Vegan for Life - Jack Norris [48]
• Cook beans and grains from scratch but in large enough quantities to stretch for several meals. Leftovers don’t have to be the same old thing. Serve black beans over rice the first night and then mixed with corn and salsa and wrapped in a corn tortilla the next. If you still have beans leftover, you can stretch them with a can of tomatoes for a third dinner. Or cook up a pot of chickpeas and use half to make hummus for sandwiches and half in a pasta and bean soup. The versatility of beans means that they can appear in meals throughout the week without getting boring.
• Get the most from higher-cost ingredients. Nuts, in particular, tend to be expensive, but a small amount goes a long way. One tablespoon of ground nuts mixed into a serving of cooked grains can add substantial flavor for very little cost. The same is true of more deluxe foods like sun-dried tomatoes, olives, and curry paste.
• No amount of leftovers is too small to save. If you have just a quarter cup of rice left, toss in some shredded carrots and a little bit of tahini and roll it up in a whole-wheat tortilla for a wrap sandwich. Little odds and ends in the refrigerator can often be pulled together into a salad or soup.
• Keep frozen vegetables on hand. They are just as nutritious as and often cost less than fresh. And they make it so easy to create fast dinners without having to make an extra trip to the store.
• If there is a thrift store bakery nearby, stock up on day-old whole-grain bread. Freeze loaves so you won’t run out.
• Freeze bits of leftover canned ingredients like tomato paste and coconut milk.
• Try to find ethnic grocery stores in your area. Often, items that are expensive “specialty” foods in the regular grocery store are everyday food in Asian or Indian markets—and are much lower in price. This can be your ticket to saving on some of the more expensive vegan staples like soymilk, tahini, and tempeh.
• Visit www.localharvest.org/csa to find a community-supported agricultural group in your area, and talk to them to see if it would be a good fit for you. These programs allow you to buy shares in local farms—a good way to support small vegetable farmers and get quality organic produce—but depending on the specifics, they may or may not be a bargain.
• If you can’t make everything from scratch, choose a few items that will save you real money and that you enjoy (or at least don’t mind) doing. Homemade cakes and cookies made from scratch save lots of money. Making your own seitan from gluten flour is also a huge money saver; you can make a big batch every few months and freeze it. Other ways to save include homemade salad dressings (so easy to make—there is really never any excuse for buying them), peanut sauce, and hummus.
• If you have room—a sunny spot on a window sill—you can easily grow your own vegetables. Tomatoes, lettuce, and greens can all be grown in pots. Leafy greens like kale and Swiss chard will give you a harvest throughout the summer and well into the fall. If you like cooking with fresh herbs, a small herb garden—in the ground or in a pot—is a must since these foods are expensive at the grocery store.
All of the standard advice that works for budget-minded omnivores applies to vegan grocery shopping: Make a list and stick to it; buy in season; look for specials; avoid impulse purchases; and take advantage of bulk-food warehouse stores.
Don’t Sweat the Small Stuff!
There are “hidden” animal ingredients in many foods. Even seemingly benign foods like white sugar and maple syrup—seemingly vegan—can be processed with animal ingredients, a fact that you won’t see on their labels. Some food additives and food colors can be either animal- or plant-derived—and you have no way of knowing.
Should you care? Well, we don’t