Vegan

[trfie]

For the other vegans, what is a cheap way that I can live healthily without growing any foods? Does anyone have tasty but inexpensive staples that can be rotated? I know there is no shortage of simple and healthy vegan meals but all googling (even using "easiest" as a keyword) always brings up incredibly complicated and/or involved recipes, often involving expensive ingredients.

If I could find a one week or two week meal plan that met the above, it would be fantastic.

I don't have any problem with breakfast as I make smoothies but am looking for ideas for lunches/dinners. Thanks.

[Noided]

If you could read portuguese I could send you the text file I am building with my recipes. I, like you, tried to search for "easy vegetarian/vegan recipes" and the results made my head hurt. Then I found a book with some recipes on the easier/simpler side. I guess I could still give you a tip or two, send me a private message

[Jean]

I'm not really vegan, but I used to rotate between lentiles (just cooked in water, maybe with some spices. It's very good with carots or leeks too), pea soup (with onion and bacon, but it's good without bacon too), humus (cook the peas, add some lemon juice, garlix, olive oil, and if you want, sesam paste (you can do this one yourself as well), and beans in tomato sauce(just cook the beans, add some tomatos and onion toward the end of the cooking).
All are easy to cook from staple, and taste good. They can taste very fine with some practice.
They are all much easier and faster to cook with a pressure cooker. If you don't own one yet, this should be one of your priorities.

[bradley]

What's "cheap"? Where do you usually get your produce? Those factors can help my recommendations

Try Googling one-pot meals. Also see this thread: viewtopic.php?f=4&t=5935&p=86287&hilit=recipe#p86287
A lot of the ERE recipes are vegan or adaptable.

As far as staples go, potatoes, rice and beans are very inexpensive. Lettuce is also on the affordable side. Tomatoes are probably the priciest, which is where it's best to grow your own.

For breakfast I usually have an apple, for lunch an orange or grapefruit, and if I'm peckish some almonds in the afternoon. Dinner is a larger affair: salad with lettuce, tomatoes and olives; miso soup; high-protein or high-carb entree + steamed/sauteed veggies

[BeyondtheWrap]

Rice and beans is a standard ERE meal due to being cheap, and it happens to be vegan.

Also see this thread: viewtopic.php?t=3403

[chicago81]

I love the taste of beans -- especially flavored with spices or liquid smoke or onions or garlic.
I wouldn't mind eating rice and beans almost every day -- if not for the horrible side effects (stinky gas) of eating beans.

I still haven't found a solution for this problem.

[trfie]

Thanks for all of the ideas. I do not have a pressure cooker but I will have to consider it. Will take a look at the link/try some of these.

Noided, I think I will be able to read the recipes in Portuguese, would be great if you could send me the file. You are compiling the list for yourself?

bradley, I guess I really meant "not extravagant," not cheap. If I can eat well and *easily* on a regular basis then that is the first priority and I will look at cutting costs later. Eg, I don't mind buying ready-made hummus or guacamole initially, but eventually will start making my own.

chicago81, my understanding is that gas from beans is temporary. After a few months you will adapt and no longer have that side effect.

[theanimal]

I'm vegan. I eat the standard ERE cheapo fare. Most of my meals contain one of the following:oats, potatoes, rice and beans. I have rice and beans for dinner almost every night. I love it. Pancakes are another good one. I consider maple syrup one of my main luxuries I supplement those meals with assorted fruits, vegetables and some nuts. Occasionally I'll have a some type of vegetable stir fry or make some type of stew. Which reminds me, I've been meaning to post the recipe to Dick Proenneke's "famous" bean stew. Anyways, I'm not very hard to please and I enjoy my simple tastes.

chicago81- Are you removing the water from the beans after you soak them (or are you soaking them)? I don't seem to have the gas problem with beans. Maybe try drinking more water too? Otherwise trfie is probably right. Adapting to a high fiber diet takes some time.

[Scott 2]

I'm learning to use the slow cooker for beans right now. I've got the pressure cooker Jacob recommends. It works well, but I don't like paying attention to it or cleaning it. The slow cooker is very forgiving.

If you are ok with eating soy, textured vegetable protein is a very cheap vegan protein source. IMO lack of protein is one of the biggest holes i see in vegan diets. There should be 20+ grams in every meal. Fruit does not cut it. This is hard to meet without beans, soy, or a protein powder.

As a vegetarian, I pick a raw fruit and vegetable for my meal, then add some healthy fat and protein. This is often just some nuts and a yogurt, or beans with rice. The meals are easy but boring. I'm OK with that.

If there's an aldi by you, shop there.

[jacob]

I guess the modern term for me is "flexitarean", but my formative "move away from home" was spent cooking vegetarian. I quickly gave up milk because it was too much of a hassle. Once I got to Switzerland and started being extremely frugal, eggs were too expensive (produce in Switzerland is unbelievably $$$$ ... Americans have no idea) so that only left cheese which I used mostly as a condiment. Hence, many of the meals I used to cook (DW does all the cooking now... she just cares 50 times more than me) closely approximate vegan.

[Gilberto de Piento]

Dal is vegan and it doesn't cost much: http://www.wholefoodsmarket.com/recipe/indian-dal. Best on jasmine or basmati rice. Leaving out the spices will make it cheaper but very boring.

[Felix]

Indian and asian food is great cheap vegan fare. Asian food is basically veggie stir fry based on which veggies are on sale (supplemented with carrots which are usually cheap). Indian is some sort of dal (legume soup/sauce). Get the spices in bulk. Get lots of garlic and ginger. Eat these with lots of rice.
Buy a large bag of rice and a large bag of some dried legumes and a large bag of onions. Potatoes are also very cheap. Potato carrot soup is awesome.
You can bake your own bread which is extremely cheap.
Vegan Mexican food can be very cheap too. Think Bean burritos. And pasta with tomato sauce is always an easy frugal go-to meal.

[slimicy]

Tubers tubers and more tubers. I'm not a vegan (actually the opposite of one) but if I had to go without meat my diet would be 80% tubers, for a non-meat source they have a great protein profile, and you can eat them cold for the resistant starch benefits.

[TopHatFox]

I've been vegan for two years now, I usually spend $0-100 a month depending on how much free food I feel like finding through events or dumpster diving ($100 is the no dumpster or free food bill for me).

Some of what I eat:

Grains: millet, brown rice, couscous, rolled oats, quinoa, popcorn, corn flour, make my own whole grain and corn bread in a bread machine, etc.

Fruits & vegetables: all sorts from Aldi, I spent $60 on a bicycle trailer full

Legumes: all sorts of lentils, beans, seeds, & nuts

Tubers: potatoes are a staple

Spices & dried herbs: of all kinds, they last a long time

Oils: olive & coconut

Special stuff: Vitamin B-12 enriched nutritional yeast and fancy coconut milk sporadically (working on making my own milk)

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They key is to buy everything via bike & bike trailer, purchase in bulk, bring your own containers, and prepare or cook most things yourself. Many Asian & Hispanic markets are excellent for inexpensive bulk grains and legumes. Aldi and local farmers--not fancy farmer's markets!--have been unparalleled for inexpensive produce.

Every few days or weekly I pick a grain, a bean, some vegetables, some spices, and make a batch dish to reheat for the proceeding next few days. I can make other dishes around this batch dish if I feel like it. For example, this week's dish is couscous with red beans & black beans and broccoli/carrots, but today I also made myself a salad with two lettuce varieties, tomatoes, cucumbers, flaxseeds, olive oil, homemade bread crumbs (lol), and balsamic vinagraite.