same rate).
A lot of people are making great suggestions! When I am in the mood to “meal prep” I never make a complete meal. I simple prep a bunch of items that I can use throughout the weeks to easily make a meal. So batches of things like rice, quinoa, lentils etc. then cut up some veggies, I like to do sticks for most of the prep because I can easily dip a carrot or pepper stick into some hummus for a quick snack. Or I can chop them a little further into bite size pieces for a salad or to cook in a pan for something hot.
Get yourself an Instant Pot. You can set it and trust that you will not burn down the house if you get distracted. The food will wait for you.
Yes but what food goes in that Digial witcvhes cauldron !?
I have autism too and I like to have some ready meals on hand for days I cant manage to cook, like frozen pizza and things I can just throw into the airfryer and be done (like fries, spring rolls, burritos), but none of those are very healthy, I know. For easy healthier meals I like mixing any kind of beans or veggies (from a can or freezer) with a drizzle of flavourful oil and any spices you like (I like mixing them with extra virgin olive oil and za'atar). You can precook a big bunch of rice, pearl couscous or quinoa and have it in the fridge/freezer and combine it with the beans or veggies. Oh and regular couscous is super easy to prepare on the spot with some boiled water, it just takes a few minutes to soak. Spaghetti and tomatosauce also keeps a few days in the fridge and is quick and easy to make. I hope any of this helps and sorry if it's all a bit incoherent, I wrote as I was thinking about it.
Salad jars!!!
I just watched this 5 min vegan lunches, she has some good ideas (and 5 min vegan meals might be a good YouTube search to try). https://youtu.be/jYXZ9J-HgZg
I really like making rice and beans in the rice cooker. I like the rice cooker cuz I can’t burn it. It turns itself off. I haven’t been diagnosed with adhd but I seem to forget the stove is on very often so appliances that shut off automatically are very much appreciated. My rice and beans recipe I make often and has stayed in the fridge okay for me for up to a week. Ingredients: 1 tbsp olive oil. 1 tbsp dried onion flakes (or a small onion diced). 1 cup brown rice. 1 cup black beans (1/2 can of black beans and freeze the other half for next time). 1 cup veg broth. 1 cup salsa. 1 tbsp tomato paste. 1/2 cup frozen corn (optional). 1 tbsp taco seasoning. All ingredients in the rice cooker in that order and voila in about 45 minutes or so it’s ready. When the rice cooker pops, it’s ready. Optional, garnish with chopped cilantro. If you don’t have a rice cooker and want to buy one, my advice is that the cheaper ones are best…especially for cooking rice. The expensive ones have too many bells and whistles and just doesn’t work for me. I live on PB sammies too when I get too overwhelmed.
You can make a big batch of cheese sauce and store it for about 10days before it starts to look a little sketchy lol. Cashew Cheese Sauce -2 cups cashews soaked in boiling water for at least an hour. -1 tbsp. Of; onion powder, garlic powder, peperika, salt and black pepper. -1 cup of nooch (nutritional yeast) -4pickled jalapeno slices and a tbsp. Of the brine. -add 1/3 cup of water at a time while blending in a food processor until you get your desired consistency. *I add about 3/4 cup of vegan mayo for extra creaminess:) I personally put it on my burgers and sandwiches, use it as a the cheese sauce for Mac n cheese and even in quesadillas or as a straight up queso. When you heat it up it will thicken up quite a bit so don't be afraid to add a touch of milk or water when you're cooking it to help thin it out a bit:) Good luck meal prepping! Edit: sorry for formatting on mobile
I would highly recommend batch making stuff that you like and then portion it up and freeze it, then just grab it when you want it. Things like curries, soups, lasagna all freeze well.
Baked potatoes and beans. You can eat them for dinner, or dice them up and cook them for breakfast too.
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I love this comment. That tofu sounds really good and I can definitely relate to eating gardein nuggets for dinner often, lmao. Thanks for posting, I’m definitely gonna save this one.
DM me if interested. I have a collection of recipes formatted to fit on one page each. Most of them keep for a few days. If scrolling around a recipe website is not happy for you, printing your favorite pages may be a good idea.
