Poor vegan, cheap living

[KattJohnson]

rice is a wonderful thing! i am a brand new vegan, however i have found that when all else fails, i make rice and mix it with a vegan friendly salsa. a dear friend of mine informed me of the importance of making sure you can keep up with all those essential vitamins, proteins, and iron.

[bry_nat]

How do you make your bread?
oh! thats what i do. i make homemade bread for my sister and boyfriend and its alot cheaper. (my sister and i cant have normal bread because of celiac disease, so i make homemade rice bread. otherwise, a loaf of ricebread is 7-10$ a loaf!)

[Verencemos]

Just discovered chick pea pancakes (thanks to Vivien of TVV). For each 25g of gram (chickpea) flour, use 50ml water to make a thin batter. Add spices and herbs, salt and pepper. Fry Makes very thin crepe like pancakes. Alternatively, add grated veg and liquidise to make a thicker and more flavoured batter. Either way, fry, fill and roll

Nutritious. Fairly quick, cheap, endless variations. V

[Lentils]

Just discovered chick pea pancakes (thanks to Vivien of TVV). For each 25g of gram (chickpea) flour, use 50ml water to make a thin batter. Add spices and herbs, salt and pepper. Fry Makes very thin crepe like pancakes. Alternatively, add grated veg and liquidise to make a thicker and more flavoured batter. Either way, fry, fill and roll

Nutritious. Fairly quick, cheap, endless variations. V

I recently discovered these as well and am a big fan! They are known as chillas and are served as street food in India but can also easily be adapted into 'omelettes' ending up with the exact same look and feel as their egg based cousins. Gram flour can also be used as an egg replacer in many recipes and over here atleast is very cheap.

[pusskins]

Pasta bake. My standby. Lasts a few days. Lentils or pulses, frozen veg, chopped toms. Boil. Load of boiled pasta. Mix together. Use flavourings, herbs, spices. Put in large baking dish. Bake.

[Blueberries]

Pasta bake. My standby. Lasts a few days. Lentils or pulses, frozen veg, chopped toms. Boil. Load of boiled pasta. Mix together. Use flavourings, herbs, spices. Put in large baking dish. Bake.

^^ Sounds good Pusskins!

@others, I also make what I call chickpea omelettes with gram/besan/chickpea flour. They're cheap, easy to make (I just mix chickpea flour, non-dairy milk & a tablespoon of sunflower oil) and will keep in the fridge for next-day lunches. I add chopped potato and onion and make it a Spanish omelette, which is great with pesto and sun-dried tomatoes.

[Robinwomb]

Just discovered chick pea pancakes (thanks to Vivien of TVV). For each 25g of gram (chickpea) flour, use 50ml water to make a thin batter. Add spices and herbs, salt and pepper. Fry Makes very thin crepe like pancakes. Alternatively, add grated veg and liquidise to make a thicker and more flavoured batter. Either way, fry, fill and roll

Nutritious. Fairly quick, cheap, endless variations. V

I have made this many times in many variations. They are also called socca if using a certain technique, or you could call them soy free chickpea flour omellettes if you use another technique. These are so filling and nutritious and yes oh so cheap and fast to make! I posted a pic of mine on the pics of good food you've eaten thread a while back. Good one!

[EpicLibrarian]

I love socca! Sometimes I do them in cast iron, sometimes fried like a crepe. Great with veg or with fruit as a dessert!

[Wraithling]

Pasta with tomato (and chilli?) sauce was a staple of mine when I was a student, particularly when I lived near an Asian grocers and could get hold of chillis very cheaply (and I generally find they're not too expensive in the supermarkets, either). Budget-range tinned tomatoes are not exactly the most flavoursome but they are pretty serviceable and in some places can cost as little as 15p a can. I bulk it up with chickpeas or flageolet beans (usually chickpeas) sometimes, too - about 180g cooked/canned chickpeas per 400g tomatoes is a good mix, or you can sprinkle a handful of the top of the plate when you're dishing up.

If I make a dhal, chile or stew and find I've portioned it out wrong and am left with a little bit, I'll add stock to it and eat it as soup. Red lentil dhal that's been in the fridge and stiffened also makes a pretty good sandwich spread or dip.

You can also make soup out of peanut butter! At its simplest, you just pour boiling water over the top. The recipe I use, though, involves a few cheap vegetables (carrots and celery), vegetable stock, a bit of flour and lots of black pepper.

The chickpea pancakes sound awesome: I don't think I've ever cooked with gram flour before but I'll give them a try. Can you pre-mix the batter and store it? Also, do they freeze well, like other pancakes?

[EpicLibrarian]

Okay, I have recently discovered the absolute best cheese sauce I have ever had, and it is super cheap! I got this off of the vegan thread on Reddit. I changed it a little, so here is how I made it (this was for 1 large and one medium size lasagna, so you might want to cut it down):

2 cans coconut milk
2 cans cannelloni beans (rinsed)
1 vegan veggie bouillon cube

Just throw it all in the blender until it makes a sauce. My veggie cube is the type that is soft, so I threw it in the blender too. Then I heated it up on the stove. I added a little corn starch to thicken it. When it baked, it actually got hard and gooey like cheese. It was really delicious in the lasagna! If you used one can of each, the whole huge thing of cheese sauce would cost less than $2.

