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Go Back   Spiritual Forums > Lifestyle > Vegetarian & Vegan

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  #1  
Old 20-04-2016, 09:29 PM
joehall joehall is offline
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Vegan Lifestyle on a Budget

It's common knowledge – eating healthy, especially eating lots of vegetables, costs more than eating junk, right? Wrong! It can cost a lot more to eat fresh and healthy foods, especially living the vegetarian lifestyle, but that happens when you don't think about what you're eating beforehand. Considering that you have to plan out your meals in order to get the right nutrients anyway, living the veggie lifestyle in a frugal way is just a matter of making smart choices for things you're already doing anyway.

Eat Seasonally

Think back to how your grandmother talked about the good old days. When peaches were in season, they had peach pies and peach ice cream and – you get the idea. People ate what was abundant at the farmer's stand because it was cheap. It was cheap because the farmers had a lot of it they wanted to get rid of before it went bad.

The same rule holds true today. Sure, you can find ripe strawberries in the grocery store in December, but you'll pay a fortune (and they'll taste bland). On the other hand, go to the local strawberry festival in your area and you'll find enough cheap berries to feed yourself for months. Do the same thing with broccoli, sweet potatoes, corn and any other vegetables you can find. Plan your menus around what's ripe this week and you'll naturally pay less for your meals.

Learn to Preserve

Taking advantage of cheaper seasonal fruits and vegetables doesn't do you much good if you can't enjoy it for more than a week or two each year. Learn the fine art of preserving foods to allow your cheap produce to last throughout the year. Remember those December strawberries? If you freeze fresh berries in the middle of summer, you'll have good-tasting berries for the rest of the year.

Preserving comes in three basic methods: freezing, canning and drying. Each food preserves best in one way or another, so you'll have to research how to save your personal favorites. But when you're eating super-cheap peppers in the middle of winter when everyone else is paying a small fortune for them, you'll gloat a little bit before adding them to your dinner.

Gardening

The absolute cheapest way to get food for your veg*n lifestyle is to grow it yourself. Whether you plant a couple of pots on your balcony or dig an entire city block for a family's entire yearly menu, you'll save money when you grow any type of food. Setting up a garden can be expensive if you buy everything new, but frugal gardeners know better:

• Buy year-old seeds for pennies and plant three seeds per hole to make up for old ones that won't sprout.

• Repurpose old junk to use as garden tools: old spoons make small shovels, broken cribs can become support for vines to grow on.

• Plan the year before and save seeds from food you eat to create completely free food.

• Grow foods with the biggest nutrition punch, such as dried beans and gourds and leave fancy treats like radish and gourmet colored carrots to a smaller corner lot.

Trade

Once your garden comes in, you're bound to have at least one crop that you have more of than you could ever use, even if you pickle or freeze it. Get together with other gardeners in your community and arrange a produce trade. If you have tons of tomatoes and the guy on the next block is buried in black beans, you've got a natural trading situation going on. Trade basic items in bulk for unusual items you want to try such as heirloom tomatoes or different bean or pea varieties. Get together with fellow vegetarians before the growing season for the best trading or look on Craigslist or your local paper during harvest season to see who else is looking to trade.

Make a Menu

It can help save some money if you plan meals ahead of time. Once you have your menu set, make a grocery list and stick with it. Go for ingredients only, avoid any processed foods and be determined to cook the foods on your menu instead of just heating them up in a microwave.

Buy in Bulk

Invest in some large, clear containers for your counter top and buy your ingredients in bulk. It's cheaper and in many instances, you'll get fresher, higher-quality ingredients. Buy pasta, rice, any dried beans and peas you don't grow and even spices and keep them in airtight containers. Tasty food doesn't have to come in colorful packages

I hope it helps :)
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  #2  
Old 20-04-2016, 11:00 PM
Tobi Tobi is offline
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I love this post, joehall! Thank you very much. I am sure your hints and tips will be very helpful to many.
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  #3  
Old 21-04-2016, 05:21 AM
joehall joehall is offline
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Thanks for you appreciation, Tobi!

Thanks for you appreciation, Tobi! I am sure it will help out many vegans. :)
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  #4  
Old 22-04-2016, 07:33 PM
Tobi Tobi is offline
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There are also other ways to save money on vegan food, for those who perhaps don't have time or much of a garden to grow it, or who live in urban areas. (Though even in urban areas, there can be Community veg gardens/allotments etc)

Items like nuts, seeds, lentils, wholegrain rice and dried beans are vegan staples. And these items can often be bought much more cheaply from Indian stores than from supermarkets. For instance, a HUGE bag of cashews can cost £5 (British pounds) whereas in a supermarket a tiny 500g bag can cost close on £3!
And keep away from those 'snack pots' of nuts/seeds, because they are terrifically expensive for what you get!
Many of those Indian, Chinese, Jamaican, Turkish....etc small shops in cities will be a real treat to browse in!
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Old 22-04-2016, 07:42 PM
Uma Uma is offline
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Tobi, I've heard that's because they take out the middleman and buy direct from the supplier - I too go to Asian supermarkets for the best value.

Thanks joehall for starting this thread!

Has anyone noticed how fruit and vegetable prices have skyrocketed?
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  #6  
Old 24-04-2016, 08:36 AM
mogenblue mogenblue is offline
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Uma
Has anyone noticed how fruit and vegetable prices have skyrocketed?

I noticed last year the price for hazelnuts went up to about 15 euro for 500 gram (non-organic). But that has come down to about 7,5 euro per 500 gram a few months ago.

