Too Busy to Cook? These Vegan Frozen Meals Are Healthy and Convenient

When we’re hungry and too busy or tired to cook, most of us end up rummaging through the freezer for something easy to heat up. And while there isn’t anything wrong with throwing together some frozen nuggets and fries every now and then, it’s good to have a few convenient and healthy options stocked up, too.

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Fortunately, the $89 billion frozen meal market is packed with options that make quick, easy, and healthy plant-based food more accessible than ever. Below, we’ve rounded up some of our favorite brands to try. 

The benefits of healthy frozen meals 

The biggest benefit of healthy, plant-based frozen meals has to be the convenience. At the end of a long day, most people don’t want to spend a lot of time in the kitchen whipping up a nutritious meal. In fact, according to the National Institutes of Health, one-third of young adults feel they are too busy to eat healthful foods. But having a healthy frozen meal on hand can help overcome this problem. 

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RELATED: Eat Like a Centenarian: The Official Guide to Blue Zones-Inspired Frozen Meals

Pre-packaged meals also help reduce food waste, as everything is pre-portioned. Frozen meals can even be nutritionally balanced, despite their reputation for being unhealthy. The most important things to look out for are options with a focus on whole, minimally processed ingredients. These tend to retain more of their original nutrients compared to heavily processed alternatives. They also often contain fewer additives and calories, and they’re higher in fiber.

9 frozen meal brands for quick and easy vegan dishes

Stock your freezer with these meal options to ensure you always have a delicious, nutritious, quick, and convenient dinner option ready to go whenever you need.

Amy’s

1Amy’s

When it comes to frozen burritos, pizzas, and entrées, Amy’s has been a go-to brand for vegans, and more generally, those who abstain from meat. This vegetarian brand offers a number of vegan frozen meals including Pad Thai, Spinach & Cheeze Ravioli, Homestyle Breakfast Scramble, and more.
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2 Gardein

This Canadian brand is known mostly for its wide range of vegan meat products (think Crispy Chick’n Sliders and Sliced Italian Saus’ge, for example). But it also has a whole range of meatless meals, like its Ultimate Plant-Based Be’f & Broccoli Bowl. Each meal comes packed with plant-based protein—expect anywhere between 14 and 18 grams. Easy, delicious heat-and-eat meals that help meet your protein goals? Yes, please!

Purple Carrot

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Purple Carrot

Purple Carrot is another popular meal delivery service (find out more about its meal kits here!), but this Veggie Award-winning brand also offers healthy, sustainable frozen meal options, too. You can find tasty options like its Udon Noodle Bowl, Vegetable Tikka Masala, and Meatball Marinara (all of which are made with fresh, locally sourced ingredients) in most US retailers, including Sprouts, Kroger, and Target.
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Tattooed Chef

4Tattooed Chef

Vegetarian brand Tattooed Chef offers a handful of satiating vegan dishes for every meal of the day. Start your day with an Organic Açai Bowl topped off with fruit and granola. For lunch, reach for the hearty and healthy Buddha Bowl, which features seasoned tofu, sweet potatoes, and chili-coated chickpeas served over riced cauliflower and tahini sauce. And for dinner, you can’t go wrong with the Chili Crunch Wonton Bowl. 
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Trader Joe’s

5Trader Joe’s

Trader Joe’s frozen aisle is filled to the brim with easy, healthy vegan meals. The grocery store’s kimbap, for example, is made with fried tofu, carrots, picked radish, spinach, seaweed, and rice for a quick meal that’s both satiating and nutritious. Other options include Vegan Thai Green Curry, Vegetable Biryani With Vegetable Dumplings, Riced Cauliflower Bowls, and more. Check out our full list of frozen vegan meals at Trader Joe’s here. 

Blue Zones Kitchen

6 Blue Zones Kitchen

The Blue Zones Kitchen offers eight nutritious meals inspired by the diets of those who live in the world’s five longevity hotspots (Okinawa, Japan; Sardinia, Italy; Ikaria, Greece; Nicoya, Costa Rica; and Loma Linda, CA), known as the Blue Zones. “We prefer to see people cooking at home, but the next best thing is to eat a whole food, plant-based meal that’s been carefully crafted for longevity,” Dan Buettner, the National Geographic explorer who connected the dots on the Blue Zones, told Business Insider. Bowl options include Adobo Mushroom, Korean Mixed Rice, Minestrone Pasta, and more. 
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Daily Harvest

7 Daily Harvest

Primarily a meal delivery service, Daily Harvest is a great choice for busy people who want a quick and easy plant-based breakfast option. Perfect for busy mornings, the brand’s Protein Oat Bowls come in four flavors: Blueberry Maple Pecan Protein, Mixed Berry Protein, Hazelnut Cacao Protein, and Apple Cinnamon Protein. Each packs a whopping 16 to 17 grams of protein. Previously, Daily Harvest’s meal options were available only as part of a monthly meal delivery subscription, but now, the brand’s products are available for individual purchase—no subscription required. 
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Saffron Road

8 Saffron Road

Saffron Road isn’t a totally vegan brand, but it does have plenty of nutritious plant-based options on offer. Look for options like its Vegetable Biryani, for example, which features roasted cauliflower, chickpeas, cashews, and caramelized onions all combined with fluffy basmati rice. Other tasty options include Vegetable Pad Thai and Chickpea Masala.
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9 Cedarlane

Southern California brand Cedarlane has been providing the US with healthy, organic, frozen foods since the 1980s. It’s not completely vegan, but it boasts a strong Simply Plant Powered Range, which includes options like gluten-free Vegan Lentil Shepherd’s Pie and Vegan Lasagna.