It’s actually pretty easy to make vegan food in bulk–especially when making dishes that won’t go back quickly. For example, chili and curry dishes are actually better the next day after the flavors have settled in. Sometimes I make a large pot of something and eat it throughout the week, modifying it a little bit each time so I don’t get bored.

Every Sunday we make a lot of food for our friends. On these days we like to call ourselves “team feed everyone.” I haven’t been keeping up too well with posts about my Sunday dinners, but each week we make a large amount of vegan food for about 10-20 people. We have a couple huge pots and if we use a recipe, we triple or sometimes quadruple it. Chopping vegetables and prepping key ingredients ahead of time helps a lot.

To save money, I buy large containers of things I use often (except for spices which tend to go bad quickly). I also buy dried beans and lentils rather than canned. A slow cooker comes in handy when you want to throw all the ingredients together in the morning, leave for 4 or 5 hours, then return to a large fresh pot of stew. Homemade veggie burgers or veggie loaves are made with cheap ingredients and can be frozen for later use.

Unless you buy tons of immitation meats, splurge with a lot of fancy ingredients, or stock up on pre-packaged microwave vegan meals, being vegan is pretty inexpensive.

You can also try some of these vegetarian bulk items.