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On A Budget
Started
by Suzi Q
on January 27, 2010
Hi everone! I'm making the commitment to give this lifestyle a try. I'm a yoga teacher and fairly healthy person but this could be piece that's missing in my diet! However, in this economy we are on a fairly tight grocery budget and I'm worried that eating vegan may be too expensive. What have you all found about this? Any advice?
Thanks!
I am not good at staying with a food budget but I think I am doing better as a vegan, especially a sort of macro vegan with brown rice and greens. I think in the long run that eating whole foods that I cook myself will be less expensive than the way I used to eat, when I relied on a lot of prepared foods.
I feel like being vegan and completely cutting processed foods out has been overall cheaper. I have to go to the grocery store more often, due to keeping the veggies fresh and such!, so I'm less likely to indulge at the store and buy things that just have a pretty package - and never end up eating, thus wasting money! I'm a college student and I just recently had to quit my job, but I make it work. Also the local farmer's market for me has been a complete godsend! Tastier, fresher, and lasts longer since it wasn't shipped from halfway across the globe! :)
Additionally, if you bulk up on yummy veggies and whole grains, you can prepare them, say Sunday night or something, and then eat it all throughout the week at lunch or dinner. Just re-heat it and that right there saves tons of money on going out to fast food places or restaurants. (i know Alicia says no microwaves, but we will get there some day, until then, reheat)
You guys are fabulous- thanks! I'm excited to get into this!
We are on a very tight food budget also, My husband is a grad student and I work part time so trust me when I say we eat cheap!
Meat is expensive crap and so is the garbage that comes in boxes. Eating whole foods is a lot cheaper than you think. Eat seasonally and buy as much from local farmers markets as you can. Make as much as you can from scratch, we bake all our own vegan breads and hardly ever use sauce mixes or salad dressings. Yeast is cheaper in bulk than in those little packets that you get from the supermarket. Salad dressings are just so easy to make fresh!
Berries are pretty expensive right now so we buy them frozen, we don't make meals with a lot of leftovers because more often than not we don't eat them.
I think vegan is cheaper than meat eating but I am also willing to spend more money on quality food than other things.
If you are buying alot of packaged vegan speciality foods, then it can get expensive. Just focus on veggies and whole grains, then add in the speciality foods on occasion. This way the costs balance out.
I agree with Davonia. My husband and I are in a really tight budget, as he's a grad student who can't work at the moment because he's student teaching and I can't work until the end of next month because I'm about to sit the bar. So things are really tight right now...but honestly, we stick to whole foods and our budget didn't go up when I looked at him and said "honey, I want to be vegan!" and he said "Okay, as long as you don't mind if I still drink milk and eat cheese."
I think the big difference has been that I don't buy expensive soy based mock-ups of the dairy or meat things I don't eat anymore. I can't eat much soy because of my thyroid...there are a very few things I buy special, like coconut milk based yogurt (I was so happy when I found this!) and almond milk, but what we're saving on meat more than makes up for those one or two special foods.
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