I am always in the lookout for vegan cookbooks that have ingredients that are both budget friendly and relatively normal. And by that, I mean no unusual spices, herbs or sauces or faux meats, etc. This fills that requirement. There are recipes I am eager to try. One drawback is the lack of photos. I will be trying out many of these recipes.

The recipes sound good, but this book suffers from my biggest pet peeve when it comes to cookbooks: A lack of photographs.

The author of the Budget-Friendly Vegan Cookbook, Ally Lazare, is a Toronto-based food blogger, writer and home cook. Her goal with this book is to help those who are new to veganism. She wants to help them bridge the gap and find healthy options that are readily available in most grocery stores.

This premise is to dispel the myth that someone cannot be vegan without spending a ton of money. The truth is that if you buy and cook with plant-based whole foods that aren't pre-package foods, it's absolutely doable. Lazare tells you how. For starters, you can ditch the meat-free and dairy-free products. Those are definitely pricey. And not healthy...

In chapter 1, Lazare explains her approach to grocery shopping, and how to know what to buy where. She also recommends creating a meal plan and preparing foods ahead of time. Being married to a MAJOR vegan, we always have a ton of ready-to-go staples in the fridge like cooked steel oats and whole grain brown rice (from the bulk food aisle and Costco). Lazare helps you know when to save and when to splurge (like if you really want a decent cheese substitute).

Each recipe is labeled whether it's nut-free, soy-free or gluten-free. (Heads up: There's a lot of gluten and soy in these pages). Lazare focuses on content that's budget-friendly and easily ready within 30-45 minutes. the book is organized by protein source, and recipes are clearly labeled with dietary information. As suggested in the intro, the author focuses on natural protein sources that are high in nutrients, but low in cost.

The biggest bummer was the lack of eye-catching photographs. If you're a visual person like me, I might skip this one.

The first recipe I am going to try is the black bean burger that should only take 20 minutes to prep and 20 minutes to cook. It doesn't seem too overwhelming and we have everything in our pantry (minus the cheese slices and buns).


Thanks to Rockridge Press, via NetGalley, for an advanced copy of the cookbook. I also purchased a copy for my family.

An excellent collection of vegan recipes that won't dent your budget. Highly recommend. Also makes a great gift. Loved this one!

Many thanks to NetGalley, the publisher, and the author for my ARC. All opinions are my own.

Ok, the cover caught my eye because hello looks like bruschetta with a twist....so hello. I’m into vegan foods basically because they reduce our environmental impact but have some really great dishes. I really enjoyed the recipes and look forward to making some.

What did I like? I don’t think you can have enough vegan recipes on hand since their highly enjoyable and great for meatless Monday. Budget friendly book with a great recipe database and a supply list to help you create nice vegan meals.

Would I buy or recommend? I love vegan meals so I would definitely grab a copy. I love meatless Monday, and you should want to reduce your environmental impact no matter who you are. The recipes are straight forward but very few of them have pictures which lower the want for the book.

Thoughts for the author? More pictures of the recipes would be great...just saying. I received a copy to read and give an honest opinion. While I’m drawn by the vegan recipes I want to be wowed by pictures.

While this book may not have exactly what I was working toward, I found it to be a good start for someone who is learning this style of cooking. I found it to be a very good beginning. I found the recipes to use most of the pantry staples that I had so there was very little extra shopping. Overall I was pleased with this recipe book and plan to use it. I received a copy through Netgalley. A review was not required.

Great book. Great recipes. Makes vegan cooking easy and SUPER tasty!! I have tried about 10 of them and I have to say I've loved them all. Most of the time my family cannot even tell its vvegaN!

Thank you to the publisher and NetGalley for providing me with a copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.

We all want to eat a healthier lifestyle and it’s easy for people to become discouraged when it comes to cooking vegan because of either the hard to find ingredients or complex recipes. The Budget-Friendly Vegan Cookbook is a great way to get started eating plant based with its vast array of recipes that are not only easy but easy on the wallet. There are many recipes to choose from with easy to follow directions; however, I would have preferred to have more photographs throughout the book. It helps to have more photos of the end result for those of us who are new to cooking vegan.

Overall, I enjoyed this cookbook and the recipes and highly recommend picking this up if you are ready to add some more veggies in your life in a fun and creative way.

There's a lot to like with this vegan cookbook but other things were deal breakers for me.

