Money-saving dishes and misconceptions about plant-based diets
Whether you’re attempting Veganuary, going full vegan or just want to cut down your meat consumption and be a bit healthier in 2022, learning a few new plant-based recipes is a good place to start.
But when it comes to animal-free food, the cashew milk cheeses, fake meats and egg substitutes that now adorn supermarket shelves aren’t exactly synonymous with walletfriendly food shopping.
In many ways, doors into the world of animal-free eating have really opened up – it’s certainly easier to be vegan than ever before – but easy doesn’t always mean accessible. And many of us are watching the pennies right now, especially given the pandemic’s financial impact.
Henry Firth, who makes up half of vegan power duo BOSH!, along with pal Ian Theasby, agrees: “Vegan food has exploded and now it’s all over the supermarkets, which is great. You’ve got burgers, sausages, fish alternatives, milk alternatives – the problem is, that stuff can be quite an expensive way to eat, if you’re buying all of that in your weekly shop.”
So for their sixth cookbook – BOSH! On A Budget – the pair, both 37, wanted to “show people the grassroots of vegan cooking” instead. “It’s grains, it’s fruits, it’s nuts and seeds, it’s inherently cheap and it’s inherently healthy,” says Firth. “People don’t understand that.”
Their new collection of cheap vegan recipes doesn’t avoid meat and diary alternatives altogether, they’ve just gone very light on them. “We’re not absolutists”, says Firth – there’s a “little sprinkling of vegan cheese, the odd splash of plant-based milk”. But the dishes come in at £1 or £2 a portion – and many cost far less. And it was easy, says Theasby, “because vegan food is actually very, very cheap”.
Well, it can be. There are two recipes simply using tinned tomatoes, for example: “The cheapest thing you can buy!” says Firth. “If you treat them with a little bit of respect, for instance, sieving off the sauce and then roasting the tomatoes, you get some fantastic, deep, rich flavours.”
The pair are big fans of the humble chickpea – even cheaper when bought in bulk – and their recipes for chana masala and samosas make use of this nutrition heavyweight.
But saving money in the kitchen is often as much about how you cook, as it is about the ingredients you use. For example, you could cook a 10-portion vegan ragu and then use it in several dishes – from lasagne to bolognaise.
“Get into the mindset of buying less,” suggests Firth, “and then try to use as much as possible of the thing that you bought. Use the whole veggie as much as possible.”
On A Budget by Henry Firth and Ian Theasby is published by HQ, priced £16.99.