The Best Brands of Affordable Vegan Ready-Meals

Lazy Vegan meals are sold nationwide in stores. They are bit more expensive, but you can just half the pack (fill up with potatoes and vegetables, then chill the rest to heat and eat next day). Packed with fresh veggies and protein.

Before cooking, read up on food safety for people & pets (many human foods are unsafe around animal friends). Recycle packaging at kerbside or supermarket bag bins.

The range includes:

• Gnocchi al pesto rosso
• Korean noodles
• Tikka masala
• Pasta al pesto
• Italian risotto
• Thai green curry
• Mexican fiesta
• Pasta alla bolognese
• Chilli sin carne

Just Foods (affordable ready-meals from food waste)

Just Foods (Sheffield) is an interesting idea. These guys use quality surplus and locally-grown ingredients, to make up ‘ready-meals’ made from food waste. You just buy one-offs or on subscription, then keep them in the freezer. The meals are frozen on site to preserve taste and quality, and sold in biodegradable and compostable packaging.

In the UK alone, millions of tons of food is wasted each year, and there is enough food thrown away worldwide, to feed every hungry person on earth.

The largest sources of food waste are fresh produce (fruits, vegetables, herbs), bread, dairy and leftover cooked meals. Households are one factor, but supermarkets and the hospitality sector (hotels, restaurants etc) also account for over 1 million tons of food waste each year).

SUMA (affordable vegan tinned meals)

Despite a modern obsession for cookery shows, the truth is that most people will take a quick tinned meal anyway (like beans on toast). Here are a few other good tinned meals.

They are ideal if you can’t be bothered to make your own seitan or don’t have the time or energy every night, to cook a meal from scratch. If bulk-buying, use

Store half-eaten meals from tins in airtight containers (don’t keep in tins). Always pop the ring-pull back over holes before recycling cans, to avoid wildlife getting trapped.

SUMA is a co-operative that sells wholesale to independent health shops. It has its own range of good tinned meals that you can find in health shops, farm shops and some smaller supermarkets (like Co-op or NISA).

These are mostly with protein, so with bread and some vegetables, make balanced meals. They don’t even need can openers. Just open, heat and eat:

• Vegan Ravioli with Mushroom Sauce
• Vegan Mac n Cheeze
• Vegan Cheesy Pasta Pot
• Spicy chorizo stew (chickpeas, peppers)
• Vegan Meatballs
• Vegan Meatball Bolognese
• Saag Aloo (‘curry in a tin’ with potato, spinach and spices)
• Baked Beans with vegan sausages

Tins of Seitan ‘Mock Duck!

Look in health stores for tins of mock duck. This is actually very tasty, a mix of seitan (wheat meat) in gravy. Use it to make stews and casseroles. You could use it to make vegan cottage pie.

Indian-Influenced Vegan Tinned Meals

GEO Organics offers tinned meals including chickpea lentil dahl, tasty tarka dahl, coconut kale dahl, chickpea apricot tagine & Moroccan chickpea tagine.

Plus side dishes of Bombay potatoes (with tomatoes  & spices) and thick vegetable hotpot (carrots, parsnips, potatoes, mushrooms, tomatoes & herbs).

Princes plant-based ready meals are in 2-person portions. Just heat for 5 minutes on the stove and serve with rice, pasta or on baked spuds:

• Thai Green Curry (onion, green pepper, green beans, sweet potato, water chestnuts) in a garlic, lime, ginger spicy coconut cream).
• Mexican Mixed Bean Chilli (tomatoes, peppers, spices and mix of beans – kidney, black & pinto)
• Chunky Vegetable Curry (lentils & chickpeas with potato, carrot, onion, green beans, tomatoes & spices)
• Lentil & Mushroom Bolognese (red lentils, tomatoes, mushrooms, onion, carrot, peppers, garlic, ginger, herbs and molasses with vegan Worcestershire sauce).

