Eating Healthfully in a Recession
While discussing the health, ethical, and environmental benefits of a whole foods plant- based diet, it’s essential to emphasize the economical advantages, as well. With just a dash of creativity and a pinch of forethought, eating “healthfully affordably” is an option open to everyone.

Eat at Home
The most frequent complaint people make is that they don’t have time to eat and cook healthfully, but if we were really honest, we’d realize it has less to do with the time we’re lacking and more to do with the effort we’re not making. If we have the time to pack the family into the car, drive to a restaurant, wait for a table, decide what to order, wait for the food, pay the bill, and drive back home, then we have time to make a delicious, inexpensive meal at home.

Buy in Bulk
Dried goods from the bulk bins in the grocery store, such as pasta, whole grains, flour, oatmeal, lentils, beans, herbs, and spices – are infinitely less expensive than buying packaged, processed, and pre-cooked versions. And when it comes to cooking or baking, nothing beats starting from scratch – both in terms of taste and cost.

Cook from Scratch
Baking mixes that come in a box, for instance, cost an awful lot for what is essentially flour, sugar, and baking powder. Recently, I calculated the cost of my making my Drop Biscuits from The Joy of Vegan Baking and found that it costs a mere $1.15 for 12 biscuits; that’s $.10 a biscuit! That’s just one example. As a rule, it costs far less to build a meal (and dessert!) from whole nutrient-rich plant foods than it does from animal-based products.

Choose Nutrient-Dense Foods
The best way to get the most bang for both our monetary buck and our nutritional buck is to choose nutrient-dense foods. When we eat “empty calories” (foods and beverages that have the same energy content of any other calorie but devoid of vitamins, minerals, antioxidants, amino acids, and fiber), we spend precious calories (and dollars) and receive no benefit in return.

Because cost goes well beyond dollars and sense, eating “healthfully affordably” means considering all the costs of our consumption – costs to our health, to the Earth, to the people who produce it, to the animals, and to our spirits. We don’t have to sacrifice one for the other.

Originally published in VegNews Magazine
Veg Guru Column Topic: Eating Healthfully Affordably
July/August 2009

PDF: VegNews – Eating Healthfully Affordably July/August 2009