What I liked-- lots of recipes, and lots of sauces and staples like vegan mayo and BBQ sauce. I was very glad to see nutritional information listed for each recipe, and I liked that it went past the standard macros and also included things like iron, B-12 and zinc (though it showed different things at different times even when the number was 0, so I'm a little confused why some nutrients were sometimes listed where they were omitted other times). I appreciated the listing of nut-free, gluten-free, etc. There's a balance of international flavors and more classic American comfort foods.

What I didn't like-- this calls for a lot of ingredients that are typically GMO if you don't buy organic versions, without ever recommending sourcing non-GMO or organic. It relies heavily on canola oil, tofu and "soy curls" and I would never buy those ingredients if they weren't organic (okay, I probably wouldn't buy soy curls even then) because of the health risks. Even if you think genetic engineering is absolutely safe, the whole point of most of it is to be able to douse crops with heavily toxic glyphosate -- Roundup -- that kills literally just about everything else it touches. Why would you want to feed that to your loved ones??? She also relies on purchased, processed vegan foods like vegan cheese, sour cream and margarine. She says these are cheaper in stores and too much trouble to make, but they're cheaper in stores only if you buy the processed junk food versions that are not at all healthy. Buy some cashews in bulk and make your own lacto-fermented sour cream very affordably and it will be full of nutrition instead of 50 creepy ingredients.

Also, there are very few photographs in the book, which is always disappointing to me. Lastly, there weren't a lot of gluten free recipes. Folks who are allergic to soy will find even fewer recipes that work for them.

As I said, there is a lot to like about this cookbook. The drawbacks for me may not be drawbacks for others, but they lessened the usefulness for my family.

Review copy provided by the publisher.

This is a very enjoyable cookbook for everyone that is plant based. I love that the author does not waste pages with photos. The receipes are sensible and most ingredients can easily be located at your local stores. The organization is excellent and arranged by subject such as grains, desserts, side dishes , etc. I enjoyed adding many receipes to my vegan eating . Thank you to the publisher and to Net Galley for the opportunity. My review opinion is my own. I have been vegan for many years and enjoyed adding some new receipes here to my regular kitchen . This would also be a good training tool for those who are starting to go plant based . Everyone of all ages will enjoy these outstanding receipes.

There are things I like a dislike about this cookbook. I like that each recipe is clearly marked with soy free, nut free, etc. notations so that if you have an allergy you know right away if you should look at that recipe. This book is also broken down differently than other books. Most are by the type of dish it is but this one is more based on the main ingredient. So the chapters are soy, beans, veggies, grains with a few chapters by dish type like snacks and desserts. This is also one of the few cookbooks I have seen where the basics like vegan mayo recipes are at the beginning of the book and not the end as an appendix. The one thing I really disliked is that there are almost no photos. Nowadays it is almost required that there be photos, even if not for all recipes as least some, but this book has about one per chapter.

The Budget-Friendly Vegan Cookbook is a recipe collection and cookbook for whole food plant based meals by Ally Lazare. Released 2nd June 2020 by Callisto on their Rockridge Press imprint, it's 242 pages and available in paperback and ebook formats. It's worth noting that the ebook format has a handy interactive table of contents as well as interactive links. I've really become enamored of ebooks with interactive formats lately. For Kindle Unlimited subscribers, this book is currently included in the KU subscription library to borrow and read for free.

The recipes are arranged thematically, an introduction with general directions for prep-work and pantry ingredients is followed by chapters for partial ingredients and staples, tofu tempeh and soy recipes, beans legumes and seeds, fruits vegetables mushrooms, grains, snacks and sides, and desserts. Each of the recipes includes an introductory description, ingredients listed in a bullet point sidebar (US measurements only, no metric equivalents), and step by step instructions. Recipes have special category notes in a header (nut free, gluten free, etc). Nutritional info includes calories, fat, carbs, fiber, protein, sodium and other micronutrients. Variations and alternatives are provided at the end of the recipes. There is a resource list, bibliography and related reading links, as well as a metric convesion table at the back of the book.

Most of the ingredients should be available at any well stocked grocery store although some might need to be sourced at specialist (vegan) grocers.

My main quibble with the book is that the recipes are mostly not photographed. There are some photos, and they're clear and attractive, but they only represent about 5% of the recipes included in the book. It is, however, a very well written book full of family friendly plant based foods many of which will also appeal to non-vegans.

