Easy, cheap Vegetarian recipes?

elliesmemory1

Hello,
Im trying to eat more healthy meals and also save money on food bills.
Im a single veggie and work full time so would like to be abel to make meals and freeze them for when I have not got much time.
I hav tried before but always seem to go back to ready meals which are expensive and not healthy.
I can cook simple things and like quorn etc.
Any helpfull hints please.

CH27

Hardupandfedup wrote: »

Hello,
Im trying to eat more healthy meals and also save money on food bills.
Im a single veggie and work full time so would like to be abel to make meals and freeze them for when I have not got much time.
I hav tried before but always seem to go back to ready meals which are expensive and not healthy.
I can cook simple things and like quorn etc.
Any helpfull hints please.

You need to be committed to changing. Only you can change.

MuchAdo_2

Chilli is great, either with quorn or just with mixed beans - you can freeze a big pot & have with rice/jacket/in a wrap etc.

Big pots of cassaroles/stews are easy, cheap & filling - loads of veg with lentils / veggie sausages / quorn chunks etc. Dumplings are good too, really easy & filling.

Pasta is quick to heat from frozen - you can always batch bake loads of tomato sauce with veg. If you freeze in lunch boxes it's also handy for taking to work for lunch.

Otherwise just try & replicate which ready meals you buy - it's easy enough to make trays of lasagne etc

decogecko

Another single veggie here.

Do you have a slow cooker? I have the small one from Lakeland that I can easy make enough to last me 3 meals (I freeze the other 2 portions).

Chilli - made with value/basics kidney beans & chopped tomatoes with quorn mince, add a teaspoon of chilli powder, a clove of garlic and an onion
bolonaise (sp) - value/basics passatta, onion, clove of garlic, mushrooms, quorn mince, herbs (dried or fresh), vegetable gravy granules to slightly thicken the sauce
curry - pataks paste, value chopped tomatoes, onion, mushrooms, broccolli, quorn pieces
veggie sausage casserole - veggie sausages, packet mix, onion, pepper, mushrooms

Just some ideas - hope they help

lilac_lady

If you're not vegan and like eggs there's a lot of different dishes to try. Cheese is useful too. I love a cheese omelette!

Jojo_the_Tightfisted

Chop an onion.

Peel and slice a carrot.

Crush/slice/chop a clove of garlic.

Slice a pepper into thin strips.


Chuck into saucepan with a little oil and a bit of salt. Stir until the onion starts looking a bit transparent and shiny.

Peel a large potato and cut it into bits about as thick as your thumb. Put them in.

Chuck in some spices - pinch of turmeric, garam masala, cinnamon, cumin, coriander, allspice - whatever you have in the cupboard and fancy. Maybe add a splash of soy sauce.

Tip in a tin of tomatoes and break them up with a wooden spoon or use chopped tomatoes to begin with. Cheap sieved tomatoes work too.

Add a couple of sugar cubes, a teaspoon of mango chutney, a teaspoon of honey or golden syrup to take the harshness of the tomatoes away.

Put 4 cabbage leaves on top of the mix.

Put the lid on the saucepan and leave it on the lowest heat possible until you can smell the perfume spreading throughout the kitchen and the stew is nice and gloopy - and obviously, the potato and carrot pieces are tender.



Enjoy.

You can then change the veggies according to what you have, add a tin of kidney beans/pulses, grate cheese on top of stale bread blitzed into crumbs and grill until crispy, and so on.



Cost - 1 onion
1 carrot
1 potato
4 cabbage leaves
1 pepper
1 clove of garlic
1 tin of tomatoes


Meat substitutes are what's costing you the money. And they are often just processed crap full of fat and other nasties.


Another one is to get vegetables as savoury as possible - try mushrooms (of all kinds), cook in the pan with soy, sake and mirin and salt, then serve on rice with as much sauce as you have made.

elliesmemory1

Thanks for your ideas, I think I need to plan my meals so i can buy the ingredients rather than just buying odds and ends and finding i have nothing to make a meal of.

elliesmemory1

Any other hints to help me meal plan and shop please.

Chimpofdoom

Hardupandfedup wrote: »

Any other hints to help me meal plan and shop please.

Start looking up vegetarian recipes and try what you like the sound of?

http://www.bbcgoodfood.com/content/recipes/vegetarian/

^^ usually check there to find recipes to cook for my veggie gf (i'm not veggie)

katiegizmo

I'm veggie too, not single but I do try to batch cook. some of these said before I know

batch & freeze:
big lasagne - the ones I make can do 4 portions
same with shepherdess pie (I use lentils instead of mince/quorn mince) there are good recipes for this on bbc website
pasta bake/sauce - I add beans (if using from a can I use half and put the other half in water in the fridge) to up my protein and make it more filling. one of my faves is pasta with garlic, chilli, oil and toasted breadcrumbs - you would not believe how yummy
fajitas - beans and veggies in spice & tomato sauce , unfreeze and add to wrap (optional add rice on the day)
chilli
curry
hm pizza

quick meals
omelettes
baked potato (try sweet for a change)
falafel, veg & hummous in wraps
burgers in buns
soup
baked portobello mushrooms - with cheese, rice, veg, quorn filling


as for ingredients to get and keep I always have a big bag of frozen peas and frozen sweetcorn and these can be thrown in anything with sauce
keep lots of varied beans (tins or dried)
my fave veg is butternut squash - goes in nearly everything, very filling and a good sized one lasts for 4-6 meals. it keeps in the fridge wrapped up too
I add oats to sauces to thicken and give some nutrients, add them to everything, no one has noticed yet!