If I was really smart I'd have figured out how to attach the 'cheap living' tag to this thread! Maybe the person who started the thread has to do it?
I'm newly vegan and quite broke actually. I eat a lot of beans (if you use dried they are super cheap), rice, barley, potato's, bread, fruit and veggies (fresh, frozen or canned I don't care). My only treat is I buy one thing of soy ice cream a week and I've switched to soy milk (it's pricey but I only use it for cooking or to give to my kids).
Cheers for that Harpy, lots of good ideas on the cheap living threads...mainly about dried beans lol.
Omg karenann - best vegan treat (only whn you're feeling indulgent and rich) is Green and Black's Maya Gold dark chocolate - organic, fairtrade, vegan and dam fine in general.
I think it is quite cheap as long as you buy no ready made stuff because they seem to be the thing that make my food bill expensive!!
"It's not that people suddenly start breeding like rabbits; it's just that people stopped dropping like flies" - population explosion
Um Australia has a few options in mock meat some places will of course have more or less, at our local coles we have a few different types of mock sausages and stuff like that they taste OK but you may just have to look in your local supermarket its usually in the cold section with the tofu, but I'm not sure about tazzie sorry.
but nothing has to be expensive we don't have alot to spend on food, so we just buy alot of veggies, tofu and rice and basic food. you don't really need to buy mock stuff unless you want to.
anything with rice is always going to be filling try making a casserole that way if you have left overs you can freeze it for another nights dinner so that one or two nights you don't have to think about.
good luck with it all.
Vegan blog- http://sarah-moo.blogspot.com
Mummy blog- http://stayingsarah.wordpress.com/
I feel the same way. I know what I eat isn't very healthy, but refuse to admit it. I'll find one thing I like and eat it like crasy. A lot of refined carbs. I grew up on white bread and hated the idea of anything else.
But after sticking with the whole wheat bread and pasta, it's really helped. More fiber and nutrients. Just little switches like that can add up.
A thing that has helped me is that I will work on it all week, and note cravings I have. And one day a week I have set aside that I allow myself to indulge a bit, assuming I still crave it. That way, even if I want a lot of stuff, I can't possibly eat it all because I'll be too full.
And I know it's been said, but beans. I love beans. I make myself chilli, with just kidney beans and hot sauce. Plus the hot sauce helps speed up your metabolism, or so I'm told.
Good luck.
Soup. Soup. Soup.
I mean, like SERIOUSLY. Soup. You only need vegetable broth, vegetables, a little olive oil, and spices.
Put it in a pot. Cook. Instant soup. Really. And, like, if you want to, add some vegan 'beef' crumblies (Morningstar's 'Meal Starters' is vegan), and some cornstarch, bam, stew!
Also, beans. Beans on toast is like, awesome. +1 for fruit smoothies too. A little soy or rice milk, fruit, ice, toss em in a blender and you've got awesome. Mint leaves only make them awesomer.
And, re: excersise, let me tell you this story:
There was once a woman who weighed like 450 pounds. Like, so much people thought she could never lose the weight. And she could only take ten steps before she got tired and had to sit down.
So she took ten steps, and she sat down. She'd get up and take another ten steps, and sit down. Eventually, she could take twenty steps before she had to rest. Then, after a while she could take fifty steps. A hundred steps. Two hundred steps.
And she did this for about five years, and she lost the weight.
No matter how little you can do, it's better than nothing. If you can just hobble around the house for ten minutes, then do it.
Anyway, hope that helped, and good luck!
(Also, Harpy - the carrot-turns-you-orange thing is only true if you drink PURE carrot juice and eat LOTS of raw, fresh carrots, for a while, like 3-4 weeks. I mean, if carrots and carrot juice were 70% of your diet.)
I just got thru reading the book Skinny Bitch (which got me to go vegan btw). I'm following their plan and not only have I lost a few pounds in a 2 weeks but I also lost 2 inches off my belly too. Yeah!!
Here are my rules: Nothing processed, no sugar, no white flour, no caffeine, no alcohol, etc.
