How I cut my food expenses by 50%

LIB3RTY

It was easy.

I became a Vegetarian, bought my food in bulk and cut my takeaway meals down to just 1 per month (normally as a treat on payday). I only go out to restaraunts for special occassions now too.

Now I have lots more available cash and I feel a lot healthier actually.

spidersandsprinkles

Did you become vegetarian to save money or as a lifestyle choice? What do you now eat where before you would have had meat?
I've considered having veggie days to save but don't really want to be a carb-oholic or spend a fortune on tons of veg that will inevitably end up getting wasted (as there's only 2 of us and we never manage to get through it all).

BitterAndTwisted

Spending less money on food is a lfestyle choice. How we choose to achieve it is up to the individual and their individual budgets and priorities.

Making good vegetarian meals is just the same as planning a meat-eater's menu: you buy fresh produce that you have a firm plan to cook, store what you don't use immediately properly and do your best to use up everything you have that's perishable before it goes to waste. You never know, the freezer could become the veggie's best friend just like it can be the carnivore's.

For really superb meal ideas I cannot recommend Rose Elliott's recipe books enough. A lot of her recipes suggest alternatives or slightly different ways to cook the same basic ingredients, and few of them are carb-heavy unless those are what you want. If you can get hold of her "Complete Vegetarian Cookbook", maybe second-hand on Amazon, you may never walk past and not buy celeriac in the supermarket ever again.

maman

spidersandsprinkles wrote: »

Did you become vegetarian to save money or as a lifestyle choice? What do you now eat where before you would have had meat?
I've considered having veggie days to save but don't really want to be a carb-oholic or spend a fortune on tons of veg that will inevitably end up getting wasted (as there's only 2 of us and we never manage to get through it all).

Don't say that on here!!! ;)

You need to do a meal plan and just buy what you need. DH and I don't have vegetarian meals as such but many of our meals are very light on meat and heavy on healthy veg. Examples would be a stir-fry with a matchbox sized piece of beef or a small chicken breast between us (slice it thinly when almost frozen) or a chicken casserole made with a couple of chicken thighs each or a sausage casserole with perhaps 3 sausages (cut into chunks) between us.

LIB3RTY

spidersandsprinkles wrote: »

Did you become vegetarian to save money or as a lifestyle choice? What do you now eat where before you would have had meat?
I've considered having veggie days to save but don't really want to be a carb-oholic or spend a fortune on tons of veg that will inevitably end up getting wasted (as there's only 2 of us and we never manage to get through it all).

I did it for both reasons. Instead of eating meat I now have cheaper forms of protein, mainly beans. People assume a Vegetarian diet is boring and plain but if you take the time to search the internet you'll find loads of variations.

A tip for any left over Veg - Throw it all in a blender and make a soup out of it. I do this and stick it in a flask to take to work or the gym. I find that if at first it doesn't taste too good or lacks flavour, drop a little bit of garlic or some peppers in to give it some "oomph".

Another way to keep food is to "can it". Search for "Food Canning" and you'll find plenty of survivalist websites with detailed explanations and instructions on how to do it. I do it with rice, beans and cereals. It extends the shelf life massively.

Rummer

What kind of recipes have you been using?

meg72

LIB3RTY wrote: »

I did it for both reasons. Instead of eating meat I now have cheaper forms of protein, mainly beans. People assume a Vegetarian diet is boring and plain but if you take the time to search the internet you'll find loads of variations.

A tip for any left over Veg - Throw it all in a blender and make a soup out of it. I do this and stick it in a flask to take to work or the gym. I find that if at first it doesn't taste too good or lacks flavour, drop a little bit of garlic or some peppers in to give it some "oomph".

Another way to keep food is to "can it". Search for "Food Canning" and you'll find plenty of survivalist websites with detailed explanations and instructions on how to do it. I do it with rice, beans and cereals. It extends the shelf life massively.

I really dont think its a good idea to can rice, all of the advice is against it, it is potentially deadly. also how can this be cheaper? , rice, properly stored. keeps for years

BitterAndTwisted

I wouldn't be bothering to can rice, beans or cereals. They're all perfectly easy to store in their dried state and keep them in a good an edible condition for yonks and yonks.

Now, canning home-grown gluts of veg: that could be worth doing if you can't freeze.

I don't need to search the internet for recipes: I have Rose Elliott to hand. I don't think I'll ever need anything else

oldtractor

For canning veg you need a special sort of pressure cooker as veg isnt acidic enough to kill the botulism organism during home canning. Canning [bottling] fruit is usually ok as fruit is more acidic. Theres loads of info on the web about it all.

Tina20

I have difficulty buying fruit and veg, I find it soooooo expensive round here! I combat this by going to the local 24hr superstore and grabbing all the 5p bargains, cooking them up the next day and freezing little homemade ready meals

Oh, I managed to get 4 boxes of strawberries at 40p each the other day They even kept for a couple of days! when they became too soft I cooked and pureed them for freezing, will give to my baby when she is older

*miaomiao*

By coincidence with this post, it's now 12 months since I became a vegan for health reasons. My partner eats almost all the same meals as I do. We have noticed that our bills for food cost less than when we ate meat and dairy, and we have noticed that we eat a much better range of food. We even think our cooking and imaginative cooking skills have improved, despite us being foodies before!

It might not work for everyone, but we are happy and saving money!