My absolute favourite blog belongs to Gail Vaz Oxlade. www.gailvazoxlade.com/blog
Today, the blog was on extreme savings, so I thought I'd re-post one of my favourite blogs from our vegan experiment in 2009. [Thank goodness my "biological imbalance" has passed, mostly due to spinach and chard smoothies blended with orange juice!]
The original post is from November, 2009.
52.8% on Meat, Dairy and Eggs??
Premise #1. Our family does not eat a lot of meat when we are at home. At least 3 meals a week at our place were already vegetarian before I began this vegan experiment.
Premise #2. On days when we did include meat, we would only consume a 4 oz portion of meat eggs or dairy per person as a part of our regular routine. It would consume no more than 1/4 of the plate.
Premise #3. The majority of my food purchases were not packaged ingredients, and rather healthy building blocks for home-cooked meals.
Premise #4. 18 months ago, I really eliminated any family reliance on packaged foods (from pre-made lasagna, to premade pizza, to any style of pre-packaged dinner). This reduced my grocery bill from approx $300 per week in half, to about $150.
Premise #5. In spite of the price reduction in premise 4, I was already paying premium prices for meat and dairy and eggs. I would rely on thigh meat (cheaper than breasts), whole chickens (making stock and stretching it for several days) and buying the smallest cuts of meat in the case. Ie: if there were packages costing $15.37, $12.49 and $11.12, I would buy the cheapest one possible knowing that I probably wouldn't even know the difference once I got it home.
Why am I telling you this??
Because, in light of all of this carefullness, I am shocked to learn that a full 52.8% of my food budget was going to things that I no longer eat on a vegan diet.
That means a huge portion of my already meat-limited food budget will go back into my disposable income!!!
Since our family likes to eat at restaurants (almost as entertainment) I grabbed four similar receipts. Foia, Swiss Chalet, Chanosos and The Keg.
In restaurants, it is almost impossible to avoid all the value-added cost that meat based food costs. At our most recent family meal, the average entree cost $24.50. Bill's and my veg option was 9. 64% less!
Our family's budget divides into home meals, lunch meals in restaurants, and entertainment meals for a date or a treat. They all roughly works out to about $350 per week on food, and I have a feeling that is extraordinarily conservative. When I entertain, that figure is much much higher. When we celebrate meals with family (baby nights, Thanksgiving, Christmas, birthdays, etc) those figures just do not hold up... (there was nothing like that in September or October...so the figures were bare bones).
How shocking would it be to literally add more than half of our food funds back into our lives, and keep them out of our bodies and arteries?
During this challenge, everyone is asking us how long we plan to "do this".
I can not ignore the fact that we feel better, have added time into our day, have dramatically slimmed, and (if we keep it up most of the time) have very likely cut our risks of cancer, heart problems and stroke. Also, we have virtually no food safety concerns (other than deadly spiders in our food, but I digress...)
What if we can add thousands of dollars back too?
Talk about an investment in the future.
Premise #2. On days when we did include meat, we would only consume a 4 oz portion of meat eggs or dairy per person as a part of our regular routine. It would consume no more than 1/4 of the plate.
Premise #3. The majority of my food purchases were not packaged ingredients, and rather healthy building blocks for home-cooked meals.
Premise #4. 18 months ago, I really eliminated any family reliance on packaged foods (from pre-made lasagna, to premade pizza, to any style of pre-packaged dinner). This reduced my grocery bill from approx $300 per week in half, to about $150.
Premise #5. In spite of the price reduction in premise 4, I was already paying premium prices for meat and dairy and eggs. I would rely on thigh meat (cheaper than breasts), whole chickens (making stock and stretching it for several days) and buying the smallest cuts of meat in the case. Ie: if there were packages costing $15.37, $12.49 and $11.12, I would buy the cheapest one possible knowing that I probably wouldn't even know the difference once I got it home.
Why am I telling you this??
Because, in light of all of this carefullness, I am shocked to learn that a full 52.8% of my food budget was going to things that I no longer eat on a vegan diet.
That means a huge portion of my already meat-limited food budget will go back into my disposable income!!!
Since our family likes to eat at restaurants (almost as entertainment) I grabbed four similar receipts. Foia, Swiss Chalet, Chanosos and The Keg.
In restaurants, it is almost impossible to avoid all the value-added cost that meat based food costs. At our most recent family meal, the average entree cost $24.50. Bill's and my veg option was 9. 64% less!
Our family's budget divides into home meals, lunch meals in restaurants, and entertainment meals for a date or a treat. They all roughly works out to about $350 per week on food, and I have a feeling that is extraordinarily conservative. When I entertain, that figure is much much higher. When we celebrate meals with family (baby nights, Thanksgiving, Christmas, birthdays, etc) those figures just do not hold up... (there was nothing like that in September or October...so the figures were bare bones).
How shocking would it be to literally add more than half of our food funds back into our lives, and keep them out of our bodies and arteries?
During this challenge, everyone is asking us how long we plan to "do this".
I can not ignore the fact that we feel better, have added time into our day, have dramatically slimmed, and (if we keep it up most of the time) have very likely cut our risks of cancer, heart problems and stroke. Also, we have virtually no food safety concerns (other than deadly spiders in our food, but I digress...)
What if we can add thousands of dollars back too?
Talk about an investment in the future.
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