Going Vegan Can Be Inexpensive
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Trim your budget vegan style:
“Some of the most versatile vegan foods-including beans, rice, vegetables, soy products and pasta-cost relatively little compared to animal products. According to a 2007 MSN MoneyCentral article, the cheapest cuts of beef, such as ground round, average $3 per pound; boneless chicken breasts cost $3.40 a pound; and canned tuna costs around $2 per pound. In comparison, dried beans and lentils cost less than $1 a pound, and rice is cheaper than $1 a pound. Tofu usually costs less than $2 per pound. Even vegans who buy costlier products like soy sausage and nondairy ice cream can still spend less than people who load up on beef, chicken and fish.” (source)
The take away message:
- Going vegan reduces your food bill
- Going nutrient-dense, unprocessed vegan reduces your food bill even more
For more on this topic, check out these vegans’ blog posts:
- VOC: “does being vegan cost more money?”
- Vegan Guinea Pig: “recession proof pantry”
- Veg Family: “go vegan on the cheap”
- TB: “being vegan and being cheap”
- Vegan On The Cheap – a whole blog dedicated to living light on the Earth and light on the pocketbook
Don’t forget the premium prices paid by those “enlightened” folks who get “free-range”, “humane-certified”, “Temple Grandin Seal of Loving Kindness” meat.
That always makes me wonder: what if, instead of trying to buy a clean conscience with price-inflated dead animal flesh, all those money-to-burn people went veg? Think of all the cash they’d have left over to, say, donate to UNICEF.
That’s a good point, Megan
When I first went vegan I relied too heavily on processed vegan “goodies” like sweets and fake meats, my grocery bill seemed greater so I started cuting down and increasing the beans, rice, potatoes, bread/grain products, and fruits/ veggies and nuts and non-dairy milk and now it feels fine! Sometimes it feels hard to avoid getting processed vegan items (not oreos, newman os!) or purely/mostly organic produced, that’ where I get a little shakey? any advice would be appriciated
~ Recent blog post: Beating my Hunger ~
Laci, Here are some ideas for eating vegan on the cheap:
- Center your diet on nutrient-dense, unprocessed foods. The cheaper, healthier ones are: in season or frozen. (Canned foods are cheap, too, but you lose out on some nutrients.)
- You can try the cookbook “Alternative Vegan” which uses ONLY foods from the produce section, no processed foods.
- Also check out McDougall cookbooks, they are starch-based (potatoes, squash) which tend to be cheap. A sack of potatoes is probably the cheapest thing out there and humans can literally live off white potatoes and water for a long time (they just have to eat a lot of potatoes).**
- Other cookbooks to check out: Vegan on a Shoe String and Student’s Go Vegan.
- Try searching “cheap” or “inexpensive” in the recipe search: http://www.vegansoapbox.com/recipes/
- Don’t shop at Whole Foods. Here’s what I try to do to keep the grocery bill down: I get the majority of my groceries at the supermarket closest to me (just a standard market) and then I only go to Whole Foods and Trader Joe’s for specialty items that I can’t find elsewhere.
- Order some things online and/or in bulk. For example, we buy powdered soy milk (for baking) online because it’s so much cheaper.
- Check out other neighborhoods. Sometimes there is price discrimination based on where you live. Even just check out other aisles at the grocery store. I’ve found that the same products in the “health food” section is often more expensive than if it’s in the “ethnic food” section.
Just a few thoughts to get you started
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**Not recommending that you live off potatoes, but if you center your meals around potatoes and add in variety in the side dishes, your pocketbook will stay trim and you’ll be healthy.