I eat fruit, TONS of veggies, brown rice, whole wheat products (but I limit these to no more than 3 servings a day), beans, etc. I get one treat per day and it's 1/2 cup of soy ice cream. I make up brown rice ahead of time and I get veggies either already cup up or I have those ones you just microwave. I eat a ton of food. Bean burrito's are filling if you put lots of lettuce, tomato, etc. on them. Baked potato's are great too. And beans, oh beans really do the trick along with veggies. They are full of fiber and low in calories. I love hummus for dipping my carrot sticks in. Yum!
Have you considered going Weight Watchers or another diet plan with similar guidelines but that you can still eat vegan on?
Good luck love, I know how hard it can be esp when you are injured - I have had many problems with my knee and had been on crutches for 9months at one point. I also put on a ton of weight and am working on getting it off at the mo. If you want a diet buddy . . . ames87@yahoo.com
This has all been super helpful to me. I have been having trouble with weight as well. You'd think you wouldn't when you're a vegan but I guess not! Plus I got on B.C. awhile ago and that just doesn't help.
Karenann- I was thinking about reading Skinny Bitch, I assume it'd be a handy read?
i've been reading this thread for ways to spend less money on shopping (i usually manage to spend about £30 a week because i like to buy things like fake meats and soya products). alot of people recommended buying dried beans, but i've heard that if not cooked properly they can be poisonous (especially referring to kidney beans). how do you cook beans properly?
wikipedia says:
Before they are eaten, the raw bean seeds should be soaked in water several hours, boiled for at least ten minutes in new fresh water to degrade a toxic compound - the lectin phytohaemagglutinin - found in the bean which would otherwise cause severe gastric upset. This compound is present in many varieties (and in some other species of bean), but is especially concentrated in red kidney beans and white kidney beans (Cannellini beans). Although in the case of dry beans the ten minutes required to degrade the toxin is much shorter than the hours required to fully cook the beans themselves, outbreaks of poisoning have been associated with the use of slow cookers whose low cooking temperatures may be unable to degrade the toxin. Sprouts of pulses high in haemaglutins should not be eaten. Kidney beans, especially, should not be sprouted
Two things are infinite: the universe and human stupidity; and I'm not sure about the universe-Albert Einstein
Basically you just need to cook them long enough. Some beans need to be pre-soaked. Cooking time varies depending on what kind of bean you are cooking - you'll often find cooking/soaking instructions on the package (or try Google).
Re. the price of healthy, vegan food: Here's an article I just found (from a non-vegan site) listing "The 20 Healthiest Foods for Under $1". 17 out of the 20 products on the list are vegan, and while the article isn't really scientific (and I don't agree with everything she writes), it somehow gives a hint about at least 15 types of food that's healthy, vegan and inexpensive.
What Wikipedia says is what I've always heard: it's a good idea when using dried beans to make sure you start the cooking process by boiling them fast, i.e. a rolling boil, for 10 minutes to deal with any toxins. This mainly applies to kidney beans but I'd do it anyway to be on the safe side.
ETA some more advice here: http://www.vegsoc.org/info/pulses.html
maybe i'll just stick to canned, lol. but thanks for the advice, i'll bear it in mind should i ever decide to be brave and cook my own beans
I must admit I usually do use canned ones (apart from my mung bean sprouts) but IIRC it's not that much trouble to use dried ones, provided you plan ahead of course!
I think the recommended thing is to do a load at one go and then freeze some although I don't know how well this works out from the cost/environment point of view because of the electricity you use to keep them frozen, sigh.
but the freezer would be plugged in either way. does it make a difference to have stuff in it?
I make beans every night for my dogs. Most are done in an hour or less.
Each snowflake in an avalanche pleads not guilty.
Cooking dried beans is easy and I've never been poisoned by any of them! Plus, they taste much better than canned and I don't use any salt when I cook them. Right now I've got several gallon-size bags of cooked beans in the freezer, including kidney, navy, and black. I use the soaking/cooking directions on the back of the bag, although I've occasionally used my crockpot. When they've cooled off, I initially put them on a cookie sheet and then into the freezer so when I put them into the bag they aren't frozen into a clump.
