Responding to @sub-at-omicsteminist in a new post bc I think it would get a bit wordy, here's some
Tips on how to eat vegan for Dirt Fucking Cheap
1: I'm sure everyone has heard this one million times but figure out where the groceries are cheap! Esp "ethnic" markets can have good food for a lot less. I shop regularly at some global markets in my area, especially for foods like rice, mock duck, TOFU, veggies, chickpea flour, ect.
Seriously though if you eat tofu, please check for a local asian market. The difference between the same block of tofu at whole foods or whatever and a local asian market is enormous.
2: Build "specialty" ingredients one at a time, learning to integrate them one by one. Some of these "cheap" "pantry" meals influencers make VERY overestimates what is actually in a pantry. Try to start with one thing when you can, learn to cook with it (or if you like it!), then move on. This spreads out the cost and saves on food waste. Things I buy regularly that I consider more specialty are nutritional yeast, a nice olive oil (relative to my budget lmao), dried fruit and nuts, kalamata olives, bunch of spices, ect.
If you lack a lot of spices (which is common if you're moving towards veganism, a lot of meat heavy dishes rely on the meat for flavor) try to start with blends of seasonings. This will give you good tasting food quicker, and you can get pickier about what spices you keep when you have more of a taste for what you prefer.
3: I won't lie, a lot of dirt cheap vegan food is just normal dirt cheap food. Rice, beans, seasonal veggies, bread. This is often boring if you're just making the same black beans and rice over and over again. Luckily, Several billion people over several thousands (millions?) of years have been cooking with little resources and only a few ingredients. There are a lot of foods that use the same few things in variation to make things interesting. Congee, fried rice, rice pudding, rice with curry, spanish rice and refried beans, sushi, most of this can be made with damn near nothing, depending on the other seasonings and flavors you prefer.
I don't wanna throw too many blogs out here but Budget Bytes has a lot of REALLY cheap recipes, vegan and non.
4: Slow cookers. Slow cookers!!!!! Rice cookers? When I worked a lot and had just no money, I would take a bag of dried beans and throw them in the crock pot with some spices and maybe some root veg before work. If you're REALLY not feeling it, rice and brown lentils cook at the same time, and rice+lentils+seasonings+whatever has been a frequent meal. Not glamorous but filling as hell
5: last but not least, look at what's free around you. Food pantries, food shares, foraging, free meals. This depends on your area but there are many places where they're truly just trying to give food away.
Much of this can apply to meat eaters too, but vegans especially!
