Vegetarianism Saves Money,Saves the Planet!

Strictly, I'm not a true vegetarian as I eat fish but, as I do the shopping each week (I do it online and get it delivered), I have noticed that my part of the grocery list costs considerably less than my meat eating partner Adam's portion.

These days we tend to each cook our own food but use a common theme so we at least have some of the same ingredients.

The other night Adam decided he fancied a bolognese so he got out his minced beef to which he added chopped onions, tinned tomatoes, garlic, oregano and basil. His meal in total cost around 75p to £1. My bolognese used some of the chopped onions, the tinned tomatoes, garlic, oregano and basil but I added some celery, some frozen green beans and frozen sweet peppers. I've learnt that if you don't have meat you should have some form of beans, peas or pulses to ensure you have all the necessary nutrients to remain healthy. My meal cost less than 50p.

For many years I was a bit dubious about the nutritional value of frozen and tinned vegetables and fruit but I've now seen so many programmes that produce compelling evidence to that I'm now a great fan of tinned and frozen. Another thing I love about these products is that they're cheaper than buying fresh, plus you don't have rotting fresh veg hanging around for days which only have to be thrown out. This, in turn, means that although your fresh vegetables might be in season and relatively cheap, they're not so cheap if you have to throw half of them out.

Since 1986 when Adam and I moved in together I'd been used to doing the cooking for both him and me and I'm now finding it difficult to judge one portion so, needless to say, my bolognese sauce lasted for two meals. The next day Adam had a corned beef hash so he basically used half a can of corned beef which isn't cheap but me, being frugal, just added a few kidney beans and half a fresh chilli. Again, I didn't need a whole tin of kidney beans so they were put in the fridge to use another day. I had six fresh chillies in a bag costing 50p and as I only needed half a pepper my meal cost me next to nothing.

I wouldn't want Adam to give up meat but I think he is now coming round to my arguments and he isn't averse to having the odd vegetarian meal.

Going back to the frozen vegetables, I've recently discovered frozen cabbage. My supermarket introduced it a few months ago and as it was £1 for a big bag I gave it a whirl and was very pleasantly surprised and, again, I didn't have a smelly old cabbage mouldering away in my veg rack so money well spent. Having started my Asda order online today I've now noticed that they're doing frozen kale. Some of you may know that this is the latest superfood so, although two ½ lb bags of fresh works out the same as a 1 lb bag of frozen, I'm mindful that I may end up wasting some of the fresh so it's bound to work out cheaper.

When it comes to tinned vegetables I always have a good stock of sweet corn, peas, kidney beans, green beans and carrots … oh, and of course baked beans! The carrots are not as good as fresh but they're fine for sticking in a casserole.

So, don't dismiss the frozen veg aisles of your supermarket. You could be pleasantly surprised by just how cheap and versatile they are.

DON'T YOU HATE WASTE?

I've always loved Masterchef UK and, as in past years, I've been recording each episode of the latest series to watch at my leisure.  It's always good to be able to rewind if you've missed some minutiae of the preparation or presentation of the dish.  However, this year I've been more aware of some of the not very ecologically friendly aspects of the show.

The contestants cook up some extremely unusual dishes which I appreciate is the point of their entering the competition but, presumably due to the time pressures, more often than not at least of the contestants in each round totally cocks up; their 'mistake' ends up in the bin and they are then let loose to have a second attempt.  Once the time limit is up, these amateur chefs prettify their plates of food and take them up to the judges.  In many cases the fish/meat is either underdone or overdone - the judges reject it and presumably if it's overdone whatever remains on the plate is also relegated to the bin.  If the judges don't like the taste of some of the items on the plate again, these are taken back to the contestant's work station and I'm assuming are also thrown into the bin.

If the contestants manage to get through the next round they quite often get to work in a top Michelin starred restaurant.  They're shown, by the head chef, how to prepare and cook the dish they've been entrusted with but, again, the standards of the restaurant are so high that I've often seen plates of food rejected by the head chef and on occasions I've seen the contents of the plate being scraped into the dustbin.

I'm a pescetarian; I've given up eating meat but still eat fish.  I was appalled to see that a diner in one of these 'posh nosh' restaurants had ordered a mackerel dish.  The mackerel skin was to be fried in oil until it was crisp and brown but the poor amateur chef didn't take the fish out of the pan quickly enough and hence it was a little more brown than it should have been.  The head chef rejected the whole pan of fish fillets as they weren't up to scratch and these fish ended up in the bin.  Not only could they have been offered to the kitchen staff to take home and reheat but it didn't seem to occur to the restaurant that these half a dozen fish had died in order to end up here and their lives meant so little that they could just be disposed of in a bin.  I'm a great believer that you should respect your food whether it's animal based, vegetable/fruit or even simple everyday things like bread, but unfortunately so many humans don't think that their Sunday roast comes from a living, intelligent and feeling thing.

But, even apart from the posh restaurants, pubs, fast food chains and your average small restaurant also have a huge amount of waste.  I've recently read an article in the Guardian regarding how much waste there is in the 'eating out' industry.  The article isn't up to date (it goes back to 2014) but I suspect very few of the statistics have changed drastically.  It seems that fries/chips are the things that are most wasted.  I suspect this is in part due to fast food chains - KFC, MacDonalds, Burger King - who tempt you with 'extras' as part of a deal which means that the chips go uneaten.

Veg are next on the 'leave list'.  As a pescetarian I must admit that I eat all my veg as it's vital that I get other vitamins etc to balance the lack of nutrients I get from meat.  In particular peas and beans are good for that.  I'd rather go without a starter and just have the main meal and, if I still have room, a dessert.  If I do have a starter it's normally fruit juice or maybe melon.

At Number 3 on the list is meat - again, I'm horrified that diners have such disregard for the animal that's given it's life so they can have a jolly night out - wasn't so jolly for the poor cow, pig, sheep, chicken etc when they were queuing up at the abattoir.

I think we all need to be trained to make sure our eyes aren't bigger than our belly.  I've been in that position myself but since I've been living on a tight budget I'm far more aware of food waste  If I do have a takeaway, which is rare, I avoid the mega meal deals.  You may think you're getting a bargain but in actual fact you probably waste a lot of the food so you're better off buying a few dishes without all the tempting sides/drinks, desserts etc.

We really should be ashamed of the fact that so much food gets thrown away and hopefully some of you out there might see that we can live a much cheaper and healthier lifestyle if we just cut back a little bit on what we eat.  I was a massive eater a year ago but, little by little, I've been changing my lifestyle and, in the past year, I've lost over two and a half stone in weight and feel better for it.  

As an incentive to (in the main) women, I'm also now able to pay less for my wardrobe.  I don't have to buy clothes in a certain style or pattern to hide my lumps and bumps.  In fact, case in point, yesterday I was able to buy one bright red summer skirt and another in bright blue from Amazon.  One cost me 98p and the other 99p.  I wouldn't have dreamed of wearing such bright colours a year ago as I would have been worried that it would show off my over abundant figure but now I'm confident that I can wear more or less whatever I like which means I can find cheaper options.

I do hope this'll help some of you on a tight budget - but be sure I'll let you know what other interesting 'bargain bucket' ideas I can impart!