Actually this says a full freezer uses less energy than a less full one, as long as air can circulate
http://www.tiptheplanet.com/index.ph...d_Freezer_tips
I used to cook beans in a pressure cooker at one point. I think that's probably quite energy-efficient, if a bit scary
For both pressure cookers and crock pots the advice I've read is to boil them hard for ten minutes first because the cooking method doesn't get them hot enough to get rid of the lectins. http://www.professorshouse.com/food-...ney-beans.aspx
ETA ancient report of bean poisoning outbreak http://www.bmj.com/cgi/content/full/...90/1023?ck=nck
If you try to cook dried beans wih salt they won't cook properly, you have to leave the salt out until the end, it stops them absorbing the water.
Same with lentils, chick peas, etc. Pulses in general.
Just cook them without salt and then if you need salt add it when they are cooked, or to the dish you are using them in. For example if you using them in chilli, add the salt to the chilli near the end of the cookihg time.
I haven't got a car and carrying tins of beans from the shops would be too much for me. The dried ones are so much lighter... as well as cheaper and healthier., The only tinned beans I buy are baked beans! Co-op and Heinz.
See my local diary ... http://herbwormwood.blogspot.com/
Here's another calorie-conscious tip to add to our expanding collection :
Everyone knows that water is the best thing for you, but if you are bored of always drinking plain old water, flavour it with some fruit. Add a couple of raspberries or strawberries, or squeeze in some orange juice. This will taste like you're drinking cordial but without all the sugar!
Can I just say this is a very helpful thread and has really inspired me to shed that extra weight!!
This IS a really helpful thread indeed
I need to lose weight too, and overall think it's more lack of exercise than bad food choices but I'm currently really bored and uninspired with what to cook for dinner. Am very hungry after reading this! feel like soup tonight, mentally trying to scan the contents of my kitchen to figure out if this is do-able.
I believe this was pages and pages ago, but I was just thinking about how my dad bought this plastic toothpaste squeezer thing at the supermarket. It goes into your toothpaste tube after you've used some, and it flattens the tube out like a steam roller until the very end of the tube. It's super convenient and you just push the flattener up every time you use the toothpaste.
Either this wallpaper goes, or I do.
Sarah I have one of those too. You can use it for anything in a tube. I find it really useful for those vegan pate spreads (can't remember the name). They're in a metal tube and really hard to get the last bits out.
The only normal people are the ones you don't know very well
maybe you mean the ones of tartex or granovita?
in germany they are not sold in tubes, they are sold in alu packages. much better in my opinion.
http://vegangothfairy.wordpress.com
Yeah I think those are the ones. Never understood why they put it in tubes
The only normal people are the ones you don't know very well
Ok, I'm 25 and going back to college. Because of where my parents live I'm moving into the accomodation. I'm used to being a bit independant and sorting out my own food. The college's restaurant serves food and apparently caters for everyone, but I'm a bit dubious...
Also, the dorms don't have cookers, because apparently there was an accident. There is a microwave, but we're not allowed to bring in any other electrical cooking equipment.
I like to be healthy, and it looks like I'm gonna have to learn some quick raw vegan recipies to keep me going throughout college! Does anyone have any ideas on recipies? And cheap food I can buy in bulk? I was gonna buy a big bag of pasta and rice, but without a cooker...
Thanks!! xx
Good question danaeonyx, I have the same problem! I start university early next year and I have no idea what I'm going to eat throughout the day! And I'm not keen on relying on college restaurants
Although I'm not sure yet on whether I will be living in the accomodation or living at my parents' house. Either way, I won't be at home for the majority of each day...
Hmm. I will try and brainstorm some ideas and get back to you.
