Cheap Vegan Protein Sources: How to Get Enough Plant-Based Protein Without Spending a Fortune

Being vegan does not have to be expensive. Eating traditional plant-based foods instead of meats and cheeses is actually a much cheaper option. But, like anything in life, you can choose to buy premium, organic and independent brands, or you can choose to buy cheaper supermarket-own labels and value labels.

But what about protein? Is it possible to eat cheaply as a vegan and get enough protein?

And the question vegans are probably bombarded with the most – where do vegans get their protein from?!

In this article, I’m going to share with you why choosing to get your protein from plant-based sources is actually a really affordable option.

The difference between animal protein and plant-based protein

One of my favourite responses when meat-eaters ask vegans where they get their protein from is: “The same place your protein gets its protein from!”

It’s so true. Animals get their protein from plants, and so can we.

Around 20% of the human body is made of protein. Our body doesn’t store it, so we have to regularly get it from our diet each day. Protein isn’t just for muscles: it is needed for almost every metabolic process in our body, so it’s vital for the overall health of our body.

Protein is broken down into amino acids in our body, and there are over 20 different types of amino acids. There are non-essential amino acids that our body can make itself, but there are also essential amino acids that we have to get from our diets.

The difference is that meat protein is often called a ‘complete protein’ as it contains a good balance of all the amino acids we need. But eating meat also comes with a lot of negative health consequences.

Most plant proteins only contain some of these amino acids, so to get all the amino acids we need from protein we need to eat a variety of plant-based protein sources. But that’s fine, as we should all be eating a variety of healthy plant-based foods anyway.

Going plant-based will probably mean you’ll eat a ton more of the highly nutritious stuff you should have been eating, such as different beans, lentils, and wholegrains, which is fantastic news for your overall health.

How much protein do you actually need on a vegan diet?

This is where a lot of the confusion comes in. People often assume they need far more protein than they actually do.

Most adults need around 0.75g of protein per kilogram of body weight per day. So, for example, someone weighing 70kg would need roughly 52g of protein daily.

That might sound like a lot at first, but when you spread it across meals, it’s actually very manageable with plant-based foods.

Think about a simple day. A bowl of oats with seeds for breakfast, a lentil-based lunch, and a bean or tofu dinner. You’re already covering your needs without anything expensive or complicated.

It’s not about chasing high-protein products. It’s about eating enough real food, consistently.

Is vegan protein expensive?

If we’re talking basics then no, plant-based sources of protein are not expensive.

What is expensive is if you start buying meat alternatives, vegan cheeses and ready-made plant milks. These things are readymade or processed foods, and they come at a premium.

However, they are not needed as part of a healthy plant-based diet and are merely convenience foods, just like ready-made snacks and foods based around meat and dairy.

Plant-based protein is actually very cheap indeed.

Good protein sources include many whole grains, wild rice, chickpeas, beans, lentils, green vegetables, nuts and seeds.

Lentils, beans, rice and grains are some of the cheapest foods in existence. They can be bulk purchased as they can last for ages in their dried forms. They are so versatile too and can be used to create so many meals.

Compare the price of beans, lentils and grains to a pack of meat and you’ll start to realise how much cheaper a vegan diet can be.

Is it cheaper to be vegan in the UK?

In the UK, staple plant-based foods like lentils, oats, potatoes, rice, and beans are some of the lowest-cost items in supermarkets.

A bag of dried lentils or rice can provide multiple meals for the price of a single pack of meat, which really puts things into perspective.

However, costs can creep up if you rely heavily on ready-made vegan products, takeaways, or speciality items. These are convenient, but they’re not where the savings are.

For most people, the real affordability of a vegan diet comes from sticking to simple, whole foods and cooking at home. Even swapping just a few meals each week can noticeably reduce your food shopping bill.

How to keep a vegan diet low cost

There are lots of ways to keep a plant-based diet affordable. Below are a few suggestions to get you started.