Other then that I don't notice much from prices for veggies and fruit going up.
And that's in Amsterdam, Holland.
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  #7  
Old 24-04-2016, 11:45 AM
O O is offline
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Great tips Joehall!
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  #8  
Old 09-07-2016, 06:19 PM
row37 row37 is offline
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It costs us a lot more to eat vegan or even vegetarian than a dead animal diet would cost! I know this for a fact. But of course it's a price we gladly pay.

We try to buy organic as much as possible, and like to eat flavorful, healthy, alkaline food that is well balanced. So there's no meals of just rice or any of that. We don't preserve or can anything because the process makes the food acidic.

A typical meal is fresh organic salad w/ fresh greens and tomatoes, almonds, olives, shredded carrots, green onion and organic strawberries if in season (yes, strawberries, it's delicious), blue berries and a cut up avocado or cruelty free egg. The side dishes are often organic basmati rice mixed w/ organic wild rice or millet, organic butter beans or some other kind of beans, homemade cornbread, a slice of fresh pineapple, squash or soup, and filtered water or cold green tea. This ain't cheap, and it doesn't last long because it's not slow to break down like meat, so you end up snacking between meals a lot.

There's a difference between eating optimally and just throwing some food together, and we choose to eat optimally. The payoff is that you look and feel so much better, and the food is alive, fresh, and tasty. And.....expensive. You pays your money, and you takes your chances.
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  #9  
Old 11-07-2016, 12:57 AM
Tobi Tobi is offline
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Well, for anyone who ONLY eats meat and nothing else....then maybe it is cheaper.
But for any meat eater who eats meat alongside other foods such as fruit/vegetables etc, it isn't cheaper at all, in my opinion.
I am vegan now, used to be vegetarian a few years back (occasionally ate fish so not strict vegetarian then). But I used to buy fresh meat and fish weekly, to feed my dog. I bought from the supermarket...chicken, beef, lamb, fresh fish. I always looked for bargains (2 for the price of one, or 3 for £10 deals), or bought her meat from a cheaper store, and bought big quantities to cut down costs which I then cooked up and froze into portion-sizes. So I was economical about it.
When she passed away age 15, I didn't have to buy meat any more. My grocery bill was cut tremendously. (Not that I minded one bit! bless her)
Since becoming vegan and not buying supermarket eggs or cheese, pizzas, quiches, etc my grocery bill was cut again.

However I suppose it can depend where you live. I was hearing recently of high prices for fruit and vegetables in the US and Canada. Whereas in the UK such things are very cheap.
Yes blueberries are nice but it's possible to be fit and strong and not eat blueberries. Supermarket strawberries are expensive also. One doesn't have to eat either strawberries or blueberries regularly to be well fed and fit.
Apples, bananas, pears, oranges, and grapes are okay. But sometimes on the 'reduced' shelf in the supermarket, great deals can be found! All sorts of things reduced in price because they are on their last day. Or a pack of grapes half price because they have 6 or 7 brown ones in there (which can easily be picked out.)
Also foraging for food such as hazelnuts and blackberries etc in Autumn, then preparing/storing/freezing them works pretty well. Usually foods like that will keep 6 months plus in a good freezer.
I used to make nut burgers from foraged hazelnuts, seasoning, and stuffing mix (without suet) Then freeze them for future use. One pack of stuffing mix went a long way for very little money.
Couldn't be cheaper! And they are so tasty with potatoes carrots and gravy on a winter's day.
That's vegan. And no comparison with the cost of even a cheap steak or a chicken quarter.

Foraging can be pretty fun especially over a weekend, and especially with family in tow! (plus dog) Kids love doing things like that and it's a great excuse to get out into the countryside for a jolly good walkies.

Packs of dried beans, lentils etc make SO many meals. I haven't worked out the cost of each meal-sized portion....but if a pack of mung beans costs £1.80 I guess there have to be at least 20 servings in it! Probably more. Whereas a pack of chicken legs costing £4 will do for only 3 meals.

Look for cheap deals also on nuts. My supermarket does a huge pack of roasted unsalted 'Monkey nuts' (peanuts) for £1. The plain peanuts which you could roast yourself are even cheaper. Buying Indian foods also means you might get a 2lb pack of Cashew nuts or almonds which will last quite some time.

There are so many vegan foods which if cooked with imagination cost very little.
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  #10  
Old 19-07-2016, 08:58 PM
coelacanth coelacanth is offline
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Join Date: Mar 2016
Posts: 147
 
If you insist on buying obscure vegan ingredients, vegan "meats," or fresh, organic, non-GMO food, you will find your bill going up pretty quick. Sad but true. You don't really need meat substitutes anyway, and a lot of them, I'm sorry, just aren't very convincing.

On the other hand, if you eat more simply then meals become much cheaper. And no, you don't have to limit yourself to rice, beans, and potatoes. My breakfast this morning was an avocado, olive oil, and sea salt. The avocado may be hard to get depending on where you are, but you can also get by with oatmeal and soymilk, banana and peanut butter, etc. (Get some of the "over-ripe" fruits and buy oatmeal in bulk for the best value.) I usually eat nuts for a snack. Lentils and beans make me sick, so I prefer rice, corn, spinach, and other leafy greens. Rather than spending hours prepping for a single dish, I can whip something up out of simple ingredients and eat it in less than an hour.

Also, don't dismiss canned food. I know it's got a stigma attached to it, but it is very useful if you can't afford fresh fruits and veggies all the time. They are easy to buy in bulk and have a long shelf life. They can easily go into soups and curries. Also if you want to save your fresh food look into learning preservation techniques like canning it. This is also good for saving fruits and veggies for out-of-season.
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