P.s. I LOVE your avvi!!!!
in bulk you can always buy any dried fruit for example. but when you´re not allowed to bring any other electrical equipment (i.e. blender!!!!) it might get difficult as you could have blended some dried fruit with cocoa or carob or coconut and had a "raw cake".
potatoes you could also buy in bulk, also apples, carrots... all fresh fruit and vegs that you can store a bit. or rice paper! you can use it ike nori sheets and wrap something with that. it is quick as well.
although preparing food in a microave is not that healthy, unusual times call for unusual methods. you can cook potates or carrots in a microwave.
what about raw sushi? for example: http://www.goneraw.com/recipes/17-Vegetable-Nori-Rolls. http://vegweb.com/index.php?topic=8515.0
for raw in general you might get some nice inspiration at goneraw.com or for microwave search for "microwave" at vegweb.com where you might also find something else than raw (http://vegweb.com/index.php?action=search2)
http://vegangothfairy.wordpress.com
hmm, well i don't want to suggest breaking the rules...but at my college at least, tons of people bring electrical equipment even though they're technically not supposed to. my friend brought a rice cooker and used it all the time. i wouldn't suggest bringing elec equipment with you, but see what other people have, and if a ton of people have brought equipment...well...you might considering bending the rules as well.
i do think you can do a few things with the microwave. like someone suggested, you can do potatoes in the microwave. you could also do nachos, using beans, vegan cheese (if you like it), salsa, etc. or maybe tacos or burritos. cous cous is good and really easy to make in the microwave! i can't think of anything else microwaveable at the moment, but i'll post more stuff if i think of any.
Is it not? I think it is... http://www.veganforum.com/forums/showthread.php?t=203
Can you not cook rice or pasta in the microwave? I'm sure you can though I've never tried myself.
"I don't want to live on this planet any more" - Professor Hubert J. Farnsworth
Are you trying to stay raw or not? If you are, it may be a bit harder than eating cooked foods. I'd buy lots of fruit along with tomatoes, avocadoes, lettuce, carrots, trailmix, cereal, etc.
If you're not going to be raw you can pretty much live off soups, salads, pastas, burritos, oatmeals, etc that you can cook in the microwave.
If you're living in the dorms, can you use a student account for the caf? Most schools require the kids in dorms to have a meal plan account. My sisters dorm has vegan items.
“I am not afraid of storms, for I am learning how to sail my ship.” ~ Alcott
I have one of those slider tubes, it doesn't work very well on the metallic type toothpaste tubes. I have a few plastic type tubes now though so I am giving it another go.
it is wrong for a man to eat anything that causes someone else to stumble
I've used them too but I still find a fair bit of product near the top of the plastic tube if I cut it open after the squeezer won't squeeze any more out, for toothpaste about enough for 3 or 4 brushings.
See my local diary ... http://herbwormwood.blogspot.com/
Couscous can be made by pouring boiling water on it and leaving it, so you just need a kettle for that. (I hope your kitchen has one - don't want to imagine large numbers of students deprived of coffee in the mornings!) Rice, in an emergency, can be made the same way, although in a thermos flask rather than a bowl.
I kissed a duck - and I liked it
go to supermarkets 1/2hr before closing, they black marker a lot and you can get really good fresh stuff for 10p each etc (date may be that day or the next for sell by) ....waitrose are really good at mark downs.
Somerfield are great for that too!
^ ditto, cept for the open 24 hours thing....they just don't discount food unfortunately...
"i'm rejecting my reflection, cause i hate the way it judges me."
Dumpster diving is illegal here unfortunatly.
With Somerfield though, (and other, smaller supermarkets) that are not 24 hour, I get some real bargains.
I bought salad dressing the other day, reduced from £2.49 to £47p.
And the salad/veggie section is always reduced dramatically.
It usually on the sell by date, some of it lastslonger though, and if anything is very slightly worn and I dnt want use it for myself, the guinea pig gets it
when i used to shop in Asda regularly i found i could often get very cheap organic fruit and veg that was close to its sell-by date. i guess there wasn't much demand for organic at that store but they still carried it anyway, and it kept ending up being discounted.
that store was open 24 hours but they used to discount all the fresh produce around midday, so i'd go in there on my lunch break and pick up some cheap food
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