My Meal Plan

I’ve been asked by 3 people on 3 separate occasions to share my meal plan because

• it takes me 1 hour and 15 minutes to cook chickpea salad and tofu curry together
• the tofu curry lasts 7 days and chickpea salad lasts 4 days
• my food costs no more than $140 per month

In summary, my meal plan is: chickpea salad for breakfast, tofu curry for lunch, some snacks between lunch and dinner, and oatmeal for dinner.

Eat chickpea salad w/ toast when a toaster is available and general microwaving is not. Eat tofu curry when microwaving is available only! Use glass container or ceramic plate when microwaving.

In the grocery purchase list, I’m not quantifying how much to get because grocery shopping frequency may differ, and different stores sell different amounts at a time. In general, I recommend cooking chickpea salad and tofu curry right after grocery shopping.

I use numbered lists here, but they only define what shouldn’t be started before something else. Realistically, you should do as many things as you can as fast as possible in a way that minimizes wait times. For example, while I wait for things to cook on the stove for tofu curry, I chop things for the chickpea salad.

Chickpea Salad w/ Toast

Breakfast meal. Can be swapped with lunch. Chickpea Salad lasts about 4 days for 1 person. This dish should be able to be done in 30 minutes. A video tutorial is available below.

Equipment needed:

• Kitchen scale
• Small pot
• Chopping board and knife
• Container with lid, ideally over 64 fl. oz.
• Strainer (optional; use where preferred)
• Mortar and pestle if using whole cashews

Grocery purchase list:

• Quinoa
• Canned chickpeas
• Honey
• Raisins
• Kale / Spinach
• Celery
• Red bell peppers (can do green)
• Whole wheat bread
• Whole cashews or cashew pieces

Cooking instructions:

1. Clear and clean your kitchen area
2. To 60 grams of quinoa, add 150 grams of water, in a small pot
   1. Set pot on stove to high until boiling begins
   2. Once boiling begins, lower temperature with lid on; set timer for 15 minutes
   3. When timer is done, ‘fluff’ up the quinoa with a fork; wait another 5 minutes
   4. Add to container
3. Wash a big handful of kale/spinach, chop it to small pieces, and add to container
4. Wash 4 small or 2 large celery sticks, dice, and add to container
5. Dice 2 small or 1 large red bell pepper, and add to container
6. Drain water from 1 canned chickpeas; then add to container
7. Add half a cup of raisins (small handful) to container
8. Pour about 2 tablespoons of honey; more if you prefer more sweet
9. Add about half a cup to a cup of cashews; break them to pieces if they are whole
10. Close lid of container. Shake vigorously.
11. Store in fridge

When you are ready to eat, toast the bread (can use toaster or pan), and eat with chickpea salad.

Tofu Curry

Lunch. Can be swapped with breakfast. When eating this, heat up the curry in a glass container or ceramic plate! You can swap the tofu and lentils for whole chicken if preferred. This will last 7 days, 5 with chicken. Below is sample clips from one of my tofu curry + chickpea salad cooking sessions; this is to showcase how sequence of things is important to be faster. My grocery bill for this was $21.77 from Market Basket.

Equipment needed:

• Kitchen scale
• Small pot
• Chopping board and knife
• Large pot
• Strainer
• Mortar and pestle if using whole cashews
• Measuring spoons

Grocery purchase list:

• Quinoa
• Bell peppers
• Dal/lentils (really, any works)
• Extra firm tofu
• Sliced mushrooms
• Onion
• Canned tomatoes (sauce or diced works)
• Cilantro leaves
• Olive oil
• Whole cashews or cashew pieces
• Frozen green peas
• Lots of spices, in order of importance:
  • Salt
  • Black pepper
  • Garam Masala if lazy, otherwise:
    • Coriander
    • Cumin
    • Red pepper
    • Yellow pepper
  • Garlic (minced is easiest)
  • Cardamom seeds
  • Cumin seeds
  • Ginger (powder is easiest)
  • Bay leaves
  • Staranice
  • The black stuff that looks like a ball on a stick

Cooking instructions. Here I am using a numbered list, but you should proceed through as many steps as you can while other items are cooking:

1. Clear and clean your kitchen area
2. To 200 grams of dal/lentils, add 550 grams of water in small pot
   1. Bring to boil with lid closed.
   2. Add toasted quinoa with spices (see later steps)
   3. Simmer for 20 minutes
   4. Fluff up with fork. Wait 5 minutes. Then turn off.
3. Squeeze out water of 2 tofu blocks without breaking them
   • I recommend placing a paper towel underneath them and apply weight on top of the tofu so that water gets removed. The more water exits the tofu, the more spices can enter it
4. After washing and peeling, dice 2 small or 1 large bell pepper and onion
5. Wash the small pack mushrooms very well
6. Set large pot to heat until Leidenfrost effect is achieved
7. Toast 100 grams of quinoa with 0.5 tablespoon of cumin for 2 minutes, then transfer to the small boiling pot
8. Apply a coat of olive oil to large pot, then drop in the mushrooms
9. Once mushrooms have no more water to let go, transfer mushrooms to a temporary non-plastic container
10. Apply a coat of olive oil to large pot, then drop in the onions with cardamom seeds (2), bay leaves (3 leaves), garlic (1 to 2 tablespoons), staranice (2), and the black stuff (4).
11. Dice the tofu
12. Once onions seem toasted, add the tofu
    • Take this time to add 2 tablespoons of garam masala, or:
      • 1 tablespoon of salt, black pepper, cumin powder, coriander powder, and red chili powder
      • 0.5 tablespoon of ginger powder and turmeric
13. Add 1 canned tomatoes and items from small pot and the mushrooms
14. Add about a cup of green peas
15. Add handful of cilantro leaves (tear them or chop them up) after washing them
16. Add a handful of crushed cashews
17. Add bell peppers
18. Cook everything together for 15 minutes
    • If you used chicken instead, make sure that the internal temperature reaches 150°F
19. Let the pot cool for 2 hours at least, and then transfer to fridge.

When you are ready to eat, heat for about 2 to 3 minutes.

Oatmeal

This is literally just oatmeal with almond milk heated for 3 to 4 minutes. This is for dinner. I used to add strawberry banana smoothie, but after I went vegan, I just use vegan protein powder for flavoring.

Snacks

Keep a honey crisp apple in a zip lock bag and 2 granola bars on you as snacks if needed.