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From:	Kelsey (75.67.235.122)
Subject:	Re: hard time transitioning with family
Date:	June 23, 2009 at 2:28 pm PST

In Reply to: hard time transitioning with family posted by windydaze on June 23, 2009 at 2:57 am:

Hi Windydaze
Sorry to hear you're having a hard time. We used to spend tons of money on specialty vegan foods but since I stopped working I've had to figure out some ways to save money. I've gotten us down to less than $4 a day each (my daughter is only 14 months and I don't count how much her food costs but it's around 2.50 to $3 a day and she eats the most expensive stuff, soymilk, more fresh fruits etc)

If you have any specific questions feel free to ask but I can post some suggestions...

I use dried beans and buy the huge 4LB bags when I can find them. They are 1/4 the price of canned. Undercook them by 5 minutes or so and freeze them in small batches. They have 2LB bgs of whole grain brown rice at Wal-Mart for $1.32 (just saw that today lol)

I buy almost all our veggies from BJ's. They have 6LB bags of common veggies for $5-6. Spinach is $1 a pound and really good quality. When I have to buy something fresh like citrus, bananas, lettuce etc, I buy whatever's on sale. It takes longer to shop, but it saves us a lot. I buy bananas and grapefruit from two different stores. lol

I make my own breads (sweet, yeast, tortillas), lunch "meat", pizza dough, even ravioli sometimes. For breakfast instead of a specialty vegan brand cereal we do homemade pancakes or oatmeal etc, they're more filling and cheaper. It takes some time to get the hang of the breads but once you have a favorite recipe, it's pretty quick and you can make everything in large batches and freeze them.

I bake 6 large potatoes and keep them in the fridge for up to 3 days. They're cheap, filling and healthy. I do 2 or 3 sweet potatoes for my daughter, but I hate them lol

Chef Deb has an awesome "cheese" recipe that's pretty cheap to make - way cheaper and tastier than that gross store bought soy cheese.

I get 8 large servings out of some casseroles that are cheap and easy to make, like enchilada bake. If you use "burger" crumbles, use TVP instead. Buy it in bulk at whole foods or on amazon.com for $2 a pound. (Once you add the water, one pound is more like 4 pounds, and you can season it however you want). Chili is super cheap to make using that and cooked dried beans. If you need to have veggie burgers, BJ's has a 16 count box of Boca Vegan for $9.50 - they're the big patties 1/3 bigger than the regular size. Or you could make your own, I made one batch with black beans and TVP all mashed up with some seasoning, pretty good, but I'm still working on it.

Air popped popcorn and homemade granola are two of my favorite family snacks and they're so cheap. Walmart has the Presto popper for $19 http://www.walmart.com/catalog/product.do?product_id=5969519 I get popcorn for $0.99 a pound, and that does 15 giant bowls at least. They have really cheap trail mix at BJ's too.

Something that helped keep the price down was knowing that you don't need special vegan "meats" to get enough protein. You get plenty from a varied diet including rice, beans, grains, potatoes etc. My husband had no interest in changing his diet (although he is pretty open minded), but when I started cooking he just ended up loving it all. I'm not sure if you've tried giving your husband any of your food, but what I did was take recipes he was used to and veganize them, instead of trying to feed him all new recipes. Some people will never like tofu. I don't even like it that much sometimes. There are other options (seitan, tempeh, tvp, or just take out the meat).
Now that I have all the recipes worked out,
I don't spend much time cooking. I usually do all the big stuff on one day (bread, cheese, mayo) and one small thing each day (granola, cook potatoes, rehydrate beans, or if it's a casserole day I make that)
I have a list of all the stores we shop at and what I buy where. That way if I'll be in the area I can pick up everything all at once. The hardest thing was that my husband and I used to order out once a week and I just made a flat out rule that we're not gonna do that unless it's a birthday or something really special. Instead, we'll have like one day a month where we make a giant batch of sushi, or 2 pizzas, or something special and pig out. It's still cheaper than ordering out a small amount of food.
So anyway, if you have any questions just ask me.

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