Cheap Vegan Eats

Since I'm on a very strict budget right now, I thought I would show some cheap meals I ate over the weekend. I've of course been eating a lot of beans. Beans beat Ramen as cheap food any day of the week in my opinion. I probably told this story before, but I once worked at a preschool, and the director of the school was this very loud woman, and one day she was going on and on about how the cheap ramen is like a comfort food to her. I said she obviously has never been poor and hungry, because anyone who has had to eat those out of necessity will never call those comfort food. Just looking at those packets in the store makes me feel ill. Thankfully for us frugal vegans we know how to budget!

Black bean and corn salsa!

Avocado tacos!

I made a tasty corn and black bean salsa, with red onion, cilantro and jalapeno, and I used it to top some avocado tacos. This was a really tasty combo, and since my whole meal was only veggies, I felt so light after!

The salsa also made a nice spicy topping for a spicy "chicken" burger from Sprouts. I've been buying and using these pitas from Smith's. They're much cheaper than bread. I've been having a hard time finding wheat bread that doesn't have milk, honey, or a slew of terrifying ingredients and is budget friendly. Sorry Dave, I love your bread, it is killer but it also kills my wallet.

I also made another old friend, red lentil curry with coconut milk. The pita appeared again, this time standing in for Naan. I love curries because they're so rich and satisfying, not like a budget meal at all.

Am I in the way?

I had to take a kitty intermission. I don't have a dish rack, so I use this towel, and dry my dishes there. Well, each and every kitty has decided that it's also a great place to sleep, they can keep an eye on what I'm doing, and keep an eye on any activity going on outside of the window!

Oh, am I in the way?

The kitties kind of see the extra counter space more as extra room for them, not so much as extra space for cooking!

For dinner last night I made some pinto beans, and made them into tacos with avocado, lettuce, and the rest of the salsa. The pinto beans were soooo good, I cooked them with salt, cumin, garlic and onion powder, and a little turmeric. They were super tasty all on their own!
These meals are proof that a vegan diet is not expensive, or complicated. I have a very tight budget, and almost no kitchen equipment, but I am still eating a variety of colorful foods, none of which came with a flavor packet.
I've been hearing a lot about the new lab grown meat, or stem cell meat or whatever it's called, and I know Beast burger has a new burger that "bleeds", and then I just read this post this morning. I had never even heard of the Impossible burger until now. I have zero desire to try an Impossible burger myself, but I am very interested to see how some of these new new super realistic burgers do with non vegans. I mean, Impossible burger looks pretty dang real to me. I believe that there are those people who will never give up meat. They firmly believe that animals are meant for us to eat, and even if it became illegal to kill or eat animals, they still would. But I also believe that there are people who do care about animals and the environment, but they care about their taste buds more. So, for those people, these burgers might be a game changer. And it's a start. Maybe it will make meatless Mondays easier for some people, or it will encourage others to go two days a week without meat. And something is better than nothing at this point.