A traditional
Middle Eastern meal - or more specifically, a meal from the Eastern part of the Mediterranean basin (Israel/
Palestine,
Lebanon, Turkey) - will usually be quite cheap, because it is more than possible to make it fully
vegetarian without the carnivores even noticing anything is missing. As for it being simple, well, this of course depends on how much effort you want to put into it.
Making your own hummus is, to my mind, a huge deal of effort for not much return; the stuff you can buy in jars or cans is more than good enough. Just make sure, and this is a general rule, that you get something made in Lebanon or Turkey, and not a Tesco's Own pathetic imitation. The same goes for tahini sauce - I've never heard of even the proudest grannies making their own. You can even buy very decent falafel mix in Arab delis and also in Kosher ones that sell Israeli products. Baba ganoush is another traditional salad that is so ubiquitous the shop bought versions tend to be on the good side - and it's pretty labour intensive to boot, so I would definitely say buy it.
Two of the most importat components of any Middle Eastern (and indeed Italian and Spanish too) meal are bread and olives, so a brief note on that. Pitta is leavened bread. It should therefore be full of air and elasticity. Even the flattest Iraqi or Turkish flatbread should have some give to it, and when it comes to Palestinian or Lebanese round pittas, well those should be just as fluffy and satisfying as the whitest brioche bun. If the bread is at all crunchy, brittle or liable to rip at the seams, you've got stale pittas.
It is very difficult to get pittas this fresh outside major areas of Arab population (in Europe this means London and Paris, pretty much). So what I suggest you do is try and get your hands on some Arab-produced pittas, then stick them into a preheated oven for a minute or two before serving; this will restore some of the freshness, especially if you place a small dish of water in the oven so it's nice and steamy.
On the subject of olives: canned olives stink. Even ones imported from the Middle East. They are crap and don't buy them. If you cannot find proper Arab olives (usually green, usually smallish, preserved in brine with slices of lemon or chillies), buy some good Greek or Spanish ones from a deli counter. It may not be exactly the right thing, but it wil be tasty!
Most of what you need to worry about in terms of cooking, then, are things that involve fresh vegetables. I have recently cooked a Palestinian/Israeli meal at home, and these are the dishes I prepared myself:
I cooked this for 6 people, and what with bread, pickles and dessert, had enough leftovers to feed another 6. A good tip for a meal like this would seem to me to be: just because it's a vegetarian meal, don't make the mistake of thinking it's not filling enough and cook far too much food like I did!