[redshoes]

Cor, EpicLibrarian, that sounds fantastic. Quick, unfussy, easy and cheap. Me likee. How much coconut flavour comes through? I'm not big on stuff tasting strongly of coconut. (In curry recipes etc that call for coconut milk, I always use less than they ask for, so that it does the job but doesn't overpower the other flavours.) I'm quite keen to try this out.

[peanutbutter]

Ohhh epic librarian, I'm definitely going to try this - I can't wait til squashes start arriving as I've been dreaming of a butternut squash lasagne.

[Blueberries]

Thought I'd bump this thread up as I'm now in a situation where I'm trying to live as cheaply as possible (although aren't we all!). Where I'm living there are lots of vegan products and treats available, so I'm attempting to live cheaply most of the time and then splash out occasionally :D. I just made a huge pot of pinto beans and I'm going to use/freeze leftover stuff.

[charliko]

Okay, I have recently discovered the absolute best cheese sauce I have ever had, and it is super cheap! I got this off of the vegan thread on Reddit. I changed it a little, so here is how I made it (this was for 1 large and one medium size lasagna, so you might want to cut it down):

2 cans coconut milk
2 cans cannelloni beans (rinsed)
1 vegan veggie bouillon cube

Just throw it all in the blender until it makes a sauce. My veggie cube is the type that is soft, so I threw it in the blender too. Then I heated it up on the stove. I added a little corn starch to thicken it. When it baked, it actually got hard and gooey like cheese. It was really delicious in the lasagna! If you used one can of each, the whole huge thing of cheese sauce would cost less than $2.

I am hoping someone can expand upon the recipe. Is a tomato sauce or tomatoes used as well as the cheese sauce for Lasagna? Any others tried the recipe, I am wondering about cocoanut being overpowering as well. Hope to hear other opinions. Cooking reasonably without soy is something I can always improve upon.

[BellaTanie]

I spend about $100/weekly on food.....but I am also feeding 4 kids, my husband and myself. I try to buy organically, especially produce, but it does get expensive.

[Blueberries]

I spend about $100/weekly on food.....but I am also feeding 4 kids, my husband and myself. I try to buy organically, especially produce, but it does get expensive.

$100 a week isn't bad for 6 people!

[BellaTanie]

Thanks Blueberries, I try!

[Blueberries]

I'm continuing to try to live cheaply by buying own-brand things, getting veg/fruit that's frozen and/or cheap/on special offer, eating lots of beans, making my own seitan (wheat gluten flour is fairly cheaply available), bringing my lunch to work and trying to curb my impulse supermarket purchases. I bought a water filter so I don't have to buy bottles of water (tap water here is drinkable but not great). Any other ideas? I like to save money and then as a treat splash out on nice vegan things, or go out for a vegan meal :D.

[Robinwomb]

I might be joining you soon Blueberries as I am living on student loans and inherited money that will run out soon (my job alone doesnt cover all my expenses including school). When I finish school I sure hope to get a better job to pay off my enormous student loan debt.

Have you ever had either steel cut oats, oat groats, or millet in the crockpot overnight? Just add chopped fresh apple or other fruit, cinammon, and vegan sweetener if you want and water (1/4 cup of grain to 1 cup of water so four servings would be one cup grain to four cups water) and in the morning you can have a nice batch of great comforting cereal. If you live alone but make four servings you can have enough for a few days as it keeps several days in the refrigerator. I really love millet because it absorbs so many flavors and foods and it is very cheap (I buy it in bulk from the healthfood store), not to mention nutritious. 1/4 cup dry makes a cup cooked so a little goes a long way. For a treat add fresh or canned coconut milk to the crockpot. My Dad was here from out of state to visit last weekend and I made crockpot steel cut oats for him for breakfast and he loved it. He ate vegan all weekend with me except when the whole family got together and went out to eat Sunday night. He has diverticulosis so I had to be careful with what to feed him but it worked out well.

I make a list to follow for grocery shopping (I am anal) but if I dont I get a little impulsive too lol. Baked potatoes make a good meal base. I like to add nutritional yeast sauce and steamed brocoli or brussel sprouts with it. You can add so many sauces, beans, and veggies to potatoes to make a meal. Just a thought.

[Lentils]

I'm continuing to try to live cheaply by buying own-brand things, getting veg/fruit that's frozen and/or cheap/on special offer, eating lots of beans, making my own seitan (wheat gluten flour is fairly cheaply available), bringing my lunch to work and trying to curb my impulse supermarket purchases. I bought a water filter so I don't have to buy bottles of water (tap water here is drinkable but not great). Any other ideas? I like to save money and then as a treat splash out on nice vegan things, or go out for a vegan meal :D.

