Wanting to explore Vegetarian/Veganism

Welcome Iloveparsnip! What kinds of foods do you plan to grow? What foods are available to you in your area that are cheap?

It seems that food prices for just about everything are getting sky high. It is discouraging. Growing your own food is a great investment. I do some gardening myself.

My sister is also disabled and lives on a very low income. She gets government assistance but it is laughable. She doesn't drive and walks or takes the bus everywhere. She has been vegan for several years. One of the motivations for me to finish school and finally land a decent job and get out of my own poverty (all of which I did this last summer after three years of school and juggling work and caring for a disabled husband myself) was not only for myself but so I can put away extra money every month to support my sister and husband. I don't have children to look after or anything like that.

I'd love to hear more about what you plan to grow and what kinds of foods you eat now. I live in the U.S. so I am not that familiar with food in the U.K.

Hello and welcome! ^.^

My vegan sister is disabled, not physically, but her mental illness prevents her from leaving the house by herself. She gets benefits but as you said it's not enough. We are lower-middle class but live in quite a built-over area with lots of shops [going bust]. The gap between rich and poor is getting bigger and bigger, I never used to see homeless people begging in our town, only in the city, but now they're everywhere.

The prices can be terrible, and with the government saying we should be eating more healthy you'd think they'd have the unprocessed plant foods cheaper and the processed crap more expensive. But it is what it is, they don't even know the cost of bread. It's often cheaper in the long run to buy in bulk at small vegetable farms but I don't know if there's any where you are. It's great that you can grow your own though! I have no experience with gardening other than some measly carrots and potatos for Loki the hamster, but there's a section in this forum dedicated to it which I'm sure you'll like. We also have the recipes section, what kinds of foods are available to you?

Hope your having a good morning : )

Naturebound said:

Welcome Iloveparsnip! What kinds of foods do you plan to grow? What foods are available to you in your area that are cheap?

It seems that food prices for just about everything are getting sky high. It is discouraging. Growing your own food is a great investment. I do some gardening myself.

My sister is also disabled and lives on a very low income. She gets government assistance but it is laughable. She doesn't drive and walks or takes the bus everywhere. She has been vegan for several years. One of the motivations for me to finish school and finally land a decent job and get out of my own poverty (all of which I did this last summer after three years of school and juggling work and caring for a disabled husband myself) was not only for myself but so I can put away extra money every month to support my sister and husband. I don't have children to look after or anything like that.

I'd love to hear more about what you plan to grow and what kinds of foods you eat now. I live in the U.S. so I am not that familiar with food in the U.K.

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I plan on growing any kind of plant that yields edible leaves. I want to concentrate on herbs for a while though. The reason for this is so I can sell the plants and buy items which my family needs.

It is rather dificult in UK to sell things if your on Government assistance. What I plan to do though is give it freely to a friend who owns a convience store and he can give me items from wholesaler like Costco in return so I effectively will be bartering. Most Brits will tell you that the welfare system is a nightmare if your long term disabled. A lot of freedoms able people take for granted are no go no gain area for us.

I do sympathize for US citizens though because the disability insurance scheme is a nightmare where you have to work though lots of legal mumbo jumbo and there is a 90% of your case being rejected.

I am going to be using a Aquaponics set up in 2 Greenhouses. 10ft x 30ft or 3m x 9m.
I will be using Ghost Carp as the chosen Fish because they adapt well to Britains temperature and sell at high prices for Pets. It takes about 2 years for a Ghost Carp to get big on size though.

I will be using a vertical grow method where I put holes in a tube and fill the tube full of fine gravel.
Then all I have to do is slot in the seedlings and in 1 month I have a crop.

Food prices are extremly high in US. I know your nation has some kind of inflation problem. Well thats what my US internet friends say. Could you tell me how much is the cheapest loaf of bread which you can buy from a grocery store? In the UK you can get a 800g loaf for 47 pence.
Ideally I would expect bread to be less than $1 since the USA produces so much grain.

I am questioning college education at the moment. I just don't want the debt burden. As a disabled person its a huge risk to take especially because we have a Government in the UK that seems to make everyday harder. Its really difficult for me due to my Autism and 99% of employers just cannot deal with my needs. My only chance to get a Job is train in a highly specialized field like Computer Programming.

If I was in the US I would turn into a extreme couponer. That is one way to get by.

At the moment I mainly a carnivore. That is why I am here. To try and create a meal plan which I can stick too. In a ideal world I could just go to a all you can eat vegan resturant and have my fill.
Part of the problem is my mood swings. I can get depressed very easy so having the will to cook is a job in its self.

Anyway as for foods which are cheap:

Potato, Carrot, Cabbage, Brocolli, Parsnip, Caulflower, Kale, Spring Greens, Onions, Leeks, Tomato (canned), Brussell Sprouts, Celeriac, Courgette, Mushroom, Peas, Kidney Beans, Butter Beans, Chickpeas, Pinto Beans, Cannellini Beans, Squash, Turnip/Swede, Sweetcorn(canned), Pepper, Celery, Chard, Aubergine, Sweet Potato (imported from US).

I can get almost any herbs and things such as Garlic & Ginger are very cheap since we have France at our door step.

WolfBird said:

Hello and welcome! ^.^

My vegan sister is disabled, not physically, but her mental illness prevents her from leaving the house by herself. She gets benefits but as you said it's not enough. We are lower-middle class but live in quite a built-over area with lots of shops [going bust]. The gap between rich and poor is getting bigger and bigger, I never used to see homeless people begging in our town, only in the city, but now they're everywhere.

The prices can be terrible, and with the government saying we should be eating more healthy you'd think they'd have the unprocessed plant foods cheaper and the processed crap more expensive. But it is what it is, they don't even know the cost of bread. It's often cheaper in the long run to buy in bulk at small vegetable farms but I don't know if there's any where you are. It's great that you can grow your own though! I have no experience with gardening other than some measly carrots and potatos for Loki the hamster, but there's a section in this forum dedicated to it which I'm sure you'll like. We also have the recipes section, what kinds of foods are available to you?

Hope your having a good morning : )

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I would class myself as a scrounger. Not because of how I see myself but how others see me. That may offend some people but that is the label which todays society is using to label someone on welfare. I do appologise if I have caused any offense. The ironic thing is I am from a middle class background and I have an uncle who is a millionaire.

The truth is as you said it. The gap between rich and poor is getting bigger and bigger. Poverty is becoming a regular occurance like Pigeons looking for food scraps in a town centre. Our Government and the mainstream media are constantly trying to label poverty as a dirty word in hope that the underclass will retreat to the shadows. This has not been the case though. There have been many traps laid such as the whole White Dee endorsement from Benefits Street but despite the obvious traps the flock & multitude poverty is in full flight coming to a place near you.

You might think that I am shameful for comparing fellow poor citizens as Pigeons. Well the truth is that is how the Banker class sees workers. We are big in number and we are deemed pests because we are simply living and surviving.

But anyway there is only one animal which can dive bomb and poop on a politician. Pigeon for the win!

You will like this video about simple gardening in urban areas. This design is so good I am thinking about adapting it into a raised bed solution.

List of foods which I can get in bulk are above ^^