Veg food on the cheap

i voted 'no', but i mostly eat grains, dried legumes, veg and the occasional bit of fruit

i never eat out, not that there's really any place to eat out at where i live

been eating a lot of that dish i posted in one of the other threads - lentils, veg, tahini with rice or pasta

though in the morning i usually do barley flakes with flax and sunflower seeds, raisins, garam masala

might be cooking the odd curry later in the week - bought an onion today on a wild shopping spree . . .

 

Pasta with a jar of mushrooms and some Prego sauce, with whatever green things are in the freezer. I barely have time to eat, let alone cook.

 

Voted 'No' and didn't bother with the "if you're careful" part. It's only expensive for those who don't bother to learn to cook.

 

I find it to be cheaper, on the whole. Poor people can't afford meat. Meat has been a special privilege through history. So, as vegetarians, we are largely eating peasant food...rice, beans...things that grow from the ground...

All of the brand name crap and fake meat is quite pricey though.

 

I've never been to a vegetarian or vegan restaurant(there's none where I live) so I don't know about their average prices. Prepackaged vegan foods can be a bit expensive from my experience. Since I'm more of a salad and fruit kinda guy my costs aren't too bad.

 

read an interesting article on this yesterday, somewhere online [sorry]

somewhere in there he blasted oprah for recommending that people go vegan by swapping their meat weenies for soy weenies [massive paraphrase]

i heartily agree

simple whole ingredients are still the cheapest things to buy in the market

 

it isn't expensive if you get your food from a regular grocery store instead of an organic one

 

funny, dreadful, the crappy old dried beans in the supermarket are $2.49 a pound, but the fresh organic dried beans in the food co-op are $1.50

and since they're fresh they cook in less time, saving me electricity $ to boot . . .

 

My post was more referring to money grubbing places like whole foods and trader joes lol

 

winco is cheap - but you have to deal with their expiration dates being closer than normal

Foodmax is pretty good, and there's free samples. There was a girl in a bikini giving out samples of alcoholic mixed drinks once and she wasn't even IDing

 

i'll be happy once the farmer's market opens - in june

until then i slide down the alleys trying to stay vertical until i get to the reynolds [locally-owned grocers]

$1.99 a pound for broccoli, ugh, it's carrots again . . .

 

I cook all of my own meals and live alone. I dont have much variety like I did when I had more money, but now out of necessity I only spend 100 bucks on food a month. I RARELY by any pre-made food, although sometimes I do buy a few of the Amy's burritos. I mostly eat beans, rice, oatmeal, and potatoes. I am definately lacking in fruits and vegetables, but beggars cant be choosers. If I could come up with 100 EXTRA dollars for food a month I could have just about anything in abundance.

 

I don't know how widespead Grocery Outlet is,but they have very good bargains. I think most items they get are 1/3 to 1/2 off compared to the other stores. I just got 2 half gallons of vanilla soy milk for 1.99 a half.

 

there's a lot to be said for Mexican food.. A can of beans and lettuce, tomato, onion, etc. It's how I managed to stay alive through the slow season at work when I wasn't getting any hours.

 

What works for me is cooking all my meals. That way i know what i'm eating and is also cheaper.

I mostly eat lots of legumes cooked in different ways, but specially indian/pakistani style (i love currys!), also just cook them in less elaborate ways with different ingredients just so I don't get tired of the same flavours. Also cook stir fries, frittatas, rice, make my own granola, etc.


But what helps me the most when it comes to saving money is planting my own vegetables in the spring summer (I live in Canada, so I have to make those few good months count!!). Those are the months when I eat the widest variety of fresh veggies. Of course plants produce more than what I'll be able to eat, so I give away some of it and freeze some to use in stews in the winter, make salsa with tomatoes, can a lot of stuff to use later, etc.

If you have any space to plant something, go ahead!! It's a great learning and rewarding experience, and saves you money

 

When I tried going vegetarian in 2009 or there about, I didn't know the right foods to eat. I ate lots of salty hummus! Trader Joe's (here I am assuming everyone knows what Trader Joe's is https://www.traderjoes.com/) can be heck on your salt intake if you're not careful. I didn't feel like I was spending too much money as much as I really didn't know my way around the kitchen with my new vegan cookbook and such. I would try to make something and it would turn out awful.

Now if you're ever in L.A. and want vegan food, Electronic artist Moby has a restaurant there called "Little Pine" that I hear tell is pretty good. http://www.littlepinerestaurant.com/