by Joy Richardson.
Here is part two of our vegan budget meal plan (click here for part 1).
Every year The Vegan Society promotes January as a time to try being vegan and many people enjoy the challenge of taking part. However whether you want to try joining in with Veganuary, or would just like to incorporate more meat free meals into your diet, vegan food can be wholesome, filling, healthy and more environmentally friendly. I’ve picked out a typical week of meals to share with you so some of them are wholefoods, some use meat substitutes, some are very healthy and some not quite so much but overall a pretty balanced selection.
Unless stated otherwise prices are all based on January 2023 Asda prices using their own brand products. I actually managed to make quite a lot of additional savings by using the Olio app. This is where people collect unsold food from supermarkets (and some café’s etc) and then list it for you to collect for free. There is always plenty of bread available, I almost never buy it as there’s usually plenty in my freezer, and often fruit and vegetables too. I adjust my recipes all the time to accommodate what I’ve managed to find for free. But these recipes are costed assuming for no free food.
Thursday
Total Daily Food Cost Per Person £3.63
Breakfast
Scrambled Tofu on Toast (Serves 2)
The first time I had a version of this I really liked it was in a Chinese café in Brighton, hence the chilli and spring onions. But if you aren’t keen on spicey food in the morning it also works well with fresh chives. There are lots of different types of tofu and this recipe uses the firm silken type. Most supermarkets sell this but you find it with the tins and not in the chiller. It comes in a cardboard tetrapak.
This is quite quick to cook so put your bread in the toaster first.
Chop the chillies, spring onions and just the flesh of the tomatoes and fry in oil for a couple of minutes with 2 teaspoons of turmeric (this is mostly for colour but adds a nice flavour too).
Drain the tofu and at to the pan, gently press with a wooden spoon whilst stirring to encourage it to break down.
Keep doing this until it is warmed through and is a similar consistency to scrambled eggs. Serve on toast with plenty of salt and black pepper.
Cost (per person) £1.34
Recipe Cost £2.68
Chillies 30p
Spring Onions 25p
Tomatoes 30p
Olive Oil 5p
Tumeric 5p
Silken Tofu £1.70
Toast 8p
Lunch
Roast Butternut Squash and Sweet Potato Soup (Serves 3)
Take 1 butternut squash, quarter and then chop into large chunks. Do not peel it!
You’ll get lots of fibre and goodness from the peel (I know it sounds odd but trust me).
Chop 2 sweet potatoes (also don’t peel) and a large red onion into similar sized chunks and arrange all onto a large baking dish.
Sprinkle with dried rosemary, drizzle with olive oil and roast in the oven at about 200 degrees.
After 10 minutes give the vegetables a stir and return to the oven until they are soft in the middle and crispy on the edge.
Make 1 pint of vegetable stock with a stock cube and put everything into a large saucepan. Simmer for 10 minutes then allow to cool until it is safe to blend. Serve with bread and butter.
Cost (per person) 42p
Recipe cost £1.24
Red Onion 30p
Butternut Squash £1.30
Sweet Potato 55p
Rosemary 5p
Stock cube 5p
Bread 12p
Butter 15p
Dinner
Pasta Carbonara(ish) (serves 2)
There are lots of ‘Facon’ (fake bacon) options available and everyone has their favourite. I love the lardons from La Vie which are also conveniently packaged so you can use half and freeze half. But other good options for this recipe are either the Richmond bacon or the Quorn vegan ham chopped up. Again you can use any kind of mushrooms for this dish but I really like Portabello (the large flat ones) for their texture. If you’re not keen on mushrooms this also works really well with courgettes instead.
Slice a red onion into fine rings and fry in oil with 4 cloves of finely chopped garlic.
Remove the stalks from 250g of Portabello mushrooms and cut into slices add these and 75g of lardons (or chopped facon) to the pan and stir well.
Cook the pasta as per packet instructions and once cooked drain and return to the saucepan.
Add the mushroom mix and stir well and then stir in half a tub of Oatly Creamy Fraiche, serve immediately for maximum creaminess.
Cost (per person) £1.87
Recipe cost £3.73
Red Onion 30p
Garlic 5p
Portabello Mushrooms 95p
La Vie Lardons £1.25 (Sainsbury’s)
Pasta 30p
Oatly Creamy Fraiche 88p (Sainsbury’s)
Friday
Total Daily Food Cost Per Person £1.80
Breakfast
Baked Plums (see Monday)
Cost (per person) 75p
Pictured top
Lunch
Cost (per person) 42p
Butternut Squash and Sweet Potato Soup
See above
Dinner
Lentil Daal (serves 4)
Daal (or dhal) is a great one pot dish and can be done in a slow cooker but this time it was on the hob. It freezes really well so it’s another dish I often make extra portions of to take to work. You can add any veggies you need to use up but I’ve used courgettes and peppers. If you don’t fancy rice you can always serve with chapatti or naan.
Finely chop one large onion, 4 cloves of garlic and fry in oil.
After 5 minutes add the dried spices (½ teaspoon dried chilli flakes, ½ teaspoon dried cumin, ½ teaspoon dried coriander, 2 teaspoon ground turmeric &1 teaspoon garam masala),
I’ve listed what I used but you can play around with these to your own taste, then add your vegetables and give it a good stir.
