10 things seasoned vegans always do on weekends

From vegoutmag.com

By Maya Flores 

Seasoned vegans don’t rely on willpower—they rig weekends: multipliers, two killer sauces, a smart freezer, and joy baked in

Weekends are where your weekday choices cash out.

If Monday–Friday is about not spiralling at 6 p.m., Saturday and Sunday are about setting up a life you actually want to live—and eat.

The seasoned vegans I admire (and try to copy) don’t spend their days off policing themselves; they design systems that make plant-based eating effortless when the week gets loud again.

Here are 10 things they reliably do—quiet, repeatable moves that make Monday feel lighter and dinner taste like intention instead of improvisation.

1) Restock the “building blocks,” not just groceries

Veteran vegans don’t buy vibes; they buy components.

A quick run means dry goods (lentils, chickpeas, oats, rice or quinoa), a couple of proteins (tofu, tempeh, edamame, seitan if you eat gluten), sturdy veg (onions, carrots, crucifers), and leafy greens that actually get eaten.

Add flavour agents: canned tomatoes, coconut milk, tahini, miso, soy or tamari, vinegars, citrus, fresh herbs, whole spices.

They shop like they’re stocking a tiny restaurant: a short, dependable list that turns into a dozen meals. Fewer “specialty” jars, more anchors. The pantry looks calm because it’s not auditioning; it’s working.

2) Batch-cook a few multipliers (then stop)

They’re not cooking a week’s worth of identical containers.

They’re making multipliers: one pot of beans or lentils, a tray of roasted veg, a grain, a sauce.

That’s it.

Enough to pivot—bowls one night, tacos the next, fried rice or noodle stir-fry with the stragglers.

The trick is restraint. Two hours of “light prep” beats six hours of meal-prepping your soul out of your body. The point is options, not obligation.

Put the building blocks in clear containers (label + date), stack them at eye level, and you’ve created a weekday self that has choices instead of chores.

3) Make two sauces that turn basic into craveable

Flavour is the cheapest upgrade, so seasoned vegans keep a tiny sauce rotation alive. Pick two per weekend:

• Lemon-tahini (tahini, lemon, garlic, warm water, cumin)

• Chili-maple soy (tamari, maple, chili flakes, rice vinegar)

• Green herby (parsley/cilantro + olive oil + lemon + salt)

• Miso-ginger (miso, grated ginger, sesame oil, lime)

• Smoky yogurt (coconut yogurt + smoked paprika + lime)

Sauces mean Tuesday’s bowl feels different from Wednesday’s wrap, even if the internals rhyme. They also rescue leftovers from the sigh zone.

4) Soak or marinate something while you ignore it

Seasoned vegans love passive time.

They’ll soak chickpeas overnight for from-scratch hummus or chana masala; press tofu (or buy super-firm) and toss it in a quick marinade; scrub potatoes and shove them on a rack to bake while they’re doing laundry.

The rule: start a no-supervision task before errands.

When you come back, the food has done its homework without you. Future-you will write a thank-you note in the form of not ordering takeout.

5) Freeze like a pro (flat, labelled, and useful)

The freezer is not a graveyard — it’s a staging area.

The pros keep three bins:

• Building blocks: cooked beans, rice/quinoa, veggie stock, sauce cubes.

• Rescue dinners: dumplings, veggie burgers, frozen veg, naan/tortillas.

• Baking + fruit: bread heels for crumbs, sliced bananas/berries for smoothies.

Everything gets labelled with masking tape + date. Flat-freeze beans and sauces in zip bags so they file vertically.

Sunday you turns Thursday chaos into 10-minute dumplings + greens, or pasta + sauce cube + peas. That’s money saved and sanity kept.

6) Plan three anchors, not seven perfect meals

They don’t storyboard the entire week.

They pick three anchors—say: “Monday soup,” “Wednesday tacos,” “Friday something crispy” (air-fried tofu or oven-roasted chickpeas).

The rest is freestyle.

Anchors tame decision fatigue while leaving room for cravings and invitations.

They also theme weeks by cuisine—Mediterranean, South Asian, Latin, East Asian—so herbs and spices overlap. That’s how you finish what you buy instead of building a spice museum.

7) Schedule joy on purpose (bake, brunch, or batch a treat)

Restriction is a rebellion boomerang. Seasoned vegans pre-load delight: a pan of brownies, banana bread, granola, or a brunch plan with friends.

When pleasure is present, you don’t go hunting for it at 9 p.m. in the form of random snacks.

Bake once, smile all week.

It’s also a culture-building move: kids, partners, housemates see vegan food as generous, not precious.

8) Sharpen the tools that make cooking easy

Little maintenance, big returns. They’ll hone the chef’s knife (10 seconds), wash and dry cast iron, refill the oil and vinegar, restock spices (toast + grind what’s stale), and run the dishwasher before bed.

A functioning kitchen is a bias toward action: if the knife glides and the pan is ready, you cook.

They’ll also toss the one burnt spatula and retire the storage lids with no mates.

Clutter is a tax on weeknights. The weekend is where you audit.

9) Plan a produce rescue (and a “use-it-up” ritual)

Those last carrots and wilting greens?

They’re destined for a ritual: soup, fried rice, frittata-style chickpea omelette, quesadillas, or a big chopped salad. Seasoned vegans pick a lane and make it fun—croutons for crunch, chili crisp or pickled onions for heat/zing, lemon on everything.

They’ll keep a “use-first” bin so the floppy stuff stares them in the face. Waste feels like lighting cash on fire; this is the extinguisher.

10) Leave room for the world (markets, restaurants, friends)

The point of eating well isn’t to live inside Tupperware.

Weekends are for farmers’ markets, the Ethiopian spot with injera that resets your faith, the Thai place whose green curry makes you consider moving, and dinner with friends where you bring the show-off salad and the dessert that happens to be vegan.

Seasoned vegans treat restaurants as inspiration—steal a flavour combination, a herb you never buy, a texture trick—and bring it home next week.

Food is culture — your kitchen is a museum with a very hands-on policy.

Final thoughts: design beats discipline (every time)

The seasoned vegans I know don’t have superhuman willpower. They have super easy defaults. They make delight non-negotiable. They keep a freezer like a toolkit and a pantry like a promise.

And they do small, boring things on weekends so weekdays bend toward their values without martyrdom.

Pick two habits from this list and give them two weekends. Notice how many take-outs you skip, how many minutes you reclaim, and how much nicer Monday tastes.

Vegan isn’t a personality — it’s a system.

Build it, and it will carry you—plate after plate, week after week—without feeling like a second job.

https://vegoutmag.com/things-to-do/n-10-things-seasoned-vegans-always-do-on-weekends/