Soulful (chef-prepared nutritious meal pots)

Soulful offers nice plant-based ready meals at an affordable price. This brand was founded by a man who was always making himself nourishing tasty lunches at work, leading others to wonderful how they could eat that well too! Made by hand in a London kitchen, allergens are listed in bold on packs and you can filter by allergens, if ordering online. 

You can return outer packaging, insulation and ice-packs (keep away from children and pets) using the free returns label.

Boxes are insulated with recycled denim and you can reuse to keep drinks cold or bread warm! You can recycle trays, sleeves and pots. All deliveries are carbon-neutral. 

The range includes 20 chef-prepared nutritious and delicious vegan dishes that are packed with vegetables, fibre, protein and sustainable carbons. You can heat them up on the hob, in the oven or in a microwave if you use one. Delivery is free for orders over £35 (and selection boxes).

The range includes:

• Moroccan seitan tagine with British spelt
• Thai green jackfruit curry with brown rice
• Cajun-spiced jackfruit stew with British spelt
• West African chickpea peanut stew with red rice
• Brazilian tomato & black bean stew
• Chestnut mushroom stroganoff
• Butternut, lentil & spinach hotpot
• Sri Lankan cauliflower & kale with quinoa
• Tempeh katsu with peppers, corn & brown rice
• Tikka masala with sweet potato, cauliflower & rice

The company also makes a range of super-soups that last for a few days in the fridge or can be frozen for up to 3months:

• Sweet potato, coconut & coriander
• Butternut, lentil & squash
• Thai chilli kale with peas & quinoa

The ingredients from these meals are from quality sustainable sources. Quinoa is grown in Britain and spelt is from the renowned Sharpham Farm. Not importing such ingredients is not just good for the planet, but supports farmers and also keeps costs and carbon emissions lower.

PLNT (vegan ready meals from The Netherlands)

PLNT (The Netherlands) is one of the new emerging brands of more natural plant-based alternatives to meat. This one was created originally by a former butcher who knew what meat tastes like. All the products are made with natural ingredients (including sustainable soy from Austria and pea protein from France), have no palm oil and are sold in sustainable and easy-to-recycle packaging.

The range includes:

• No-lamb tajine
• No-chicken red curry
• No-meatballs green curry
• No-chicken tikka masala
• No-beef teriyaki
• No-meat pasta bolognese
• No-meat chilli sin carne

Plenny Pot (nutritious meals from The Netherlands)

Plenny Pot is a real find from The Netherlands. It offers quick affordable shipping worldwide, and is an alternative to unhealthy expensive ready-meals, if you are unable to cook for any reason (this could include living without access to a kitchen).

These meals are based on the nutritional requirements of healthy adults, so check with your GP regarding the nutrition for pregnancy/nursing or affected medical conditions (not recommended for children).

Of course, it’s best to cook wholesome meals from scratch. But if life is not able for you to do that right now, this is a good option. No food waste. Just scoop what you need, enjoy a tasty hot plant-based meals, and get all your nutrients.

You can choose to buy from the following:

For now, the bar wrappers can’t be recycled (due to a mix of plastic with foil). But the sachets for the shakes and meals (likely the products you’re interested in) can be recycled at kerbside or supermarket bag recycling bins). 

These are ready-meals you just mix with boiling water, no fridge needed, you just use the scoops to add and mix your meals).

• Creamy Cajun Pasta
• Lentil Bolognese
• Mac ‘n’ Cheeze
• Vegetable Korma Rice
• Mushroom & Buckwheat Risotto
• Satay Noodles
• Tikka Masala Lentils

This is a fab company that sells its meals to 88 countries, and has so far sold over 45 million meals, with around 10 sold every minute.

And if you sign for regular orders (which can be postponed or cancelled anytime), you get big discounts – meals work out around £2.50 (compare that to a supermarket ‘meal deal’ of a soggy sandwich, pack of crisps and bottled water for £4 or £5).