vegan on a budget?

afterglow · 29-10-2014 6:25pm #1

Hi all

Just wondered how easy it is to be vegan on a budget? I presume one would have to stay away from faux meets and such? Is milk, cheese etc expensive, and what about organic veggies?
Which type of tofu is good for putting in things curry etc, and is this relatively inexpensive to buy? Also, does everything have to be bought at health food stores, (obviously not veggies) but the specialty stuff, like milk etc, or can anything be bought at supermarkets?
Thanks in advance

LETS GET NAKED · 29-10-2014 8:01pm

It can be super cheap, I get by fine on a pretty measly student budget. I don't eat the fake meats and not much tofu either so can't help you there. But fruit and veg is good value in lidl and they often have a lot of veg organic. You can spend a fortune on fake meats, milks and cheeses but, you don't need to buy that stuff.

Eating vegan is just like eating a normal diet except people tend to eat a little more fruit and veg and replace meat with extra potatoes, sweet potato, rice, beans, legumes etc.

I get through about 1ltr of almond milk a week and it's €1.50, but if you're buying loads you can get soy milks for like 85c in supermarkets I think. Alpro yogurts are similar price to standard brand natural yogurts I think.

I'd say the biggest mistake people make when they go vegan is not getting enough calories, veg and most fruits are very low calorically, so don't try and live off just veg and salads, especially initially. 500 calories from rice, potatoes or bananas costs very little, but 500 calories from fresh raspberries will ruin you. I often see people spend a fortune, or feel hungry all the time. That and people can't afford because they think they have to eat kale chips and sometimes expensive processed vegan foods etc.

There's loads of cookbooks aimed at young people about going vegan which are often budget focused. I've heard good things about vegan on $4 a day, and I recommend vegan for life by Jack Norris to everybody when they first go vegan (although, take it with a pinch of salt it's not bible, he's big into calcium and zinc supplements, which I don't think are necessary for most). And I'm sure there's loads of blogs about budget vegan. Loads of other books as well worth reading eventually too, starch solution by john mcdougall etc.

afterglow · 30-10-2014 9:37pm

Thanks for your reply.

Has anyone experienced alpro original soy milk? Bought some just tonight in my local shop, after reading it was non GMO etc.
I was in a health food shop today and bought some vitamins but didn't want to buy milk as it's quite expensive there. If I like the alpro i'll get it in the supermarket where i'm sure it would be cheaper than my local shop.
Any help appreciated thanks

Applause · 30-10-2014 9:41pm

afterglow wrote: »

Thanks for your reply.

Has anyone experienced alpro original soy milk? Bought some just tonight in my local shop, after reading it was non GMO etc.
I was in a health food shop today and bought some vitamins but didn't want to buy milk as it's quite expensive there. If I like the alpro i'll get it in the supermarket where i'm sure it would be cheaper than my local shop.
Any help appreciated thanks

I'm not a vegan but I'm detoxing myself from dairy.
There is an offer in Tesco at the moment where you can get two cartons of replacement milk for €3, Soya, Almond, Almond Unsweetened and Coconut. I usually get one Almon Unsweetened and one Coconut milk, I've been doing that for the last two weeks anyway, watch out for offers like that, it will help out a lot to shop around a bit.

Tar.Aldarion · 31-10-2014 10:36am

Yeah i've made a killing on that, bought about 10 so far haha.
It really is quite cheap as vegetables are incredibly cheap. Then for protein you can get the likes of nuts and so on. Tofu is 2.xx for a kg in asian supermarkets.
Fake cheese and butter aren't that dear. I wouldn't buy cheese often (one I get is about 3 euro), buy butter every week for 1.86.

afterglow · 31-10-2014 10:53am

Tar.Aldarion wrote: »

Yeah i've made a killing on that, bought about 10 so far haha.
It really is quite cheap as vegetables are incredibly cheap. Then for protein you can get the likes of nuts and so on. Tofu is 2.xx for a kg in asian supermarkets.
Fake cheese and butter aren't that dear. I wouldn't buy cheese often (one I get is about 3 euro), buy butter every week for 1.86.

Hi. Thanks for replying. Which butter do you use?

Tar.Aldarion · 31-10-2014 11:25am

afterglow · 31-10-2014 11:43am

Tar.Aldarion wrote: »

Hi

Sorry could you write it down? I can't see the picture.
thanks

LETS GET NAKED · 31-10-2014 11:46am

It's called pure sunflower and says dairy free on the front of it. If you google pure dairy free you'll find their site, can't link as I'm a new reg.

afterglow · 31-10-2014 11:51am

LETS GET NAKED wrote: »

It's called pure sunflower and says dairy free on the front of it. If you google pure dairy free you'll find their site, can't link as I'm a new reg.

Hi

Thanks so much for that. i was kind of hoping it was one of those butters. Are they made by the same people who make kerry made? It tastes good yeah? I will get some next time i do a texco online shop

Thanks again

LETS GET NAKED · 31-10-2014 11:54am

Never tried it myself! I have a housemate who uses the soya one and she seems to like it though.

henryporter · 31-10-2014 12:06pm

LETS GET NAKED wrote: »

Never tried it myself! I have a housemate who uses the soya one and she seems to like it though.

The sunflower one tastes a lot nicer and it's much better for baking with IMO

Tar.Aldarion · 31-10-2014 5:53pm

Yeah I find it way nicer even though some other mad yokes disagree. You can pick it up in any tesco etc so you'll get to try it out pretty easily.

LETS GET NAKED · 31-10-2014 6:28pm

Yeah saw it in tesco earlier, they had sunflower and soya. Sunflower was €1.86 soya was like €1.50. I'd never even seen it before, glad that stuff is available in places like tesco.

Tar.Aldarion · 31-10-2014 6:49pm

LETS GET NAKED wrote: »

Yeah saw it in tesco earlier, they had sunflower and soya. Sunflower was €1.86 soya was like €1.50. I'd never even seen it before, glad that stuff is available in places like tesco.

Tar.Aldarion wrote: »

Yeah i've made a killing on that, bought about 10 so far haha.
It really is quite cheap as vegetables are incredibly cheap. Then for protein you can get the likes of nuts and so on. Tofu is 2.xx for a kg in asian supermarkets.
Fake cheese and butter aren't that dear. I wouldn't buy cheese often (one I get is about 3 euro), buy butter every week for 1.86.

I know the price of everything in Tesco, love shopping ;D

vegan on a budget?

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