So let's see.......you want to -
Not spend much money
Cut down on carbs as much as possible
Be vegan or vegetarian
As others have mentioned, one answer is a vegetable soup or stew. Here's my method -
Fry onions in veg oil
Add veg; root veg are cheap, but anything available really. You can use leftover salads, including lettuce & cucumber that are getting a bit old; dice them fine and they blend in
Add beans/lentils/peas/pulses
Add canned chopped tomatoes; you can save a few pence by chopping up whole canned toms on a chopping board
Add flavourings - salt, pepper, stock cube or from a jar; maybe a squirt of brown sauce, Worcester sauce, or tomato ketchup; mixed herbs, garlic
Add water to suit
Cook it in a saucepan or a casserole in the oven for a couple of hours, or in a slow cooker for most of the day
Obviously shop around for the best prices; a proper greengrocer or a market stall is usually cheaper than a supermarket, and if you do buy from a supermarket, loose is cheaper than prepacked; not only is the actual price lower, you can buy just what you need
However, some supermarkets sell stew packs which are reasonable value
And wherever you go, obviously look out for bargains and offers
And don't forget the discount/bargain stores, have a good browse on the shelves
Dried beans/lentils/peas/pulses are the cheapest, but I've never had much success cooking from dry, so if you find you can't eat them you've wasted your money
One exception has been the small red lentils and split peas; I pour boiling water over them and let them soak overnight
I also do this with soup mix, which is barley & red lentils & split peas. Yes, there is some carb from the barley, but it's only a small part of the stew. Similarly there is a small amount of carb from the veg
The barley breaks down to give a background to the stew, or thicken it slightly, otherwise it tends to just look like veg in water
But canned beans are cheap, and easier to use. There is quite a good choice - chick peas, borlotti beans, butter beans, kidney beans, haricot beans, and probably more
Baked beans are just haricot beans in tomato sauce, and budget baked beans are possibly the cheapest; they mix into a stew very well
If you have cauliflower or broccoli dice the stalks very fine and add them to the stew
Have a look in Asian and Eastern European stores, they usually have a decent choice of beans in cans or jars
Look on supermarket shelves and you'll find beans in cartons, like smaller versions of the cartons of orange juice
You can also get beans & lentils in pouches but they tend to be more expensive unless you find them on offer
Most frozen food sections tend to sell prepared meals and lots of chips (!) but have a good search around and you can find plain beans, including soya or broad beans
Supermarket, own label and budget brands are cheaper than the market leaders, and by the time you've used them in a stew you won't notice much difference
As mentioned, you can get bacon ends or bacon trimmings. These are the ends of sides of bacon that have been sliced and the smaller ends are sold cheaply. Trim them carefully and you can usually get a couple of decent slices to eat as they are, then trim & dice the rest to add to the stew - though obviously this will not be vegetarian
Ages ago I bought some crispbread and they were absolutely hard & solid, it was like trying to eat a roofing tile
So I broke them up, stored them in a plastic bag, and added a small amount when I made a veg stew; they just dispersed and blended in. Yes there was some carb, but I didn't add great shovelfuls, and missed out the barley mix
You can put beetroot in the stew, raw, not ready cooked or pickled. Chop it up and it adds colour
Eggs - boiled as a snack or in a salad; omlette perhaps with cheese or mushrooms; fried or poached on top of some veg
Canned fish like sardines & mackerel are cheap but obviously not vegan
I don't know the cost of tuna offhand as I don't like it
You can buy frozen fish pie mix, which is cheap,but I use it for stir - frys
You could make a salad from tofu and whatever cheap veg, possibly very lightly boiled, you can find
Your friends in the kitchen are a couple of very sharp knives and a decent chopping board; and a hand held blender, aka a stick blender, to make veg soups
You will probably find that a veg stew grows & grows!
I live on my own, and dispense some into single portions in freezer bags, then freeze it
