Cheap vegan meal plan for the month

I’ve been keeping track of every single thing we spend money on for 3 months now and it’s been quite an eye opener I can tell you! The first month we overspent by about £50 but last month, well the figures were painful reading as was the overspend. It was a 5 week month which did not help as there was much more month than money – ouch!

One thing I’ve noticed was that our meal planning had completely slipped and some days it was a case of thinking about what to have for dinner that day then going and buying it along with loads of other stuff from the supermarket we didn’t really need. Luckily I am finding ways to make the food budget stretch a bit further like wombling for example.

So I’ve sat down now and counted the days until our next payday and we need 28 vegan evening meals for the 5 of us. Obviously we need breakfast and lunch too but lunch is mainly sandwiches and breakfast is cereal so that’s all quite easy to budget and buy. I’ve come up with a list of 28 budget evening meals for the following 4 weeks. I’ll need to get the fresh veggies throughout the month but the cupboard staples I can buy in now (and save money buying some essentials using free Amazon vouchers). I will try to stick to this meal planner until payday which should limit our spend and maybe even leave a little at the end of the month to save?! We shall see…

Trying something new this month!

I’ve repeated some of our favourite meals and included things we already have in the food cupboard. Obviously we are a vegan family – but you can adapt it to suit your own needs. I think the main thing is in the planning, and stocking up on those essentials in the cheapest way possible. I mainly split my grocery shopping between Aldi, Morrisons and Sainsbury’s with a few bits from Holland and Barrett and occasionally Tesco.

Here are the 28 meals I’ve planned: 

1. Pasta (20p spaghetti) and bolognaise sauce with TVP/dried soya mince
2. Vegetable Curry & rice
3. Roast dinner (roast veg & veg sausages)
4. Cauliflower cheese (vegan version) & sweet potato fries
5. Vegetable Soup & wholemeal bread
6. Chickpea, potato & coconut curry (using coriander already in the freezer and free chickpeas I got from Olio!)
7. Pasta (20p spaghetti) and bolognaise sauce with TVP/dried soya mince
8. Baked potatoes & sausages & baked beans (because they’re cheap and we don’t eat them enough)
9. Roast dinner (roast veg & veg sausages or sausage rolls etc)
10. Vivera Goujons (already bought & pictured above), new potatoes & free parsley (I grow it myself) sauce
11. Stir Fry with peanut butter/satay sauce & 20p noodles
12. Veggie burgers & salad (£1.50 for 6 vegan burgers in Morrisons!)
13. Lentil dahl (got lentils already), bombay potatoes & rice
14. Amy’s Chinese Noodles (I got these free and here’s how you can too!) plus pizza for kids
15. Roast dinner (roast veg & veg sausages)
16. Pasta (20p spaghetti) and bolognaise sauce with TVP/dried soya mince
17. Quorn ‘Chicken’ & Vegetable Soup & wholemeal bread
18. Vegan Chilli & rice (made with £1.50 soya mince & black beans I already have)
19. Roast dinner (roast veg & vegan Quorn pieces)
20. Stir Fry with peanut butter/satay sauce & 20p noodles
21. Bubble & Squeak (make extra roast dinner then use leftovers on the Monday)
22. Vegetable Curry & rice
23. Stir Fry with peanut butter/satay sauce & 20p noodles
24. Vegan bangers and mash with peas and carrots
25. Peanut & avocado burgers (already in freezer & pictured below) & salad
26. Vegan Chilli & rice (made with £1.50 soya mince)
27. Veg Soup & Garlic Bread (we sometimes get free bread from the children’s centre – perfect for garlic bread).
28. Vegetable Curry & rice

If you’re looking for more money saving and cash creating ideas – join the friendly Super Savvy Vegan Facebook group. I’m also on twitter and Instagram.