The Budget Vegan

Shortcuts

• Address
• Alerts
• Claim ownership or report listing

• 

  Want your business to be the top-listed Food & Beverage Service in Ozark?

My Vegan Story

Back in August 2019, I had a pretty serious health scare. I always have eaten moderately healthy, barley ate red meat and drank water 90% of the day. I am also lactose intolerant so I never ate dairy and always ate the alternatives. But I was diagnosed with diverticulitis, also known as meat rot in the stomach. At this time I was 29 years old, and 234 lbs and also was borderline type 2 diabetic. I was scared. I didn't know what to do and the doctor wanted to prescribe 4 different medication that “may work”. I was never one for taking medications and wasn't going to start now. I went home and fell down a rabbit hole of information. I found so much information that dug deep for. information that was scary and information that was so helpful. The plant-based diet. I wanted to try to do something on my own and beat my diagnoses. I immediately went onto Pinterest and looked up hundreds of recipes. I wrote lists of nutritional info to keep a balanced diet. The next day I went shopping. I got discouraged and lost at what I was supposed to do. I spent WAY more than I expected to for a little over a week worth for just me, I spent around $260. That was more than my weekly budget of $120. I knew that it was going to be an adjustment and I knew it would be a process so that week I spent testing all the foods that I purchased. Many of the items that I got were processed vegan meals which played a huge part in my spending. After a week, I learned that about 90% of what I ate that week I could make from scratch and the cost would be so much cheaper. That Saturday, I sat down with my previous week's receipt and crunched some numbers and browsed Pinterest again for inspiration. Almost everything that I purchased the week before could be made from scratch! I was thrilled to find so many amazing recipes and was ready to battle the store again. It was a huge success! I spent $75 on groceries for 2 weeks! A lot had to do with an amazing sale that my grocery store had but I was so excited! I played around with so many flavors and ingredient combos that I probably would have never tried in the past and they were incredible. I wish that I had started the lifestyle sooner! By the time December hit I lost 40 lbs just eating right, I have learned how to cook food on a tight budget and still maintain a healthy lifestyle! My husband has also hopped on the plant-based train and on his own health journey. Which is how this page became to be! I look for recipes on Pinterest and make them my own so they are exactly how I like it! Then I share them with you for free! I hope that you all enjoy my creations! - Jessica