Vegan Hacks and Recipes that will Slash your Grocery Bill – Introducing The Grocery Hunter
Have rising grocery prices been on your mind lately? Given the steep increase in cost of living, the grocery budget seems to be the quickest spot to cut our expenses. Below I will talk about budget tips when it comes to eating a whole foods plant based diet, as well as explore two budget-friendly recipes that will satisfy your taste buds without breaking the bank. Whether you’re a seasoned vegan or just starting to incorporate more plant-based meals into your diet in an effort to save money, these cheap vegan meal ideas will leave you feeling satisfied and nourished.
Watch: Cheap Healthy Vegan Meals under $2 per Serving
Plant Based Goodness
One quick and easy way to reduce the grocery bill is by replacing animal based protein for plant based. While plant based items have not escaped inflation, the cost of plant based vs. animal protein is still cheaper. (Source: The Toronto Star Article)
Take a look at the following comparison of cost per 100 gram of plant based proteins vs. chicken breast. 100 grams of organic chicken breast costs $3.50. While 100 grams of organic tofu is as low as $1.08. If you look at the cost of lentils per 100 grams it is even cheaper at $0.73!
The Grocery Hunter
A website called The Grocery Hunter was used to gather the pricing information above. The pricing for these products are from a local grocery store in the Greater Toronto Area, Canada region. The Grocery Hunter is your one stop website for comparing grocery prices and in stock availability at your local stores. This smart cart website allows you to seamlessly enter your entire ingredient list at once. Then it will search nearby stores to see if your items are in stock and which store has the best pricing.
As a mom of three young kids who needs to be efficient with my time, I found myself becoming constantly frustrated when I would go to do my grocery shopping and find my items to be out of stock. This left me having to run to multiple stores often settling for purchasing the items I needed at a higher price. This is exactly why I helped co-found this website.
Currently The Grocery Hunter is available for those residing in Ontario, Canada but if this is something you’d like to have in your area then let me know in the comments! Try it HERE.
Money Saving Tips for Grocery Shopping
Like most of my recipes, the lunch and dinner options I lay out in this post focus on whole foods plant based ingredients. You may be thinking that purchasing these items could become expensive, but I have some tips on how to save money when it comes to living a whole foods plant based lifestyle. Let’s get into some general budgeting tips for grocery shopping below.
- Pay attention to your package sizes and per unit or per 100g pricing. Typically the larger the package size the cheaper the per 100g pricing is. See the example above for chickpeas. While it may look like buying the smaller package size will result in a cheaper grocery bill today, if chickpeas is a staple food in your diet, over time you will actually end up spending more by purchasing the smaller pack size.
- If you have access to a pressure cooker or instant pot, buy your beans, chickpeas and lentils dry instead of canned. The dry legumes are much cheaper than the canned option. If you don’t own an instant pot I would suggest thrifting one or grabbing one when it is on sale. This is an upfront investment that will cut your grocery cost for years to come. This is the tool I use for cooking my dry beans. (affiliate link)
- Take a look at brand names, usually in house generic brands that are owned by the grocery chain are cheaper than other brands.
- Play around with organic and conventional. If having organic produce is important to you and you are on a budget, then focus on purchasing the dirty dozen items organic and the rest conventional. For a list and more information on the dirty dozen and clean fifteen head to the EWG website.
Cost Breakdown
Below is a breakdown of the cost for each recipe along with what my total grocery bill came to for these two meals. The total grocery bill amount will be higher since I am not using up all of the ingredients in each recipes.
The total cost to buy all of the items for both recipes from a store based in Mississauga, Ontario, Canada would be $69.72. You can see the price difference of going to different grocery stores all within a 10KM radius of your location. The above comparison is a simple example of how The Grocery Hunter helps you save money when grocery shopping. Note that I did not include the cost of salt, pepper and hot sauce since these are usually pantry staples most of us already have on hand.
