Cheap vegetarian recipes

Meat-free family dinners: curries, pasta, soups, bakes and more. Vegetarian meals are some of the cheapest you can make.

Beans, lentils, eggs and vegetables cost much less than meat, so going meat-free a few nights a week is one of the easiest ways to cut your food bill. Every recipe here is free from meat and fish.

172 recipes, cheapest first. Prices are per portion for a family of 4.

Money-saving tips

Red lentils cook in about 20 minutes and don't need soaking.
A tin of chickpeas or beans adds protein and makes a meal more filling for very little.
Eggs make a quick, cheap dinner: try an omelette, frittata or shakshuka.

Questions

Which recipe is the cheapest?

Aloo matar with homemade flatbreads, at about £0.38 a portion for a family of 4.

How much do these dinners cost?

From about £0.38 to £1.41 a portion, with most around £0.75, based on typical UK budget supermarket prices. What you pay depends on where you shop and the brands you choose.

Can SupperSmart plan a week of these for me?

Yes. Tell it your weekly budget and how many people you're feeding, and it picks a week of dinners, writes the shopping list in whole supermarket packs and uses up what's already in your cupboards. It's free to use.

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