Vegetarian Phò and Veganomics
So I tried my first new recipe since starting this blog and it was WHick-ED!
(For the recipe, click the pic)
No professional photography there, but if you really wanna get your mouth watering, check out this pic by Coconut Dreaming (Tumblr).
I hear over and over again that eating vegan is expensive and unaffordable.
We’ll I made this meal and fed 3 people dinner for under $12 dollars. And I have at least 1 bowl left over to boot! < - - lunch tomorrow :D
I even managed to leave out/forget to add a bunch of ingredients, and it still turned out great. (I don’t like anaise and I didn’t add any cilantro, scallions, chili pepper, or lime only because I forgot while overwhelmed by the aromatic goodness. (Strangely, I even have all of these forgotten ingredients in my kitchen right now. Go figure.) So, goes to show that you can add and subtract depending on your budget.
Of course, I had some other ingredients at home: Pkg of seitan that was kept fresh in the freezer (of which I used half), soy sauce, cloves, coriander seed, a bag of onions (from which I used one), some carrots, and a carton of organic veggie stock.
If you added all that up as well, it would come to more, and I'm not doing all that math.
But, what I’m trying to say is, if you can manage to build up a good stock of spices, simple vegan sauces, and staple veggies that keep for a while (like onions, carrots, etc.), each meal you make can actually be really affordable. Spices and herbs are such an economical way to add flavour to meals on the cheap and you can do the most radical and extreme form of saving on groceries and grow stuff yourself [gasp], including veggies, spices, herbs, etc.
I think a lot of the confusion about veganomics occurs when people try to incorporate vegan substitutes and organic foods into a diet that still contains meat. In that sense, people might spend more money. But, problem is, they haven’t taken anything out of their shopping routine, only replaced things with, perhaps, more expensive substitutes, depending on where they shop. Once you take out the meat, though – the cost of eating goes wayyy down. And those organic veggies, vegan substitutes and new fandangle eats can become affordable. At least, that’s been my experience anyway. Plus, processed vegan substitutes are not a necessity.
I’m not saying everyone has the financial ability to eat a healthy vegan diet or the space or mobility to grow a garden themselves – but if you can afford to buy fresh cuts of meat on a regular basis. You can probably also afford to not, and buy other stuff instead. Just sayin’!
