Vegan On A Budget

Menagerie_2

:hello:

Please forgive me if this has been disscussed before, but I couldn't find it!

I'm on a very tight budget, and finding feeding myself difficult, especially as I'm vegan, I can't cook, and I don't find boiling up a plate of veggies very thrilling - that's about my level of cooking skills.

There are loads of yummy vegan recipes out there, but I can't afford to buy 5 - 10 different ingrediants for one meal!

Anyone got any tips? Perhaps something I could make a lot of and freeze so It'll last for a few days? Baring in mind I eat no animals or any derrivatives.

Cheers everyone!

oldMcDonald

Hi

When I was the only vegan in the household (all 7 of us are now!!) I found 'Vegan cooking for one'

http://www.amazon.co.uk/exec/obidos/ASIN/0722539231/qid=1146071239/sr=8-1/ref=sr_8_xs_ap_i1_xgl/026-6400534-2322866

This is a really helpful book as it helps in planning as well. it has set menus for the main meal each day. Far example, Mondays meal is planned with Wednesday in mind, so you are told to save half of part of the meal you have on Monday so that you can add a few more things and have something else using much the same ingredients on Wednesday IYSWIM

Lisa

savingforoz

Basic cooking skills are very easy to learn and you don't need to be able to do much to rustle up a decent meal. Once you start practising it all becomes much more do-able. I agree that the Vegan for One cookbook is great. Make large batches for the freezer, it saves oodles of money, if you freeze in individual meal sized portions. Try making big batches of yummy pulse or nut based casseroles, using basics such as onions, tomatoes, pulses, nuts, garlic, wine, herbs; chickpea/vegetable curries; veggie chillis. Gosh, it's making me feel hungry.

thriftlady_2

You mention not wanting to buy lots of different ingredients,but it really helps make life in the kitchen easier if you have a well-stocked larder.Spend a little of your cash on spices and sauces (like soy sauce,tamari,coconut milk),dried pulses,grains,seeds and nuts and then you'll have the basis for lots of different and interesting meals.Dried pulses are cheaper than canned and if you soak and cook a whole packet at once you can freeze them in meal sized portions.You can add them frozen to stews and curries.You don't have to buy everything at once,build your stores up over a few weeks or months.HTH

Menagerie_2

Thanks for your advice. I'll save up for that vegan cooking for one. It does look handy. And I think you're right, I need to figure out the most usefull ingrediants and buy them when I can.

bluemoon_3

It often takes a little more creative thinking to be a 'frugal vegan' since many of the usual frugal guidelines don't apply!

Try the following sites for a plethora of vegan recipes to get you started.

http://www.frugal.org.uk/recipes.html <-- be sure to check the 'shopping tips' link here too!
http://vegweb.com/
http://www.veganfamily.co.uk/kitchen.html
http://www.parsleysoup.co.uk/

I buy big 3kg bags of soya mince, soya chunks, lentils and other pulses from https://www.goodnessdirect.co.uk . It lasts ages and it's very cheap per meal. For example, last time I bought a bag of soya mince it was only around £4 for 3kg.

Also, try
http://www.animalfreeshopper.com/html/

This is the vegan society's 'animal free shopper' online. You have to register (it's free) but it's a very comprehensive list of vegan products. It excludes obvious things like tinned fruit, but includes supermarket own brands, which is very handy. It also helps to know that there are a lot of mainstream products which are vegan - for example I often use the original Bisto gravy granules, which add a lovely flavour to anything I use soy mince in as well as thickening the sauce up at the end of cooking!

P.S. I just checked a couple of products on the animal free shopper that I know are no longer vegan, and they are still listed there - so be sure to use it as a guideline and check labels.

HTH.

Menagerie_2

Thank you, that frugal site especially is brilliant. I wasn't aware of that goodnessdirect site, it's fab!

Exactly what I was looking for.

sarah0404

Hi, I'm sure my library had a copy of Vegan Cooking for One. It does have quite a lot of vegan cook books. I have a book called Easy Vegan Cooking by Leah Leneman. I've found it quite good. It has loads of recipes in it.They don't all have loads of ingredients.