Mrs Crunch shares tasty recipes and top meal deals for World Vegetarian Day

EATING meat-free meals makes sense for your well-being – and your wallet.

Even if you don’t avoid meat completely, join the thousands of people skipping it at least one day a week.

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With the average family spending £15.80 a week on meat and fish, joining the Meat-Free Monday movement, for example, could save even confirmed carnivores a packet.

But are you in need of some inspiration?

With World Vegetarian Day this week, here are some ideas for tasty meals, no meat needed.

Pep up pasta

Pasta tastes just as good stuffed with veggie goodness or served with a meat-free sauce.

Earn 100 extra points with Morrisons Vegetable Pasta Sauce, 500g, 83p, or M Savers Pasta Sauce, 42p.

At the Co-op buy two for £4 on Co-op Spinach and Ricotta Cannelloni, Asparagus & Pea Risotto and Macaroni Cheese, £2.49 each.

Asda Extra Special Butternut & Sage Girasole is cut to £2.50.

Buy three for £6 on selected meals from Morrisons including Morrisons Italian Macaroni Cheese and Italian Vegetable Lasagne, £2.23 each.

Wok a dish

Sizzle up a veggie stir fry, sprinkling over some nuts and seeds for protein.

Have everything to hand with Morrisons Vegetable Stir Fry Meal Deal, £3, including stir-fry veg, sauce and noodles.

Asda Grower’s Selection Sugarsnap Pea and Butternut Squash Stir Fry will put some colour on your plate, £1.30.

Tuck into Tesco Vegetable and Beansprout Stir Fry, 320g, £1.

Go meat-free

Love sausages and burgers but don’t eat meat? Pick a veggie substitute instead.

Save 97p on eight Quorn sausages at Morrisons, now £1.

Buy three packs of Tesco Meat Free six Lincolnshire Style Sausages for £4, or £1.75 each.

Linda McCartney Mozzarella Quarter Pounder Burger, 2 x 113g, are also down from £1.97 to £1 at Morrisons.

Tuck into Quorn Lasagne, 330g, down from £1.97 to £1.55 at Morrisons.

Ready meals

If time is not on your side, reach for a ready-made dish. Save 70p on Aunt Bessie’s Vegetarian Toad In The Hole at Waitrose, now £1.

Get three for £6 on selected Waitrose meals including Waitrose Vegetable Lasagne, £2.65.

For a warming autumn dish try Asda Extra Special Portobello & Chestnut Mushroom Risotto, £3.50.

Tuck into Tesco Smoky Pepper and Courgette Paella, £2.50 or three for £5 until October 17.

Cook from scratch

Enjoy hearty vegetable stews and curries with fresh veg and canned pulses.

Buy four for £1 on KTC Chick Peas, Butter Beans or Black Eye Beans, 400g, 38p each at Morrisons.

Perfect for soups and stews, Essential Waitrose Chunky Vegetable Mix is down from £1.35 to £1 until the end of October.

Great for slow cookers, choose between Asda Vegetable Stew Kit or Vegetable and Bean Casserole Kit, £2.

Go global

Spice up your veggie meals using ingredients from across the globe.

Gosh Chickpea Courgette and Moroccan Spiced Bakes, 250g, are down from £2.27 to £2 at Morrisons.

Snack on eight Mozzarella & Pesto Arancini, £2 from Asda.

Tesco has a new range of gluten-free and vegan “make your own” soups inspired by ingredients from around the world including Moroccan, Mexican or Thai Inspired Soup, £2.50. Great with hummus in a wrap, try Asda 10 Sweet Potato Falafels, £2.

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Stuffed peppers with bulgur wheat & vegetables

Serves four

YOU NEED:

600g bulgur wheat

1 onion

1 courgette

2 red peppers

4 green peppers

1 aubergine

1 tbsp parsley

1 tbsp fresh mint

1 tsp cumin seeds

25g parmesan

25g panko breadcrumbs

20ml olive oil

15g tomato puree

50g frozen peas

2 lemons

METHOD: Place the bulgur wheat in a bowl, cover with boiling water, stir well and leave for 15 minutes (refer to packaging for full instructions). Refresh in cold water, drain and set aside. Finely chop the onion, then dice the courgette, green peppers and aubergine into small chunks. Chop the parsley and mint.

Toast cumin seeds in a hot pan, without oil. Shake the pan to keep the cumin moving and toast till the seeds crackle and pop.

Mix together the parmesan and panko crumbs and set aside.

Sauté the onion and (crushed) garlic for three minutes then add courgette, peppers and aubergine and cook for five minutes. Stir in tomato puree, peas, cooked bulgur wheat, cumin seeds, mint, parsley and the juice of a lemon. Season to taste and set to one side.

Halve and deseed the red peppers, fill with the bulgur wheat mix and top with the crumb mix.
Place on a roasting tray and bake at 180C for ten minutes.

Remove from the oven and serve.

Butternut squash & kale risotto

Serves four

YOU NEED:

1 butternut squash

75ml olive oil

1 onion

2 garlic cloves

1 pack curly kale

1 vegetable stock cube

340g Arborio rice

125ml white wine

50g Italian-style hard cheese, shavings

salt and pepper

50g butter

METHOD: Peel and dice the squash to 10mm chunks, finely chop the onion, crush garlic and wash and trim a third of the kale, removing any stalks.

Mix the vegetable stock cube in a pan with a litre of water, then bring to the boil and remove from heat.

In another large pan, heat the oil over a medium heat, add the onions, then cook gently without browning, for around five minutes. Add the garlic, stirring for one minute. Next, add the rice and stir well to coat in oil for a couple of minutes. Then, add the wine and stir well.

Add the stock little by little to the rice mixture and cook over a moderate heat until all liquid is absorbed. Repeat the process until all the stock is used up and the rice is al dente. You may not need to use all the stock.

Meanwhile, put the squash in a roasting dish with a little oil and roast for 15 minutes at 180C.
Stir the roast squash, trimmed kale and Italian-style hard cheese into the cooked rice and mix well.
Season with salt and pepper and finish with butter.