The household budget represents a large part of most families' expenditure and of that the largest part of the bill is for food. Meat probably forms the largest part of that food bill too, so you would become forgiven for thinking that you could save a great deal of money by giving up meat. So, you would think that becoming a vegetarian would save you some money.
However, that is not always a fact. You can save money by taking up vegetarianism on a budget, and it does not necessarily effort out that fashion without some work on behalf of the vegetarian. The fact is that vegetables, on their own, frequently seem boring to someone who used to enjoy a decent steak or barbecued spare ribs, so food manufacturers have come up with all manner of accoutrements to liven up vegetarian dishes and these are not normally all that cheap.
Even some of the quite standard vegetarian staple foodstuffs like nuts are not necessarily cheap, particularly if you would like variety. After all, you can not just eat salted peanuts, not that all that salt would get good for you anyway and whilst you start to buy macademia nuts or pistachio nuts for a modify, you will find them dearer than meat.
Eating out at vegetarian restaurants is also relatively expensive, because the market is relatively small. There are not many restaurants that refuse to cook meat yet the percentage of the population that is vegetarian is still fairly small. This all leads to higher charges, but that is if you can find a vegetarian restaurant outside a large city. A sandwich bar is around the nearest you will get to it in most towns yet there will get meat on the premises as well.
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 decide if you actually have faith in the whole organic story. Some do, some do not. Either fashion, you could endeavor increasing the expensive vegetables in your garden, your greenhouse or in an allotment. If you can not do that, you could offer to purchase these vegetables from friends, if they will grow them for you. Numerous pensioners take up gardening yet numerous pensioners would get happy of the extra earnings.
Another method is to shop at farms or farmers' markets. I know that time is valuable, yet if you can only go to such a shop once a week, you could purchase enough food for three or four days without it going off. Buying in bulk like that ought to be cheaper too. A sack of potatoes will last a month and it is far cheaper than buying a couple of pounds at a time from the supermarket.
Another manner of decreasing costs is not to purchase your fresh fruit and vegetables from supermarkets at all, because it easy to become enticed to buy the latest fad fruit or vegetable from halfway around the world at an inflated price 'merely for a transform'. Stick to locally grown fruit but vegetables that are in season and you may only manage vegetarianism on a budget.
However, that is not always a fact. You can save money by taking up vegetarianism on a budget, and it does not necessarily effort out that fashion without some work on behalf of the vegetarian. The fact is that vegetables, on their own, frequently seem boring to someone who used to enjoy a decent steak or barbecued spare ribs, so food manufacturers have come up with all manner of accoutrements to liven up vegetarian dishes and these are not normally all that cheap.
Even some of the quite standard vegetarian staple foodstuffs like nuts are not necessarily cheap, particularly if you would like variety. After all, you can not just eat salted peanuts, not that all that salt would get good for you anyway and whilst you start to buy macademia nuts or pistachio nuts for a modify, you will find them dearer than meat.
Eating out at vegetarian restaurants is also relatively expensive, because the market is relatively small. There are not many restaurants that refuse to cook meat yet the percentage of the population that is vegetarian is still fairly small. This all leads to higher charges, but that is if you can find a vegetarian restaurant outside a large city. A sandwich bar is around the nearest you will get to it in most towns yet there will get meat on the premises as well.
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 decide if you actually have faith in the whole organic story. Some do, some do not. Either fashion, you could endeavor increasing the expensive vegetables in your garden, your greenhouse or in an allotment. If you can not do that, you could offer to purchase these vegetables from friends, if they will grow them for you. Numerous pensioners take up gardening yet numerous pensioners would get happy of the extra earnings.
Another method is to shop at farms or farmers' markets. I know that time is valuable, yet if you can only go to such a shop once a week, you could purchase enough food for three or four days without it going off. Buying in bulk like that ought to be cheaper too. A sack of potatoes will last a month and it is far cheaper than buying a couple of pounds at a time from the supermarket.
Another manner of decreasing costs is not to purchase your fresh fruit and vegetables from supermarkets at all, because it easy to become enticed to buy the latest fad fruit or vegetable from halfway around the world at an inflated price 'merely for a transform'. Stick to locally grown fruit but vegetables that are in season and you may only manage vegetarianism on a budget.
About the Author:
Owen Jones, the author of this article, writes on several topics, and is now involved with low carb vegetarian recipes. If you would like to know more, please visit our website at http://vegetariancasserolerecipes.com