Four and a half stars. I've rounded up for the quality of the writing and the distinctly high quality of the recipes themselves (tasty!) and the mission of the book: high quality food with a budget friendly price tag. Good food shouldn't be ruinously expensive.

Disclosure: I received an ARC at no cost from the author/publisher for review purposes.

Nice Information and Vegan Recipes that Won’t Break the Budget

While this book in parts appears to be meant for people who are transitioning from an omnivore diet to a vegan one, the book is full of practical tips on budget-friendly vegan cooking and delicious-sounding recipes. In the introductory section, the author makes a firm statement about avoiding processed meat analogs and actually suggests making your own, allowing them to be both more budget-friendly and healthier; she does give recipes for some of these in the first recipe chapter, like vegan chorizo. The first chapter before the recipes is all about how to cook vegan on a budget. She goes over general concepts and things to consider as well as ingredients and pantry staples. The recipe chapters are divided by protein or main ingredient. Some recipes are standard vegan ones, but others are imaginative, like BBQ Tempeh and Caramelized Onion Tavern Burgers and Chopped Chickpea Taco Salad.

The writing is clear and on point. The directions are easy to follow. Often in the headnotes of the recipes, the author suggests other recipes within the cookbook that go with the current one you're reading, either as a side or a condiment. I always love cookbooks that have those kinds of suggestions. After all, if you're going to make a certain sauce or accompaniment, you might want to know what to do with the leftovers. All in all, I found this to be a fun collection of vegan budget-friendly recipes with a lot of commentary from the author in both the introduction and the recipes that will help your success with the recipes and your budget.

As a foodie, cookbooks are much like my candy jar. I love to try new flavorful dishes and explore new ideas. For this reason, many recent vegan cookbooks have raised a yawn from me. Either they’re regurgitating already extremely well-explored territory or the recipes lack flavor because the author didn’t experiment with herbs or spices. So, I’m always a little skeptical when I open a new vegan cookbook. But, The Budget-Friendly Vegan Cookbook? Wow!

The first thing that struck me as I was paging through and reading the recipes was how many of these recipes were fresh. The next was how flavorful they were with the author definitely not afraid to use spices to create flavorful dishes. I kept noting how many of these recipes I wanted to try. A Curried Potato, Cauliflower and Pea Burrito? Yes, please. It’s all the flavor of a samosa (+ cauliflower) in a more healthy tortilla. And though I’ve never tried soy curls, I am all over the Soy Curl Shawarma Wrap.

Ally Lazare covers the bases from creating tempting sauces to fruit-filled muffins and yummy desserts, all within a budget as well as low-calorie.

While some might be disappointed that every recipe doesn’t have a picture, as I’ve said before, I’m certain that this allows the publisher to keep their cookbooks budget friendly. Seriously. Have you seen the prices of glossy cookbooks? You’d spend all your grocery money just purchasing one! 😉 The pictures that are included are tantalizing though. The picture of the Blueberry Hand Pie makes me salivate.

I highly recommend The Budget-Friendly Vegan Cookbook for anyone seeking fresh and wallet-friendly recipes!

The good news for those of you with Kindle U, The Budget-Friendly Vegan Cookbook is free. Click here to view now.

I received an ARC in exchange for an honest review.

Very nice book with lots of great budget friendly recipes. Most of the ingredients we have at home and the recipes seem easy to make. I'm not vegan but I like making some plant based recipes sometimes. My only concern is that this book doesn't have photos for every recipe and this is a must have for me when it is something I've never tried or seen before. I received a free digital copy of this book from NetGalley in exchange for my honest review

This cookbook lives up to it's name, the recipes are budget friendly. The recipes also feature ingredients that are easy to find at the grocery store, so you won't have to search all over town for the ingredients to make these dishes. The recipes I tried were delicious.. My only complaint is that I wish there had been more pictures to go along with the recipes.

Often times people shy away from vegan recipes because they include hard to find ingredients. This cookbook uses common ingredients found at most stores that are exactly as the title says - budget friendly. There are a ton of recipes in this book, but my only hold up is many recipes require you to make other recipes in the book to complete the final product. There is also a major lack of photos in the book. For a cookbook with hundreds of recipes, there are maybe 20-30 photos total.