The food news tends to focus in general on nutrition and health. And that can mean we miss some really good news. Like a recent study that showed a vegetarian or vegan diet is significantly cheaper – and more healthy – than a regular one…
Cost to feed the same household and percentage of US population that falls within each type…
Since the price of fresh produce shot up a few years back – in the 20-teens, before the COVID crisis struck – we’ve assumed one reason folks don’t eat ‘enough’ fresh fruits and veggies is they can’t afford it…
Deceptive dynamics
It turns out the dynamics of food price increases has masked a new reality that should make most folks happy. If not immediately, then soon. And for the rest of our lives.
We all sighed (and some of us cried ) when the price of animal protein – beef in particular, shot up. And some of us started spreading gloom-and-doom prophecies the price of fresh fruits and veggies also veered sharply upward around the same rime.
The price of food remains high today, due to a complex of general economic and industry-specific factors. But one big ‘story’ most of us have missed is, it’s now cheaper to adhere to a plant-based diet than it is to stick to a traditional red meat-focused Western diet. The reality that vegetarian or vegan eating is healthier than eating a lot of animal protein or processed foods, that makes it even more attractive to go ‘plant-based’.
How much cheaper?
According to the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA), American consumers spent an average of 11.2 percent of their personal incomes on food in 2023 (the last year for which comprehensive figures are available). That doesn’t seem like a lot, at first glance. But when you get other ‘necessities’ out of the way, like heat, light, power and water, rent or mortgage, phone and internet, transportation… Well, there’s not a lot left for food. Which is one of the expense categories where we actually have a choice of what we buy.
Now, there’s a survey that shows clearly how adopting a veggie-oriented diet can save significant money. That’s especially important for families at the low end of the income ladder who are already squeezed tight, financially.
What they found
The folks at CouponBirds wanted to see just how much of a difference going veggie’ might have on the average family’s food bill. And what they found was surprising.
It turned out that vegetarians saved $32.59 per week – $1694.68 per year – just because they didn’t buy animal proteins. Vegans saved less – just $8.56 per week, or $445.12 annually – possibly because some strictly vegan foods and supplements needed to maintain a ‘textbook’ vegan diet cost more than everyday supermarket foods that fulfilled the same functions or provided the same nutritional components in a vegetarian diet.
Nevertheless… The implication is clear. The average family can save significant bucks starting today by going plant-based. With the exception of eggs and some avian flu-affected dairy products that some vegetarian subgroups might consume, veggies are already cheaper overall than the ‘standard’ Western diet.
Vegetarians save even more compared to folks who choose to follow lactose or gluten-free diets.
My take
It’s almost as if the Great Shift (as I’m calling it) from the animal protein-focused Western Diet to plant-based was meant to happen. And the time it was meant to happen is NOW.
Which is providential, considering the effects climate change is pressing on the world’s food supply, and the shrinking array of food choices available to us all.
As I often remind my faithful readers, we’re all headed for a plant-based future. And the sooner we accept that ‘fate’, and start to accommodate to it, the easier it will be for us all to survive, and hopefully thrive, in the new reality…
~ Maggie J.