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Hello Forumites! However well-intentioned, for the safety of other users we ask that you refrain from seeking or offering medical advice. This includes recommendations for medicines, procedures or over-the-counter remedies. Posts or threads found to be in breach of this rule will be removed.feed a family of 4, almost vegan, on a rather small budget! Old Style!
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Hi jackyann, I love flapjacks, I ised to make them all of the time! I don't really eat sweet treats, so making them for the rest of the family with butter is a great idea. They fill little tummies up nicely! I'm going to try making fruit scones too as have a cheap easy recipe! My aim is for these to be afternoon snacks as the littlies are always ravenous between lunch and dinner.
Have changed plans today, so will have time to write my list up. Need to find a good/easy/cheap burger recipe, that doesn't involve any soya products.0 -
If you google chickpea and sweetcorn burgers you should get the eat well for less recipe, it looks very simple. Sorry I can't add the link ,I'm on my tablet & can't copy & paste links on it yet0
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http://www.bbc.co.uk/food/recipes/chickpea_and_sweetcorn_87660. Ok think that should be the link now ��0
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The talk of baking reminded me to mention how many products are "accidentally vegan" i.e. not particularly intended to be vegan, but happen to be so. Stork packet margarine falls into that category. So don't feel you always have to get vegan labelled products, which are often expensive.
It's always a good idea to check ingredients, however, as manufacturers can and do change them without warning, so an accidentally vegan product may suddenly become vegan no more. Recent cases in point were Jammie Dodgers, and Aldi plain chocolate digestives.
As far as chocolate goes, which your budget may occasionally stretch to, Cadbury's Bournville and Lidl own brand (the 30p bars) are currently vegan.0 -
Thanks carriebradshaw! I watched all of this series Friday night! And the burgers did look nice! Oooh thanks themeone, I didn't know that about stork! I think vitalite marg is, or it used to be!0
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I am a vegan and cook only vegan food for the rest of my family; and so the majority of our food budget is spent on vegan foods.
Here is a good vegan food plate to follow in building your menus .
Find an own brand milk that you like, fortified with calcium and B12, though the Coop often has Alpro on a 3 for £2.00.
Are you in an urban area? You will be at a massive advantage. It is worth checking out local asian grocers for spices and for large bags of pulses, which will work out cheaper than tinned. Grains are also cheaper.
To reduce the costs, soak a large batch at once, 1kg+. The longer they soak the less energy they require to cook; and it also reduces the harder to digest sugars. I soak mine for 24 hours usually, cook and then batch freeze.
Healthfood shops often bag up spices in small bags - they are more expensive per gram, but it means you can start to build a little collection of spices week by week on a smaller budget.
A huge bag of gram flour is very useful. It can be used as a binder for bean burgers. You can also make an egg free frittata or omelette, polenta, or pancakes from it.
Breakfast - Pancakes make an awesome breakfast; and can be made with flour, milk and water and a pinch of bicarb. Overnight oats save money in the summer, cooked porridge oats in winter. Toast with nut butter is a good healthy way to start the day. Vegan yoghurt is expensive, but you can make your own. Fruit is good for breakfast. Fruit crumble made with less sugar is lovely in winter.
Lunches are usually leftovers, soup or sandwiches.
Evening meals - homemade pizza, barley veg stews, chickpea or mung bean curry, chilli, risotto, lentil 'spag bol', tofu or cashew nut stirfry, jacket potatos with homemade slaw, beans and sweetcorn; Linda Macartney sausages bought when they are on offer in casseroles or with roast veg; Soup and bread, burgers with wedges. So many different things. We are having this chowder tonight, with the cheaper mushrooms, Nori sheets are cheap in Lidl at the moment:
http://www.theppk.com/2013/10/new-england-glam-chowder-video/
I would collect together lots of recipes for ingerdients you might find reduced - for example I made avocado pasta with BOGOF avocados. The better cook you become, the easier it is to make a great meal out of almost nothing. There are lots of great blogs out there; and as long as you avoid the 'clean eating' ones, you'll find lots of people cooking good healthy food on smaller budgets.
There is a great vegan thread here:
http://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/showthread.php?t=1451243
Good luck! I hope things improve for you soon, but you are atking all the right steps!0 -
missymoo81 wrote: »Thanks carriebradshaw! I watched all of this series Friday night! And the burgers did look nice! Oooh thanks themeone, I didn't know that about stork! I think vitalite marg is, or it used to be!
Yes Vitalite is vegan and is one of the cheapest. There's also the Pure range. Some supermarkets do own-brand vegan spreads too. I often get the M&S one as it's usually only £1.
It's quick and easy to check ingredients now, since milk products are highlighted in bold as a possible allergen.0 -
wow wonderful advice pumpkin life, thank you, I'm going to have a look on the net and see if i can find a local asian store.... as its been mentioned a few times now.... we do go through an awful lot of beans and chickpeas now. It would be worth it, if i could just go every couple of months.....love the pancake idea, I've read you can make ones out of banana too, will have a look at that. I have some vouchers for my birthday, probably around £50, i think I'm going to invest in an electric pressure cooker and a waffle maker, as the children have been after one for ages and its a cheap way to make a filling breakfast.
Can I ask how you make vegan yogurt?
Soup is definitely going to be our friend as are jacket potatoes, thinking if I could get a sack of potatoes, big bag of onions and carrot net for £10, id have the basics for making lots of meals. Need to find a farm that does them.... looked online but to no avail....0 -
Yes Vitalite is vegan and is one of the cheapest. There's also the Pure range. Some supermarkets do own-brand vegan spreads too. I often get the M&S one as it's usually only £1.
It's quick and easy to check ingredients now, since milk products are highlighted in bold as a possible allergen.
thank you for that!!! right going to post my shopping list in a minute along with prices and see what you all think and see if i could save anywhere.0 -
If you have a 'farm shop' anywhere close to you they will sell the sacks of potatoes, onions etc that you are looking for, our farm shop even sells big sacks of 'horse carrots' for a couple of pounds, theoretically these are the 'past their best' ones that horse owners are sold to feed their steeds but they are certainly good enough to soup and stew, even if you have to process then and freeze them to make them keep longer. Might be worth a look?
If you have a wholesalers card or have a friend who might authorise you to use theirs you would definitely get your 'sacks' of veg from there, somewhere like Makro? and at a very good price too.
I've just read a surprisingly easy but so sensible idea and that is to make a sauce by blitzing a can of cooked pulses (in this case cannellini beans) with some vegetable stock, fresh parsley, a clove of garlic and seasoning to use as a sauce on pasta, the recipe was served over 'spiralized courgette spaghetti' and had oven roasted tomatoes and mushrooms added too. This is an idea that would work with ANY pulses, be they home cooked or tinned and as the basic sauce will be quite simple you could dress it up with any flavourings you like. A really good way of adding in protein and fibre to your diet and using beans without it being obvious that they ARE beans.0
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