The KInd Life Community Forum

What about tins of beans? I have started to use them every week as they are ready to go and pretty cheap too ... you can do so much with them as a base and that way sort of string out the veggies a bit more.

Could you grow any of your own food eventually? Do you have space? I saw a mushroom 'kit' the other day which was basically just a box already filled with all the right stuff that you keep in a cupboard so you can grow your own button mushrooms. They are good fillers too. Some garden stores have them.

Otherwise what about a simple homemade soup with bread as a filler?

Sorry ... I'm not great with ideas as I'm not much of a cook yet but good luck ... search blog after blog for easy cheap recipes perhaps??

I agree that brown rice and beans are a good healthy option. I make a pot of beans or bean soup about once a week. If you don't have time to stand over the stove, you can make them in a crock pot. They freeze well, so you can cook once for several meals. If you want to know how to cook dried beans let me know - I love them.

Also, do you have access to a Grocery Outlet or Costco? Both stores sell large bags of frozen veggies that can turn the ramen meals into something interesting and healthy.

I agree that a CSA would be a possible solution. The rural CSAs always seem to need more volunteers. I have volunteered at a CSA in the past, and I went home with a ton of veggies (mostly in the summer, but in the winter too if the CSA grows in hoop houses).

I hope you get some advice that you can use. Good luck.

This may help you, or it may not, but I figured I woul offer this information up anyway because it not only shows how veganism/vegetarianism is becoming more prevailent in our society, but also that it can be done in a cost effective way.

There is a show on TLC called Extreme Couponers, and one show featured a vegan mom who used coupons to buy her family groceries. The whole family was vegan and she was able to stock pile quite a bit of vegan foods.

She would stock up on frozen veggies, Silk soy milk (which I learned can be frozen!), and canned veggies/beans. Although many of the products may not be 100% organic they were vegan. She was able to save alot of money this way and would use the savings to buy fresh produce and other items which generally aren't coupon items.

I don't know if you'd be able to find the video, but the couponer is Perry and in the featured episode she talks about saving up for a new tattoo (she's covered - she even has VEGAN PRIDE tattooed on her forearms).

I hope this helps you come up with alternatives to the cheaper foodstuffs!

I agree the dried beans can save you some money! One of the cheapest veggies where I get groceries is bok choy. Not the baby bok choy but the bigger ones. Also a farmers market usually has cheaper prices on produce. I like to use beans to make tacos instead of using tofu or tempeh as it is cheaper. Just cook them in a skillet with a taco seasoning packet and some water to dissolve the seasoning until it thickens up.

I'm not sure how you would feel about this but I just watched a documentary called Dive. About several families who got the majority of their food from the dumpsters at grocery stores. Everyday the stores throw away trash cans full of perfectly edible food. Technically it is considered tresspassing to go through the dumpsters though..

Wow! Thanks for all the replies! OK, I live in Sheridan County in Wyoming. We really have next to nothing around here. In town, we have Walmart, Safeway, and Albertsons. There are also two pretty small health food stores. There is a food bank that is open two days a week. I don't know what other organizations are available in town. I do know that the farmer's market here is only open like August/September.

A couple hours away there is a HUGE health food store that is actually a co-op; the prices are pretty reasonable, and they sell all sorts of things in bulk. The last time we were in that town, I bought some grain items in bulk, like oats, quinoa, couscous, etc.

I also noticed that on Amazon you can subscribe to certain items and get them at a discount, such as maple sugar...you can get a 25 oz container for less than $15! Of course, that isn't my priority purchase right now, but some day I hope to be able to order some.

The couponing is great, but much harder to do in such a small town. I truly admire those that know how to use the coupons so well! I should look into it more.

On a good note, my husband works at Walmart, and so around the holidays they offer an associate discount on food items, along with the regular associate discount on other store items. Hey, that's $10 off a $100 purchase!

I actually didn't know you could make a bunch of beans and then freeze them. That little piece of knowledge is very precious to me! I like to buy dry beans, obviously, over canned, but with small children and a crazy schedule, I don't always have the time to prepare dried beans. I can't always get organic items like I would like, but I try to get a few here and there. For example, getting organic carrots at the store isn't hardly any different in price than getting regular.