Starting a new year is a daunting prospect. For many, December is a heavy month of decadence and excess that is summed up perfectly in one of my favourite ever memes...

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It's because of all of that debauchery that people often decide to quit drinking or cut down on meat - or whatever else - for the entirety of January. We're absolutely not telling you to do that; in fact you should do whatever makes you happy, as long as you stay safe and healthy, that is, but if you do feel compelled to make change then this might come in handy for you.

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Now I don't want this to be one of those really long and annoying recipe articles that go into my whole family's backstory and how I discovered a certain dish and what it means to me, so I'll just jump into it now. Here's some easy and cheap vegan recipes for you to try!

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Vegan Brownies (gluten-free)

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What you'll need for 16 servings:

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• 3 large bananas (preferably very ripe ones)
• 64g of cocoa butter
• 192g of any nut butter (crunchy or smooth)
• Vegan chocolate chips/chopped up vegan chocolate bar

How to do it:

1. Mash your bananas in a bowl or blend them
2. Add in your nut butter and mix/blend until the mixture is consistent
3. Add in your cocoa power and blend until the mix is consistent again
4. Mix in your chocolate chips
5. Place the mixture thinly spread on a large pan, pre-greased with coconut oil, vegan butter or with baking paper
6. Cook for 20-25 minus at 180 degrees Celsius in a fan oven.
7. Once you take them out of the oven, let them cool before slicing

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It's worth noting that these brownies won't be all that sweet, so you might want to add in some syrup or dates, sugar or coconut sugar if you're not already using sweetened nut butter. Also, if you're allergic to nuts, there's a really great peanut butter alternative called WowButter, made almost exclusively from soya. Have a look into that. Conversely, you can use tahini, or sunflower seed butter.

Vegan Pasta Bake (nut-free)

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What you'll need for 4 servings:

• Around 4 large handfuls of pasta (not spaghetti or linguine preferably)
• 2 small peppers (red or yellow, if you want it to taste nice…)
• 1 red onion
• 1 courgette
• A handful of mushrooms
• 60g of sweetcorn
• 1 tin of chopped tomatoes
• Olive oil
• Salt, pepper and herbs to taste
• Vegan cheese or breadcrumbs optional

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How to do it:

1. Chop up all of the veg. Not the corn though. That would be weird.
2. Mix all of the veg together (still without the corn) in a dish with some olive oil, salt, pepper, herbs (if you want) and maybe some paprika if you have any going spare.
3. Cook the veg for 10 minutes at 200 degrees Celsius (or 180 in a fan oven)
4. Cook the pasta and corn (if it’s not from a tin) separately
5. Take the veg out of the oven and add in your tinned tomatoes (without draining them) and your corn (make sure you drain that)
6. Season again to taste and then stir in your cooked and drained pasta
7. Throw on your vegan cheese and/or breadcrumbs if you want them
8. Bake at the same temperatures as mentioned before for 15 minutes
9. That’s it!

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Dangerously easy vegan pancakes (nut-free, gluten-free)

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What you need for 6 small pancakes:

• 1 banana
• 100g of instant oats
• 185ml of any plant-based “milk”. Oat is the best though

How to do it:

1. Blend the oats up
2. Add in your banana and chosen plant “milk”
3. Place around 60ml of the batter in a lightly greased or non-stick pan
4. Cook on a medium heat for around 2 mins on each side
5. Put them on plate with whatever toppings you want and eat!
   

Vegan “Tuna” melt (nut-free)

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What you’ll need for 2 servings:

• 1 tin of chickpeas
• 3 tablespoons of Hellmann's Vegan Mayo
• 1/2 a peeled and finely diced red onion. You could also use spring onion or sweetcorn
• 1/2 a teaspoon of garlic powder
• Sliced bread
• Grated vegan cheese
• Your chosen butter replacement

How to do it:

1. Drain and rinse the chickpeas (you can keep the water (aquafaba) from the chickpeas to make a vegan meringue later)
2. Mash the chickpeas up as best you can
3. Add in your chosen veg
4. Mix in your Hellmann’s Vegan Mayo, along with a dash of salt, pepper and the garlic powder. If you fancy it, you could also squirt in some vinegar or lemon juice
5. Get your bread and spread both sides with your butter substitute, before placing in your filling and vegan cheese
6. Melt a little dash of the butter substitute in a fraying pan on medium heat and fry both sides of your sandwich until golden-brown
7. Alternatively, you can use a toasty maker, griller or whatever your usual go-to toasty utensil is
8. Eat!
9. Your vegan “tuna” mix will keep in the fridge (covered) for three days, so no rush to eat it all in one sitting

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Bean 'n' Rice Vegan Burritos (nut-free)

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What you'll need for 4 delicious burr boys:

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• 1 packet of microwave rice
• 1 onion
• 1 packet of taco seasoning
• 1 tin of Mixed Mexican beans (drain them)
• 1 tin of also drained sweetcorn
• 3 chopped tomatoes
• 4 tortilla wraps
• Any topping you like, such as lettuce, guac, sour cream, cheese, etc…

How to do it:

1. Place some olive oil in a pan, cooking on the stove on medium heat
2. Throw in your diced onion and half of the packet seasoning. Fry that for 5 minutes and keep it moving
3. Add in the beans, corn, chopped tomatoes, and keep stirring
4. Add in three tablespoons of water and bring your mixture to the boil
5. Add in your rice and the rest of the packet mix. Stir very thoroughly and keep cooking until the rice has absorbed the water
6. Dish the cooked mix into your tortilla wraps, top with your chosen accoutrement and roll them up
7. Probably eat them

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Mushroom and potato vegan curry

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What you need to serve 4:

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• 1 tablespoon of cooking oil
• 1 chopped onion
• 1 large potato (chopped into little chunks)
• 1 aubergine chopped into chunks
• 250g of washed button mushrooms
• Around 3 tablespoons of curry paste
• 150ml of vegetable stock
• 400ml can of coconut milk

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How to do it:

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1. Heat the oil in a large saucepan that has a lid and add in the potatoes and onions. Cover and cook on the stove on a low heat until the potatoes soften
2. Throw in the aubergine and mushrooms and cook for a little longer
3. Stir in your curry paste and pour in your delicious stock and coconut milk. Bring this to the boil and then simmer for around 10 minutes
4. Once the potatoes are tender, serve the curry with rice and some coriander if that doesn’t taste like soap to you
5. Eat!