It’s that time again where everyone is broke from paying tuition, rent, buying textbooks, etc. This can cause some stress because students still have other expenses like buying groceries. Since students have limited means, they need to find meals that are budget friendly. Here are some vegan meals that are cheap and nutritious and will leave you feeling satisfied.
Brown Rice + Green Salad
This may not seem like the most interesting meal but I promise you it tastes heavenly and it’s packed with nutrients. First you make some rice, I use brown rice simply because of the nutritional value but you can use whatever you want. While the rice is cooking, you grab some cucumber, tomatoes, lemon/lime, and some salad greens. Cut up as much of the vegetables as you would like and mix it all together and then add some salt and lemon/lime. When the rice is done, you mix the rice and the salad together and once you start eating you’ll never want to stop. With this mean, you get carbs mixed with a healthy salad and afterwards you don’t feel awkwardly bloated, you just feel great.
Good ol’ Pasta
This is pretty simple and something we probably all eat but here are some extra tips to make your Pasta healthier. First, pick a sauce that has more nutritional value, I like a tomato sauce with mushrooms because that’s the only way I’ll eat mushrooms. Then after cooking the pasta, add some frozen veggies to increase your intake of vegetables and to make your pasta all the more interesting. You could also add some hemp seeds or chia seeds to your pasta, which you can find at bulk barn for a pretty good price
Banana Bread
I buy a lot of bananas because I use it in pretty much everything I eat. Unfortunately, I don’t get to all of the bananas quick enough and they get pretty brown. Luckily this is the best time to make banana bread. The banana bread is made with ingredients that you would usually have on hand to begin with! Perhaps the ingredient that would be most expensive would be the coconut oil but you can sub the oil for any other oil as I have done many times.
https://lovingitvegan.com/vegan-banana-bread/
Smoothies
Smoothies are a great way to get all the vitamins you need in a to-go cup for those busy days. My basic smoothie recipe is kale/spinach, frozen bananas, half an avocado, frozen berries, chia seeds and/or hemp seeds, and if you want you could add some powders like Spirulina or Ashwagandha for an extra vitamin boost.
(Disclaimer: Powders tend to run on the expensive side but everything else in this recipe you can find for a good price)
Roasted Veggies, Chickpeas, and Lentils
I really love power bowls because it’s an excellent way to get all the nutrients you need. For this meal, first you need your favourite frozen/fresh veggies, some oil, a spice, and chickpeas. Mix the veggies, spice, oil, and chickpeas together and then put them in the oven until it is roasted to your liking. While your concoction is roasting, you can boil lentils and add whatever spice you would like when almost all the water is evaporated. I like to add turmeric and lime to my lentils, because turmeric has lots of health benefits and also tastes super good. After everything is roasted and boiled, mix the roasted veggies and chickpeas with the lentils and now you have a power bowl that will leave you feeling satisfied and maybe you’ll even want to take a picture for Instagram.