Last week, my neighbor knocked on my door holding a sad container of leftover rice and beans, apologizing for not having “proper food” to share after I’d dropped off some cookies. This perfectly captures what most people get wrong about budget vegetarian cooking: the idea that inexpensive plant-based meals are somehow an apology for real food. After years of cooking through every budget imaginable, from post-university poverty to new-parent penny-pinching, I’ve discovered that some of the best vegetarian meals cost less than your morning latte. They just need the right spices, a bit of technique, and zero guilt about serving…
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