Vegan on a Budget

Today I was reading my facebook feed and an old high school friend of my posted the following:

"6 dollars and 83 cents for mcDonalds tonight.  Getting expensive".

It got me thinking....

The $6.83 price tag for that meal is probably nothing compared to the long term costs of managing the chronic diseases (high blood pressure, heart disease, type 2 diabetes) that can be prevented with a plant based diet.   I don't think most people really think about those costs when they are hungry and want a fast, cheap meal though.

One day I hope to help seniors decrease the number of medications they require through  proper nutrition.  I know that many seniors in our country really struggle to put food on the table due to budget restrictions.  Many rely on government programs, such as SNAP to supplement their weekly grocery budget.  Looking at the SNAP program in Colorado, the maximum monthly benefit amount for a household of 2 people is $367 per month.  That amounts to a mere $5.91 per person per day.  You could not even have my friend's meal at McDonalds for that.

I have been following the posts and blogs of an author in Florida - Ellen Jaffe Jones - for a few years now.  She has written a book called "Eat Vegan on $4 a Day".  I've decided to give this a shot.  So I ordered the book this morning.  It was really reasonably priced at $10.38 through Amazon.  Hopefully it will be here this week so we can begin an experiment next week.  I'm going to try to feed Dave and I a balanced, plant-based diet with a weekly budget of $56 per week.  For me, this might be a challenge.  Not the vegan part - we've been following a plant based diet for nearly 4 years.  But I'm definitely not a budget-minded shopper when I enter the grocery store.  If it I want it, it usually just makes its way into our cart.  But if I ever plan to really help people improve their diet, I need to experiment with various methods and eating plans to make sure they provide adequate nutrition and satiety within the limits of a very strict budget.  Plus, we'll save a bit of money in the process!  I think our normal food bill, including dinners out, has been averaging about $150-$200 per week.

Stay tuned as I use Ellen's book to come up with a weekly plan within the $56 per week budget, analyze the nutritional profile of the plan, and report back here our reactions to the plan.