Need your help.....

Hello,

I have a limited budget & want to know were my fellow veggie friends shop & what cookbooks they use?

I have been a Vegetarian for 9 years now for personal, ethical, & moral reasons & I am trying to go vegan because I believe it's the right thing for me right now, but I need help

Can you help me please!!!

Its pretty easy to just simplify things and drop dairy completely without replacing it for most people. When I dropped dairy I just at the same things I was eating minus the cheese and if I was hungry I just ate more of whatever I wanted after making sure I got enough of the important stuff. Just make sure you get enough greens and fruits in before you start thinking about everything else.

Hi Veggiesgalore,

Since you live in Portland, you have access to most every vegan cookbook at the public library. I'm amazed at the selection available. Sometimes there is a waiting list but they tend to move quickly. I'm a bit of a cookbook collector so I don't have a favorite. There are some great online sites with lots of recipes. Congrats on going vegan!

Welcome again! You should come meet up with us in Portland sometime. There are a ton of places to shop at in Portland other than Whole Foods and New Seasons which can be very expensive. I go to those stores, but always find myself running out of money so I'm looking for other places to go to as well.

The co-ops are good, buying bulk is good, eating fresh raw fruits and veggies are great.

There are places like The Grocery Outlet that are very inexpensive, and other general grocery stores that carry more and more healthy foods all the time.

In general, I think the less processed foods the better. Fruits, veggies, nuts, grains, seeds, etc. are all good and available all over town.

Come hang out sometime too

Welcome!

Welcome to the forums.

hi and welcome.

in hard times my wife and i fall back on a small handful of foods, all of them are cheap -

lentils

brown rice

carrots

frozen spinach

oil (olive if you can afford it, canola if you can't)

whole wheat flour - can be used for pancakes, biscuits, etc.

bananas

tomato paste

nutritional yeast

salt

those foods, after a month or so, get incredibly monotonous, but we've lived on them for three months straight before, and you get used to them, and the cost almost NOTHING. it's hard to eat food that's decent and healthy that costs less than that.

Bananas, lentils and chickpeas... And whatever greens are a good deal I guess. It's not easy to eat well and cheaply. I wish the fruit growers were subsidized instead of the meat/dairy producers.

Welcome to the forum!

Welcome Veggiesgalore!

Hi there, I see that you are in Portland ! Well, there is a potluck this weekend and our moderator will be speaking there as well. I'm sure that there will be as many delicious dishes there as there was the last potluck that I went to. If you can write fast, the dishes usually have the recipes

posted near them. Please come out and play with us and you can find maybe some good and inexpensive foods to eat. I will be making vegan ice-cream and I will bring a few recipes as well. Fred Meyers organic section has a very low price compared to some of the other stores that I have been too. I just got home from there and I bought organic potatoes for 99 cents a pound. Potatoes are really filling and loaded with potassium. If you like greens such as romaine or green leaf lettuce, they are loaded with minerals, 12,000 gorillas can't be wrong. If you post that you will be there for sure, I'll bring some recipes that are budget conscious ........ But our moderator is the real pro. Here's the info regarding the potluck ......... Mods, I read the rules but I'm not clear if my posting this potluck violates anything or not ??? --- Please let me know ??? ---------Bikerdave---------

POTLUCK WITH OUR MODERATOR:

Join Northwest VEG at the Trinity United Methodist Church at 39th SE and Steele in Portland. Please bring a vegan or vegetarian main dish, salad or dessert, a card listing its ingredients, and plates and utensils for your use. If you come alone, figure the amount to serve 4-6; increase the amount 4 servings for each additional person in your party/family. Northwest VEG potlucks are alcohol-free events, and we start eating about 5:15 pm.

After the meal, Northwest VEG Board Member, Robert Cheeke, will talk about nutrition for the vegan athlete. Robert is a nationally known vegan body builder. He is associated with many vegan athletes throughout the country, and even the world, in promoting athletic fitness through vegan nutrition.

For more information call (503) 224-7380 or email [email protected]. If you can volunteer to help at the potluck, please contact [email protected] or call (503) 224-7380. A donation of $2-5 per person is suggested to help cover the cost of the room rental.

It's just fine to post this potluck. I posted it as well in the Events section or Regional section.

It should be a fun time this weekend. I hope to see many of you there. It's also xdarthveganx's birthday that day.

Welcome!

Heya Jacqueline!

Good to see yr post.

Some general tips: Shop around, buy whats on sale & use coupons!

For Portland area folks the #1 book I suggest for keeping yr vegan food bill down is the Chinook Book: http://www.chinookbook.net - they also have these for Seattle & the Puget Sound area, Minneapolis/St. Paul + the East Bay area in California.

It runs $20 & is well worth it! It has tons of coupons for food, grocery stores, restaurants & a whole lot more. I have LOTS of coupons left over from the 2007 CB that I'm happy to give ya for free. Between using coupons & buying stuff that's already on sale (preferably both at the same time), my family often saves as much as half or more over the everyday price of things.

There's also coupon books available for free at People's Food Coop, New Seasons, Wild Oats & Whole Foods.

Food 4 Less often has the best prices on (non-organic) produce.

Grocery Outlet has many organic & natural food products available well below what yr likely to pay elsewhere - the selection is always changing so it's a bit of a treasure hunt!

Farmers Markets & roadside produce stands can have great prices.

Trader Joes has great prices on some things.

Hope this helps!