Vegetarian on a budget: the cheapest proteins that aren't meat

Removing meat from a grocery budget doesn't automatically make it cheaper — that depends entirely on what replaces it. Done well, a vegetarian week is one of the cheapest ways to eat; done by substituting expensive meat alternatives, it can end up costing more.

The cheap tier: build the week around these

Lentils and split peas are the baseline — cheap, fast-cooking (no soaking needed), and a complete enough meal on their own with rice. Dried beans and chickpeas are close behind, cheaper dried than canned once you factor out the water canned beans are packed in. Eggs round out the cheap tier — exceptional protein value, endlessly versatile, and useful well beyond breakfast.

The mid tier: good value, worth having in rotation

Tofu is inexpensive and takes on whatever it's cooked with — not exciting on its own, genuinely good with the right marinade or sauce. Dairy (cheese, yoghurt) carries real protein value but is easy to over-buy relative to how much actually gets used per meal, so it's worth tracking rather than assuming it's automatically cheap.

The tier to use sparingly

Meat substitutes (plant-based mince, pre-formed "chicken" pieces) are frequently more expensive per gram of protein than actual meat, let alone legumes — they're a reasonable occasional purchase for a specific dish, not a cost-effective everyday staple.

A representative cheap vegetarian week

Lentil ragu, chickpea curry, a bean chilli, and an egg-based dinner (a frittata or shakshuka) cover four nights without repeating a core ingredient, using almost entirely the cheap tier above.

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Mealconomy's per-person dietary preferences include vegetarian as a built-in filter — set it once per household member, and every generated plan respects it without needing to manually swap every meat-based suggestion.