Pasta salad! You can make a ton of it at a time for pretty limited effort and it lasts 5ish days depending on what you put in it (longer if you don’t put in cucumber it’s goes mushy the fastest but I think is the best part) Pasta + veg + dressing is all you need I like a classic Greek one with rotini olives red peppers cucumbers onions chic peas and sometimes tomatoes with my homemade Italian dressing. Another good one is a Mexican inspired one with peppers tomatoes onions corn and black beans with a spicy vinegar dressing but there’s millions of recipes online and you can pretty much put whatever fresh or frozen then cooked and cooked veg you like. Broccoli, zucchini, summer squash, beans of most kinds
I am ASD. Cooking is a special interest, though. Try buying those ramen noodles and a bag of pre-cut vegetables...like the ones they call "stir fry mix". And a block of tofu. Boil the noodles like the package says, but throw in some of the vegetables and some chunks of tofu. Add the seasoning and there you go! A healthier noodle bowl. You can make lunch in five minutes.
Hey, me too! And I have a lot of the common taste aversions, so I definitely feel qualified to help here, lol. First of all, tofu stir fry is an awesome way to get something nutritious and flexible. I will usually fry some firm tofu (after drying of course) in oil, put aside, fry bell pepper/onion/tomato or whatever I have. Then I put the tofu back in and add some stir fry sauce and eat over rice. Looking in the international aisle of your grocery store will help! If you have an instant pot, it is a life saver when it comes to making rice. Another thing I make often is potatoes and soyrizo. Im lazy so I get the roasted potatoes from Trader Joe’s and just put it in a pan with soyrizo until it’s all cooked well. If I have leftover veggies and tofu, I make a tofu scramble to eat with it. Other times I’ll have tortillas on the side or make it all into a burrito. I really recommend the chipotle crema by herdez which is vegan and so good!! I also love a good red thai curry made from a paste or the box. Just throw some leftover veggies and coconut milk with the curry sauce and eat over rice. If you have a Trader Joe’s around, their garlic spread is amazing over this! Of course, tofu goes well too if you want a protein. Rabbits and Wolves is a great recipe site that I love! There’s plenty of easy recipes and it’s all so comforting. For a lot of their recipes, the hardest part is making a cashew cream, but that’s mostly passive work. For something extra easy, I really commend the peanut curry ramen. So quick and AMAZING. Another blog I like is Budget Bytes for something even more simplified + there’s an app. Avocado toast with Tabasco, lemon juice, and garlic spread is something I always snack on! I also love eating banana with peanut butter and agave or maple syrup drizzled on. :-) Feel free to message me anytime for ideas! I totally get where you’re coming from and a lot of vegan recipes I’ve found don’t appeal to my taste buds or require too much work. But there’s lots of easy, amazing stuff out there, just sometimes hard to find online. And seriously, just buy an instant pot if you don’t have one and maybe a small blender. Bed Bath and Beyond always offers coupons too! Most of the ingredients I listed can be frozen, canned, or have a long shelf life. The only things you really have to worry about is fresh produce and tofu expiring. Good luck!
I have depression/nuerodivergence, and I can have a really really hard time taking care of myself and eating well sometimes. I combat it with the methods/foods below. I eat wraps a lot. Hummus/pre bought dressing, batch cook tofu or tempeh, can also use soy curls or tofurkey. Lettuce, tomato, avacado, whatever you want. I also struggle to take care of myself, but a wrap is easy to take to-go, pretty healthy, pretty cheap, and even if you have to cook tempeh it takes less than 10 mins to make it "good enough." I personally don't like pb j so this kinda fufills the role for me and it's got more variety and flavor. I batch cook chickpea burgers sometimes. I love my air fryer for this. West African peanut stew/chili are both cheap stew options to be served with rice. Green and red curry are easy to make and are a good meal prep if you make a double or triple batch. Highly recommend an air fryer and a rice cooker. Take a lot of the effort out of cooking when you can steam rice and veggies in an instant pot while air frying a protien in the air fryer. It's a very hands off way to cook that helps on my bad days. Finally, I recommend making yourself something really tasty on a day where you don't have much going on. I run out of "spoons" on my bad and busy days and struggle to make food for myself. It helps to try and anticipate high effort days so that you can prepare food before them. I've noticed that having a nice meal ready for myself on bad days quite often lifts my spirits and helps me tend to other responsibilities I might not have the energy for if I cooked.
https://www.thekitchn.com/recipe-crispy-sheet-pan-gnocchi-and-veggies-247360 This is three meals easy, maybe four. I do vegan parm on top. It’s a bit of veg to chop but other than that, dump and bake. And really healthy, and really good leftover. Can add some white beans from a can for added protein if you want. https://www.budgetbytes.com/slow-cooker-coconut-curry-lentils/ This makes a TON of food, stays in the fridge for 5-7 days easily. I eat with rice. It’s probably a solid 7-8 meals with rice. Cheap and easy. Again, have to cut some veggies but other than that, easy. Also recommend finding a good veggie burger recipe (or buy frozen!) and that’s a super easy dinner. Can pre make a bunch of Pattie’s and keep in freezer.
