Vegan Recipes from Cassie Howard

One question that I am often asked is:

“Is it expensive to be vegan?”

Today, I’m going to open that can of worms and let you know the answer.

Being vegan can be cheap or expensive or right in the middle. It depends on a lot of things: your financial situation, your personal feelings, and your access to certain foods.

Am I personally spending more money now than when I was eating a diet filled with animal products?

Yes, I am. On purpose.

On purpose, you ask? Why on earth would I possibly want to spend more money on my grocery bill each month when I don’t have to?

Well, here’s the thing: once I switched to a vegan diet, I learned more and more not just about vegan food, but about food in general. I read about GMO’s, artificial colours and flavourings, preservatives, and all of that junk that is put into our food and beverages these days.

I wanted to learn everything I could about food. Where it came from, how it got here, and anything else I could find out.

What I learned was scary. Most everything I ate was either highly processed and/or loaded with chemicals. I switched to a vegan diet to be healthy, and more than half of the stuff I ate was not healthy at all.

So, I made a drastic change. I switched to a mostly whole foods diet and the majority of the fruits and veggies that I buy are organic. No one wants to eat chemicals for breakfast, right? I know I sure don’t. So, organics it is.

Sometimes, when money is tight, I will only buy the dirty dozen organic, and conventional for everything else, but that doesn’t happen often, because I make it a priority to have money set aside for high-quality produce.

Speaking of high-quality produce, I stopped shopping at low-end grocery stores, not because of the prices, but because of the quality. I wouldn’t say I shop at high-end grocery stores these days (not often, anyway!), but I do avoid stores that, from my own personal experience, sell mediocre (or less) produce.

Switching to a vegan diet made me change my overall eating habits. It wasn’t just eliminating the animal products, it was learning all about food and how food is made, that really changed the way I grocery shopped.

So yes, I spend more money on groceries now that I eat a vegan diet.

But does that mean you have to? Absolutely not! There are many ways you can save money on a vegan diet.

Here are 7 of my tips:

1. Shop at farmer’s markets

Especially at the very end of the day, when the farmer’s a ready to close up shop. You won’t get the best selection, but you will certainly get the best price, because the farmer doesn’t want to have to lug all of that food back to the farm. Ask for a discount, and you’ll likely get one.

2. Only buy the sale items

Regardless of where you shop, all stores have a sales cycle, and they will always have items on sale when you are shopping. Take advantage of those sales and add them to your menu plan. Try to avoid purchasing items that aren’t on sale. They just might be on sale next week!

3. Stock up

Stocking up on produce when it’s on sale is a great way to save money. For example, if berries are on sale super cheap, buy enough to last you a few months (if you can afford to do so), and stash them in the freezer. The same goes for other fruit, and for vegetables.

You should do this with other produce as well, such as beans, rice, quinoa, flour, and other pantry staples.

4. Look for “bad” produce

Many grocery stores have a shelf or cart where they put produce that no one will buy because it looks ugly. For example, spotty bananas are almost always available (people don’t know that spotty bananas are the most perfect!), peppers that are a bit soft, apples that have a small bruise or two. Buy these items and either eat them right away or store them in the freezer for great savings!

5. Buy the dirty dozen

If you can’t afford to buy all organics, try to at least buy the “dirty dozen” organic, and the rest conventional.

The dirty dozen are 12 produce items that have the highest amount of pesticide residues:

1. Apples
2. Strawberries
3. Grapes
4. Celery
5. Peaches & Nectarines (Imported Nectarines)
6. Spinach
7. Sweet Bell Peppers & Hot Peppers
8. Cucumber
9. Snap Peas – Imported
10. Cherry Tomatoes
11. Potatoes
12. Kale & Collard Greens

6. Shop in season

This goes hand in hand with only buying things that are on sale, because the items on sale are likely the items that are in season.

When you only buy produce that is in season, it’s not only cheaper, but it tastes a thousand times better, too!

7. Plan your menus

Menu planning is essential if you want to save money on groceries – vegan or not. Plan your meals for an entire week, shop for groceries once, and you will save money, and also have a plan of attack for the week ahead. This will save you time, and the stress of “what’s for dinner” that many people experience each day.

I personally plan all of my meals – including breakfast, lunch, dinner, and snacks/desserts. You may find that too overwhelming. If that’s the case, start with just one meal. Dinner is the most stressful for most people, so I would start there. You can add in more meals later, if you are up for the challenge.

Don’t automatically assume that switching to a vegan diet is more expensive, because it doesn’t have to be. For me, it is, but like I said before, that is by choice. I pay more for better quality food, and I’m okay with that.

