expensive food for vegetarians

surime

Does anybody know why vegetarian food is SOOOOOO .... expensive. I am talking about stuff like tofu. Health store prices are crazy! I am semi- vegetarian ,I do it fish sometimes and turkey or chicken from time to time ,but I would love to quit this to. It's difficult as there is almost no food like tofu in Tesco and every time I go to health store I spend like 20 eu on few items. Crazy!

skelliser

doesnt it not cost more to produce tofu then raising cattle and chickens.
Plus demand equals supply and all that.

surime

skelliser wrote: »

doesnt it not cost more to produce tofu then raising cattle and chickens.
Plus demand equals supply and all that.

I dont think so.. You dont have to feed soya beans..

Xiney

So instead of eating processed soybean product, learn to cook with beans in their non processed form. Dry beans are the cheapest form of protein I'm aware of.

ronnie3585

It's to punish you hippies for not eating delicious delicious meat.

surime

Xiney wrote: »

So instead of eating processed soybean product, learn to cook with beans in their non processed form. Dry beans are the cheapest form of protein I'm aware of.

Tofu is not a "processed soybean product"...

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tofu

Xiney

...yes it is. Anytime you do anything to a food (cook, ferment, seperate etc) food you are processing it.

surime

ronnie3585 wrote: »

It's to punish you hippies for not eating delicious delicious meat.

- if vegetarians are hippies (very pejorative indeed ,meat eaters are what? killers? try to see any film from the slaughterhouse and really listen to yourself and see what you feel.. Think if you agree for this. For killing another living creature for your pleasure.

surime

Xiney wrote: »

...yes it is. Anytime you do anything to a food (cook, ferment, seperate etc) food you are processing it.

Ok, thats right ,but "processed food" means mostly not healthy and tofu is good for you...

mikom

surime wrote: »

Tofu is not a "processed soybean product"...

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tofu

The great Wikipedia is not able to tell you why vegetarian food is SOOOOOO expensive though.........

jd007

surime wrote: »

Does anybody know why vegetarian food is SOOOOOO .... expensive.

NOOOOOOO... I doooooon't.

surime

Mikoms ghost... wrote: »

The great Wikipedia is not able to tell you why vegetarian food is SOOOOOO expensive though.........

-and whats your point?

surime

Ok ,what is your problem people? Is my question that strange?

mikom

surime wrote: »

-and whats your point?

My point is that as soon as somebody quite rightly pointed out that tofu is a processed product you headed straight to Wikipedia to prove them wrong.
Here's a tip.......... Wikipedia is not always right.

smellslikeshoes

You would be better asking this to be moved to the Veggie forums as most of the replys you are going to get here aren't going to be very useful, especially since it has very little specifically to do with Galway as far as I can see.

skelliser wrote: »

doesnt it not cost more to produce tofu then raising cattle and chickens.
Plus demand equals supply and all that.

Not even close, meat is just about the most costly food to produce in terms of land taken up and price wise.

sugarplum4

First of all, a person who sometimes eats fish is called a pescetarian, not a vegetarian. Secondly, someone who eats fish and poultry just doesn't like red meat very much. You are neither vegetarian nor pescetarian. Morally, what is the difference between beef and poultry? Nothing. The only difference is that a chicken fillet doesn't leave an unsightly pool of blood on your plate as a steak might do.

ScumLord

surime wrote: »

Does anybody know why vegetarian food is SOOOOOO .... expensive. I am talking about stuff like tofu. Health store prices are crazy! I am semi- vegetarian ,I do it fish sometimes and turkey or chicken from time to time ,

Slippery, slippery slope surime, next thing you know you'll be eating people or children.

surime

sugarplum4 wrote: »

First of all, a person who sometimes eats fish is called a pescetarian, not a vegetarian. Secondly, someone who eats fish and poultry just doesn't like red meat very much. You are neither vegetarian nor pescetarian. Morally, what is the difference between beef and poultry? Nothing. The only difference is that a chicken fillet doesn't leave an unsightly pool of blood on your plate as a steak might do.

