What are some cheap and cheerful Vegetarian foods I can cook?

Hi all

Well I'm taking the leap into Vegetarianism, I've wanted to go Vegetarian for a while but I'm hopeless with cooking, and coming from a family of obsessive omnivores don't really know any interesting Vegetarian foods I can cook and eat at a budget (besides good ol' Beans on Toasts)

Would definitely be grateful for all your recommendations / recipes, etc.

Thanks! :biggrin:

Reply 1

VioletPhillippo

Have you tried Quorn or other substitutes? (supermarkets do their own brands and they're just as good), they've really developed their ranges now and their is a large variety from plain to tasty to spicy. You could also try tofu if you wanted to - it comes in lots of tasty flavours and you can pretty much put it with anything and have it cold, baked, fried... Quorn mince is cheap you could do vege bolognaise, chilli, on a jacket potato, curry.

You could also have things like spicy mixed beans, lentils (you can buy them dry or pre packed flavoured), or do something tasty with eggs like an omellete packed with veg or quorn meat. :smile:

Reply 2

citydeer

Have a look for some vegetable curry recipes - I found one for chickpea and butternut squash curry which was super easy and really nice, or super easy is thai green curry, just do some veggies (i use mushrooms, onion, baby sweetcorn, and snap peas) and then all you need is the green curry paste and coconut milk!
Pasta is good, its easy to make a nice pasta sauce with veggies in!
Chilli con carne is easy to make without the meat (just mixed beans instead and serve with rice!)
Also, tofu can be super yummy and easy to make! I put it with roasted veggies or in a salad.

Have a look around for some nice veggie recipes, there are loads! I quite often end up cooking for my family (who are meat lovers) and they enjoy it!! Good luck!!!

Reply 3

myrtille

Veggie curries are great - add a tin of chickpeas or lentils for some protein and they're nice and filling too. I really like sweet potato in curries.

An incredibly easy veggie pasta dish I do - cook linguine/spaghetti. While it's boiling, coarsely grate a courgette, finely grate some lemon zest and a clove of garlic. When the pasta is cooked and drained, throw in the courgette, zest, garlic, a splash of olive oil, salt, chilli flakes - eat.

Veggie bolognese/chilli - you can use vegetarian mince (supermarket own brand frozen soya mince is fine) or just loads of veg. Serve in different ways (in lasagne, with pasta, with jacket potatoes) to vary it.

Easy dinner - find a brand of veggie sausages that you like, roast a load of veg (sweet potato, courgette, red onion) and add the sausages to cook.

This veggie shepherd's pie is tasty:
http://www.bbcgoodfood.com/recipes/4382/veggie-shepherds-pie-with-sweet-potato-mash

Stir fry + noodles + sauce. You can buy the packs of mixed stir fry veg for £1 (will do 2-3 meals) - just fry them in a large pan/wok while you boil the noodles (Sharwoods medium egg noogles and nice and only take 4 minutes), then add the noodles to the veg with a sachet of sauce (50p on offer) or splash of sauce from a jar. If you can afford them, cashews are a tasty addition.

Reply 4

Kutie Karen

Pasta and spag bol using quorn mince. Healthy and filling and delicious. Vegetable lasagne. Samosas if you like spicy things.

Reply 5

Africa103

Original post by LiamTSR

Hi all

Try pot noodle :biggrin:

Reply 6

Blackacre

Original post by LiamTSR

Hi all

I'm an omnivore ( :getmecoat:

), but my girlfriend's a "veggie" - well, pescetarian - so I'm getting to the habit of eating meat-free meals. I'm not really a fan of meat substitutes, so I can't really comment on Quorn and the like, but there are some good recipes on the BBC site. I can recommend Jack Monroe ("A Girl Called Jack") for cheap and easy grub.

It depends on why you want to go veggie, but you might find it easier to start by allowing yourself to eat fish - I managed a month without other meat relatively easily, but I think even with my girlfriend's inventive cooking her diet (and her vegetarian recipes) verges on samey sometimes. That said, I'm sure she's got better suggestions than me!

