Cooking Moroccan Food on a Budget

Guide

Lean on pulses and vegetables, which are the backbone of everyday Moroccan eating. Lentils, chickpeas and white beans are cheap, filling and traditional — harira soup, loubia (white beans in tomato sauce), bissara (fava purée), and lentil dishes are hearty, nourishing meals for pennies. The seven-vegetable couscous and vegetable tagines turn a few seasonal vegetables and some chickpeas into a generous meal. Eating this way isn't a compromise; it's genuinely how much of Morocco eats day to day.

When you do buy meat, choose the cheap braising cuts, which are exactly what tagines want anyway: lamb neck and shoulder, cheaper stewing beef, chicken thighs and legs, all of which slow-cook to tenderness far better (and cheaper) than prime cuts. A little meat stretches a long way in a tagine full of vegetables and sauce mopped up with bread. Bread itself — cheap to make from flour and semolina — bulks out every meal, and eggs are an economical protein for breakfast and quick dishes.

Spices are the secret to eating cheaply but well: a small, affordable spice collection transforms humble ingredients into something rich and satisfying, so the flavour comes from the cupboard rather than expensive ingredients. Buy spices loose from a grocer or souk to save money, use turmeric in place of saffron for everyday colour, make your own preserved lemons and bread, and batch-cook to save time and energy. Shop seasonally for cheap, ripe vegetables. Done this way, Moroccan cooking delivers some of the best value and most satisfying eating anywhere.