♪ Cast 23: Vegetarian on a Budget

Tired of hearing about the economic crisis? Me too. In these hard times, we need to stay smart with being vegetarian and on a budget. Here are some great tips for doing so.

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Enjoy! This podcast accompanies the post here at the VegLiving blog, located right here.

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Be well,

Brian

Vegetarian on a budget

These days, all we hear about is the financial crisis, the unbelievable unemployment rate, taxes, the cost of living — you name it. With all the piled-high bills and purchases it is not uncommon for people to worry about getting food on the table, let alone the concern of vegetarian choices. I am by no means suggesting that it is a good thing to repeal your veg diet because of a hard economic time; rather, in this post I’ll share some of the many tips and facts about eating vegetarian on a budget. There are many articles that can be found all over the Internet and in magazines and newspapers; however, I think it is of merit to mention this topic in a post here at VegLiving.

There are tons of articles out there on sites like About.com and others about vegetarian living and specifically on a budget. I know that it’s just easy to look them up on a search engine and read them directly; so, in this post, I want to feature what I found in VegNews magazine, one of my favorite vegetarian living publications. Read more about this awesome monthly publication here. But, if you’re interested in Internet articles, I found some interesting ones with further links on them as well, here at VegCooking.com, here at Associated Content and here at About.com.

I don’t want to steal the thunder from VegNews with this topic, but author of this article and someone whom I admire greatly in the vegetarian world, Colleen Patrick-Goudreau of Compassionate Cooks (with an awesome podcast here!), has written an excellent article that includes some great tips and information that I’ll quote here. Thank you again to these sources. Here are the four main ideas that she included in the article and I’ll just talk a little about them.
1. Eat at home.

The article mentions that the time it takes to drive to a restaurant, wait, pick items, eat, get the check, etc. is often more than what people have an idea about with eating at home. In addition to the convenience and money saved, there’s a benefit in eating this way because you’ll (a) know it’s veg(etari)an, (b) sharpen your cooking skills, (c) prepare it exactly the way preferred and (d) probably cook it in a healthier way. Wow!

2. Buy in bulk.

Colleen Patrick-Goudreau sensibly mentions that buying large items and in simple, unprepared or unprocessed form will not only be cheaper but probably healthier and tastier.

3. Cook from scratch.

Prepackaged and prepared foods are always going to cost more and probably be not as healthy or as tasty. Give homemade cooking a try and you may come to enjoy it (if you don’t already) and prefer the outcome as well.

4. Choose nutrient-dense foods.

VegNews’ article says “to get the most bang for both our monetary and our nutritional buck is to choose nutrient-dense foods”. Couldn’t have said. it better myself.

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So, I hope this gives a little insight and help into some useful information for keeping both your body and wallet satisfied, lean, healthy, and veg(etari)an. (Can a wallet be vegetarian? Absolutely. Avoid that leather and suede, guys and gals.)

Let me know what you think and be sure to check out VegNews and the other posts at the blog here. Let me know if you like the blog and feel free to subscribe and comment with what you think. C’mon, don’t be afraid! Thanks for all the support to everyone.

Be well,

Brian

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P.S. – Did I mention that it’ll save money in the long run to go veg and avoid nasty prescriptions and trips to the doctor later (or now) in life? 😉