Save Money with a Vegetarian Diet - Tips for Eating on a Budget

Save Money with a Vegetarian Diet - Tips for Eating on a Budget
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Buy in Bulk

Buying foods in bulk is an excellent way to save money. According to the Bulk is Green Council, bulk foods cost an average of 35% less than packaged foods. For bulk herbs and spices, the savings can be up to 96%. Virtually all of the staples of a vegetarian diet, including beans, rice, grains, and nuts are available in bulk. Buying bulk not only saves money, but is better for the environment because it eliminates the need for cardboard or plastic packaging, and requires less transportation. Bulk foods are available at health and natural food stores, larger supermarkets, and even online.

Buy Produce in Season

Take advantage of fresh, local seasonal produce and save money at the same time. Buying out-of-season produce costs far more since it has to be transported great distances, and it is often low quality. Spring produce includes naval oranges, grapefruit, leafy greens, artichokes, asparagus, beets and peas. Summer offers peaches, melons, berries, grapes, summer squash, corn, tomatoes, and peppers. In the fall, apples, pears, figs, persimmons, broccoli, cabbage, onions, carrots, potatoes, pumpkins and winter squash are in season. In the winter, the selection of fresh fruits and vegetables will depend on location, but some winter produce includes bananas, pomegranates, blood oranges, tangerines, Brussels sprouts, kale and rhubarb.

Another way to save money on fruits and vegetables is to buy them while they are in season, and then can or freeze them so they will be available year-round without paying high, out-of-season prices. Shopping at farmers markets or joining CSAs are excellent ways to buy fresh, locally-grown produce.

Avoid Meat Substitutes

Vegetarians on a budget should steer clear of vegetable-based or soy-based meat substitutes. These expensive alternatives are available as imitation ground beef, sausage, hot dogs and other meat products. Often, people who have newly adopted a vegetarian diet miss meat and haven’t yet built up a repertoire of vegetarian recipes, so they will choose these products to use as meat substitutes in traditional meat-based recipes. They are very costly per pound, and they are not necessary to fulfill daily protein requirements.

Choose Inexpensive Vegetarian Snacks

Rather than purchasing packaged snack foods that are very expensive per ounce, choose inexpensive, healthy snacks. Some possibilities are apples or celery sticks with peanut butter, carrot sticks, sliced cucumbers, broccoli flowerets, sliced red bell peppers, raisins, nuts, homemade granola bars, popcorn (buy large quantities in bulk, not the prepackaged microwave variety), pita bread with hummus, or hard boiled eggs.

Prepare Food in Large Quantities

Even if you live alone, you can prepare a large quantity of pasta, soup or casserole, have leftovers for lunch or dinner the next day, and freeze the remainder for several more meals. Always having prepared food on hand that just needs to be thawed and heated up eliminates the temptation to purchase packaged convenience food that is expensive and often contains unhealthy additives.