If you’re toying with the idea of going vegan, but are scared about the expense – don’t be! Start small and make gradual changes in your diet, and see where that takes you. You might be surprised just how inexpensive being vegan can be.

If you’re currently eating a vegan diet, do you find it to be more expensive than a diet full of animal-foods?

Are you (or were you) addicted to cheese? Does giving up cheese scare the pants off of you? Sure, vegan food is delicious, but there is no way, no how that you could give up cheese. Right?

If this sounds like  you, I can relate. My addiction to cheese was real, and eliminating it from my diet was the last thing I wanted to do, ever.

Cheese was my favourite. I loved parmesan cheese on pretty much everything, loads of mozzarella on pizza and pasta, cheddar on tacos and burritos, ricotta in lasagna, feta directly from the container into my mouth… I loved cheese. Couldn’t get enough of it. I’d say in an average month, I spent over $20 on cheese.

And then I switched to a vegan diet and cheese was no longer a part of my daily life.

It was hard. So, so incredibly hard. I was so addicted to the stuff that it was all I could think about. At every meal, I though “this could use some cheese” and “this is good, but it would be better with cheese”.  After about a week into my new diet, I seriously contemplated being vegetarian instead, just so I could get my daily dose of cheese again.

But I persevered. I kept going. Because of all the things that are bad for you, cheese (dairy) is one of the absolute worst. Plus, the animals! Those poor animals. After watching a few documentaries by that point, I still couldn’t get the images of suffering cows out of my head. I couldn’t do it. I couldn’t go back to cheese.

I remember getting on my computer and looking for a solution. Some support. Someone who would comfort me and tell me that everything was going to be okay.

While I didn’t find exactly that, what I did find was that I was not alone. Apparently, giving up cheese is the most common issue for new vegans (and is the main reason why many people won’t actually switch to a vegan diet at all). I stumbled upon one blog post: I couldn’t give up cheese, so I gave up animal cruelty instead. And it changed my life. I thought I knew how cruel cows were treated, but I was wrong. This blog post scarred me, but in a good way. I’ve never looked at cheese the same way again.

Not only is cheese bad for you, but it’s cruel. That’s enough for me to walk away from it.

After going through cheese withdrawl for about 2 weeks, I finally started to crave it less and less. To help me with the transition, I started trying the vegan cheeses that were on the market. Some of my favourites:

• Daiya Cheese Shreds (Mozzarella and Cheddar were always in my fridge)
• Daiya Cream Cheese (I often used plain for baking and chive & onion for my bagels)
• Tofutti Cream Cheese (I prefer Daiya, but Tofutti was a great substitute when I couldn’t find Daiya)
• Daiya Cheese Slices (I always bought cheddar and used them to make grilled cheese – my kids loved them, too!)

I also started experimenting with my own, homemade cheese recipes, like this vegan nacho cheese sauce (that I seriously put on just about everything), this vegan ricotta cheese, and this homemade vegan parmesan cheese (I put this on everything, too – you can always find a jar full of this cheese in my fridge!).

I purchased this cookbook, The Non-Dairy Evolution Cookbook: A Modernist Culinary Approach to Plant-Based, Dairy Free Foods, by Skye Michael Conroy, a few months ago, and have since made Chunky Bleu Cheese Dressing, Extra-Sharp White Cheddar, Cream Cheese, Sharp Tofu Cheddar and Pepper Jack Cheese. All were incredible and all will be made again and again!

I’ve learned that vegan cheese can taste just as good (if not better) than the stuff made with animal products. Not only is it often tastier, but it’s much healthier and doesn’t promote any cruelty. I call that a win-win!

So if you’re struggling with giving up cheese, remember – that overwhelming desire to call it quits and just shove a brick of cheese in your mouth – it will pass. If you’re as addicted to cheese as I was, it will be hard, you’ll be cranky, and you’ll think you’re going crazy – but you’re not. You’ll be fine.

If I can give up cheese (and I ate cheese pretty much every single day for years), you can too! And you’ll be better off without it.

I now live my life completely dairy-free, and I no longer have any desire to eat cheese made from cow’s milk. With all of the vegan cheese available on the market, and all of the delicious cheese recipes I can make at home (many of them are super easy!), there’s no need for me to eat cheese ever again.

No more suffering animals, no more putting garbage in my body, and no more being addicted to something that was unhealthy. I’m better off without it, and you will be, too.

Do you have problems giving up cheese? Or, if you’ve already done it, was cheese a big hurdle for you?