Does anyone know a cheap vegetarian diet?!
Does anyone know a cheap vegetarian diet?
I would appreciate it if someone told me asap thanks
Answers:
Haha.. Vegetarian diets, especially vegan diets, are supposed to be the cheapest way to live. Back when meat was super expensive, only rich people could afford to eat meats and cheeses, and the poor peasants were eating primarily vegan diets. Now it seems like the poorest of the poor eat nothing but meat and the rich yuppies are eating vegan and raw food.
How ironic!
Anyway.. I am a poor vegan (just like in the olden times! haha) and I spend about $80 a month on food (sometimes less) for my boyfriend and I.
If you buy a 5 lb bag of brown rice, it'll cost you about $5 or less.. depending on where you get it. That bag of rice can last you a long time, depending on how much you eat in a sitting and how often you eat it.
Get good quality frozen vegetables at Costco or some other kind of discount warehouse place like that. I get frozen organic french beans, corn, peas, mixed normandy veggies (which includes brocoli, cauliflower, carrots, and squash), and asian stir fry veggies (which includes water chestnut, shiitake mushrooms, and some other veggies.. i forget at the moment) . Costco also has cheap non-frozen produce as well, although I tend to get the frozen kind so I don't have to eat it all right away. Because Costco sells in bulk, it would be a waste of money for me to buy huge amounts of fresh produce just for me because I know I would never be able to finish it all! However I do buy their fresh portabella mushrooms -very popular in the vegetarian diet because you can eat it like a steak.. cook it on the grill, fry it, whatever.. A package of 5 large portabella mushrooms at Costco = $4.50.
Costco also sells 1 lb of organic salad greens for $3
They also have canned kidney beans and vegan pinto beans that are very tasty. And they sell a huge box of boca burgers at a very cheap price (much cheaper than the smaller boxes of boca burgers at the regular grocery stores)
Heh it almost sounds like I'm a promoter for Costco.. It's just that I'm very cheap and Costco offers good quality and cheap veggie food.
OH! They also have the cheapest soy milk I have ever found. $1 per carton. It is Kirkland brand which taste good.. unlike Silk soy milk (a lot of people like it, but I don't.. although Silk soy yogurt tastes good to me)
So if you haven't already gotten a Costco membership... you should seriously consider it! They also sell high quality nuts for cheap prices. Many nuts are high in protein and omega 3s and 6s (like walnuts) and you can use this as a garnish and extra flavoring for your brown rice. They also sell organic flax seeds that you can use as well.
So you see... it is very easy to have a cheap vegetarian diet - If you know where to shop. Farmers markets are great, and they support the local community of farmers, but Costco is a lot cheaper if you are strictly going for what is cheapest.
So I go to Costco for most of my bulk foods (they also have V8 veggie juice there that I like) and I go to the regular grocery stores every once in a while to get specialty foods.
Safeway usually has good deals on their veggie meats, like morningstar farm chicken strips. They're always giving out $1 off coupons on it. They taste awesome in stir fries and stuff.
Alright I hope this was helpful!