Budget-Friendly Vegan Recipe Books (no waste!)
Vegan One Pound Meals is a super book of budget-friendly recipes. Although it was published a few years ago, the meals still stand up as being affordable, with rising food prices. This is how cookbooks should be. It has no desserts, but all the recipes have a few ingredients on one page, with a colour photo on the facing page. You can even remember the ingredients in your head, on the way to the store!
Before cooking, read up on food safety for people and pets (many foods are unsafe near animal friends). Bin allium scraps (onion, leeks, garlic, shallots, chives) and citrus/tomato/rhubarb scraps, as acids could harm compost creatures. It’s okay to put them in food waste bins (made into biogas).
For tinned foods, fully remove lids (put inside) or pop ring-pulls back over holes (and pinch tops closed) before recycling, to avoid wildlife getting trapped.
Many people on a tight budge want to cook their own food, but recipe books often have too many weird and unaffordable ingredients, especially for vegan ones (this author does have non-vegan books too if you eat meat – at least you can then afford free-range and eat more plants).
This is a real ‘peaceful politics in action’ book as with it, you can make your own meals, and not be slave to the ready-meal industry, and also reduce food waste. The 85 recipes include:
- Artichoke Paella
- Sweet Potato Katsu Curry
- Golden Syrup Broccoli Noodles (Miguel’s fave!)
- Mac & No Cheese
- Sticky Aubergine Bao
- Black Bean Meatballs
- Mexican Stuffed Peppers
- Oothappam Indian Crumpets
- Vegan Sausage Rolls (use homemade pastry to avoid palm oil)
Miguel Barclay is a self-taught cook whose background is in banking and mathematics. His hobby is producing spreadsheets (?!) So he decided to combine his cooking and financial skills, to come up with easy meals that are affordable for everyone, and now has published many books.
I’ve always loved cooking. But I’m not a fan of needlessly over-complicated recipes that waste time and money. So I’ve created my own style of cooking: simple ingredients, straightforward recipes and mouth-watering meals, all on a budget. Miguel
Vegan Pantry (recipes with 10 staple ingredients)
Vegan Pantry is a book of 100 tasty recipes, based around 10 staple ingredients that you likely have in your kitchen all the time. This not only saves money but stops food waste, as you just buy fresh fruits and veggies and a few other ingredients, to add to the staples for varied delicious meals.
The 10 Staple Ingredients
- Oats
- Canned Tomatoes
- Pulses
- Citrus
- Pasta
- Coconut Milk
- Peanut Butter
- Tofu
- Grains
- Jackfruit (a bit more unusual!)
The extra ingredients you need to make these meals are:
- Fresh fruits and vegetables
- Non-dairy milks
- Herbs and spices
- Sea salt and black pepper
- Oils, flour and sugar
If you don’t like cookbooks that require you to find 10 different shops to buy the ingredients, then you’ll love Katy’s books! Her latest offering shows a real understanding that most people don’t live near swanky farm shops (and if they do, can’t afford the prices).
Recipes include:
- Baked Bean Waffle Pie
- Cinnamon & Hazelnut Granola
- Garlic Mushroom Sausages with Creamy Mash
- Creamy Chickpea, Sage & Kale Soup
- Cacio e Pepe-style Butter Beans
- Cauliflower Mac & Cheese
- Fennel & Grapefruit Salad
- Date, Chickpea & Lemon Tagine
- Corn-on-the-cob
There are always plenty of delicious desserts in Katy’s book! The simple affordable ones in this book include:
- Limoncello Tiramisu
- Pistachio, Mango & Coconut Kulfi
- Vegan Creme Brulee
Consider shopping at fruit and vegetable markets, for good prices on seasonal produce. Overheads are less than supermarket chains, so savings can be passed onto the consumer. Be cautious of coupons and vouchers, and purchase only what you will actually use, no matter what the discount.
Tonnes of cooked rice are wasted due to overestimating volumes of uncooked rice (90g of uncooked rice will serve one person – chill unused rice in the fridge for up to 24 hours and thoroughly reheat before serving).
Scrappy Cooking (zero waste vegan recipes)
PlantYou: Scrappy Cooking is a wonderful book of 150 plant-based recipes, which lets you make use of food scraps that would otherwise have gone to waste. Instead of finding a long list of complicated recipes, you simply look up what you’ve got (say cabbage), then find recipes to use it up!
This book is beautifully designed, with an easy-to-read font and pictorial instructions for new cooks. You’ll learn how to transform radish tops into pesto, broccoli stems into summer rolls, and wilting greens into smoothie cubes.
The healthy recipes include:
- Squash Pasta
- Skillet Lasagne
- One Pan Orzo Casserole
- Vodka Penne with Broccoli
- Roasted Cauliflower with Red Pepper Sauce
- Chickpea Pot Pie
- We-Got-The-Beet Crisps
- Cornmeal Biscuits
- Bang Bang Broccoli-cious Steaks
Examples of using up food waste
Stale Bread can be used to make:
- Last Week’s Loaf Breakfast Casserole
- Caramelised French Onion Soup
- Herbed Bread Crumbs
Wilted greens can be used to make:
- Juicer-free Green Juice
- Green Goddess Soup
- Leeky Tuscan Minestrone
- Green with Envy Spaghetti
- Scrappy Pesto
Leftover cauliflower can be used to make:
- Whatever Sheet-Pan Soup
- Second-Chance Fried Rice
- Veggie Masala Burgers
Leftover carrots can be used to make:
- Raid the Fridge Noodle Soup
- Scrappy Broth
- Sunday Sauce
- Brilliant Bouillon Powder
Leftover bell peppers can be used to make:
- Eggless Omelette
- Smoky Corn Cob Chowder
- Loaded Tortilla Bowls
- Any Vegetable Curry
- PlantYou Pizza Party
Leftover bananas can be used to make
- Brown Banana Muffins
- Homemade Banana Bread
From oat pulp blondies to fiesta fries (leftover spuds!), this is a really upbeat and unique book, to make use of the food that is thrown away in its million, when it could feed hungry people, including you!
Lean on staple recipes that allow you to ‘clean out the fridge. With great base recipes (stews, curries, stir-fries), you can interchange the vegetables on hand each week, to reduce waste.
By using up leftovers, you’ll notice a decrease in your grocery bill. And you’ll feel great, knowing you’re making healthier choices, and contributing to a more sustainable planet. Carleigh
Carleigh Bodrug is a self-taught plant-based cook, known for her low-waste vegan recipes. She is well-known in Canada where she lives, and runs a highly successful blog PlantYou, along with digital meal planner, to help people cook and eat more plants, in an easy and affordable manner.
She is passionate about helping others to good health, having gone plant-based herself to develop recipes to help her father, who was recovering from colon cancer (often linked to eating meat).
