I'm bored

[Deleted member 3009]

I've been vegan for around 3 months, and I am getting bored with the food I eat. I eat pb+j, oatmeal, pasta, vegan homemade burgers, oven baked potatoes, fruit and drink smoothies pretty religiously. While these are things that I enjoy I'm starting to get sick of them. I know how to make vegan pizza, and about vegan ice cream and meat substitutes and all of that fun stuff but those things are a bit expensive so I save them for special occasions or when I'm feeling a little crazy. I would really appreciate some help in finding simple, pretty inexpensive recipes. Thanks in advance :^)
-Crystalsweight

 

[Veganite]

Welcome to the forum, Crystalsweight!

Well, luckily the Internet is a marvelous place for us vegans. There's a plethora of recipes just at your fingertips.

I'd suggest YouTube for ideas on a budget. There's a lot of great channels. I am constantly using YouTube or Google for recipes and new ideas. I'll post a few below.

Vital wheat gluten is not that expensive, considering how much seitan you get from a cup and a half. Tofu is really inexpensive too. If you dislike tofu, I suggest watching some YouTube videos on how to make tofu taste good. I used to dislike tofu once, myself. It was the bland flavour and that horrible texture for me. However, there's a few tricks to make it tasty. I have two packages in my fridge thawing out as we speak. It will become a smoked bacon like treat later tomorrow.

If you learn to love rice and beans, you can live very inexpensively. Rice and beans can be made really tasty too. I always make enough that I have leftovers. Rice and bean burritos are cheap and tasty. I'm hooked on bean and yam burritos lately. I made a mango salsa to go with them. It was heavenly.

Lastly, don't be afraid to try new things. Try out new ethnic foods. I had never tasted Jackfruit before going vegan. It actually works very well as a meat substitute. Jackfruit in the Asian section in my grocery store is really cheap.

Being a new vegan takes a little bit of time to learn, but hang in there. You will learn to be an amazing cook in time. You just need to watch some recipe videos and get inspired to try new things out. Vegan food does not have to be expensive at all. You just need some basic herbs and spices for seasoning your foods.

This is just scratching the surface. You need to find channels that suit your tastes. These are a few that I like:

https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCh2CcI5FT661MGIrZCxNeTw

https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCAbKLYEuTR1riockIgAWBiw

https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCNuOiqsFU1BnJij46VMjeNg

https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCuwi1gSKyqz28BVCc9qeuIA

https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCkVtuE3WR0NhNnDiP5d_pAA

https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCh2D2ss44sKdb6l7iGU7eLg

 

[amberfunk]

What kind of pasta do you eat? I make a creamy sauce from no beef bouillon or no chicken bouillon, a roux from flour, earth balance, adding in the broth and some almond milk with spices it's awesome. You can add seitan to this (make your own from vital wheat gluten) and veggies.

You can do stir fry with rice, tofu and veggies. Soups. Youtube has a lot of vegan youtubers and a lot that I watch have inexpensive recipes. https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCUH231XSyHID_ZMOLNk8SIA She has a lot of cheap recipes to get you started.

 

[Lou]

Veganite gave you some great suggestions.
I subscribe to all those channels too. But she missed a couple of my favorite ones. There is one that she missed that I think should go to the top of your list.

It's called Cheap Lazy Vegan. I'll link to her most popular page -
$20 Vegan Meal Prep (7 full days!)
https://www.thecheaplazyvegan.com/2017/06/24/20-vegan-meal-prep-7-full-days/

This is a video that is just a different $20 dollar challenge.

Here are some other pages you will probably find helpful.
http://chooseveg.com/blog/vegan-on-a-budget-17-easy-affordable-recipes-2/
https://www.peta.org/living/food/vegan-recipes-dont-starve-until-payday/

Anyway, there are literally thousands of cheap easy vegan meals. but just these are more than enough to meet your needs for a while.

And let me finish up with some of my strategies.

Even PB&J doesn't have to be too repetitive. I usually "mass produce" my PB&Js assembly line style. I make a whole loaf of them at once. So the bread is all the same. But I won't buy the same kind of bread two times in a row. I might use Ezekials bread one week. and then Dave's the next. I also won't use the same type of jam. Sometimes grape or mixed fruit or strawberry. I won't even always use peanut butter. Sometimes I'll go with Almond or cashew. It's messy, but you can save some money by making your own nut butter in your food processor.

I change up my oatmeal too. Standard is rolled oats, soymilk, and raisins. but I'll vary it. Right now I'm going with steel cut oats and blueberries.

Same thing with smoothies. My default is soymilk, peanut butter, and banana. this week i have been going with soymilk, pineapple juice, Banana, and papaya. The options are pretty endless.

I don't do my own homemade burgers and now you've inspired me to go do that. But I do make my own homemade burritos. Which I also mass produce 10 at a time. I make the filling in a big pot, roll the burritos and freeze them. You can freeze the burritos in zip lock bags. and even re-use the bags. You can really vary the ingredients. Different beans, different veggies. different spices.
Here is a recipe to get you started
http://www.thewholesomefork.com/2017/01/25/homemade-freezer-burritos/

I also do a lot of veggie wraps. Basically, they are whatever I have in the frig. lately, I have been doing more salads. there are pretty infinite varieties of salads.

 

[Limuray]

Crystalsweight, I can completely agree with you about expensive vegan foods. The prices are so over the top. And not only that - vegan ice-cream that you can buy in Rimi is not even vegan - there's palm oil in it.
Small piece of tofu costs the same as 6 cans of beans. It is also hard to find vegan foods or just fruits and flour that are popular in other countries, for example jackfruit and nutritional yeast. So it is challenging, but also exciting to think about your next meals. Vegan youtube channels have been my best friend for easy and cheap recipes. Also you can cook the same dishes with different spices - makes a whole new experience.

 

[veganDreama]

Hello and Welcome!
I wish you luck finding new food to try.

Limuray: Palm oil is vegan as far as I know.

 

[Limuray]

veganDreama, there is major destruction of rainforests due to making palm tree plantations - hence suffering of animals, interfering with biodiversity etc. That is why in my opinion palm oil is not vegan.