Let’s talk numbers. It’s tacky to talk about money? It costs too much to eat healthy? Being on a high-protein vegetarian diet is expensive? I disagree.
I’m cheap. I won’t deny it. I budget, shop for deals and hoard money like a money-hoarding-machine. But it doesn’t affect my health. You can buy good, organic, whole, protein-filled veggie foods for not that much. And if you aren’t eating seven meals a day, do shop at regular grocery stores and don’t use protein powders to hit mega-protein goals (175g in this day!), you can do it for way less than me.
Meal #1: $0.83
Eggs n’ squash. Photographed BC (before cinnamon) and AC (after cinnamon).
Four Trader Joe’s eggs: $0.83. Homegrown butternut squash: free.
Meal #2: $1.79
Chocolate-almond-berry shake. No picture, because it looks like brown poo in a cup. But tastes like heaven.
Olympian Labs Chocolate Pea Protein: $1.09. Maranatha almond butter: $0.20. Trader Joe’s mixed berries: $0.50.
Meal #3: $1.45
Same as last week: Zucchini bread oatmeal.
Trader Joe’s zucchini: $0.38. Quaker oats: $0.07. RAW protein: $0.93. Organic golden flax: $0.07.
Meal #4: $0.98
TVP with broccoli and cauliflower, drowned in an amazing homemade Thai-ginger-spice peanut sauce.
Bob’s TVP: $0.23. Trader Joe’s veggies: $0.50. Protein plus peanut flour: $0.25.
Meal #5: $1.17
As seen in Monday’s post: Tofu “egg” with Mexican black lentils and jalapeno-lime kale.
Whole Foods organic tofu: $0.54. Whole Foods organic black lentils: $0.27. Trader Joe’s kale: $0.36.
Meal #6: $1.81
This was an on-the-go, didn’t-get a-picture meal, but I dumped some sauteed garlicky-mushrooms into a bowl of cottage cheese. And topped it with sriracha.
Organic cottage cheese: $1.15. Trader Joe’s mushrooms: $0.66.
Meal #7: $0.70
Greek yogurt mashed with sweet potato and a swirl of maple syrup. And perhaps a little more cinnamon.
Oikos Greek yogurt: $0.70. Homegrown sweet potato: free.
GRAND TOTAL: $8.73.
Even with seven meals, organic items, Whole Foods products and goofily expensive protein powder.
To compare, I asked my coworker what he spent on lunch. He went to Panera (Mmm, Panera…) and spent $8.52 on one meal.
Do you budget? Do you find it’s expensive to eat healthy/vegetarian? What are some of your favorite cheap meals?
I don’t budget food… this is bad, I know… but I can vouch for the cost of being plant-based. Having gone from vegetarian/mostly-vegan to eating seafood and chicken, I spend WAY more money on food now.
I can definitely blame protein powder and dairy on the fact that I had to increase my budget. Well, that, and needing copious amounts of food in general, haha.
I dont really budget food, but since I shop every week, I try to keep it around $50 a week. SOme weeks its more since those are the weeks I buy big things, but the weeks its just produce I find I can keep it low
That’s sort of the money goal I set for myself as well–but yeah, with allowances for big items (tubs of protein powder, big bags of flours/grains/etc. that will last for weeks.)
I don’t budget either
BUT I NEED TO. I do always make dinner, plus take breakfast and lunch and a snack to work each day so I figure it HAS to be cheaper than buying most of those meals out, as it seems many of my co-workers do. One thing though … I can’t stop buying Starbucks on the way to work. £2.10 per day, five days a week. I figure it’s not THAT much money, and it makes me happy so it’s my treat. 
I’m so glad Starbucks changed their card rules here. Now I’m too mad to waste money there regularly. And “happy” items fall outside of any budget rules, as far as I’m concerned.
OMG I heard about that!! Why would they do that?? My sister said they said they were responding to customer feedback, but who wants to pay for soy and extra syrup? I’d totally ditch them if I were in the US. They haven’t taken it away from us here yet, but if they do I’ll just go to another shop that offers free soy. That’s what keeps me going back every day!
Right? WHAT FEEDBACK? Who was calling Starbucks and saying, “Hey, I’d really like to pay MORE for your already expensive drinks, and I’d love for you to charge me an extra .60 for soy milk that can’t possibly cost more than regular milk unless you have a terrible soy milk provider.”
Thank you for busting the irritating myth that healthy eating has to be expensive. It’s all about being smart with your purchases and by the looks of it, you are very smart my friend! I don’t budget with food and hence often justify my expenses with the “investing in health” notion haha!
It drives me crazy when people say they would eat better, but it’s too expensive! Nope. Nothing wrong with splurging on some good stuff, but it doesn’t mean you CAN’T do it for cheap.
