VeggieBoards banner

Broke (new) Vegetarian .... What are your groceries list?

10K views 57 replies 34 participants last post by  jeneticallymodified 
#1 ·
I want to go vegetarian, but I am EXTREMELY broke. I am a musician/student and I am literally doing the starving artist thing. So what are your grocery lists like? How can I eat healthly and cheaply?
 
#3 ·
Welp, I'm a student on a budget. A tight budget. This is what I usually buy.

*Store brand soy milk ( I dont buy much at a time because it goes bad before I can use it all)

*Cheap dry goods (lentils, whole wheat pastas, brown rice, and beans)

*Canned goods (Tomato sauce, tomato paste, and *some* beans) The other canned veggies are pretty horrid to me.

*Frozen vegetables (I recommend getting stuff like: green peppers, carrots, green beans, broccoli, and frozen veggie soup mixes) They're cheap, and they keep better than fresh. Its easy to make a quick veggie soup with frozen veggies, too.

*Fresh veggies that are cheap and don't go bad quick. (Russet potatoes, onions, garlic, celery, and sweet potatoes) You can buy these in larger quantities and wont have to worry about them going bad too fast.

*Fresh fruits - apples, oranges, etc. If you can, try buying them at a farmers market. You'll be supporting local farmers and buying quality fruits at a good price. If you cant do that or buy organic stuff, head to the local market and get cheaper fruits.

*Other items - I try to get tofu when its on sale really cheap..like a buck a carton. You can buy that in bulk and freeze it until ready to use.

*Seasonings/staples- I go to the dollar store and buy that kind of stuff. Just check the ingredient label and make sure its okay, and you're set.

*Breads - I buy two loaves of whole wheat bread when its on sale and freeze one loaf for later. It lasts longer that way.

Thats the basic stuff I buy. If i have any additional spending money, I'll get meat analogs, but I try to only get the ground "beef" type stuff because it stretches really far for meals. One 3 dollar bag of that will make three to four meals for me.
 
#5 ·
Here's what I bought yesterday at the store, straight from the receipt:

Blueberrys

Fresh Spinach

Perfectly Protein from Bolthouse Farms

2 Avacados

Garlic and Cilantro Polenta

Portabello Mushrooms (2 huge caps)

Organic Brown Rice

2 Sweet Onions

2 Green Peppers

Fresh Green Beens (I'm cooking them today)

1 Cucumber

Progresso Lentil Soup (2 cans)

Campbells Tomato Soup (2 cans)

Salsa

Burrito Shells

Chili Beans (for veg chili)

Chick Peas (for homemade hummus)

(Veg) Refried Beans

Extra Firm Tofu

Silk Very Vanilla

2 cans of corn

2 cans of peas

2 apples

2 oranges

2 pears

Oatmeal

Believe it or not, this gets me through about week.
 
#15 ·
I recently discovered a brand of really CHEAP, and INCREDIBLY delicious vegan soups. One box is $1.59 and has two hearty individual servings. They are also very healthy. I'm looking at a package of split pea soup (by the way, I normally hate split pea soup, but theirs is really yummy) here's a quick nutritional analysis:

Calories: 240

Fat:1g

Protein:18g

Vitamin A: 70%

Iron: 20%

Calcium:4%

They come frozen and you can find them in the kosher section of your supermarket.The company is called Tabatchnick, and their soups are by far the best I've ever tasted.

Here's the parve (dairy and meat free) section of their website:

http://www.tabatchnick.com/catalog/p...s.asp?nCatID=2

With the exception of the smoked salmon soup of all of those soups are 100% vegan and have nice, whole ingredients.
 
#16 ·
When I ate on a tighter budget (before the new job!):

-Bulk granola, generic brand corn flakes, and cheap soymilk for breakfast.

-You can be really sneaky and dumpster for fresh produce. Or just stake out unwanted fruit. I don't buy produce on a budget. There's always some to be had. Just ask at your local market if you can have the stuff they're getting rid of. No shame! You can tell them you're composting, if you don't want to admit to being poor.


-Store brand bread, peanut butter. Generic cookies (often times vegan).

