How to eat cheap vegan meals for the week & grocery list |Under $100 a week
Hello again!
Here is the thing, a lot of us vegans in Vancouver and across the globe are millennials who want to be healthy, save money, and save time.
Unfortunately, marrying all 3 of these goals can be hard to do. A lot of the time we find that in order to have convenience we have to pay more or eat a little less healthy. Generally, I’ve found this to be true! It’s been really hard for me to find ways to eat healthy that are still convenient, cost-effective, and healthy. Sometimes it felt pretty impossible!
However, recently I’ve found some pretty cool hacks that make it easier than ever to eat healthy in a simple, affordable, and convenient way!
So let’s get right into it.
This suggested vegan grocery haul is for 2 people, so if you are planning for less or more, calculate accordingly!
5 tips - How to eat cheaply on a vegan diet
Number One - Salads are extremely cheap!
Salads are pretty dang cheap! However, sometimes even I can be too tired to whip up a salad I’m excited to eat. This is why I’ve developed hack 1 regarding salads!
Hack - Buy yourself pre-made salads that are no more than $4.97 plus tax.
Cheap prepared vegan salads for groceries.
A lot of grocery stores sell premade salads that they chop themselves and are fresh every day. These salads range from at least $6 - $9 plus tax. Stay away from those ones unless your budget can handle it!
However, by looking in the ready-bagged/prepared lettuce area of your local grocery store, you’ll be able to find fresh delicious salads that come pre-chopped and prepared with crunchy add-ins such as quinoa, tortillas, nuts, and seeds.
Some of which, will have fully vegan dressings inside and ready to go. For those that come with a dressing that isn’t vegan, simply get rid of it and use one of your own store-bought or homemade dressings.
I’ve found that with buying these pre-made salads along with a pre-washed spring mix bag, one bag of salad can easily serve 2 people. This means 2 full meals for between $2.50 - $3.00 each.
If you have rice laying around in your pantry, it’s also super easy to turn these into delicious vegetable-packed rice bowls!
So there you have it, buy 4 or 5 of these for the week and you have 8-10 lunches for about $2.75 each.
Number 2: Vegan soups are incredibly cheap, easy to make, and go a long way!
There are a plethora of incredible soup recipes out there that are chocked full of incredible healthy veggies, proteins and fiber-filled beans and lentils, and overall comforting goodness for you to experiment with!
I’ve linked some new soup recipes I’m extremely excited to try this year below.
Cheap vegan soup made with groceries.
Why prep soups though?
Overall, they seem to get you the most bang for your buck when it comes to getting something that is healthy, easy to make (one pot!), and cost-effective.
I would prep this at the beginning of the week and have it throughout the week. I would ensure the recipe you use creates at least 6 servings. This way 3 of your dinners for the week are fully taken care of.
Now, when it’s dinner time, all you have to do is heat up your soup, crack some pepper, toast some toast, and you are good to go!
Number 3 - Spaghetti, pasta, or noodles are insanely cheap and easy to whip up.
Let’s be real, I don’t think I can do soup 5 nights a week!
I am obsessed with creating cheesy vegan cauliflower sauce. I buy 1 head of cauliflower at the beginning of the week and it perfectly lasts me all week to make 2 portions of creamy cheesy cauliflower sauce I can mix into my pasta or spaghetti.
If you are more of a tomatoes sauce fan, then instead of cauliflower buy canned tomatoes or prepared tomatoes sauce. Just ensure it’s totally vegan.
Easy and cheap pasta from vegan groceries.
I used to turn my nose up at people that made pasta for dinner ( I know, what’s wrong with me?). I thought it lacked creativity and was a silly thing to make for dinner. I have since come around, and I love a good pasta with either whole wheat noodles or vegetable-added noodles.
I keep things simple with either a fresh vegan cream sauce or fresh tomato sauce. Super easy, incredibly delicious. Still healthier than eating out and far more affordable!
Number 4 - Purchase filling snacks to munch on all day
I was never a big snack person until I realized how healthy, easy, and affordable snacks can be! If I can stop myself from craving a vegan burger by eating a handful of nuts and a few slices of apple, amazing! Now I’m all for it.
Vegan snacks are usually full of protein and fiber so a little can go a long way.
Some things I buy for snacking purposes are:
Apples
Oranges
Bananas
Hummus
Toast with Peanut butter
Almonds/ mixed nuts
Whole wheat pita
Pickles
Olives
Baby carrots (because I don’t actually eat the normal ones when I buy them!)
Easy sandwich materials
Bread
Cheese
Tempeh
Mixed greens
Tomatoes
Onion
Condiments I have on hand
Pickles
These snacks are not only cheap and easy to make, but they enable me to stay full between lunch and dinner while creating a sense of variety for the week.
Number 5 - Keep breakfasts simple, cheap, and filling by eating vegan oatmeal, premade wraps, or muffins
For the sake of this example, I’m going with the oatmeal example for the week. Oatmeal is incredibly easy to make, very cost-effective, and quite healthy when loaded up with delicious frozen and fresh fruit, seeds, nuts, flax, and spices. Get creative with what you have on hand or stock up in order to max out your healthy options!