You mentioned freezing beans, but you can just store them in an air tight box in the fridge and they'll be good for a week and take less time and hassle to reheat that way :p

[Blueberries]

Thanks robimwomb & lentils!

@Robinwomb, I would love nothing more than to have a crockpot, I was actually thinking of buying one but I'm not sure I can afford one right now, and if I got one I probably wouldn't have anywhere to put it in my tiny, rented kitchen- I'd have to put it in the living room with my microwave! I agree about baked potatoes, I made some the day before yesterday and they're divine! Nice cold in lunches if you're mad like me!

@Lentils, I cook huge amounts of beans at a time, more than I'd eat in a week but I could try keeping some in the fridge and some in the freezer :D

[Robinwomb]

Thanks robimwomb & lentils!

@Robinwomb, I would love nothing more than to have a crockpot, I was actually thinking of buying one but I'm not sure I can afford one right now, and if I got one I probably wouldn't have anywhere to put it in my tiny, rented kitchen- I'd have to put it in the living room with my microwave! I agree about baked potatoes, I made some the day before yesterday and they're divine! Nice cold in lunches if you're mad like me!

@Lentils, I cook huge amounts of beans at a time, more than I'd eat in a week but I could try keeping some in the fridge and some in the freezer :D

My sister is having this problem too. She has a tiny apartment with no room in the kitchen. I wanted to get her a crockpot. They did have them for sale used at a consignment shop for very cheap but there was no way to test how well they worked. It's an idea though if you are looking for one. Of course where to put it...

Another base to work with is cornmeal/polenta. You can make hot cereal out of it and add plant milk and molasses and other stuff, or make polenta and add baked beans on top or a tomato sauce and something else. You can even make cornmeal lemon sugar cookies for Christmas. I did that last year for work and got a lot of cookies out of it and it was one of the cheapest baking recipes I ever made.
When I am broke lentils are my best friend as I can do so many things with them...soups, burgers, loaves, stir fries, or plain with lemon pepper sprinkled on. I saw a recipe somewhere that uses red lentils in baking bread and sweets of all things. I did brownies once with black beans but coincidentally got violently ill shortly after due to eating what I thought were wild blueberries in the woods that turned out not to be. I couldn't even keep down water for several days and had to be treated in the ER. Ever since then I can not stomach the idea of beans in baking but it does make a nice egg substitute. You can make energy bars with white beans, oats, raisins and a few other items and get quite a few bars out of it and store them in the freezer. I think the nomeatathlete site has a good white bean energy bar recipe that can be tweaked so you aren't buying fifty ingredients for it. That's about all I can think of at the moment. You are more experienced as a vegan than I am so you have probably tried all my ideas. :)

[Blueberries]

Another base to work with is cornmeal/polenta. You can make hot cereal out of it and add plant milk and molasses and other stuff, or make polenta and add baked beans on top or a tomato sauce and something else. You can even make cornmeal lemon sugar cookies for Christmas. I did that last year for work and got a lot of cookies out of it and it was one of the cheapest baking recipes I ever made.)

I like poleta but haven't made it in a while, it doesn't come naturally to the Irish :p. I should get some corn flour and give it a go.



When I am broke lentils are my best friend as I can do so many things with them...soups, burgers, loaves, stir fries, or plain with lemon pepper sprinkled on. I saw a recipe somewhere that uses red lentils in baking bread and sweets of all things. I did brownies once with black beans but coincidentally got violently ill shortly after due to eating what I thought were wild blueberries in the woods that turned out not to be. I couldn't even keep down water for several days and had to be treated in the ER. Ever since then I can not stomach the idea of beans in baking but it does make a nice egg substitute. You can make energy bars with white beans, oats, raisins and a few other items and get quite a few bars out of it and store them in the freezer. I think the nomeatathlete site has a good white bean energy bar recipe that can be tweaked so you aren't buying fifty ingredients for it. That's about all I can think of at the moment. You are more experienced as a vegan than I am so you have probably tried all my ideas. :)

I love lentils and beans, but I had never thought of making bean-based energy bars, I'll have to look that recipe up. I'm always open to new ideas, thanks Robinwomb, you're always so helpful :D

[Robinwomb]

Thanks Blueberries! Here is the recipe for the white bean energy bars (the only item listed in there that isnt vegan is honey which can easily be substituted with agave or any other sweetener):
http://www.nomeatathlete.com/homemade-energy-bars/

This page has a generic template for making energy bars with a variety of options:
http://www.nomeatathlete.com/homemade-energy-bar-recipe/

I made the white bean energy bars once for my husband and I and didn't tell him what was in it and he loved them! lol.

[Blueberries]

More attempts at cheap living- when cooking turning the oven/hob off early and letting the residual heat finish off cooking. I knew before that this could be done bit didn't quite realise how hot the hob stayed until I went to wipe a stain off and nearly burnt my hand :/. Also if I've the oven on I'll make a few things at a time :D