Make soups that are meals
I cannot tell you how many soups I make!
They’re such nourishing, aff ordable and
fi lling dinners. My soups are probably better
described as stews, made hearty with tins of
diff erent beans, a good base of onion, garlic,
carrot and celery and bulked out with grains
like bulgur wheat. Great in the colder months,
the classic comfort food and excellent for lunch
the next day as well, my soups become more
staple the closer I get to pay day. As long as I
have a tin of tomatoes or some veggie stock,
then I can make a soup.Consider making your
own bread
I’ve not bought a pre-sliced supermarket
bread in over a year and I don’t believe
I ever will again. After the labelling
laws changed, I was shocked to see how
pretty much every standard loaf of bread
contained palm oil. Unless certifi ed from asustainable source, then palm oil is about
as far from ethical as you can get, so when
it looked as though I couldn’t avoid it in
bread I decided to start making my own.
It also works out cheaper and you can get
some great organic fl ours that are not crazily
priced. I’ve included my fail-safe bread
recipe at the end of this article – passed to
me by a friend, I’m paying it forward to you.Buy your toiletries
from Superdrug
I will forever be indebted to the friend who
casually mentioned that Superdrug was great
for cruelty-free options, because it really
has revolutionised my life.
After going vegan I really
struggled to fi nd good
shampoo and conditioner,
moisturiser, deodorant,
toothpaste and sun creams
that were cruelty-free. I
ended up spending a small
fortune ordering variousthings online and getting them shipped
halfway across the world, only to fi nd out
that I was allergic or struggled to aff ord them
long-term. Cue Superdrug! Almost all their
own-brand products are vegan and cruelty-
free, so you can get everything
you need in one sweep. They
often have 2-4-1 deals, off er
a great loyalty scheme and
their products are clearly
labelled. Plus, I have always
found their staff to be well-
informed, so if you’re feeling
a bit lost, just ask someone.Follow Jack Monroe
Jack went vegan a few years ago and the
Instagram and blog are fi lled to the brim
with the most amazing recipes. What’s
more, they’re cheap! Jack has built a
reputation on creating meals that are
aff ordable and breaks them down into a
cost per head. Most of the vegan recipes
on the website are under 50p per person
(extraordinary, right?) and are made up
from ingredients that should be readily
available to you. You really can’t aff ord
to not have it in your life. Check out
cookingonabootstrap.com for more.
ETHICAL BUDGETAvoid palm oil and
bake your own bread