Who Says A Vegan Diet Is Expensive?

I have heard from many people, they can't eat a Vegan, plant-based diet, because it is too expensive.  I agree, many products Omnivores typically wouldn't buy, are a little on the pricey side, but, when you substitute those products in instead of purchasing meat and dairy, the cost evens out.

I made my monthly trip to Sprout's Farmer's Market yesterday and was fortunate enough to have my mother-in-law join me.  She walked around with my little girl as I was able to actually spend time shopping and reading labels.  I was able to be a smart shopper and get many items that were on sale.

After I got home and all my groceries were put away, I studied my receipt.  Wow!  My biggest savings comes in the form of rolled oats.  I used to be a cereal addict.  We are talking, 5-6 boxes of cereal in a week, plus all the soy or almond milk to go with it.  Let's do some math...a box of cereal is roughly $3.50 if it is on sale.  $3.50 X 5 is $17.50.  $17.50 X 4 (approximate number of weeks in a month) is $70!!!  And, that is not including the non-dairy milk!  My New Year's Resolution was to cut processed cereal out of my diet.  I replaced my beloved Cheerios, Frosted Mini-Wheats, Golden Grahm's, Fruity Pebbles, and any other cereal you can think of, with simple rolled oats!  Let's calculate the savings...shall we :)   I buy my rolled oats in bulk.  Yesterday, I purchased 8.67 lbs of oats at $0.69/lb. 8.67 lbs X $0.69 is a whopping $5.98!  This amount of oats will feed my daughter and myself breakfast every morning for at least a month.  That is $64.02 savings in a single month!  Multiply that by a year and I am saving $768.24!  I make my oats with water and add some cinnamon.  This meal is tasty, nutritious, and cheap!  It equates to less than $0.20 for breakfast.  I don't skimp on the serving size either, every morning my daughter and I share 1/2 cup of uncooked oats, which makes about a full cup when cooked.

Rolled oats are not the only area we are saving on.  At $1.89/lb for dry kidney beans and $1.49/lb for garbanzo beans/chickpeas, you can't beat cooking your own beans.  They taste better, you don't risk consuming the BPA from the can, and they are cheap!  We used to go through about 5 cans of beans in a week.  Each can of beans is about $2.50.  Using our pressure cooker and cooking the dry beans ourselves, has saved us a lot of money as well.  $2.50 X 5 is $12.50.  $12.50 X 4 is $50.  When I buy beans in bulk from Sprout's, they last me for the entire month.  I had some black beans still in my pantry, so I did not need to buy those, but to give you an idea, yesterday I bought 6.66 lbs of beans for a mere $10.61.  They will probably last me longer than a month, but let's say they only last me a month, that is a savings of about $39.39 for a month, and $472.68 for the year!  Add that to what I am saving with the rolled oats, $1,240.92 in savings for an entire year with just beans and oats!  Imagine what else we could be saving if I dug a little deeper!

And here is a photo of my receipt so you know I am not lying :)