There are many reasons why one may choose to adopt the vegetarian lifestyle, but vegetarians primarily focus on religious beliefs, ethical grounds and/or dietary reasons when they opt to go veg.
As for myself, I am a semi-vegetarian because eating some kinds of meat now literally makes me ill due to an intestinal infection I had several years ago.
The meat I consume now is poultry or some kind of fish, in addition to substitutes made from soy. I am a little bit of a weenie though – I don’t prepare uncooked meat because the thought of it grosses me out.
Quite often, however, people don’t recognize going vegetarian once a week (or more!) can save them quite a bit of cash. The best way to do this? Eating beans and other legumes to get the protein you need.
If you think about it from an economic standpoint, “growing” meat costs money. The animals need to be housed, fed, transported and inoculated. Depending on what those animals eat , all these processes could contribute to meat’s higher cost.
Of course, vegetable crops also need to be fed, harvested and transported, but the costs involved are much smaller than those for meat. The difference is ultimately reflected in the prices they sell for in the store or supermarket.
Looking at my local grocery store’s flyer for this week (utilizing flyers is another way to shop frugally), I found the sale price for one pound of boneless stewing beef is $3.99, one pound of boneless chicken breast is $4.99, and a pound of pork loin chops with bones is $1.49.
In comparison, a 540 gram can of beans at the regular price costs around a dollar. There are approximately 454 grams in a pound, so if you were to compare costs relatively, a pound of beans costs you 84 cents. If you buy dried beans in larger quantities (1-5 lb bags), they cost even less than beans in the can ($2-3), but they do take longer to cook.
Beans are one of the best foods you can consume in terms of nutritional value. They are low in calories, high in fibre and protein, and full of all kinds of other nutrients and vitamins. Beans are also believed to regulate blood sugar, reduce cholesterol, and prevent cancer as well as heart disease. Due to the fact that they are inexpensive and so nutritionally sound, they are a staple food item all over the world.
Of course, not everyone likes the taste of beans, but there are some easy ways to add them into your diet in smaller amounts until you get used to the flavour. Even substituting half or a quarter of the meat you eat with beans can save you quite a bit of money over the course of the year.
If you’re not sure where to start in terms of recipes with beans, there are tons for you to peruse on the internet, and for free. There are even recipes for brownies with beans in them (I haven’t had time to test those yet though)!
And to make beans even more fun to eat, there is that little rhyme we’ve all known since childhood…
