Or in other words...an oxymoron.
But not in my book.
One of the most common myths swirling around veganism is that it is expensive. I think if I had a dollar for every time someone told me that "Eating vegan is just too expensive," I would be rich lady myself. (Don't you ever wish that would truly happen?) What I find interesting is that every time I've heard this, it's always coming from a non-vegan, someone who has never tried eating a diet devoid of animal products.
Just recently, a lady at work lamented to a co-worker friend of mine about how she felt sorry for Mark and I because we would have to buy twice the amount of groceries...one for me and one for Mark. My friend tried to explain to her that Mark can actually eat the food that I eat, because it is food that he already eats--just without the animal products.
So is it really expensive to be a vegan? Let's do some discussing and debunking.
To begin, expensive is a relative word. What defines it is what it is being compared to. It is also based on budget. What I think is ridiculously expensive might be a drop in the bucket to another person. So expensive, I don't think, is the correct word to use.
Next, there are several ways to eat. Well, let me rephrase myself, there are two ways. One is healthy, and the other is unhealthy. I admit, eating healthy is a rather daunting task, and it's hard for several reasons.
Raise your hand if you think nutrition is confusing (okay, you don't really have to) but let's be honest. I have a hard enough time cleaning my apartment let alone trying to decipher what on earth riboflavin is, and making sure that I'm getting my B12. To get all the nutrition that you need, you constantly have to think about it. This applies to vegans and non-vegans. We always have to be aware of our nutrition.
Eating healthy is hard because of all the cheap, processed convenience foods. Isn't it easier to whip something out of the freezer, pop it in the microwave and eat it than it would be to make a full dinner? It's also easier to stop by greasy fast food joint in the way home. But what is the benefit in eating these processed, pre-made foods? Hardly anything...not to mention eating this way adds enough sodium into your diet to pickle your liver. Sounds lovely, doesn't it?
There's also the challenges of being busy and really not having enough money. It is cheaper to live off a steady diet of Totino's pizzas and ramen noodles, but we all know what those do to our bodies.
I think we all know that it is better if we make homemade meals based on whole foods. These foods offer nutritional benefits that far surpass those of the dollar-menu counterparts.
So now that we've established that eating healthy takes some time, effort, and a little more money than eating unhealthy, let's compare some foods.
Of course what makes vegan meals different than your average American meals is the absence of meat. While protein is nutritional requirement, meat is not the only place to get that protein. According to an article on MSN.com entitled,
"Go vegetarian to save money" the average price of one pound of the cheapest cuts of beef is $3. Boneless skinless chicken breast average about $3.40 per pound, and your average can of tuna is $2 per pound. What's the average price of beans (a staple in vegetarian and vegan diets)? Less than $1 per pound. As the article points out, even tofu is less than $2 per pound.*
Vegetables do have a tendency to get pricey, as the article discusses, but there are ways to make them more affordable. When you're eating healthy, you're more likely to be consuming more of these, hence, the reason why you could spend more money on them. Fresh vegetables are good, but there is also frozen or canned vegetables which have their benefits. If you have a garden or buy plenty of produce when they are in season (when they are cheaper) you can can or freeze these to use later.
I've also got to talk about grain meats in this post. You most likely know them as Boca burgers, Tofurkey, or Morningstar products. I think these are one of the reasons why people think eating vegan is expensive. These are usually more expensive than animal meat, and they, like other processed products, can be unhealthy. There is also a variety of vegan substitute products, like vegan sour cream, mayonnaise and cheese. These are expensive, too. The vegan diet that I try to stick to and that I will be advocating in my posts is one that is based on whole foods, and not these expensive meat/dairy replacements.
So what's the point of my rambling? I've heard plenty of people who admit that they would like to add more vegetarian meals to their recipe queue. I couldn't be more thrilled! One thing I've found is that vegan/vegetarian meals really are faster and easier to make because they are more simple. The real bonus is that anyone and everyone can eat these meals and you will be getting plenty of benefits!
I'm planning on doing a series called "Cheap Vegan Meals" that would help anyone wanting to add whole foods based, affordable, healthy meals to their queue. In each post I would make a meal, add a picture, recipe and cost breakdown per serving.
Do you think this is a good idea? Who's interested?
*I feel like I should add something about proteins here: Many people would argue that plant-based protein is not a complete protein, hence the need for meat. I will address this later. :)
