Welcome to my ‘3 Healthy Meals for £3 a Day’ series – a collection of quick, easy and delicious plant-based recipes, rich in flavour and packed with nutrition, perfect for students and anyone looking to eat well on a budget!
With basic kitchen setups and limited budgets in mind, here are the criteria I used for selecting each recipe:
✨ Easy to Make – Each recipe is beginner-friendly, with straightforward steps perfect for those with little or no cooking experience.
✨ Quick Prep – Find recipes that take just 5 minutes, plus ‘cook once, eat twice’ meals that can save you time later. No recipe requires more than 30 minutes of hands-on time!
✨ Basic Equipment Only – No fancy kitchen gadgets required! All you’ll need are the basics – a knife, chopping board, grater, sieve, saucepan, frying pan, and a wooden spoon or spatula.
✨ Balanced Nutrition – Each recipe is packed with plant-based protein, complex carbs, fibre, healthy fats, and an array of vitamins, minerals, and antioxidants.
✨ Quality Ingredients – Staying on budget doesn’t mean sacrificing quality; I choose ingredients that taste great and don’t contain artificial additives or sweeteners.
✨ Long-Lasting Ingredients – I’ve prioritised ingredients that are shelf-stable or fridge-friendly for weeks, and can be used across multiple recipes to minimise waste.
✨ Great Taste – And most importantly, I only share recipes that my family love and make regularly. Every recipe has also been given the thumbs-up by my trusted team of recipe testers!
How I Costed the Recipes
I’ve based most of the costings on Tesco prices, as that’s where I currently do my main grocery shop. The prices reflect the full cost of ingredients, but many are often on special offer or discounted for Clubcard members, so you could make these meals for even less!
If you’re not already a member of your local supermarket’s loyalty scheme, it’s definitely worth signing up. These membership schemes often include discounts on essentials, and I find they save me hundreds of pounds each year!
The only ingredients I haven’t included in the costings are salt, pepper and oil, as these are pantry staples for most households.
The Recipe Collection
I’ve organised the recipes into three categories based on how I usually eat them – Breakfasts, Lunches, andDinners – but feel free to mix it up and eat them whenever you like! If you’re a fan of savoury breakfasts, try a tofu scramble or beans on toast. Dinner leftovers make excellent next-day lunches.
Don’t hesitate to get creative—these meals are wonderfully versatile, so feel free to tweak and adapt them to suit your tastes. I’d love to hear your feedback and see your delicious creations! Simply tag your photos with #bitofthegoodstuff on social media, and they’ll find their way to me. You can also connect with me on Instagram, Facebook, Pinterest.
I hope you enjoy these budget-friendly recipes as much as I do!
This Chickpea and Sweet Potato Coconut Curry is one of my family’s favourite weeknight dinners. It’s hearty, warming, bursting with flavour, and packed with nutritional goodness to nourish both body and soul. Easy to prepare and budget-friendly at just £1 per portion, it’s a recipe you’ll want to come back to again and again!
This recipe is part of my 3 Healthy Meals for £3 a Day series, perfect for students and anyone seeking cheap, easy, and delicious plant-based meals.
Prices listed are for November 2024, sourced from Tesco where I currently do my main grocery shop.
The Good Stuff
This curry is packed full of nutritional goodness:
✨ Onions are rich in antioxidant flavonoids, such as quercetin, as well as vitamins and fibre which support immune health, heart health and have anti-inflammatory properties.
✨ Garlic is rich in sulfur-containing compounds like allicin, which have potent antioxidant, anti-inflammatory, and immune-boosting properties.
✨ Mushrooms are rich in B vitamins, selenium, copper, and antioxidants, which support immune function and brain health.
✨ Sweet potatoes are a great source of complex carbs, fibre, and vitamins A, C, and B6, supporting immune function, eye health, and digestive health.
✨ Curry spices (including cumin, coriander, paprika and turmeric) provide antioxidants that aid digestion, heart health, and reduce inflammation.
✨ Tomato puree contains lycopene, an antioxidant that promotes heart health and has anti-inflammatory properties.
✨ Chickpeas are a great plant-based protein, with fibre and essential nutrients like folate, iron, and magnesium, for heart health and blood sugar regulation.
✨ Brown rice is a whole grain, rich in fibre, magnesium and B vitamins, supporting heart health and energy metabolism.
Top Tips & FAQs
What is creamed coconut?
Creamed coconut is made of 100% coconut and comes in a solid block (not to be confused with coconut cream which comes in a tin or tetra pak). In UK supermarkets, it’s usually found in the world food aisles (in the Indian, Thai and African Caribbean sections).
Here’s why I prefer to use creamed coconut in my curries…
It’s purely made from coconut, unlike many coconut milk products that contain additives like ‘Polysorbate 60’.
I only need about 50g (¼ of a 200g block) to achieve a rich, creamy texture, reducing the fat and calorie content compared to a full can of coconut milk.
It works out far cheaper. The creamed coconut costs just 25p, while a quality can of coconut milk without additives can cost over £1.00.
Can I recommend a brand of creamed coconut?
My current favourite is Pride, which has a lovely consistency and is available at Tesco for £1 for a 200g block. In other brands, I’ve found there can be some separation between the cream and coconut oil in the block (you’ll notice this if one end of the block is bright white and softer). It’s the creamy coloured, hard section of the block that we want to use in our curries.
