"Nothing will benefit human health and increase chances for survival of life on earth as much as the evolution to a vegetarian diet"
Albert Einstein


Thursday 27 September 2012

Counting the costs


Cost comparison for a vegan grocery shop over a regular ‘normal’ grocery shop

One of the many deterants being used to dissuade people from trying veganism is the costs associated with the ingredients required to achieve proper nutrition from a plant based diet.

Cost comparison for a vegan grocery shop over a regular ‘normal’grocery shop

One of the many deterrents being used to dissuade people from trying veganism is the costs associated with the ingredients required to achieve proper nutrition from a plant based diet. I was genuinely under the impression that it was going to cost a lot more to sustain myself on a vegan diet, simply because the cheap mass produced convenience foods are geared toward the masses. I have been pleasantly supprised many of the foods bought and enjoyed will be foods that will continually be in my trolley at the supermarket and are more than just food they are health food.

I looked at our weekly food bill and compared a few core ingredients

These were a selection of basic everyday items and to achieve a fair comparison they were all purchased from the same local supermarket and a handful of ingredients were bought from the local health food shop where necessary.

STANDARD DIET
VEGAN DIET
1 litre standardised milk
$1.79
1 litre basic UHT soy milk
$3.49
500gm Hubbards yogurt muesli
        $6.12
500gm Healtheries cranberry Muesli
$5.40
Yukult drinking yoghurt- 4x 65ml
$7.10
Blackcurrent superfood drink 500ml conc
$4.95
Salmon cold smoked 200gm omega3
$9.90
Flax seed oil 200ml bottle
omega 3
$11.80
Butter 500gm
$4.80
Oliviano spread
$3.60
Sausage roll fzn 750gm
$6.00
Premade store sushi roll
$5.19
Cocktail savaloys 500gm
$5.64
Mix of seedless grapes 500gm
$4.95
 
$41.35
 
$39.38

Its hard to comment if you would save money from eating a vegan diet or not. I personally think you wouldn’t, the reason purely being there are so many yummy nutritionally beneficial products available out there.

I haven’t found myself spending any more time on making my meals but I have spent more time thinking about them, for example beans may need to be soaked, nutrition needs to be high and it has to be tasty!

If I look over a day and compare I’d start with a  breakfast of eggs on toast now I will have muesli with fruit and throw a handful of berries at it both meals achieve the same result in that they fill your stomarch one is certainly more beneficial for your health. Looking at the snacks I eat, fruit and nuts have replaced scones, cakes  or biscuits. Lunches haven’t really altered very much ill usually have a basic sandwich with some decent grain bread and ill pass up the mayo and bacon for some mushrooms and chutney. For dinner I have to actually think a little bit because my wife is happily carnivorous J and at the slightest hint of my weakness or inability to come up with something she will jump at the diet launcing a full scale attack,  although she does mean well, and has my best interest at heart.  She is actually the perfect guinea pig for trying out new dishes. I can remember I tried a few vegan curries out before trying vegan and if they were tasty enough with good condiments and breads she wouldn’t notice the absence of meat, but you do have to get creative.

In conclusion for the costs both financial and time wise id have to say in the short term a vegan diet does stack up well on both fronts, this is however in the short term, But what I know is that eating a vegan diet by default makes you more aware of what you are putting into your body, where it gets its nutrition from and where it simply does not

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