5 Easy Vegan Meals You Can Make For a Friend Who is Grieving

Food, my dear deathly and or foodie friends, is undoubtedly a love language, one that I hold in the highest regard. However, when life throws the curveball of loss, expressing our care and support can be a culinary conundrum. We want to extend our heartfelt condolences, but we also don't want to overwhelm our grieving friends with an avalanche of well-intentioned gestures. That's precisely where the magic of food comes into play!

Cooking a warm, heartfelt meal for a friend in their time of need is a deeply satisfying way to convey your care, support, and love. It's the kind of gesture that can bring comfort when words often fall short. Whether you're delivering it to their doorstep or leaving it on the front porch as a symbol of solace during times of social distancing, food has a remarkable ability to speak the language of empathy.

But here's the twist: What do you bring to someone who's grieving? And what if your friend follows a vegetarian or, dare I say, a vegan lifestyle? How do you navigate the culinary waters when the world seems to revolve around dishes like Baked Ziti as the ultimate funeral food? Fear not, for I have compiled a thoughtful list to guide you through this compassionate culinary journey.

Meatloaf

Meatloaf was never something I liked as a meat-eater. It had all the wrong textures and all the wrong flavors and it just wasn’t my thing. On second thought, that may not be a great sell on why I think this is so dang yummy. I think that a better way to say it, is that I finally understand meatloaf. Make your friend a little bit of home with some good old fashioned comfort food. Meatloaf and mashed potatoes won’t cure the blues but it does soften them quite a bit in the moment.

Coconut Corn Chowder

Soup-even when it’s hot out-is great because it’s warm and comforting for the eater and also super easy to reheat so you don’t have to worry about complicated instructions. I love this recipe because it’s both delicious and healthy. Corn is full of fiber and B-complex vitamins. It is also a great source of antioxidants. The starch in corn provides your brain and body with energy which can be super helpful when you’re feeling listless.

Sweet Potato Cinnamon Rolls

Want a slightly healthier alternative to the basic bun? We got you covered! Sweet potatoes are a great source of fiber, vitamins, and minerals. The fiber and antioxidants in sweet potatoes are advantageous to gut health and they contain both soluble and insoluble fiber. Ok sure there is still sugar and flour in this but this recipe lives up to the old “spoon full of sugar” adage. They are also pretty easy to make even for the novice among us. A rolling pin helps vastly though, I will add that. Don’t stress, they are super cheap and I bet you’ve always wanted an excuse to buy one!

Sweet Potato Green Bean Casserole

In every internet search for funeral food you are bound to find recipes for casseroles. This seems to be a staple in our grieving diet. I like this recipe because it satisfies the need for warm comfort food but checks off all the “it’s healthy too” boxes. With sweet potatoes, green beans, mushrooms, and cauliflower you’re going to get a filling and nutritous meal that isn’t going to leave you feeling worse than you started.

Mac & “Cheese”

Ok I know I just talked about not wanting to be in a food coma but it’s ok to live a little. Again we find that sweet potatoes take on the creaminess that we want when creating a creamy sauce dish. This is actually quite common in many vegan dishes. Potatoes give us the starch and thickness needed to amp up our sauces. While I discovered the beauty of the sweet potato on my own, Sweet Potato Soul nails the art and perfection of it. I wouldn’t be half as knowledgeable without her hard work. There are a couple other recipes that use cannellini beans that I find equally amazing but this is the shining star. You will need nutritional yeast for this recipe and my personal recommendation is to grab a bag of Daiya cheddar cheese shreds to give it even more cheesy goodness. If you want to get fancy layer the cheese on top and broil it for an added crispness!

These are just a few of the recipes I have on my website. Please feel free to check out the rest in your free time. All recipes are selected to be relatively easy and fool-proof. I want you to leave happy and full, not hungry and angry. I mean, duh!