Recipe Card
Chickpea & Sweet Potato Coconut Curry
This curry is hearty, warming and packed full of nutritional goodness. I’ve kept the spices mild so that it’s family-friendly, but feel free to use a hotter curry powder if you like heat! It's freezer friendly and perfect for batch-cooking.
1medium sweet potato (200g)peeled and cut into 2cm / ¾ inch cubes
1tspsmoked paprika
1tspground cumin
1TBSPcurry powderI use mild
2TBSPtomato puree (paste)
480ml/ 2 cups vegetable stock (broth)
400ml/ 14 oz can chickpeas in waterrinsed and drained*
¼tspsalt
50g/ 2 oz creamed coconut** chopped into small pieces
Serve with:
120g/ ⅔ cup uncooked brown riceor 360g / 2⅓ cups cooked rice***
Suggested accompaniments:
Flatbreads such as chapatti, roti or naan
Finely chopped spinach or coriander leaves, for garnish
Instructions
Heat the oil in a large saucepan over low-medium heat. Add the onion and cook until it starts to soften and become translucent, about 3-5 minutes.
Stir in the garlic and chopped mushrooms.
When the mushrooms start to release their liquid, stir in the spices (smoked paprika, cumin, curry powder) and tomato puree. Cook for 1 minute to allow the flavours to deepen.
Add the sweet potato cubes and stir to coat in the spices. If they start to stick to the pan, add a splash of water.
Add the vegetable stock, chickpeas and salt, and bring to a gentle boil. Cover with a lid (leave it open a crack to allow the steam to escape) and cook for 20 minutes, or until the sweet potato is tender.
Stir in the creamed coconut and simmer for 5 minutes.
Remove from the heat and allow to cool slightly (it will thicken as it cools). Taste test and adjust the seasoning to suit. Arrange in bowls with rice and optional garnish, and it’s ready to serve.
Notes
tsp = teaspoon | TBSP = tablespoon * To rinse the chickpeas, drain in a fine mesh sieve and rinse under cold water, until the water runs clear. ** Creamed coconut is made of pure coconut and comes in a solid block. In UK supermarkets, it can be found in the world food aisles. Check out my ‘Top Tips’ section above to find out why I love to use it in curries and my recommended brand.*** For convenience, you can use microwavable wholegrain rice. I would recommend transferring it to a glass dish before microwaving. Storage Tips: Leftover curry can be refrigerated for up to five days and also freezes well. Store leftover rice separately, refrigerate within 1 hour of cooking and consume within 24 hours (This is the advice of the British Food Standards Agency).
N.B. The above values are estimates and for illustration purposes only. The actual nutritional values will vary depending on the specific ingredients used. The % Reference Intake (RI) will also vary depending on your age, gender, height, BMI, level of activity and other personal variables.
Pin for later ⬇️
If you make this curry, I’d love to hear your feedback and any suggestions for adaptations. Tag your photos with #bitofthegoodstuff on social media – I’d love to see them! You can also connect with me on my social media channels here: Instagram, Facebook, Pinterest.
With love,
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Vegan Night at Bath Scouts, 2018 💚
In March, Mark and I were invited by our local Scout group (boys and girls aged 10 to 16) to lead a vegan cooking session. The scouts were split into four teams and we set them the challenge of making this Sweet Potato and Chickpea Coconut Curry as well as chapattis from scratch! They had thirty minutes to create the meal and present it, before being judged. They had the added difficulty of being in their scout hut with very little equipment and just a hot plate to cook on! We were blown away not only by their cooking skills, but also their enthusiasm! All four teams ended up producing the most delicious curries, which meant we had a really tough time picking a winner. I managed to snap a couple of pics before the curries got devoured.
Didn’t they do well? We heard that some of the scouts even started cooking this curry at home for their families 😀
N.B. This post was originally published in 2018 and updated in November 2024.
Today I’m sharing a delicious mushroom and lentil ragout that is hearty, warming and filling. It’s just perfect for serving on a chilly day! Rich in umami flavour, this plant-based ragout is simple to make and uses basic pantry ingredients. It is also super cheap too!
If you’re a mushroom lover (like me) then you are going to love today’s recipe. It’s a delicious Cream of Mushroom Soup that’s really cheap and easy to make. You’ll never want to reach for a canned mushroom soup again! This soup is thick and creamy, yet it is 100% plant-based and low fat. It doesn’t even contain any plant-based creams! Instead, it’s made with simple, pantry ingredients. Head below to check out the recipe.
Happy New Year everyone! So here we are, in the year 2020. Wow! When I was little, 2020 seemed so futuristic. I imagined we would all be wearing shiny silver suits and flying around on hover boards. Well, the reality hasn’t matched up with my predictions, but life on planet Earth sure feels a bit crazy right now.
And when things start to feel a bit too crazy in the big wide world, I find it helpful to focus on the things that I can personally do (however small) to help bring about positive change. This month, I am supporting people that are giving Veganuary a try, whether they have pledged to go full vegan for the month or are dipping their toes into the world of plant-based eating. It feels an absolute honour to be part of a person’s journey as they start to make the transition towards this more planet, animal and human health-friendly lifestyle 💚
In today’s post, I’m sharing the recipe for a delicious broccoli soup that my family has been loving lately. This is the kind of soup that I crave in the winter months. It’s thick and creamy, and packed full of immune-boosting nutrients.
It’s quick to make from scratch, making it handy for those weeknights when you need dinner on the table in thirty minutes or less. It’s super cheap too. I calculated that it cost me £2.83 to make, which works out at just 94p per portion!