-Zatarains, Casbah, and similar brands - grain pilafs, rice and beans, spanish rice, etc. Usually under $2 a box, and you can fill your tummy pretty well.

-Canned vegetables, such as some collards to go with your rice and beans!

-Spaghetti and tomato sauce

-Oriental Top Ramen

-I usually kept on hand some of Amy's Frozen Burritos, which I get for $1.79. Those and Taco Bell.
 
#21 ·
For maximum nutrtion I would load up on these things from the cheapest supermarket I could find:

- dried beans

- brown rice

- dry plain oatmeal

- sweet potatos

- tofu & soymilk ( actually cheap at asian markets )

- kale, collards, broccoli, cabage

You might be interested in going into the frugal forum where there was recently a thread on how to eat cheap, healthy and vegan.

HTH
 
#23 ·
Quote:
Originally Posted by Tomaito View Post

Stay away from meat analogues, good but not cheap. Sometimes, if you're frugal enough, you can splurge and get some. Basically try to get things in bulk and stick to what you really need.
I totally need my veggie burgers/fake chicken patties, so I always wait till they go on sale to buy them. Yeah they're still expensive, but at least it's cheaper right? Also, I try to only buy most things when they're on sale and/or I usually get the store brands of things. And if something is on sale, you may as well buy a couple of them if you know you'll use it again. Canned beans are really cheap, the store brands are 50 cents or if on sale even less! You can actually make veggie patties out of beans, and that would be a lot cheaper then buying them at the store. I always freeze my bread so that it won't go bad, as well as anything else I can. I think it's cheaper to get a bag of rice, rather then boxes of rice, and just flavor them yourself.
 
#24 ·
I am the queen of budget groceries...

I feed two teens, two adults and one toddler on about $50 a week.

I DO shop sales and coupons and all that, as it applies to what we USE...

I buy in bulk:

flour

cornmeal

dried beans, lentils, chickpeas,

brown rice

dry plain oatmeal

pasta

white and sweet potatos

onions

Textured Veg. protien granules

From the asian markets I buy bulk tofu ONLY ON SALE, and freeze what I can't use. Also soy milk, when it's on sale. I usually freeze half the carton for use later. It freezes fine.

A latino market sells "reject" tortillas in BIG bags for cheap. They're usually the ones that weren't "round"... still taste fine to us!

Frozen veggies in BIG bags from warehouse stores - frozen has just as many nutrients as fresh and can be stored longer without loosing quality or nutrients.

We grow fresh lettuce, radishes, snap peas and herbs in patio pots.

I DO occasionally ask for spoiled/old/outdate produce at several markets in town - no pride here... I don't beg, but I have shopped there long enough I've built a relationship with some of the employees and they are glad it's going to good use and not thrown away.

(Mom-n-Pop places are better than the big "chains" for this sort of thing).

Sometimes they'll give me a whole flat of berries or tomatos - I have to pick thru some "bad" ones... but I ALWAYS freeze the extra. Our freezer is stocked with home-made tomato sauce, berries for smoothies, and applesauce.

Thats pretty much it.
 
#25 ·
Hi! I'm a new veggie too and I've found the best thing is to buy in bulk, as already stated. If you've got a health food store near you, check it out. I get bulk grains, beans, and spices from there--way cheaper than regular grocery stores. You have to bag it yourself and it's priced by the pound, so you can decide how much you want. I also keep a stock of canned tomatoes, t. sauce, and t. paste, and canned fruit of all varieties. I get most of my tofu and soymilk from the dreaded Wal-Mart; they're quite a bit cheaper there than anywhere else in my area. Keep those staples on hand and then augment with whatever fresh fruits and veggies you want.
 
#26 ·
If you're near a large commercial bakery, if that bakery has a thrift outlet where they sell baked goods nearing their last date-of-sale, you can buy your bread there, and freeze what you aren't eating immediately. It's worth mentioning that whole grain is much healthier than white: whole is richer in nutrients and doesn't cause such an abrupt spike in your blood sugar level.

I prefer the bread I make to anything I can buy, but I haven't figured out what the comparative cost is.
 
This is an older thread, you may not receive a response, and could be reviving an old thread. Please consider creating a new thread.
Top