I don’t set a budget, but I, too, am incredibly cheap. I absolutely love that I can buy so many delicious veggies and whatnot for the price of what someone might spend on lunch. [I have also started to rationalize protein powders because when you think about it, my favorite one--Plant Fusion--I can get for $20, and some DINNERS cost that much out.] It helps being a vegan with benefits, because you can’t eat out most places and HAVE to save money.
I felt the same way about protein powders–that they were too expensive–but then even just calculating this out for today–I realized my protein-powder-involving meals are still under $2, WAY cheaper than anything I could get eating out! And you’re right, limited vegan/veggie options limits my interest in/ability to eat out. My coworkers go to a sushi place for lunch most days, and it’s so easy to say no. Unless I want to spend $7 on cucumber-and-rice sushi every day. Vegan sushi (at restaurants–I can make much better/funkier.cheaper combos at home) bores the heck out of me.
Love this post.. thanks for sharing!
Man you are my new idol. i am cheap as ever but never feel like i get enough because of that or what i really want. i am following your lead and hitting up some of these ideas.
Totally go for lentils/beans/etc. Tons of food for cheap, and they most certainly aren’t boring if you spice them up–which is also cheap and easy to do.
Great post! I like how you broke it all down like that…please come do my shopping…I spend wayyyyyyyyy too much!
Haha, I wish I could somehow make money grocery shopping for other people…that would be my dream job!
Dude this is awesome! I wish I budgeted as well as you, you’re quite the savvy saver! I’m so jealous of that epic homegrown squash too, he’s gorgeous
One of my favorite cheap meals is tuna mixed with cottage cheese, peanut butter and a chopped apple. Sounds SO random and creepily weird, but it’s SO delicious! In fact, I may have that for lunch haha
Gotta give credit to my parents for that beauty–NEXT year I’m expanding my garden so I’ll have enough room to grow gorgeous squash of my own! And duuude, you don’t have to warn me about random/creepy/weird sounding food, you KNOW I’ll think it sounds delicious
I’ve been wanting to try PB-tuna for forever!
Agreed…it’s TIME that people usually complain about when trying to eat healthy AFTER they get done complaining about how expensive it is. All about the planning. If I end up purchasing a Panera Bread-type meal, I have only myself to blame for my poor planning and I vow to do better the next day. I don’t sacrifice sleep either…some people think they have to stay up later or get up earlier to plan their meals. Nope, just take the time that you would spend on facebook or watching tv, and wow, there’s a whole hour or two right there.
People hate arguing this stuff with me because I always win ha!
As for the amount of money people are spending, it may seem expensive at first but again, I find that if people had their portions under control they would be amazed that they could make a meal last for days! I live off my leftovers.
okay I went off on a tangent there…sorry. Great post!
And it doesn’t even have to take an hour or two to prep! Just buy a crockpot–requires absolutely no effort, just throw ingredients in there and come back hours later and you have a huge amount of good, cheap food that will last you a week! Haha, there IS no way to win when arguing against planning–it’s cheaper, pretty sure it saves time in the long run even if it takes a little effort up front, and is so much better for you than eating out all the time! And there’s no way buying whole foods ends up costing any more than frozen meals or eating out. Even cheap frozen meals are at least $3 each, and that’s for some pretty cruddy food!
Be still my math-loving heart. I love when you get all numbers in a post. I find these things so fascinating.
I channel my inner you when I’m playing single-girl and Andrew’s out of town. It’s super easy to eat healthy and cheap. I won’t divulge my current monthly food budget because it’s rather…excessive, but I kind of love it. I figure as long as you’re still saving money and getting what you want out of life, then go for it.
So that means you better be saving up for something awesome with all that saving!
If I lived across the street from my “fridge,” I’d be in grocery-budget trouble too ;D And it’s more an issue of I am absolute NOT saving in any other area of life–turns out training/traveling regularly adds up…So the money IS going towards something awesome, it’s just not being saved in the process…
Then it’s totally okay. You’re spending it on something awesome. I get annoyed when I spent a ton of money on food and have nothing to show for it (like memories with good friends, or a new restaurant on vacation or something). Then I balk at buying something like a new jacket but end up spending the same amount of money over the course of a few nights out. Frustrating. :p
PS – What’s your secret for chopping your butternut squash? Your huge muscles?
My secret is I finally bought halfway decent knives, haha. Plus it’s homegrown, which I feel has a slightly less rock-hard skin than the grocery store version. It’s still a challenge.
THIS IS AWESOME. I love following a budget, I love eating good food, I love getting big and strong. Your WIAWs may be my favorite blog posts ever.
I absolutely follow a budget. I aim for $150-200 per month, which I guess works out to $5-$7 per day. This also includes a lot of unnecessary sweets and junk food. I should try cutting those things out for one month and see how that affects my budget?
