The $21 A Week Challenge

I recently read a post on Vegan Hope where she brought up the idea of a $21-a-week challenge. Basically, she is challenging fellow vegans to eat $21, per person, for one week. This is basically a food stamp budget (and I think it's pretty accurate estimate of stamps here in Missouri).

Many critics of the vegan diet argue that it is "elitist", since healthy food can be expensive. It's true that many vegans are foodies who enjoy food and love to spend money on tasty things and expensive ingredients. It's also true that some tend to buy a lot of mock meats and processed foods which ARE very expensive. However, I think this challenge is a wonderful idea and it proves a very valuable point: eating healthy and living cruelty-free is attainable by everyone, regardless of their income. However, it does take planning and it does take some sacrifice. You many WANT that dried strawberry and almond organic granola, but for only 6 servings and $4 of your cash, it's just not gonna happen (especially if you're sticking to a $21-a-week budget).

I myself am very budget conscious. Although I have steady income, it's part-time only (they freak out if I work over 24 hours a week) and I'm a full-time college student. I live on my own and pay my own bills and I absolutely cannot afford to be extravagant with my grocery budget. Where I live we have an Aldi's , a Big Lots, a discount bread outlet, and that's about it. I shop sales and I look for bargains. I also tend to buy from bulk bins because it's cheaper and my legumes are always dried. We have no Whole Foods. We have no Wild Oats. There are no fancy bakeries or vegetarian restaurants, and the only farmer's market we have is a joke. So, it's not actually like I'm giving anything up or making any changes, I'm just going to be more aware of the money I'm spending.

Anywho, I'm recovering from a serious virus (that still might be food poisoning), so all this talk about food is kind of grossing me out right now, lol. I'll elaborate about what I'm eating and how much it's costing me at a later date. Probably Saturday. In the meantime, I have a few posts that have already been written that I'll post between now and then.