Though people often assume veganism is expensive and difficult, it doesn’t have to be. There are tons of vegan recipes that are cheap, easy, and delicious! Just keep an eye out, or look through One Green Planet‘s recipes! However, if you’re in college, it can be difficult to create easy vegan meals, especially when meal times are often unexpected, unplanned, and happen at odd hours of the day. If you live off campus, you probably have no meal plan for the campus dining hall and are left to your own devices. Still, even if you eat the dining hall food most of the time, you probably have to prepare your own food outside of those rigid hours. When you’re up all night cramming for an exam you have the next day, and you really want a 2 a.m. dinner, it’s nice to have a few cheap and easy vegan meal ideas to keep you going. Check out these 5 cheap, easy vegan recipes for college students:

1. Tofu Scramble

Breakfast can be as easy as pouring some almond milk and granola in a bowl and chowing down, but that can get old very fast. An alternative is making a super quick and easy tofu scramble. With some tofu, vegetables, and spices, you can make one amazing, hot breakfast to fuel up for class. Try this Tofu Scramble with Spinach and Nutritional Yeast.


2. Healthy Pasta Dishes

Pasta is one of the college staple meals because it is so quick and easy to prepare. Try boiling some whole wheat pasta and topping it with a delicious vegan vodka cream sauce. You can make the sauce very quickly, as the recipes calls for only cashews, water, marinara sauce (if using a jarred tomato sauce, make sure it’s non-GMO, vegan, organic, and contains no preservatives or artificial ingredients), and vodka. Another quick meal option is this 5-Minute Basil Pesto Raw Zucchini Pasta.

3. Hummus and Veggie Wrap

You can buy pre-made, whole wheat, or spinach tortillas at the grocery store to keep in your dorm or apartment. Have these on hand for quick lunches. Throw some hummus in there, chop up some veggies, add in some greens and bam, you have a delicious wrap for lunch. Try these avocado and hummus wraps.

4. Superfood Salad

Salads are one of those meals that is quick and easy to throw together because it requires zero cooking time. Of course, chopping up veggies can be painstaking and time consuming, but busy (or just lazy!) college students can pick up pre-chopped and peeled veggies at the grocery store. Trader Joe’s and Whole Foods often have an excellent selection of veggies and items to easily throw on a salad. For the basics, start with a couple cups of kale and add whatever your heart desires, then top with an easy-to-make vegan salad dressing.

5. Tacos and Quesadillas

Mexican food is easy to prepare, calls for ingredients that are relatively cheap and easy to buy at your nearest grocery store, and it also tastes delicious. Mexican dishes are good vegan options for college students to make. Try recipes like Lentil Tacos, Falafel Tacos, Tacos sin Carne, and Easy Veggie-Loaded Quesadillas.


If you enjoyed learning how to make cheap, easy vegan recipes for college students, we highly recommend downloading the Food Monster App. For those that don’t have it, it’s a brilliant food app available for both Android and iPhone. It’s a great resource for anyone looking to cut out or reduce allergens like meat, dairy, soy, gluten, eggs, grains, and more find awesome recipes, cooking tips, articles, product recommendations and how-tos.

Lead image source: How to Make Delicious Vegan Vodka Cream Sauce

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