When you are single and unemployed, it’s difficult to eat healthy, because healthy food is generally more expensive worldwide. Especially in the States and Ireland, I noticed that healthy food is not first of all available in normal stores, but it also costs a lot more. In Finland food is generally very expensive (especially when you don’t have a regular job and pay all your food expenses ALONE plus your TWO Cookie Monster cats). Healthy food is easy to find here, but it can also be expensive if you don’t know how to shop or cook your own meals.
Here are some of my favourite cheap dishes to make when you are single and unemployed or just single/ unemployed/ a student/ retired/ saving money for your kids/ on a budget. I have included the estimate price for Finland. (the food prices are higher than in the United States and an average European country like France, so chances are you will make these dishes for 30-40% cheaper). My favourite top ten cheap and quick vegetarian/ vegan dishes for less than two euros per portion (2€ = $2,16):
- Indian dal with rice. Red lentils, brown lentils or yellow lentils. 0,70€/ $0,76 per portion.
- Finnish potato-leek soup. 0,55€/ $0,59 per portion.
- Finnish tomato soup. 0,50€/ $0,54 per portion.
- Indian Palak Paneer with rice. (Indian spinach tofu/ cheese dish). 2€/ $2,16 per portion
- Three Bean Chili in tomato sauce (vegan). 1,20€/ $1,30 per portion
- Thai wok with tofu. 2€/ $2,16 per portion
- Salad with kidney beans – you can add anything you find in your kitchen (vegan). 2€/ $2,16 per portion
- Pasta with tomato eggplant sauce (vegan without parmesan). 1€/ $1,08 per portion
- Couscous with tofu and (frozen) vegetables. 2€/ $2,16 per portion
- Vegan sandwich – bread roll, hummus, cucumber/ tomato. 1,50€/ $1,62 per portion
My doctor told me to cut down wheat, so replacing pasta with fresh salads is also a good idea. Pasta is however, cheap, easy and quick, so for men and growing children it is especially a nice dish to prepare yourself. I don’t eat meat (except seafood though it’s expensive) and try to avoid dairy products as much as I can, so that is why my dishes are vegetarian/ vegan.
If you would like to have the recipes for free (most of them are from Google), please contact me via my contact form on the Contact page! 🙂✌️
