Cost of eating Oil-Free. Will I save money?

Meals can still be delicious and healthy with no oil…it has been a few weeks and we are adapting our buying, w/much less processed food for our kids coming into the house.

One of my patients just asked me “isn’t it expensive to eat this way?” The answer is an emphatic “No”! Our grocery bills have only gone down since going all plant-based, especially with removing processed food. That is accounting for inflation and increased food prices.

We shop at Aldi and the local Walmart for our organic produce to eat “clean” as Vegans. When you eat oil free and plant-based it is way less expensive than eating eggs, meat, cheese, and other dairy products ~ not to mention less pre-packaged food only means cheaper grocery bills. We also are joining our local CSA (Community Supported Agriculture) once again to get boxes of fresh organic vegetables each week, at a fraction of what grocery stores charge.

All year we sprout indoors and grow some cherry tomatoes/lettuce in an Aero-garden. We also grow some of our own food so the summer food bills are much less. We grow our own potatoes, tomatoes, cucumbers, carrots, lettuce, and squash with consistent success. Our Swiss chard, Kale, and Broccoli are colder weather crops that we get yield into the late fall and start earlier in the spring season. We are trying to grow fruits such as plums, melons, grapes, cherries, raspberries, and blueberries as well. Fruits are much harder for us, and so far the raspberries are the winner of the fruit crop. Grapes are now catching up as this is our fifth year with these vines. We have to beat the birds to the cherries and pay attention to the beetles and other bugs that come out at certain times during the growing season so as not to lose our crops.

The point is, as a whole food plant-based individual one can grow food to almost feed yourself, if not make a dent in the weekly grocery bills. It takes patience and a lot of containers to pull this off, as space is limited to grow, but it is an attainable thing. Everyone can grow something, even if you live in a tiny apartment with no land. Sprouting is an excellent tiny space, cost-effective way to grow your own greens!

It is a “win-win” to eat a whole food plant-based diet. We lose the unhealthy aspects of eating food that is full of additives and things that cause and promote disease, and at the same time we also save money in the process. There really is no downside to this way of living other than convenience. However, I believe that in purely seeking convenience one is losing control of what we put into our bodies for fuel. That is really why we have become so ill as a society in the first place. It is important to pay attention to the food products we all consume. If you actually have grown the food from a seed or a young plant yourself, one has a connection to the food that goes beyond satisfying hunger.

I would challenge anyone to strive to try this way of eating for a couple of weeks and honestly say they have no enhanced energy or feeling better. Additionally, if you are able to ONLY buy the foods that are whole food plant-based (i.e. buying less or not buying animal products or processed foods), I daresay that if you forgo counting the other “non-food” items in your grocery bill (such as paper and/or cleaning products) that financially you are saving money to boot! There really is no downside to trying this, other than it is outside of many people’s comfort zones and it is something that you need to plan for…healthy eating is attainable and affordable. Support to try this is there and that is why I am sharing my family’s journey here. We are happy to support people in their own health journey.