This might mean your first haul is a little more pricey, but these materials go a long way and you won’t need to stock up again for another month at least.
Toppings to think about stocking up on for oatmeal are:
Chia seeds
Flax seeds
Hemp hearts
Walnuts
Vanilla extract
Cinnamon
Turmeric
Cheap vegan meal plan and grocery list
Good news folks, I decided to illustrate how doable this budget is by going to Safeway!
That’s right, I didn’t go to No Frills, or Super Store or any other local market or discount store to find cheap eats. I went to probably one of the most over-priced grocery stores in Canada to prove that vegan groceries for 2 people can be bought for under $100. If I can do it, anyone can.
Below is the list of things I purchased for my 1 week of planned meals, as well as extra items I bought to stay within budget but prep for next week as well.
Example of a less than $100 vegan grocery haul for 2 people from Safeway, in Vancouver BC
Kalamata Olives - $3.29
Medium Organic Salasa - $3.79
Baby Greens - $5.99
Salad Kit Asian- $4.99
Salad Kit Guacomole- $4.99
Salad Kit Everything - $4.99
Organic Oyster Mushrooms - $4.49
2 Russet Potatoes - $3.99 (seems crazy!?)
Kale - $2.99
Ambrosia Apples - $2.90
1 Sweet Potatoe - $2.58
Baby Carrots - $2.49
Cluster Vine Tomatoes (3) - $2.44
Organic Bananas - (5) $2.20
Broccoli Crown - $2.14
Cucumber - $1.99
Parlsey - $1.99
Red Bell Pepper - $1.41
Red Onion - $1.23
Bell Green Pepper - $0.96
1 Bulk Carrot - $0.43
Impossible Meat - $10.99
Roasted Hummus - $2.99
Traditional Hummus - $2.99
Whole Wheat Tortillas (10) - $3.99
Whole Wheat Pita - $3.59
Basil Marinara Sauce - $2.50
Grand total with taxes for this weeks meal plan: $88.82
Extra items I purchased to get closer to my budget of $100 a week.
I always recommend buying a couple more items if you are under budget to stock up your pantry again so it is never ‘in want’.
Extra items:
Capers - $3.29
Veggie Spaghettie (2) - $500 ($2.50 each)
Frozen Diced Butternut Squash - $3.49
With these 4 extra items, my total grocery haul cost $100.60! I was low on these items and knew that I will want them in the coming weeks.
Like everybody, I had some leftover items from the week before. Part of helping yourself save money when grocery shopping, is thinking about what you already have and how you can incorporate that into the coming week! This helps eliminate waste and fully utilize all the groceries you’ve purchased.
General items I had leftover of or stocked away in my pantry to help turn this fully into what I wanted to meal prep:
Leftover tofu block
4 leftover tempeh
5 leftover cheese strips
Chickpea cans
Blackbean cans
Vegetable broth paste
Crushed canned tomatoes
Leftover corn
Leftover green onion
Nutritional yeast
Orzo pasta
Olive oil
Garlic cloves
1 onion, 1 bell pepper
What we ate for the week from my groceries, pantry items, and leftovers:
10 Vegan tofu breakfast wraps
4 servings Orzo sweet potato Mediterranean pasta (pictured above)
6 servings Vegan impossible kefta wraps on whole wheat pita with veggies and hummus
6 servings of different salads from pre-packaged bags and my own vegan dressing (example pictured above)
8 Servings of Moroccan Inspired Soup (link here) (pictured above)
Random snacks with carrots, hummus, and/or apples
How to eat cheap on a vegan diet and get cheap groceries.
Summary of Cheap, Healthy, Convenient Vegan Groceries
The main thing I’ve learned, that is if it works for you, and it makes you eat healthier, save time, and avoid ordering in, then do that. Do what works for you.
Yes, I’d love to be able to buy my salad materials from scratch and ACTUALLY make salads every day and not let my materials go to waste, but right now it seems I’m unable to do this due to a hectic schedule and low energy levels. So for now I buy premade salads that I know I’ll eat that are still within my budget and won’t go to waste. Maybe one day I’ll be able to make my own salads and save even more money, but this is the compromise that works for me.
I like white rice better than brown rice, so for now, I make easy fluffy white rice because it gets me more excited about eating than mushy brown rice.
I get more excited about whole-wheat bread without seeds on the crust, so now I buy normal whole wheat bread without a million seeds on the crust.
You get the point! There are ideals vegans try to hold themselves to when it comes to waste and nutrition when sometimes we need an intermediate step. It’s ok to not be the perfect waste-free, 100% organic, all home-made vegan goddess/demi-god you want to be right away.
Perhaps you will find the energy, time, and drive to do that a couple of months out of the year, and if so, amazing!!
However, do not feel guilty about making the necessary changes you need to make in order to ensure your plant-based lifestyle is affordable and sustainable for you :).