Philosophical Vegan Forum

Hello fellow vegans. Recently Rich Roll posted a video on YouTube to see how much food you can get for $25 dollars. He challenges us to see how much we could buy for $25. So I decided to take up the challenge and share my spoils. So for $25 this is what I bought. I went over by about .53 cents but I was amazed at how much food I could get.

5lbs of carrots
5lbs of rice
6lbs of banana's
6lbs of apples
10lbs of potatoes
3lbs of oatmeal
2lbs of lentils
3 cucumbers
1 bunch of coriander aka cilantro
1 bunch of spinach

https://drive.google.com/open?id=0BzGCt ... TdoQXk3Z2M
https://drive.google.com/open?id=0BzGCt ... mNIZENDd2s

I have also gotten some amazing deals at farmers markets so I'll share those at a later time. I challenge all of you to go out and see how much you can buy for $25.00 and share your spoils.

Sounds like a great challenge.

I hate to sound like a broken record on this, but I am very concerned with what you've bought. Eating those things in roughly that ratio is not nutritionally adequate -- not by a long shot. You have bought not anywhere nearly enough beans, and far too many carbs. If you eat this way, you will become ill over time due to nutritional deficiency.

Zinc is low, Calcium is dangerously low (a little lower than RDA may be OK, but not that low) as well as B2, and your fatty acids are also dangerously low -- we need essential omega fatty acids.
This is not just my opinion. I plugged in what you bought into cronometer to confirm this.

You need to at least double the beans (I would also add variety, chickpeas, etc.) to get your minerals back up, and you need to increase veggies a lot, and add in a lot of nuts and seeds for EFAs. Save money on the bill by buying frozen veggies (like frozen broccoli, collards, kale, etc.), and by cutting out the fruit (which is expensive, but provides you little nutrition) so you can afford nuts and seeds (sunflower seeds are cheap, walnuts (a source of omega 3) aren't).

Carrots are a good deal, always buy and eat carrots.
I do not recommend rice, since it's poor nutrition.
Bananas and apples are a bad idea too, like rice.
Potatoes are so-so. Not a terrible deal, but remember you're mostly buying water. Not the best choice for budget shopping.
Oats are a great deal. Lots of high quality protein, fiber, and minerals. Always buy and eat lots of oats. Super cheap and healthy.
Lentils are amazing, a great every day superfood. But you need to buy and eat a lot more than this. But also branch out into other beans too for variety.
Cucumbers are fine as a garnish, they don't provide a lot of calories or nutrients, though. I would save money and skip them.
Cilantro is good, but expensive per pound, so it's a bad value. However, it's a good spice to flavor your food with if you like the taste. Choose cheaper veggies if you can, though, and buy dried spices (a better value). I recommend frozen for veggies and dried for spices because it's usually the cheapest.
Spinach can be problematic because it's high in oxalates -- I suggest cruciferous veggies instead like broccoli, kale, collars, mustard greens. Again, I recommend frozen -- it's cheaper and often fresher (because it's frozen fresh, while veggies on shelves can be weeks old). You need a lot more veggies than this. I'd recommend aiming for a pound a day (or at least half a pound a day).

If you would like, I can make specific recommendations for your budget. The main thing is to make sure you plug in your purchases to cronometer to make sure you can eat enough nutrition with that purchase.

I already have stocked most of what you suggest. I also get most of my produce dirt cheap at farmers markets or ethnic grocery stores. The challenge is about showing how eating vegan is cheap.

Allison-vega wrote:I already have stocked most of what you suggest. I also get most of my produce dirt cheap at farmers markets or ethnic grocery stores. The challenge is about showing how eating vegan is cheap.

I know you don't quite understand what I meant, so I'll give an example.

So, imagine this:
Somebody answers the challenge by buying with $25:

520 oz vegetable oil
http://www.walmart.com/ip/10451002?wmls ... 92&veh=sem

That's it.

Based on calories, this is enough to eat as a vegan for 66 days!
Therefore: veganism is cheap!


Can you see the problem with that logic?
This looks absurd to other people, because it really is unhealthy.

The only way to prove veganism is cheap is to use that money to buy enough food in the right ratio for a sustainable and healthy diet.

For 25$ I can buy a ton of Lentils, some collard greens, pasta, tomato sauce, Almond milk, and a couple of bags of bruised produce to last me a few days, if not a little over a week. I already showed NUMEROUS times on my many social media accounts that you can be vegan for cheap, for example:

https://www.instagram.com/p/BCUjtYRKeoZ/
http://plantbasedlucy.tumblr.com/post/140102149699/13-dollar-vegan-haul-from-dollar-tree
http://plantbasedlucy.tumblr.com/post/134083311204/first-vegan-shopping-receipt
http://plantbasedlucy.tumblr.com/post/137314348809/all-this-vegetables-and-fruit-cost-me-just-20

It is VERY easy to be vegan for cheap. You just need to learn how to balance money