Origami Bullets

...

QFA.

Reply 7

Manitude

Quorn make a substitute for most meats however my (limited) experience of Quorn was pretty awful and you need a lot of strongly flavoured ingredients to cover up the taste of the Quorn. Maybe you'll find it less objectionable than I do in which case you can make most omnivorous meals using Quorn.

Chana masala is a half decent vegan curry although I think it's better suited to a side rather than a main. It's very easy to make if you can find chana masala powder. I got mine from a corner shop in an area with a lot of Asian immigrants and it was very cheap.

Posted from TSR Mobile

Reply 8

Origami Bullets

Original post by Blackacre

I'm an omnivore ( :getmecoat:

"Samey"

Anyway, I'd really recommend this cookbook
http://www.amazon.co.uk/Beyond-Baked-Beans-Green-Students/dp/1904573142/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1418117540&sr=8-1&keywords=beyond+baked+beans+green (currently 1p!)
It's the sort of recipe book that starts you at the beginning and builds you up to some more complicated stuff, with the added bonus that all the recipes are meat-free.

I rarely use meat substitutes - the only time I do is when I'm making either spag bol or chilli. In those cases, I put a bit of quorn mince in, just for the texture. In general things like fake bacon are just a bit rubbish (and I don't think anybody really likes tofu!). However, it's often more helpful with veggie cooking not to start with a meat recipe and then start thinking about how you can replace the meat (though of course you can do that if you wish), but to look for recipes that are inherently meat free - that can include pies, pasta, curries, noodle dishes etc. etc.

The bit a lot of people tend to struggle with is Christmas - truth be told, there's not really a direct equivalent to roast meat. In my household, for the veggies, we do all the usual stuffing and roast veg (done in veg oil, not in / under the meat) and other sides, and then this is a bit of a classic http://www.theguardian.com/lifeandstyle/2005/dec/17/features.weekend4 but I've also had good feedback from http://www.pieminister.co.uk/christingle-all-the-way/ Even the meat eaters like it - they typically have some of the veggie option as a side dish.

I'm happy to answer any questions, but in the meantime, experiment! Go out and find some recipes and follow them, see what you like and go from there. It's the only way to learn!

Reply 9

Carnationlilyrose

Original post by Blackacre

Original post by Origami Bullets

Aww. Bless.

Reply 10

Blackacre

Original post by Carnationlilyrose

Aww. Bless.

6 months together by Christmas Eve!

(I'm not sure I'll forget the semi-awkwardness of us dropping into conversation that we're together and you saying "I didn't like to ask". :lol:

)

Reply 11

Carnationlilyrose

Original post by Blackacre

6 months together by Christmas Eve!

(I'm not sure I'll forget the semi-awkwardness of us dropping into conversation that we're together and you saying "I didn't like to ask". :lol:

)

I always wait to be told. It's the safest way. Congrats on the half year! :biggrin:

Reply 12

cole-slaw

A lot of quorn is actually ok, quorn mince makes a decent spag bol (I haven't bothered buying real mince in 5 years). and the chicken pieces are ok.

Reply 13

viddy9

Quorn Chicken Nuggets and Quorn Chicken Burgers are quite tasty, actually, and the Quorn Sausage rolls are pretty delicious - I probably prefer them to regular sausage rolls.

They also do a good rice and chicken tikka masala microwavable ready meal if you can find it. Tesco also do some frozen bean burgers which are quite nice.

Apart from that, the posters above have given some great suggestions - I generally have sandwiches; noodles; curry dishes (lentils, chickpeas, kidney beans etc) with rice; pasta with vegetables; salads and so on. If you still eat egg, you could have French toast and beans, but as a lacto-vegetarian, I use a recipe using flour and soy milk to substitute for the egg.

(edited 9 years ago)

Reply 14

username1278869

I've got a blog dedicated to students and my latest post is about cheap meals (got vegetarian meals) its : http://www.studentbargains.co.uk/2015/01/cheap-healthy-meals.html?spref=tw if you want to check it out :smile: