Want to be a Vegan on the Cheap?

By : Imogen Reed

Becoming a vegan is a personal choice that isn’t always supported by food producers out there. Finding alternatives to foods that contain animal products can be difficult at times, and often specialist alternatives can be rather expensive. Staying true to veganism while keeping in mind the money you spend on food is a problem that most vegans have experienced. Perhaps this fact has put some people off becoming a vegan, or knocked them off the wagon. Most people around the world are feeling the pinch of hard economic times, so any money that can be saving on the weekly groceries is a help, whether you’re a vegan or not.

Victoria Moran and Main Street Vegan

Inspired by the innovative ways she came up with to stay on her vegan diet, author Victoria Moran wrote a book title ‘Main Street Vegan: Everything You Need to Know to Eat Healthy and Live Compassionately in the Real World’. She hopes that it will inspire people to switch to veganism, and help all the vegans out there to keep eating a vegan diet on even the smallest budget. It is full of tips, encouragement, insight, and guidance to help people make the switch to veganism, and to keep tested vegans on track.

Victoria has some early memories of why she became a vegan. She remembers her grandmother telling her there were people who did not eat meat, and that she would buy her a hamburger made out of peanuts to prove it. Not long after, she hooked a fish at an outdoor show, and witnesses the attendant beating the fish around the head until it died. When she was at high school she was faced with having to dissect animals, and when asking to change class, being asked, “Well, you eat meat don’t you?”

In her teens she became a vegetarian, and during this stage managed to survive on nothing but cottage cheese and fruit salad for four months. Later she became a vegan, not eating meat, fish, dairy products, or eggs, and she hasn’t looked back since.

Top Tips for a Budget Vegan Diet

You may hear that a vegan diet is an expensive diet, but this really couldn’t be further from the truth. It’s all down to picking the right foods and finding the best deals whether you eat meat or not. To help you keep the costs of being a vegan down, we’ve come up with some helpful tips to make your money stretch.

Avoid Meat Alternatives

Don’t buy into the false promises of all the meat substitute products out there. Sure, they might taste similar to the real thing, and have the same texture, but the amount of crap that food producers use to make food seem like something they are not id probably worse than eating the real thing. What’s more, they are overpriced for what they are, and will definitely make you weekly grocery bill larger than it should be.

Buy Fresh and Natural Produce

Buying fresh vegetables and fruit is the easiest and cheapest way to fufil your vegan diet. Ok, so if you buy all your food from scratch, you have to be more inventive when you get to the kitchen, but this will pay off in the long run. By learning some good recipes and experimenting with all the different food out there, you will create some delicious dishes that won’t put a dent in you bank balance. There are plenty fresh produce delivery companies out there that will bring fresh fruit and veg straight to your door if your local supermarket doesn’t have a great selection.

Invest in Some Handy Cooking Equipment

There are some great kitchen appliances that can make your life as a vegan much easier. The top three have to be a rice cooker, a slow cooker, and a food blender. Rice is full of nutrition and a great accompaniment to a variety of meals, so make life easy on yourself when it comes to cooking the stuff. Try to get one with a steamer basket if you can. A slow cooker is the perfect way to have dinner waiting for you when you get home from work. Just chuck all ingredients in the pot, switch it on before you leave in the morning, and a delicious meal is waiting for you when you get home. The release of nutrient and mineral from food works very well when it is slow cooked, and it sure beats frying. With a food blender you’ll save loads of time when it comes to chopping and grinding up all those fresh and natural ingredients you have to put in the slow cooker.

Plan your Diet

It really isn’t that hard to be a vegan on the cheap, all it takes is a bit of planning. There are plenty of books out there, and doing some research into what foods you need to eat to get the nutrients your body needs is important. Even though it will take a bit of work at the beginning, it will all be worth it in the end if you a passionate about being a vegan.