Recipes
I included one dinner and one lunch budget friendly option below. Even though these recipes come in at under $2 per serving they are still nutrient dense and comforting. If you want to give The Grocery Hunter a try to find these recipes just copy and paste this ingredient list below:
- Butternut Squash
- Organic Yellow Onions
- Organic Garlic
- Red Leaf Lettuce
- Ground Cumin
- Ground Coriander
- Celery
- Red lentils
- Vegetable Broth
- Plant Based Butter
- Chickpeas
- Dijon Mustard
- Tahini
- Dried Cranberries
- Pumpkin Seeds
- Sourdough Bread
For additional recipes, you can download the 4 Wholesome Vegan Snacks Recipes E-book by subscribing to my newsletter below. The book will give you 4 easy simple recipes as well as the ingredient list that you can copy and paste right into The Grocery Hunter to find your items at a grocery store near you.
Vegan Butternut Squash Lentil Soup
Equipment
- 1 Blender or Immersion Blender
- 1 Dutch Oven or Large Pot
Ingredients
- 2 tbsp Olive or Avocado Oil
- 1 Medium Butternut Squash Peeled and Cubed
- 1 Large Yellow Onion diced
- 4 Garlic Cloves finely chopped or minced
- 1 cup Red Lentils
- 1/2 tsp Coriander
- 1/4 tsp Cumin
- 1/2 tsp Salt
- 4-6 cups Vegetable Broth
- 2 tbsp Vegan Butter
- Salt and Pepper to taste
Instructions
- Rinse the red lentils well in a colander until the liquid is no longer cloudy
- Add Oil to a warm pot and add chopped onions
- After 5 minutes and once onions start to brown add minced garlic and stir frequently for 1 minute
- Add cubed butternut squash to the pot along with the ground coriander and cumin. Stir and cook until spices become fragrant
- Add red lentils, stir to incorporate and add 6 cups of vegetable broth
- Bring to a boil then let simmer for 15-20 minutes until lentils and squash becomes tender
- Turn off stove and blend with immersion blender until smooth, add more broth to thin out the soup if it is too thick. If using a blender skip this step
- If using a blender, transfer to a blender and blend until smooth. You can do this in multiple batches. Make sure to remove the opening on top of blender but cover with a towel to catch the steam. Add more broth as needed to thin out
- Add salt, black pepper and vegan butter and mix together. Adjust these ingredients to your taste.
- Enjoy a big bowl on its own or serve with some toasted sourdough bread on the side.
Vegan Chickpea Salad Sandwhich
Equipment
- 1 Food Processor or Potato Masher
Ingredients
- 2 19oz cans chickpeas
- 1/3 cup tahini you can do half tahini half mayo
- 1/3 cup dijon mustard
- 2 celery stalks chopped
- 1/4 cup dried cranberries
- 1/4 cup pumpkin seeds
- salt /pepper to taste
- 1-2 tbsp hot sauce optional
- 1 lettuce leaf optional
- 2 slices of bread
Instructions
- Drain and Rinse canned chickpeas and pat dry.
- Add chickpeas to a food processor along with tahini and dijon mustard and pulse until most of the chickpeas are mashed. Transfer to a large bowl. If you are using the potato masher method, skip this step.
- Lay out the chickpeas on a flat plate and mash with a potato masher, make sure to leave a few chickpeas un-mashed for texture. Transfer to a large bowl and mix in tahini and dijon mustard.
- Add celery and hot sauce, pepper and salt to taste and mix well.
- Scoop out about 1 cup of the mixture and serve as part of a sandwich using your favourite bread. Optional add ins for your sandwich are lettuce, pickles, jalapenos or sauerkraut.
- Store leftovers in an airtight container in the fridge for up to 5 days.
This soup and sandwich combo is so delicious. Also, The Grocery Hunter is a game changer for finding the best price and location of recipes.
My kiddos love chickpeas so I can’t wait to try this recipe!
Yay! Hope it goes well!!
This soup is delicious, easy to make and a great meal on the days you do not want to eat meat.