The household budget represents a large part of most families' expenditure but of that the largest part of the bill is for food. Meat almost certainly forms the largest part of that food bill as well, so you would be forgiven for thinking that you could save a lot of money by giving up meat. So, you would think that becoming a vegetarian would save you some money.
However, that is not always the case. You can save money by taking up vegetarianism on a budget, but it does not necessarily work out that in that way without some work on behalf of the vegetarian. The fact is that vegetables, on their own, often appear boring to someone who used to enjoy a good steak or barbecued spare ribs, so food manufacturers have come up with all sorts of accoutrements to liven up vegetarian dishes yet these are not usually all that cheap.
Even some of the fairly regular vegetarian staple foodstuffs like nuts are not necessarily cheap, particularly if you want variety. After all, you can not just eat salted peanuts, not that all that salt would be good for you anyway but when you begin to buy macademia nuts or pistachio nuts for a change, you will find them dearer than meat.
Eating out at vegetarian restaurants is also pretty expensive, because the market is relatively small. There are not many restaurants that refuse to cook meat and the percentage of the populace that is vegetarian is still fairly small. This all leads to higher charges, yet that is if you can find a vegetarian restaurant outside a large city. A sandwich bar is likely the nearest thing you will get to it in most towns but there will be meat on the premises too.
The cost of vegetarian food is exacerbated if you insist on eating organically grown food. Eating just organically grown food can add 30% to your food bill making vegetarianism on a budget impossible. So what can you do to trim down the price of your food bill if you are a vegetarian?
The first thing to do is make a decision if you actually believe the whole organic story. Some do, some do not. Either way, you could try growing the costly vegetables in your garden, your greenhouse or in an allotment. If you can not do that, you could offer to buy these vegetables from friends, if they will grow them for you. Lots of pensioners take up gardening and lots of pensioners would be glad of the extra income.
Another way is to shop at farms or farmers' markets. I know that time is valuable, but if you can just go to such a shop once a week, you could purchase enough food for three or four days without it deteriorating. Purchasing in bulk like that ought to be cheaper too. A sack of potatoes will last a month and it is far cheaper than purchasing a few pounds at a time from the supermarket.
Another way of decreasing costs is not to buy your fresh fruit but vegetables from supermarkets at all, because it simple to become enticed to purchase the latest fad fruit or vegetable from halfway around the world at an inflated cost 'just for a transform'. Stick to locally grown fruit but vegetables that are in season yet you may merely manage vegetarianism on a budget.
However, that is not always the case. You can save money by taking up vegetarianism on a budget, but it does not necessarily work out that in that way without some work on behalf of the vegetarian. The fact is that vegetables, on their own, often appear boring to someone who used to enjoy a good steak or barbecued spare ribs, so food manufacturers have come up with all sorts of accoutrements to liven up vegetarian dishes yet these are not usually all that cheap.
Even some of the fairly regular vegetarian staple foodstuffs like nuts are not necessarily cheap, particularly if you want variety. After all, you can not just eat salted peanuts, not that all that salt would be good for you anyway but when you begin to buy macademia nuts or pistachio nuts for a change, you will find them dearer than meat.
Eating out at vegetarian restaurants is also pretty expensive, because the market is relatively small. There are not many restaurants that refuse to cook meat and the percentage of the populace that is vegetarian is still fairly small. This all leads to higher charges, yet that is if you can find a vegetarian restaurant outside a large city. A sandwich bar is likely the nearest thing you will get to it in most towns but there will be meat on the premises too.
The cost of vegetarian food is exacerbated if you insist on eating organically grown food. Eating just organically grown food can add 30% to your food bill making vegetarianism on a budget impossible. So what can you do to trim down the price of your food bill if you are a vegetarian?
The first thing to do is make a decision if you actually believe the whole organic story. Some do, some do not. Either way, you could try growing the costly vegetables in your garden, your greenhouse or in an allotment. If you can not do that, you could offer to buy these vegetables from friends, if they will grow them for you. Lots of pensioners take up gardening and lots of pensioners would be glad of the extra income.
Another way is to shop at farms or farmers' markets. I know that time is valuable, but if you can just go to such a shop once a week, you could purchase enough food for three or four days without it deteriorating. Purchasing in bulk like that ought to be cheaper too. A sack of potatoes will last a month and it is far cheaper than purchasing a few pounds at a time from the supermarket.
Another way of decreasing costs is not to buy your fresh fruit but vegetables from supermarkets at all, because it simple to become enticed to purchase the latest fad fruit or vegetable from halfway around the world at an inflated cost 'just for a transform'. Stick to locally grown fruit but vegetables that are in season yet you may merely manage vegetarianism on a budget.
About the Author:
Owen Jones, the author of this article, writes on a number of topics, and is now concerned with low carb vegetarian recipes. If you want to know more, please go to our site at http://vegetariancasserolerecipes.com