Pasta dishes are a great meat free option, as is soup. You can replace meat in some dishes with either mushrooms or beans.

i love the basics like pea n mushroom risotto (make the leftovers into risotto cakes too) stir fry, vegetable pasties,soup,pilaf

Any dinner you make with meat you can make without meat, the possibilities are endless. We use quite a bit of meat substitutes from the FRY’s range (which is gluten free & vegetarian, like nuggets, sausage rolls, burgers) we also use quite a bit tempeh (which is a fermented soy product) and of course plenty of beans, chickpea’s, lentils and for those who like it eggs and cheese. T
One of my kids favourites is a cauliflower dish. I boil cauliflower and in the meantime fry onion & garlic, add chopped tomatoes cannelli beans and a bit of tomato paste salt & pepper. Do the tomato-bean sauce in an oven dish and then cut the cauliflower when it’s cooled down in little flowers. Make a sauce from the cooking liquid of the cauliflower by melting a bit of butter or coconut oil add flour and add cauliflower cooking liquid, then add cheese and spices (I do a bit of pepper and nutmeg and mustard). Poor the cheese sauce over the cauliflower dish and scatter with a bit of grated cheese.

We make meat-free chili from beans, risotto with lentils and vegies, lots of recipes that use cauliflower in creative ways and there are meat free pre packaged foods you can buy at supermarkets too.

Soup (lentil, pumpkin, leek & potato, French onion, cream of mushroom, broccoli, cauliflower etc etc), spinach filo pie, pesto with pasta, cauliflower cheese bake, zucchini fritters, mushroom curry, pasta salad, frittata, pizza, macaroni cheese, cauliflower and chickpea curry, pumpkin and spinach risotto, replace meat in your normal favourite dishes with tofu, tempeh or Quorn

Vegetarian lasagne

Vegetarian pizzas

Minestrone soup, vegetarian lasagne, pasta bake, zucchini and corn fritters, stirfry (uses very little meat). I also find mixing veges with half a kg of mince makes great patties and sausage rolls. Very cheap meat and can make it stretch. I also grow as many veges as possible so in season we might have lots of pumpkin meals or freeze for later.

Meat is so expensive these days and it certainly doesn’t hurt to do vegetarian 1-2 times a week or even . I love vegies more so it doesn’t worry me the slightest except my son can have a whinge as he likes his meat. I do a lot of mixed vegie stirfrys with oyster or soya sauce , and I mix in any fresh greens such as snow peas, broccoli, string beans etc, and add then add in carrots etc whatever you fancy . You can serve this with rice or noodles ( rice, Japanese , vermecilli etc ) in a bowl of soup . I make omelettes too and you can add mushrooms or any veges you like and serve that with rice or potatoes etc …

Cook more then you need and freeze what you don’t use for a later date. Veggie lasagne is great

Pasta salad, or just salad in general, use beans instead of meat many places, vegetable bakes

There’s a lot of great options other than quiche such as lentil based bolognaise for pasta, veggie curries , stuffed veggies ie capsicum with rice filling or cheese and onion, shepherd bean pie using 5 bean mix as the base with mashed sweet potato topping.

Veggie pastas and pasta bakes are great… and stir fry veggies. and how about curried veggies….. and make any leftovers into fritters.

Pasta is fabulous as you can use any veggies and you have a filling and delicious meal. A big serve of vegetable soup with crusty bread, Vegetarian curry, Vegetable stir-fry, Lentil shepherds pie, roasted vegie pizza, Pumpkin and cheese tart, and Frittatas can be made with some great flavours, like Brocolli, Pean and Chilli! Good luck and enjoy!

Vegetable stir fry with rice and soy sauce, garlic and ginger.
use beans or vegetables to pad out dinner i.e. chilli with rice. Kidney beans in mince. SO use meat sparingly. add out with veggies.
Grow your own veggies too.

Veggie fritters are great. Can use any veggies you like. Every one in my house loves them.

i make a version of lasagna where instead of the usual stuff, i use roasted mashed pumpkin, cream cheese, spinach and layer them with lasagna sheets

pasta bakes are always good. Can add vegies or even a can of tuna.

we always love a veggie bake – you can put in any veggies, cover in light cream with cheese on top – goes down a treat

Homemade pizzas using pitta breads or wraps;
Stir frys with vegies and tofu;
Patties with vegetables and pulses and tinned fish;
Pasta dishes (like Tuna pasta bake or a tomato based spaghetti with whatever vegies are in season);
Curries with rice or noodles (this could be Indian style or Thai style);
Vegetable/ Pasta soups;
Homemade pies/ pasties/ rolls with a savoury vegie filling.

I would recommend heading down to your local library to borrow some recipe books on meat free cooking and cooking on a budget. There are heaps out there. Good luck.

I was going to suggest Frittatas and Quiche but you said something different to this. There are so many vegetables in season at the moment just experiment with flavours and remember all those lovely tasting herbs and spices for extra oomph.