Several days late but heres my first post :
Budget meals:
It is entirely possible to feed yourself vegan food made from real ingredients on a shoe string budget with relatively no real strain in the kitchen if you can set aside an afternoon now and again to batch cook things and then freeze in portions then nuke them whenever you need a meal. My disclaimer here is that I am not a qualified nutritionist and not everything I list here will be a "fully balanced meal" but if you're stuck with money sometimes you have to make the best of a bad situation and try your best, some of these are obvious meals but I am going to list a few from memory that is either cheap to buy or make. Here is a link to the products tesco sell that are vegan:
http://realfood.tesco.com/media/docs/Vegan-September-2014-9d3b0096-35b5-43dd-b6f3-9074198574de-0.pdf
Junk ready made no cooking needed for quick meals when you're super busy but I don't recommend only eating from this list!:
1) Classic beans on toast - we just eat value beans usually but you can find heinz at 33p a tin on offer in freezer stores and if you visit some supermarkets before closing bread can be as little as 9p a loaf this is what we pay for our bread and then we freeze it, never paid more than 20p a loaf the cheapest 50p full price loafs are usually sfv and do fine for toasting too. Half a tin with 2 slices of toast approx 20p
2) As above but with spaghetti
3) Value packet noodles, some of the flavours are vegan in tesco for example the spicy curry are and they're about 12p a packet serve with more bread for a heavier meal.
4) Crumpets with butter, tesco value crumpets are sfv and with vitalite on they make a filling stodgy meal from memory value crumpets are about 30p a pack
5) Tinned ready meals: tesco as an example do a tinned lentil dahl and a tinned vegetable chilli that are both sfv and about £1 a tin, make it yourself and it'll taste better but handy to have bought in during more plentiful times and for when you're in a hurry. Serve with rice (value rice is 40p a kg and can be cooked in the microwave too) or with bread for a heavier meal. Approx cost £1.10.
6) Sarnies ... hoummous is my go to sarny filler and is £1 a pot and this makes a heck of a lot of sarnies. If your budget stretches to it add some falafel and salad and you get a super tasty sarny I add mango chutney to mine as well ... nommmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmm.
7) Tinned soups most are sfv and with bread they make a hearty dish.
Nothing overly exciting there but some basics with some basic prices, some of the above can be cooked for less than buying in but I was a student and a full time worker so living on quick things was what I did for a while. Obviously things like veggie burgers, veggie sausages, all kinds of meat subs served with chips are possible but not at less than £1 a serving it depends on how broke you are I trying to keep this post at the lowest price points I can.
Things that need minimal cooking and can be frozen:
If you have a well stocked spice rack and a freezer with frozen veggies in and then bags of dried beans/lentils/rice/pasta in the world is your oyster (or should I not use that word).
1) Chilli non carne, however you like this you can make it avoiding veggie mince and using just beans/lentils instead will bring it in at a lower cost, frozen veggies are cheaper and less fart on to chop up and clean up after so do save time. To serve 4 you can make it come in at less than 50p a head and freeze the rest or for a more elaborate recipe up to £1 a head. It can be served with rice, or rolled up in tortillas for an on the go meal if you like cold chilli (I do!). I have been cooking chilli for years and have eaten it since I was a toddler but here is an example of a recipe (hold the cheese)
http://www.bbc.co.uk/food/recipes/vegetarianchilli_6544. For the cheapest chilli use frozen mixed veg and buy a bag of dried lentils and kidney beans and soak them, if your budget stretches further to save yourself time tinned versions are available. Add any veg you like or leave out any you dont like very flexible here and will always taste good if you have the chilli powder, garlic and onion in there. Make up rice fresh rather than freezing it though. If you dont want to make your own sauce most jarred versions are sfv.
2) Curry of any variety if you have a spice rack (not cheap to build one up but once you have it you can make any meal for pennies) there are so many recipes out there just swap meat for beans for super low cost or use meat alternatives for a closer resemblance (morrisons chicken style pieces are good in a curry and sfv but cost around the same as chicken) again it depends on your budget here. You could bring in a curry for 25p a head if you needed to or a more elaborate recipe at 50p-£1 a head. If you dont want to make the sauce most jarred sauces are sfv and in tesco are £1 a jar just add veggies and rice and its still a budget meal.
3) Cottage/shephards pie this is a staple in my house if you can get hold of vegetables and potato on a night reduced in your local supermarket this meal can be an absolute steal. Sainsburys packet mix shephards pie is sfv and tastes fine or you can make your own sauce. Add veggies and lentils/veggie mince whatever you like make up some mash and bung in the oven ... tasty and nutritious. With full price veg/pots, using a packet mix and lentils this works out at around 40-50p a head with reduced you can do it for much less.
4) Pasta ... make your own sauce add veggies ... nom
Literally any meal based on veggies and potato/rice is going to come in cheap using beans in place of meat because beans cost less so play around with your usual recipes. Take mince for example value beef mince is £3.90/kg, with dried lentils you get healthier food and 5.5kg of cooked dried lentils 54p/kg or for kidney beans dried cooked 95p/kg, other beans like chickpeas can cost 68p/kg and for reference sfv veggie mince is £3.96/kg not on offer.
These are just some ideas there is just way too much out there to all options
. I have tried to pick things that need little cooking skill and dont take much time. Batch cooking is a good habit to get into and means that a lot of the time you just microwave a tub
.