19, May 2024
Whole food plant based. Is it really more expensive???
Whenever I tell someone that I eat a wholefood plant based diet I get asked the same few questions;
“What, you only eat plants?”, with a puzzled look on their face.
“What do you eat?” To which I tend to throw the question back at them with “what do you eat?” Once they tell me I will normally say I eat the same as you but I make it plant based.
The way the conversation then tends to go completely baffles me, because it is at this point I get told “well I could never eat like that it’s too expensive”.
Now it has been many, many years since I ate either meat or fish and I don’t want to come over as being out of touch, especially with the current cost of living crisis we seem to be in, but I really don’t understand how people consider this is more expensive than meat and fish! Yes I agree there are a lot of plant based meats on the market that can be pricey, as well as the convenience foods out there on the supermarket shelves all bidding to make us part with our hard earned penny pounds, but both meat and fish are also expensive. Convenience costs, whether plant based or meat.
Take one of the UK’s favourite teatime meals, Bolognese, for example, both the meat version and the plant based version use the following ingredients:
Onion
Garlic
Mushrooms
Tinned tomatoes
Italian herbs
Some stock either vegetable or meat based.
Then you are able to make your protein choice, a more basic mince or a premium minced steak, (I looked the cost of this up in my local supermarket this week), a 20% fat mince beef starts at £2.49 for 500gms and £3.49 for the 5% minced steak 500gms. A branded bag of Plant mince was priced at £3:30 for 500gms, the equivalent supermarket Plant mince was priced at £1.69 for just slightly less at 454gms. The meat mince will lose weight when cooking due to fat and water in it, unlike its plant based counterpart meaning weight wise once cooked you get less meat for your money.
I also looked at sausages; another family favourite. There are lots of brands and styles of sausage on the market and because I wanted a like for like comparison I looked at the Richmond brand both the meat and Plant version, they both come in packs of 8, the meat version was priced at £2.50 and the Plant sausages were £2.40.
There are many other low cost alternatives to meat that you could use as a substitute for meat in your dishes.
Green Lentils make a great mince substitute; they hold their shape and are quite mincey in texture, and therefore good for Bolognese, Shepard’s pie and any other mince dishes. Mixed beans or kidney Beans with your favorite vegetables make a good Chilli. I always start my dishes with a basic mix of chopped Onion, Carrot and Celery and then add in whatever I have in the fridge.
Red Lentils or Yellow Split Peas make a wonderful Dhal and Chick Peas with some Potato and Spinach make the best comfort food curry.
For convenience I always tend to use tinned beans and chick peas but buy my lentils dried, although I always have tinned Green lentils in the Cupboard as well.
There’s such a lot of choice, if you don’t like one type of bean choose a different one, I like them all. Price wise a tin of Beans/Lentils will start around 49p up to £1.60 for a tin of organic branded beans. This week I bought a 2kg bag of red lentils for £2.75 that will last me at least a month if not longer.
As for Vegetables if you’re worried about them going off before they’re used up look at frozen they’re just as healthy and often cheaper. Don’t forget one of Britain’s all time favourite snacks whatever the time of day is baked beans on toast. Definitely plant based, healthy and Cheap!
So next time you think you can’t afford to eat this way you could consider trying some of the above swaps instead of your usual meat product. You might be surprised.
I’ve added a couple of links to some budget friendly recipe sites. I hope you enjoy trying some of them out.
Sharon
The lady Eats Plants
https://viva.org.uk/lifestyle/going-vegan/vegan-on-a-budget/
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- By theladyeatsplants