Vegan on a Budget

So you want to eat a vegan diet, but you don’t want your grocery bills to cost an arm and a leg. What’s a vegan to do? I’ve got some sure fire tips to help you keep your budget as trim as your tiny vegan waist.

1. Go easy on the processed foods. Processed foods cost more. Period. So strategically plan your purchases of meat replacements (Ie. Fake meat), soy/nut milk, vegan cheese, vegan butter etc.

Instead, get your protein from bulk beans, lentils, texturized vegetable protein or protein rich grains like kamut or quinoa.

2. Pay attention to the cost per gram. Most stores will display the cost per unit of measurement in the bottom portion of the price tag. Usually it’s the cost per 100 grams, but sometimes it’s per lb., per bottle, per Kg etc. Use this price to compare between products and find the cheapest product.

3. Find an ugly, local, independent store. Most of the tiny, independent produce stores boast fresher goods at prices far lower than Whole Foods, Choices, Safeway and even Superstore. In my neck of the woods they tend to be asian or Italian owned and sometimes they only take cash. But the produce is top notch and most have an organic section.

You can also find cheaper Italian deli items (pasta, artichokes, olive oil, artisan bread, sundried tomatoes, canned beans, spices) at independent delis.

Remember, the uglier the store, the cheaper the food, because they aren’t jacking up the prices to pay for the giant neon storefront, elaborate product displays etc. Also, smaller stores tend to specialize in just one thing (Ie. produce, deli, bread) and go through a higher volume of goods, so they get volume discounts from their suppliers.

4. Put in some legwork! You can either put in some time and effort to source where you are going to buy your different grocery items from or you can be lazy, shop at one store and pay more money.

As I reside out in the suburbs, I’ve found that this best represents my thrifty shopping behaviour:

Store	Items	Frequency
Superstore	Soy/nut milk, produce, bread, bulk items, canned legumes, Yves tofu products, tofu, agave, organic maple syrup, olive oil	Weekly
Independent local produce store	Produce	Whenever Superstore’s produce looks sickly or unfresh
Independent local Italian deli	Artisan bread, sundried tomatoes, artichokes, olives, olive oil, spices	Once a month or whenever I’m low on pantry items

Whole Foods/Choices	Daiya Vegan Cheese, Earth Balance	Once a month, very infrequently
T and T Supermarket	Miso paste, tofu, produce	Once a month, very infrequently