First of all I said "semi-vegetarian"
"Semi-vegetarianism is a term used to describe the practice of excluding some meat (particularly red meat) from the diet while still consuming limited amounts of poultry, fish, and/or seafood.[1][2] In many references, a semi-vegetarian is also a flexitarian or "almost vegetarian". The term semi-vegetarian is sometimes also referred to as a diet that excludes "red meat". Semi-vegetarian diets are not vegetarian diets, which exclude ingestion of all animal flesh

-and I am here not to discuss my eating habbits and to talk about vegetarianism ,just to find out why healthy food is expensive.
Is there anybody normal who would agree with me that "healt store" is expensive?

surime

Mikoms ghost... wrote: »

My point is that as soon as somebody quite rightly pointed out that tofu is a processed product you headed straight to Wikipedia to prove them wrong.
Here's a tip.......... Wikipedia is not always right.

-thanks for great tip I didn't know that,I tought wikipedia is infallible.. wow

mikom

Not even the pope is infallable

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=L_LKYKQ4yx0

surime

You didnt get I was ironic? and what pope has to do with it?
Irish people are funny anyway -seriously.

mikom

surime wrote: »

You didnt get I was ironic?

Topshop vegetarians usually are...

surime wrote: »

and what pope has to do with it?

Put infallibility into your Wikipedia, then control f "pope"
I'll leave you to it.

ronnie3585

The Pope's a vegetarian?

biko

Galway -> Vegetarian forum

tricky D

Health food shops have big markups, asian stores don't. What health food stores view more as luxury/lifestyle choices, asian stores view as regular food.

Xiney

surime wrote: »

Ok, thats right ,but "processed food" means mostly not healthy and tofu is good for you...

Processed food means that more has been done to it. Generally (not always, such as in the case of simple preservation such as canning/freezing/drying which extends the shelf life and therefore the saleability of foods) this leads to an increase in price.

So if you start with the raw ingredient in a less processed form (such as dry beans vs. processed bean curd) you will save money


Processed food doesn't mean unhealthy - it's the fact that a lot of processed foods have too much fat, sugar, salt, and have had much of their nutritional value and fibre removed that makes it unhealthy. It depends on the food and what process it has been subjected to, however.

moonflower

Tofu is a processed food. Processed does not mean unhealthy, it simply means food not in it's natural state. Also, tofu may not be quite as healthy as you think, google it to find out the possible health risks.

About your slaughterhouse comment, you eat turkey. Unless you eat only free range turkey and chicken then the images from a slaughterhouse are the least of your worries. Farmed poultry are usually shoved into tiny cages and spend their lives standing in their own excrement and unable to move about. To be honest I'd rather eat a cow which has at least spent its life in a field, as nature intended.

Lastly, vegetarian food is the cheapest kind of food there is. Buy fresh or frozen vegetables, buy dried beans, lentils, rice etc in bulk and you're sorted. Nice food for a few cent a serving. Save the expensive tofu for special occasions.

As someone said. Asian store tofu is cheap as chips.
I am so appreciative of having the choice to buy tofu in the arsehole of nowhere, in this modern Ireland.
I don't give a damn what they charge me.

surime

I am aware of this all ,but thanks anyway. I dont think I have time to produce my own tofu and tofu is processed food just as cottage cheese is. I dont see anythink wrong with it and I eat it maybe once a week.
About meat : I buy only free range chickens or eggs and sorry but besides this I think killing cow is much more horrible then killing chicken. Chickens are not even half that inteligent as cows or pigs are. Of course it doesnt mean they dont have right to live, its just -they are less aware.
I really have discussed this subjects so many times with people that I am not going to go through the same battle again.
I was just curious why this products are expensive ,thats it. If anybody knows I am waiting for explanations.

surime

Moonbaby wrote: »

As someone said. Asian store tofu is cheap as chips.
I am so appreciative of having the choice to buy tofu in the arsehole of nowhere, in this modern Ireland.
I don't give a damn what they charge me.

Do they have good stuff in Asian shop on prospect hill?

surime

What do you mean by "arshole of nowhere" ?

surime

surime wrote: »

What do you mean by "arshole of nowhere" ?