Add 200g of red lentils, you don’t need to soak them, just pop them straight into the pain with a tin of tomatoes, a tin of coconut milk and a vegetable stock cube made up with 500ml of hot water.
Start cooking your rice now as per the packet instructions.
Check the daal frequently and give it a stir, after about 20 minutes both dishes should be ready to serve.
Cost (per person) 63p
Recipe cost £2.69
Olive oil 8p
Spices 20p
Dried red lentils 52p
Onion 30p
Garlic 10p
Tomatoes 65p
Coconut milk 85p
Stock cube 3p
Rice 16p
Saturday
Total Daily Food Cost Per Person £2.44
Breakfast
Crumpets (Serves 1)
Some breakfasts are so cheap and easy and I love easy in particular at the weekend. Toasted crumpets are so delicious with lots of melting butter. I know some people like to top with jam or marmite but I prefer mine simple.
Price Per Person 25p
Crumpets 15p
Butter 10p
Lunch
Pesto Pasta Salad (Serves 2)
This can be made in advance and kept in the fridge for a few days, it’s another great option to take to work for lunches and is served cold so you don’t even need to queue for the microwave. Asda do several different vegan pestos both in their Free From and OMV ranges. They are all about £1.
Cook a portion of pasta as per the instructions on the packet.
Cook your choice of fake bacon, I’m using half a packet of the La Vie lardons, I really like mine to be crispy so a bit overdone.
Chop two tomatoes, a spring onion and a handful of spinach.
Once the pasta and bacon are cooked drain the pasta and run under cold water until cool.
In a large bowl mix the pasta, bacon with the chopped veggies and half a jar of vegan pesto.
The pot up into portions to store in the fridge.
Cost (per person) £1.50
Recipe cost £3.00
Pasta 14p
La Vie Lardons (Sainsbury’s) £1.25
Tomatoes 36p
Spring Onion 25p
Spinach 50p
Pesto 50p
Dinner
Rita’s New Beef Stew (Serves 4)
This recipe has been doing the rounds online and was created by Rita’s Recipes. It so easy and really delicious. It’s a long cook, so remember to pop it in the slow cooker in the morning and leave on high for 8 hours. The soya chunks you can get in the world foods section of Sainsbury’s for £1.25 a bag (I used a third in this recipe) or in Holland and Barrett. This is great simply served with bread but you could have with potatoes.
Cost (per person) 69p
Recipe cost £2.73
50g Dried soya chunks 42p
Tin of tomatoes 65p
2 onions 60p
3 tablespoons of dark soy sauce 10p
3 garlic cloves 5p
40g red lentils 12p
1 heaped teaspoon smoked paprika 2p
1 level tablespoon garlic powder 10p
1 level tablespoon onion powder 10p
3 heaped tablespoons gravy granules 10p
2 heaped tablespoons tomato puree 15p
Bread 32p
Sunday
Total Daily Food Cost Per Person £2.92
Sundays should be easy food wise so you can focus on the main event; the Sunday Roast!
Breakfast
Crumpets (Serves 1)
Price Per Person 25p
Lunch Beans on Toast (Serves 2)
Cost (per person) 29p
Recipe cost 57p
What could be easier or more comforting than beans on toast?
Beans 26p
Bread 16p
Butter 15p
Dinner
Roast (serves 2)
Roast dinner is possibly the easiest thing to veganise as all you need to do is change the protein. There are so many options available now, a nut roast, a Quorn fillet, Richmond ‘chicken’ slices but my favourite are VBites Sage and Onion slices. However today I used Quorn vegan ‘chicken’ slices as they are easily found in most supermarkets. Most dried stuffing mixes are accidentally vegan as are a lot of gravy granules in red packaging and also Bisto powder. But obviously vegetable gravy granules too.
Start with par boiling the potatoes. I find one large potato is enough, quarter and leave on the skin, it give you extra texture and fibre. At the same time put a dish containing a few teaspoons of oil in the oven at 180 degrees.
Boil the potato 20 minutes (keep the water) and then add them to the pan in the oven. I like to hit/squish them a bit with a spoon to ‘rough them up’ adding that extra surface area makes them more crispy.
At this point make up the stuffing as per packet instructions, a small packet will serve 2 people, stir well and set aside.
After 20 minutes turn the potatoes over and put the stuffing into the oven.
Now it’s time to prepare your veg – carrots are always a great choice as they are available all year round and are so cheap. I also had Brussels sprouts as they are in season at moment.
Once prepared, boil them in the same pan and water you used for the potatoes for 10 minutes.
Once done, put them in an ovenproof dish with your ‘chicken’ slices.
Now the water you used for both the potatoes and the veg will be a great stock base for your gravy. Make up as per instructions using the stock base instead of water adding more or less liquids as per your taste (I love my gravy really thick). Everything should now be ready to serve.
Cost (per person) £2.38
Recipe cost £4.76
Potatoes 50p
Oil 20p
Stuffing 40p
Carrot 10p
Sprouts £1.00
Quorn Vegan Chicken Slices £2.40
Gravy 16p
Read part one by clicking below:
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