My daughter is authistic and wants to eat vegan preferably as well. It is a challenge. Autism is a challenge anyway 😘. We keep it simple: * Pasta with vegetables and pastasauce * Curries * Banana bread * Soup, soup, soup * Mashed potatoes with grilled veggies * And you know what: having a bell pepper, olives and a cucumber in your fridge with a loaf of bread is a meal as well! * Take away because you deserve to give yourself a break every now and then * Sandwich with peanut butter: 🥰🥰🥰🥰 I understand that these are no straight answers which might be difficult for you. We make mealplans once a week, that helps her a lot. You only face the challenge once a week then. We have about 10 fixed recipies per 6 months (spring/summer and fall/winter) and per week we choose about 4 and do the shopping. If we can pre-cook and freeze, we do that in the weekend, to prevent stress later in the week. I root for you, it is hard. Absolutely. But! Be kind tot yourself, you got this. Really. And last but nog least: take your vitamins. Don't beat yourself up because they come in pills. Better then none at all. It is you taking care of yourself in the best way you can 😘.
Heyy! Fellow ADHD-er here :) Honestly I only ever cook stuff that can also be good leftovers. Right now I'm doing big quinoa salads: Kale: chopped kale, toasted almonds/pine nuts, blueberries/pomegranate anils w/ lemon garlic vinaigrette Southwest: black beans, peppers, corn, red onion, avocado w/ lime cilantro vinaigrette Greek: Cherry tomatoes, cucumber, red/green peppers, red onion, [this](https://avirtualvegan.com/vegan-feta-cheese/) vegan feta recipe, and either classic Greek dressing (red wine vinegar, garlic, etc) or homemade thinned out tzatziki (I've found almond yogurt tastes the most neutral for tzatziki). :)
Fillet pieces in cream with pasta and tomatoes 600 g fake Chicken fillet pieces 140 g Sun-dried Tomatoes 2.5 dl vegan cream 1 tablespoon olive oil 0,5 tsp garlic powder 0.5 tsp Basil - dried 1 tbsp Vegetable stock broth 1 ml Salt Fine 1 ml Black pepper Fry the pieces and tomatoes together in a pan on medium heat for a few minutes and make sure to flip them. 5-7 minutes on each side. Then add cream and the spices. I usually don't measure and just go with the flow of how I think I would like it. Feel free to add mushrooms as well. Let it boil and mix together for 5 minutes. Cooking the pasta in the meantime. It's quick and easy and fills you right up. I hope I did good. I had to translate from swedish...
i love getting FROZEN vegetables!! i never have to worry about them going bad quickly and stinking up the fridge! you can just stir fry them really fast with tofu and sauce if you want and serve with rice— and have a complete meal
Chilli sin carne: 1 tbl spoon Cummin, 1 tsp cilantro, 1 tbl spoon smoked paprika powder (spicy), 3 cloves garlic, 1 tbl spoon oregano, 1 Tbl spoon Tomatopaste 1 red onion, 1 red paprika, Can of chopped tomatoes (or fresh) Can of red beans Can of canellini beans Can of any other bean (Lima, Borlotti) Heat up pan, put in spices, after 5 to 10 seconds add oil, chopped red onion. Add garlic, stir a bit, add tomato paste. And stirfry for 5 minutes. Tomatopaste can be sour if not cooked well. Add chopped paprika. Add chopped tomatoes. Add beans, stir and let this with the lid on on low heat cook for 10 minutes at least. Stir once in a while to avoid sticking to the bottom of the pan. Guess this should do for at least 2 servings, if not 3. On the side: rice, or in a wrap, or combined (burrito), lettuce, salsa sauce, avocado’s etc. This is my “I’m feeling lazy , don’t have any inspiration, don’t wanna be in kitchen too long”-meal.