See if I tell you, you'll say it doesnt really exist.
I'll get upset and it will be horribley messy.

Lets just agree with me. :P

Mary-Ellen

I'd rather the arshole of nowhere was left a mystery

Back on topic I've bought firm tofu in Dunnes for about 3 euro can't imagine you'd get the equivalent weight of free range chicken breasts any cheaper.

If anything I find the veggie diet cheaper

fobster

surime wrote: »

About meat : I buy only free range chickens or eggs and sorry but besides this I think killing cow is much more horrible then killing chicken. Chickens are not even half that inteligent as cows or pigs are. Of course it doesnt mean they dont have right to live, its just -they are less aware.

Aha! That must be what makes steak so much tastier than chicken. I can always tell when I'm eating a smart animal. Hmm...intelligence... Rashers of eternal wisdom...

Maybe chickens live a multi-dimensional existence and this life bores the feathers off them so they spend most of their time in some other dimension fighting the evil Starfox so they decide to apportion the minimum amount of their mental capacity necessary to this existence.

fobster

Mary-Ellen wrote: »

Back on topic I've bought firm tofu in Dunnes for about 3 euro can't imagine you'd get the equivalent weight of free range chicken breasts any cheaper.

I'd prefer free-range tofu and firm breasts.

entropi

surime wrote: »

First of all I said "semi-vegetarian"

First of all, there is no such thing...you are either vegetarian or you are not...even if in transition you cannot make that claim.

Is there anybody normal who would agree with me that "healt store" is expensive?

Yes i would totally agree that health food shops are actually extortionists, but those places exist for people who either cannot spend time looking around, or are too lazy, or are unable to find a certain something anywhere else...

miss hell

healthy food isn't expensive. junk food is just cheap for reasons that contains additives and chemicals. this in means more money for the companies producing the chemicals that we consume in our food and more money for the pharmaceutical companies that profit from the human race getting ill from consuming these chemically poisoned foods.

Thoushaltnot

Right - health food stores don't quite have the turnover as regular shops, so they have to get their overheads back on the lesser amount of sales that they have. And yes, small stores are hammered with extortionate rates. This is Ireland after all but I'll leave the political ranting for another occasion. That said, I could out one in Dublin city centre as a total rip off, for anyone who doesn't know better. (Hint: it sells Kombucha for €8.40 a bottle - I wait till it sells for half price in the main stores and so, regularly get it for €1.50)

Secondly - I've started a Veggie/Organic/Health food bargains thread. It's a bit neglected as I don't have as much time as I used to but other people occasionally post their bargain finds there too. I dont like being ripped off as a veggie, so I try to direct peeps to where the bargains are. Might even help to drive those prices down.

It's possible to make your own tofu - cheaply even. Google "make your own tofu". Simples.
You can get specialist machines for making "milks" - under €150 bucks. I'm not vegan so I don't know when you make your money back on that but considering the limited range of milks and the price of the more exotic ones (nearly 6 bucks for the quinoa milk, fiver ish for the Hemp milk) in this country, it's worth a look. (It seems that you make the "milk" first and process that to make the tofu). But, bottom line, you don't need fancy equipment.

Also, the more processed a food is, the more "value" is added to it, ie. the more expensive it is relative to the cost of producing the raw ingredients. So buy fresh and raw, as much as possible, and do your health as well as your pocket a favour.

I'd try to throw the health foods stores a bit of business - we all treat ourselves to summat from time to time and if it wasn't for them, we'd have a very limited range of exotic food to experiment with, cruelty free veggie cosmetics, non-pharma healthy ..erm...alleged... curatives, etc.

My 2 cents.

Vegan Wannabe

I don't eat tofu or know how much it usually costs. But it can't be anymore than meat can it?

I see my health shop purchases (fake meats etc) as a treat- it's all too easy to end up buying everything there.( If you can afford it- great!) Most of my food money goes on fresh fruit and veg.

flikflak

The one example you have given as being expensive is totally not expensive if you hunt out your local Asian store.

