Cheap and Easy Vegetarian Cooking on a Budget

Fast, flavoursome and inexpensivedishes from Britain’s best-known writeron vegetarian cookery

There’s something very satisfying about producing a tasty, nourishing meal at a rock-bottom price – and not having to spend hours in the kitchen in order to do it. Cheap food can undoubtedly be good food, tasty, healthy and quick to make.

There are in the world a wealth of colourful and delicious dishes which have sustained our forebears for generations and still do so today. These use basic, cheap foods which do not need elaborate refining or packaging. They are additive-free, full of fibre and packed with nutrients – and they taste great.

Along with these basic international recipes are favourites from an exciting and rapidly developing culinary art, vegetarian cookery. These, too, use the basic, unprocessed foods and bring further variety and interest to money-saving meals.

Including some of these dishes in your weekly menus can save you money; basing your week’s menus entirely on them can cut your expenses by at least a third.

Contrary to what people think, cheap meals can actually be better for you in terms of health and nutrition than richer, more expensive, meals. It’s well known that during the last war, people in Britain were healthier on the meagre diet which rationing enforced. This is because such a diet relies on basic foods such as potatoes, pasta, wholewheat or wholemeal bread, grains and pulses (legumes). All these contain fibre, are rich in nutrients and free from additives. If you base your meals on these staples, include small quantities of eggs and dairy produce, have a good source of vitamin C each day and, if possible, a good serving of green vegetables, you will be well-nourished, look fit and feel good. Good sources of vitamin C are kiwi fruit, oranges or grapefruit, or some orange or grapefruit juice, a good salad, or a good serving of potatoes, a large piece of melon or a bowl of strawberries.