• Buy dried ingredients. Purchasing dried bags of lentils, beans and grains will save the most money compared to buying tins of pulses for example.
• Buy in season fruit and vegetables. Buying exotic fruits and vegetables is a luxury, but if they’re not in season then you’ll be paying a premium. (We love Riverford to support organic and genuine farmers – click here for my article with a Riverford discount code if you’re a new customer!)
• Make your own meals from scratch. This is always the best way to keep costs down as readymade meals are so expensive.
• Don’t buy faux meat, vegan cheeses or the like. These are very costly and will really bump your food shopping up.
• Make your own plant-based milks, cheese and cheese sauce. It’s much more affordable than buying readymade. A delicious creamy cheesy sauce can easily be made with homemade oat milk, a few scoops of nutritional yeast and a squirt of mustard. Perfect to serve with cauliflower or pasta.
• Make your own snacks too. Chocolate bliss balls are super easy to make with cacao, dates, seeds, oats and nuts whizzed together in a food processor and shaped into bite-sized snacks. Whilst a pack of raw cacao might seem expensive at first, it’s so rich you only need to use a tiny bit to make plant-based milkshakes, bliss balls and hot chocolate, so a pack will last for ages.
• Do everything in bulk. Buy the ingredients you can in bulk to make them as cheap as possible in the long run. Cook in bulk too and freeze/refrigerate portion sizes for the week ahead. This will stop you reaching for the convenient foods as you’ll already have ready-made homemade snacks and meals instead.

Cheap high-protein vegan meal ideas

It’s one thing to list ingredients, but it helps to see how this looks in real meals you’d actually eat day to day.

Simple, affordable meals using plant-based protein include:

• Lentil and vegetable curry with rice
• Chickpea and spinach stew with potatoes
• Bean chilli with brown rice or wraps
• Peanut butter oats with seeds and banana
• Tofu stir fry with frozen vegetables and noodles

These meals are filling, easy to make, and cost very little per portion. Most can also be batch-cooked, which saves even more time and money during the week.

How to combine plant proteins for complete nutrition

There’s a common myth that you need to carefully combine plant proteins at every single meal to get all the amino acids your body needs.

In reality, it’s much simpler than that.

Your body builds a pool of amino acids throughout the day. As long as you eat a variety of foods like grains, beans, lentils, nuts, and seeds across your meals, you’ll naturally get everything you need.

Meals like rice and beans, hummus with bread, or oats with seeds all complement each other without you needing to overthink it.

It’s not about perfection at every meal. It’s about balance across the day.

A list of plant-based sources of protein

There are lots of delicious plant-based foods that provide vegans with protein, as well as everyone else too. The foods below are good sources of protein, and it’s recommended to eat a variety every day.

• Seitan
• Lentils
• Chickpeas
• Garden peas
• Beans (black, kidney, pinto, lima, black-eyed, cannellini, etc.)
• Tofu
• Tempeh
• Edamame beans
• Soy milk
• Seeds (hemp, flax, pumpkin, chia, sunflower, etc.)
• Peanut butter (and other nut butters)
• Nuts
• Buckwheat
• Oats
• Wild rice
• Brown rice
• Quinoa
• Barely
• Spelt
• Bulgur wheat
• Wheat berries
• Lesser-known grains such as teff, amaranth, sorghum, freekeh and farro
• Asparagus
• Avocado
• Broccoli
• Brussels sprouts
• Artichokes
• Kale
• Spinach
• Sweetcorn
• Cauliflower
• Potatoes
• Sweet potatoes
• Nutritional yeast
• Spirulina
• Sprouted grain bread

What about protein for working out and building muscle?

Whilst the above plant-based sources of protein will provide enough protein for the majority of us, some people might be looking to up their plant-based protein levels even more if working out, training or trying to build muscle.

There has been a rise of plant-based protein supplements as vegan diets have raised in popularity and examples are pea protein powder, hemp protein powder and rice protein powder.

It’s becoming a very competitive market so you’ll be able to find huge tubs or packs of vegan protein powders on offer online, just as you would with animal product protein powders like whey.

Final thoughts

Eating enough protein on a vegan diet doesn’t need to be complicated or expensive.

When you focus on simple, whole foods like beans, lentils, grains, nuts, and seeds, you’re not only covering your protein needs, you’re also keeping your food shop affordable and your meals nourishing.

It’s less about buying specialist products and more about getting back to basics. And once you do that, you might find eating plant-based foods is one of the easiest ways to save money without sacrificing nutrition.