Oh my gosh, the second pre-processed/pre-made things are cut, the cost goes down like woah. If I just cut out protein powder, I’d immediately save over $2 a day. And that’s just protein powder, not snackies. Which are delicious and definitely find their way into my grocery cart, but are definitely more treat-priced than daily-food priced.
Holy crap girl – I’m so impressed at how much you budget!! I’ve never done the math, but I know how much we spend on 1-2 weeks of groceries. I don’t think I’m doing anywhere near as well as you, but I don’t really try either. You are awesome!
I’m definitely better about it now that I have to plan and prep so many meals–it makes me buy in advance/bulk and really think of what I’ll be eating all week. Woah, this training is forcing all sorts of good habits on me…
Unexpected perk of figure competition training!
Ahhh BC and AC … that pretty much made my day!
I make sure I use up what I have in my fridge as much as possible b4 going out to buy more (so I don’t let things go bad or to waste!) Tofu egg looks really interesting!
That’s a lesson it took me forever to learn! Don’t buy new veggies until the old ones are gone…or you’ll be throwing out moldy, limp greens. Seems so obvious now…
This post is absolutely brilliant Allie!! Brilliant!! I am sooo glad you did this! And to prove that you can even eat organic and at Whole Foods WITH protein powder in the mix is even better!! I definitely must share this, if you don’t mind?!
Of course I don’t mind that you shared ;D Still made my whole day yesterday! No excuses for not eating well, there’s a way to fit it into any budget!
Look at you kicking ass on a budget. I need to take some tips from you. My grocery bill is ridiculous, but the I hoard food like a food hoarding machine. Glad your poo shake was good. I had a similar one without the chocolate and it looks like blood. How fitting for Halloween.
Haha, I need to remember to make a beet n’ berry shake on Halloween so I can bring in my own blood-like drink to the office ;D
Now that I am living off campus budgeting is a HUGE part of my routine. I never realized how expensive some things I normally buy are – like fruits and veggies. Buying in season really helps decrease the cost!
So true about staying in season! I love cherries, but I pretty much only buy those at the end of summer when they’re in season–half the price, plus they actually have flavor then
Great budget-friendly food!
I used to budget when I lived away from home but now I don’t do grocery shopping
When I did live away though I pretty much ate the staples- oatmeal, bagels, pasta, carrots, tomatoes, cucumbers, cabbage, peanut butter, bananas, and apples. Oh a tonnes of different legumes! The amount of money I spent on food was tiny but I didn’t have the healthiest diet. I’m really working on getting myself to be less thrifty and crazy as that might sound!
I love the idea to this post. I don’t think I’d have the patience to sit down and add up how much everything cost. Credit to you girl
… ohh & of course, all of your meals look delicious (when don’t they though??)
I think in general, we are very thrifty with our food. I really should start tracking it. I always say I’m cheap and I am…I need to put my money where my mouth is. This is an example of where that line really works! Great job, Allie!!
This is so interesting Allie! It’s true meat really ups the cost of meals. That’s where we spend the most. Mostly fish and chicken but it’s still pricey!
You grew your own butternut squash?! Awesome! I love talking money and LOVE that you did this post like this! So interesting! I try and keep my weekly grocery budget under $50 but I do spend a lot eating out too. It’s weird- before I lived with someone and shared groceries, I was much better about scrounging and making something out of nothing in the fridge but now I let a lot more go to waste I think because I have a plan of what I’m making each night and rarely stray from that even if I have leftovers…
I am so nosy I love talking numbers. I couldn’t agree with you more about healthy food being cheap, umm lentils anyone? Potatoes, eggs, beans, all great quality, inexpensive food.
I LOVE this post, obviously. I do love a good deal and while I don’t eat a veg diet, I do eat a pretty healthy one. I make sure to shop the sales and won’t buy something just because I want it, if it is an expensive thing.
i love your tofu egg! such a cool idea!!! love how u budget as well, should definitely start doing it too!
Awesome! I try to budget for food. I do pretty good most times … But then for the times I don’t, I’m ok with that. I love cooking, so I think doing something I enjoy makes it worth it. But people that go out to lunch all the time have to spend way more than me!!
Very nice! I don’t budget…I kinda act like an ADHD child whenever I go grocery shopping. If I want something, I buy it (depending on how bad I want it, I may or may not look at the price) but I DO look for a good deal when I can find it! Protein powders are probably one of my biggest weaknesses…I’ve shelled out some major dough for them! And RAW protein powder? Gag me! I still have half a container of it from buying it LAST YEAR…just can’t seem to find a good way to eat it where it doesn’t taste like ground up chalk! Ick!
I’m SO trying that cottage cheese/mushroom combo! Yum!