Vegetarian/Pescatarian recipes for the broke?

salad/veggies seem to me to be the obvious answer. Look up what's in season where you live (google it and you'll find some lists) and they will be cheaper.

Also as the above poster said, beans/pulses are cheap. With chickpeas you can make falafel and hummus. I made some really good baked falafels recently, and after googling tons of varying recipes, I found the simplest way was the best. I used:

400g (240g drained) tin of chickpeas
1/2 a red onion
1 large garlic clove (adjust to your taste)
Some fresh coriander (cilantro in the us) or you could use fresh parsley as well/instead (I picked it from the garden so not sure if this is expensive to buy, dry will be fine.)
1/2tsp ground coriander
1/2tsp ground cumin
1/8-1/4tsp cayenne pepper/chilli powder if you like things hot

Put all in a blender and blend until a lumpy paste just moist enough to form into balls - you can add a bit of lemon juice/oil if too dry or a bit of flour if too wet, although I didn't need to.

form into balls and flatten them a bit, spray a little oil on a baking sheet and bake at 200-220C for about 30mins (turn over halfway) and serve with salad, sauteed veg, pittas and hummus, or whatever you want! This made 2 portions for me.


If you google 'frugal vegetarian' a ton of blogs will come up with veggie recipes using cheap ingredients!

Well I'm a vegan and I can already give you the cheapest things I buy:
Rice
Bananas
Frozen veg

Everything else I buy when there's a special or on sale, including spices.
Slow cooker is really good for dried beans.

Also if you are THAT worried about protein you can use wheat gluten flour (pure protein) and make your own seitan easily. Just mix it with water and throw it in the pot with some broth mix and voila.

In my town, there is a 99¢ Only Store that has fresh produce. It is great for fresh veggies and fruits - I have a smoothie a day with fresh strawberries, blueberries, bananas, mangos, etc. from the 99¢ Only Store. They also have beans and all sorts of condiments and seasonings. All for 99¢ only! It has definitely helped stretch my food budget. There are these stores all over California, and I see some cities in Nevada and Arizona listed.

http://www.99only.com/store-locator

I am not a vegetarian, but I love vegetarian meals. I buy my beans dry to avoid sodium since it's something I have to avoid. Just make sure to prepare them as written on the package. Soaking them overnight is usually an option which can be a huge time saver.

I make a lot of healthy curries that I can freeze and pull out overnight. Ratatouille is a delicious and low calorie treat to add to pasta or rice. The veggies for that are very cheap right now. Eggplant is probably the most expensive, but it makes a lot, so it's worth it.

As you can guess by my username, I have a lot of recipe ideas. My local dollar store has a freezer sections (not sure where you are) and you can get bags of frozen peaches and mangos for one dollar each! I make smoothies, sorbets and salsas from them all the time. I also grow my own herbs and find that having free herbs adds a ton of flavor to all my foods. I grow some of my own veggies too and that helps a bit.

I love seafood. I buy whatever white fish is on sale for the week at my local grocery store and often bake the fish in a pouch with tomato salsa or seasoned veggies. Recently I made fish tacos from grilled tilapia, chipotle "mayo" (mostly greek yogurt with just enough mayo mixed in for flavor) corn tortillas, a healthy portion of cabbage and topped them with pineapple salsa. I look for canned pineapple canned in it's own juices when it goes on sale and buy it up. I have also made it with the cheap frozen mangoes. When I drain the pineapple, I save the juice for smoothies or... you know... the occasional blended alcoholic drink.

Other than that, I "thin" out most of my sauces with blended carrots, celery and onions as well as other veggies. I make a sweet potato mac and cheese for my son but find myself eating a good bit of the sauce over steamed broccoli. I find myself getting creative and using the usually discarded parts of the veggies for other uses. The tops of carrots, celery, onion peels, garlic peels etc. go into my freezer. When I've stored up enough, I make a veggie broth (well I usually make chicken broth, but veggie broth is great too). Then you can make soup with it. I also take the stems from my broccoli to make broccoli soup. Things like that. Everything has at least two uses and I make almost everything from scratch. It saves me money but I have a lot of time to do those things.

Here's one recipe for something that won't take a lot of time to prepare (although it takes a good bit of time on the slow cooker, but set it and forget it right?)

Veggie broth:
1 onion quartered
4 carrots roughly chopped
4 stalks celery
garlic to taste (I love garlic and add like 4 cloves, but this is up to you)
any extra veggie scraps you have in the freezer or from other recipes. This is why I save mine.
Salt if you want, you can add a small amount or nothing at all, as required.
Black pepper to taste
1-2 bay leaves
Seasonings you prefer. I usually add basil and thyme but it depends on what you want to use the broth in.
Add these all to your crockpot and fill it up with water. Start it on high then when hot, reduce it to the low setting and let it cook for many, many hours. I personally keep adding water and let it cook for 24 hours at least. The longer it cooks, the better the flavors that develop. When you're ready, strain the broth with a metal strainer and/or a cheese cloth. Be sure to really squeeze all that juice out! If you make a double or triple batch of broth it can be frozen and used later. (If i were vegetarian, I'd freeze it with ice cube trays so I can use it in place of meat broths or add in place of wine.)

For any non-vegetarians, I buy my chickens whole and either save all the bones in the freezer when I take it apart or roast the chicken and then add the carcass to the broth. In that case, I would roast all the ingredients together in the oven for an hour at 450 degree before adding to the pot with the broken down bones. You will want to strain the broth while hot, let it fully cool overnight, then skim the chicken fat off the top. I use the chicken fat to cook my veggies in before adding them to my chicken noodle soup)

Anyway, the next day, when the broth is ready, I make a tasty soup. A quick and easy one would be a veggie and blackbean soup.

2 tablespoons olive oil
2 medium onions chopped
2 cloves garlic
3 stalks celery
2 medium carrots sliced into rounds
1 can of corn drained. (you can replace the carrots and corn with a bag of frozen veggies of your choice to save time)
4 cups veggie broth
2 cans bean of choice rinsed (I love white beans or kidney)
2 teaspoons basil
1 teaspoon oregano
2 bay leaves
Salt and pepper to taste

Sautee the onion, celery and garlic in the olive oil until onions are just translucent. Add the other veggies and stir for a few minutes. Then add the broth. Bring to a boil then reduce to a simmer. Add the seasonings and beans. Let cook for 30 minutes. Can be served over rice or with pasta (I keep them on the side so they don't absorb all the liquid). This soup can be frozen. It can also be customized to however you like it!

I find soup to be the best thing to make when I am short on money and time. If I freeze a big batch, I can have lunch/dinner options for weeks.

Check out the Budget Bytes blog. I regularly make several of her recipes including the hearty black bean quesadillas http://www.budgetbytes.com/2012/02/hearty-black-bean-quesadillas/ which are easy to add slices of grilled chicken or steak to for the meat eaters. I can also recommend the taco seasoning recipe and the slow cooker beans she links to on that recipe.
And she has a whole vegetarian section to her site.

You should see how salmon are farmed. Or what happens when a fish gets foul-hooked and breaks the line.

Green lentils are a godsend. Easy to cook, tasty, high in protein, high in dietary fiber. What's not to love.