Cheap Vegan Meal Prep on $30/week | Breakfast, Lunch, Dinner, + Snack!

Hi guys! So I just went grocery shopping and I spent just under $30, to be exact, it's $29.71 on a whole week of groceries. And in this video, I'm going to show you how I use these and prove to you that you can be vegan and be on a budget and still eat delicious, healthy, colorful, did I already say delicious? Food. So let's get started with our curry. We'll start by chopping up an onion, mincing garlic, chopping a sweet potato into cubes, doing the same for tofu, and chopping up some kale. To make the curry, sauté garlic and onions in water, add a sprinkle of salt, and cook until the onions are translucent. Then add in the sweet potato, curry spices, coconut milk, and water. Let it cook, covered, for 10 minutes. Once the sweet potatoes start to soften, add the tofu, the kale, and another sprinkle of salt. Stir in the kale as it cooks down. Then add some soy sauce. You should get three nice and substantial meals out of this dish. Serve over rice and garnish with cilantro. Now for our mushroom and barley risotto. Sauté minced garlic in oil. Then add sliced mushrooms and zucchini, and some salt. Once the vegetables start to release water, add the barley. Stir it in and then add a few cups of water. Cover the pot and cook for 45 minutes until the barley is tender. Once it's done cooking, stir in nutritional yeast, salt, and squeeze some lemon juice over the top. Some of the ingredients that I used this week for my recipes, I already had at home, so I didn't have to buy them new from the grocery store, and those include spices, the oils that I'm using. Now, if you're still staying on a budget and you want to stay under $30, you can still do this and buy the spices and oils that you need. Just keep in mind, some of the ingredients that I purchased, like the lentils or the pearl barley, those are going to last beyond this week. So next week, I'm going to have more money freed up to buy more expensive things, maybe a couple different spices or a bottle of oil. Now for our sweet potato and lentil chili. Sauté chopped onions and garlic in water. Once they've cooked through, add a can of chopped tomatoes along with lentils and cubed sweet potato. Add water and cook covered on medium heat. Once everything is cooked through, add your chili spices and vegetable bouillon. This is the easiest, tastiest, most filling dish for a cold day. So when you're going vegan, keep in mind that you don't have to only shop at Whole Foods or health food stores. It's not necessary, and you don't actually have to only buy organic food either, especially if you can't afford it. So you can shop around at all sorts of different grocery stores. You're just buying produce and whole grains anyway. And if you want to save the most money, make sure you find the store that has the best prices. You might want to shop around, say go to one store for one thing, go to another store for another thing. For example, I shop at Sprouts for most of my groceries, but there are some things that I also buy at Trader Joe's and online at Thrive Market. And if you have a Costco or Sam's Club membership, those things can also help you save a lot of money, especially if you're cooking for a whole family. Now we can make our beet and carrot kale salad. Peel and chop three beets into cubes. Using a mix of golden and red beets is nice for this salad because they look so pretty together. Slice carrots into thin strips. Again, I love using various colors. Throw the vegetables into a skillet, toss them in a little oil, and sprinkle a little salt over the top of them. Then roast them in the oven for 45 minutes on 350 degrees. Our salad dressing combines olive oil, maple syrup, mustard, apple cider vinegar, black pepper, and salt in a jar. Shake it up to combine. Chop up some kale and then mince up a clove of garlic. We're going to make a gremolata with the tops from the rainbow carrots. Mince the carrot tops with the garlic and then mix in salt and olive oil. I'm just combining everything on the cutting board. Massage the chopped kale with the salad dressing. Then add cooked barley, the roasted rainbow veggies, and the gremolata and toss. This is a filling, super tasty salad. Highly suitable for a meal. And of course, we can't forget about breakfast. I bought some raw, old-fashioned oats and I'm going to use them every day to make oatmeal. I do this every day because oatmeal is so easy, it's so filling and nutritious. I also got some pecans to go on top and I like to make my oatmeal with sweet potato. The sweet potato adds more nutrition, more fiber, and of course, it makes it even tastier. Now for our sweet pea mash. Combine peas, basil, garlic, and a squeeze of lemon, chili flakes, salt, olive oil, and black pepper in a food processor and blend. A super tasty dip for a snack between meals. Like the curry, these other three savory dishes can easily provide three meals each. I hope you guys got some good ideas and I hope I was able to prove to you that you can be vegan and be on a budget and still eat delicious, filling food. So for the whole month of January, I'm going to be sharing more videos that can help you kickstart your vegan journey. Of course, January is the perfect time to start to implement new healthy habits into your life and of course, perfect time to become vegan. So this month will be helpful for you. Make sure you subscribe to my channel so you can see all the videos and if you're already subscribed, make sure you turn on notifications so you don't miss anything. Leave a comment below to share how you save money on your vegan diet and if you have any questions about this lifestyle, make sure you ask them down below. Also, you'll give me good ideas for other content that I can be sharing with you guys. See you next time. Bye. Hope that she'll, hope that she'll, hope that she'll be tender.