Reducing expense of vlf veggie eating:
1. Don't try to replace meat with veggie replicas.
My personal exception - Gimme Lean and Boca Burgers
They are usually on sale somewhere around where I live and then I
stock up. The Boca Burgers are especially nice for those nights when
you just don't want to "think" about food, you just want to eat!
2. Buy in bulk whenever possible. My co-op has a nice selection of whole
grains. I buy large amounts and keep them in the freezer.
3. Buy non-canned items whenever possible. For instance, bags of raw
beans instead of cans of pre-cooked. Cook up batches of beans on a
weekend and freeze them in portion sizes.
4. Buy frozen veggies and fruits. This may seem controversial to some.
However, where I live, the fresh stuff sometimes gets pretty raggedy
looking during the winter months, and the frozen stuff is less
expensive and stores better. And, I have a variety of frozen stuff to
choose from.
5. Make your own stocks, bread, spaghetti sauce, etc. from scratch in
large batches and freeze. (I used to think this was NEVER going to
work for me, and now I can't imagine not doing this!)
RE: feeding the kids. I think this is a topic that needs to be dealt with
with a great deal of sensitivity. I have a child, and she has her own
likes and dislikes and was raised as a meat eater for several years of her
life. She eats a mainly vegetarian diet at home, but I also try to meet
her needs for fun as well as nutrition. Don't expect the kids to embrace
this change with a great deal of zeal :-) It's taken Hannah many years to
figure out that I'm not going to cook her hot dogs every night for dinner.
But, she's getting there. I believe my main role as parent is to meet her
needs without necessarily forcing my beliefs on her. So, I do feed her
meat occasionally, and she eats cheese eventhough I don't. She also eats
tons of veggies and fruits, so I'm sort of lucky. Good luck!
Judy
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