What if I told you being vegan doesn't have to be expensive?
What if I told you how to make a healthy vegan meal for less than dollar?
What if I told you that you can eat vegan on four dollars a day?
Well, that's what I'm telling you.
In this video.
I just thought doing the meme would be fun.
Hi it's Emily from Bite Size Vegan and welcome to another vegan nugget.
One of the primary purposes of Bite Size Vegan is to help people make the decision to
go vegan by increasing accessibility to reliable information and resources.
But making the decision to go vegan isn't the same as knowing how. One common
barrier to making the change is figuring out how to afford healthy vegan food.
In my first Vegan On A Budget video we covered how and where to shop as well as
some other tactics and tips for reducing your grocery bill. Today we'll get into
some concrete examples of low-cost meal creation. The recipes are from the guide
eat vegan on $4 a day by motivational speaker, personal trainer,
running coach, author, vegan lifestyle coach, and healthy cooking instructor
Ellen Jaffe Jones, who has generously allowed me to share some of her
budgeting brilliance with you in this video. I highly recommend checking out
her book there are links in the description for you to grab your own
copy or find out if your local library has it in stock. So let's see what kind
of vegan goodness we can get for under four dollars. On a technical note, the
exact cost of ingredients will, of course, vary widely depending on where you shop,
where you live, and what's in season. The prices i mention are in US dollars and
based on Ellen's averaging of in-season items. If you live in an area with little
or no access to fresh produce, or have very limited finances, I'll also provide
additional resources on the blog post and later in this video.
Our sample day of good vegan eating comes in at a grand total of $3.75.
For breakfast we have a hot wheat cereal with dates coming in at 50 cents per serving.
Just bring water, bulgur, dates and salt to a boil while stirring. Reduce to low
and cook until tender. Then add in everything else. For lunch we have
Ellen's billfold saver black bean burger. Fifty cents per serving on whole wheat
or whole grain bread less than 25 cents per serving and topped
off with a tropical salad at a $1.25 per serving.
Let's tackle the burgers first. Making your own vegan meat and dairy
alternatives is a great way to save costs, as well as have fresher and less
processed ingredients. These burgers can be kept in the fridge or freezer, so you
can make a large batch all at once to save time. Lightly toast your bread and
break it into smaller pieces. You can then run these through a food processor, or
blender ,or just make it crispy enough so you can pop it in a plastic bag or
under a paper towel and go to town making crumbs. Many markets and stores
offer day-old breads at a discount that are already closer to the crispy ideal.
Next, mash your beans with a fork or potato masher leaving some chunks and mix in
everything else but the oil. Adding more salsa until you get the desired
consistency. Separate this into patties. Smaller ones will stay together more
easily. Cook your first batch on medium heat for 10 minutes per side or
until lightly browned in a skillet with 1 tbsp vegetable oil. If you want to cut
out oil, try baking in a toaster oven or actual oven at around 350 degrees Fahrenheit/
177 Celsius you may need to add more liquid to combat crumblyness.
The Engine 2 team suggests vegetable broth, the liquid from canned beans,
unsweetened plant milk, or pureed pumpkin, butternut squash, or potatoes.
You could also grill them up barbecue style. Now for the tropical salad, which
is served atop these adorable little lettuce leaf boat things. Or at least
that's how I envision them. Tear your lettuce leaf in half and lay down the
darker top portion. Tear the bottoms into smaller pieces and then mix this with
everything else in a bowl. Finally, spoon the mixture onto your lettuce leaf boats.
Feel free to substitute in-season fruit and/or use thawed frozen fruit. Dinner is
minestrone with pasta shells clocking in at $1 per serving. Pre-soak your
beans, if they're dry, for 8 to 12 hours. Then bring them to a boil, with water,
over medium to high heat. Reduce to medium-low and cook one hour.
Stir in everything else, but the pasta and parsley, and cook another 30 minutes
or until tender, stirring occasionally. Then add in the pasta and cook another
10 minutes or until tender and add in your parsley. And finally, desert is a
50 cent per serving chocolate mousse. Microwave your chocolate chips and plant
milk for one minute in a microwave-safe bowl, or on the stove top for about
5 minutes, or until the chips are shiny. Let it sit for 2 minutes and then place in a
blender or processor and add in the remaining ingredients. Process until it's
smooth and then pour it into a glass or small containers and chill in the fridge
for 2 hours or the freezer for 30 minutes. And there you have it!
A sample day of healthy vegan eating for under $4.
Given that the majority of medical costs arise from preventable diet and
lifestyle induced diseases, a balanced vegan diet can also save you thousands
in medical bills, not to mention time, travel, worry and heartbreak.
And a global shift to veganism would save trillions in medical costs.
Just think, if the money tied up in healthcare instead went into providing education on sound nutrition and
programs to bring fresh whole foods into food deserts.
Our system is broken in more ways than one.
We're not only killing trillions of beings every year, but also our planet,
ourselves, and our children.
It's more important than ever to make veganism as accessible as possible and
there are individuals, organizations, and movements working towards this goal.
Through urban rooftop gardens, community agriculture programs, and food deserts.
Programs connecting local gardeners with food pantries to provide fresh produce to those
in need. Phenomenal nonprofits like a well-fed world, working to relieve both the
suffering of people hungry from lack of food and the suffering of animals used
and abused for food. And grassroots groups like the Brown Paper Bag Movement,
walking the streets to bring vegan food to the homeless. You can see their
interview here for more information and to get involved. See the blog post for
links to these resources for assistance finding fresh real food or to get
involved helping others. You can also see this video
to learn how to grow your own food at home and every
last thing that i mentioned and more, are linked in the description. I hope this
video has been helpful. Let me know your thoughts and any additional tips you may
have in the comments below.
Many thanks again to Ellen Jaffe Jones for so generously allowing me to share her
recipes. You can connect with her at her website VegCoach.com to find out all of the
other amazing things that she's written, accomplished, and what she's currently
working on. If you liked this money saving nugget do give the video a thumbs
up and share it around to help others access affordable vegan food. And
subscribe for more vegan content every week. To help support Bite Size Vegan's
educational efforts please see the support links below,
or click Nugget Army icon, or the link in the sidebar.
Now go live vegan, help others do the same, and I'll see you soon.
Our sample day of good vegan... of good vegan egging...good vegan eating.
Good lord. I wish I could afford to speak properly when I'm filming.