When I was stricter about my doet I got really good at making popcorn on a stove, it's one of the few things that hasn't jumped in price like 500% since 2020

popcorn 🍿

• heat some vegetable oil in a medium sized sauce pan, you want the oil to almost cover the corn, so be generous
• add 3-5 kernels of corn, wait for them to pop (this is so you know the oil is hot enough, helps to not burn anything later)
• remove from the heat, add the kernels, you want to cover the base of the pan
• at this point I add a little olive oil, or some margarine, something that can't get as hot as canola oil
• wait 30 or so seconds so all the kernels have warmed slightly
• return to high heat, shake the pot every 30sec or so
• pop the corn! I normally add too much, and have to tip some out before i'm totally done
• season generously with table salt, toss in a bowl and serve - you can use things like nutritional yeast, paprika, cinnamon and sugar, mix it up, have fun!

I don't know why i typed this out, you can find a recipe online lol - online recipes always have a print option, you can bookmark that page so you don't have any of the my mother taught me the importance of blahblahblah stuff at the start

I'd also suggest getting into baking, there's heaps of info online for vegan baking, carrot cakes, banana breads, the works

I also mix my own muesli, or just get some fancy stuff and cut it with cheap rolled oats (i eat this for breakfast with tap water, kinda turns to oat milk)

making hommus is really cheap and easy if you have a little stick blender, but i rarely do this cause i dont have a lemon tree anymore (you can get lemon guice in 1L bottles tho, its okay)

my go to snack atm is peanut butter and rice cakes, i eat so much peanut butter

the frustrating thing is this all takes a really long time, and there's no way you can do it effectively at scale in your kitchen i never managed a replacement malted barley drink...

lastly, a lot of premade processed food that is vegan is not great for you be mindful of it

i wouldnt recommend a calorie counting app, but only because that stuff teaches people to develop disordered eating in my experience