A block of 4 large cubes of tofu is about €1.80. This is adaquate for 4 meals. Not expensive at all.

Also as referred to above there is no such thing as a semi-vegetarian. You either are or are not.

Dried beans and pulses are very cheap and if you plan for the week ahead you can live very cheaply.

Fake meats and specialist products are a bit more expenisve but I only buy these once in a while.

Tesco have now started to expand their free from selection and I picked up some Mayola in there the other day for a reasonable price. Also they have the dairy free buttons at 49c whereas H+B have them at 99c!!!

sweet-rasmus

flikflak wrote: »

Also they have the dairy free buttons at 49c whereas H+B have them at 99c!!!

I'm a bit shocked at that difference! Good to know

surime

Semi-Vegetarians aka FlexitariansSemi-vegetarians limit their intake of either certain types of meat or the amount of meat. For example, they might eat no red or white meat (beef, pork, venison, etc), but eat fowl and fish. Or they might only eat meat once or twice a week. Someone who only eats fish can also be called a pescatarian. (Purists would say that semi-vegetarians are not vegetarians at all, but I have included them in order to show the complete hierarchy.)Semi-Vegetarians aka Flexitarians Semi-vegetarians limit their intake of either certain types of meat or the amount of meat. For example, they might eat no red or white meat (beef, pork, venison, etc), but eat fowl and fish. Or they might only eat meat once or twice a week. Someone who only eats fish can also be called a pescatarian. (Purists would say that semi-vegetarians are not vegetarians at all, but I have included them in order to show the complete hierarchy.)

-thats from :

http://www.theveggietable.com/articles/whatisavegetarian.html

-and say what you want, but there is something between eating sousages, bacon and and eating only fish and very rarely some poultry -so yes I do feel like semi-vegetarian and I am one!!!

ztoical

surime wrote: »

(Purists would say that semi-vegetarians are not vegetarians at all, but I have included them in order to show the complete hierarchy.)

Not wanting to get at you OP but you've quoted it here yourself. You might feel like a "semi-vegetarian" [sorry its a stupid term and I really dislike] but you should understand alot of vegetarians dislike the use of the term semi-vegetarian as it just causes confusion and it's how you end up having fish/chicken in so called vegetarian dishes. When people hear someone calling themselves a semi-vegetarian alot of the time they tend to not understand there is a difference between that and a real vegetarian and think all vegetarians eat chicken and fish.

There was a good thread on here recently about people using the term pescetarianism more and how some didn't cus no one knew what it meant but if people don't use the terms people aren't going to learn so maybe it would be better to describe yourself as a flexitarianism rather then using the term semi-vegetarian thus avoiding confusion.

Mentalmiss

That is the most ridiculous term I ever heard. How can you be a simi-vegiterian. Who comes up with these things.

CokaColumbo

Surime, nothing about your diet can be considered to be in any way vegetarian.
'Non-vegetarian' is a made up term for people who refuse to stop eating animals but don't want to feel guilty about it. You might be fooling yourself but you're not fooling anybody else; you are just as much of an omnivore as the next person.
And that's not called absolutist; that's called being consistent on the most basic of levels.

surime wrote: »

I think killing cow is much more horrible then killing chicken. Chickens are not even half that inteligent as cows or pigs are. Of course it doesnt mean they dont have right to live, its just -they are less aware.

There is absolutely no distinction between the killing of a chicken and the killing of a cow. Saying that a chicken isn't 'half that intelligent" as a cow doesn't mean anything. You could just as easily say that a cow is not as intelligent as a pig, so therefore its o.k. to eat beef; and a pig isn't as intelligent as a chimpanzee, so therefore its o.k. to eat pork.

Lastly, if intelligence doesn't actually matter and a chicken still has a right to life why do you continue to eat them?

sweet-rasmus

I think we've had enough of the 'semi-vegetarian' debate. Anyone may continue to reply to the thread about vegetarian food being expensive (or not), but the defination of 'semi-vegetarian' need not be debated here anymore.

dermothickey

Try the asian markets for cheaper tofu Health food stores are pricey as their footfall tends to be less than the big chain stores,