Vegetarian families- do you spend more or less on your grocery food shop than meat eaters?

[VeggieWedgie]

You always hear people saying that eating vegetarian a few times a week will cut your grocery spend, but I'm interested to know if full time vegetarians actually spend less? Or do they end up spending more with meat substitutes etc?

We only eat red meat about once a month so it's mostly poultry apart from that, but I'm wondering if we could save more and be healthier by cutting out more of the meat/poultry from our diet. Problem is, we have one egg allergy in the family and 2 of us can't eat quorn.

What do vegetarian families typically eat, and is it really healthier and cheaper?

It's hard to know whether we spend less, since there I can't know how much we'd spend if we ate meat!

However, we do eat some meat substitutes, mainly the Linda McCartney ones because one of us is vegan. Mostly, though, the protein source for main meals is pulses, occasionally nuts or tofu. These are probably cheaper than meat?

Some of our regular meals which don't use meat substitute products are:
Lasagne made with lentils and vegetables in the tomato sauce layer
Coconut Dahl with rice
Vegetable fajitas with retried beans
Nut roast
Stir fry with tofu and cashew nuts
Jambalaya which has kidney beans
Falafels
Nut roast

You can get dried textured vegetable protein/ soya mince very cheaply which can be used as a meat replacement in pasta sauces and chillies.

Pre-kids we used to eat more curries, soups and stews but they are not so keen on these. We also used to eat more mushrooms but they don't like those either.

I only eat meat at home every couple of weeks (I'm not veggie, just tend to prefer veggie food).

And yes, when I do a 'meaty' shop it's definitely more expensive than usual.

That might be because I don't buy many meat substitutes, it's mostly fresh stuff.

It's really hard to say whether being vegetarian is cheaper because it depends what you buy?

Like if you buy all fresh produce, that'll be cheaper than buying all ready meals, which will be cheaper than buying all takeaways. The cost of your food depends a lot more on your individual habits than on whether or not you eat meat.

But in general, it depends what you replace the meat with. Eating lots of fake meat is generally more expensive than eating the same amount of real meat. But if instead of meat or fake meat you eat things like pulses, nuts and extra vegetables, you'll spend less than you would on meat or fake meat.

We're vegetarians (not vegans) and definitely spend less than would if we were meat eaters. Mostly because our meat substitutes are mostly pulses, lentils and dried soya mince. We don't tend to eat that much of the fake meat stuff. Often though stock up the freezer when Linda McCartney sausages are down to £1 or quorn pieces are half price.

Would spend a lot more ££ if got fancy meat substitutes or was vegan and got fake cheese etc.

I'm not sure really - I know I spend loads on fresh veg for all of us, and fruit for the baby, as I want to make sure we get a variety. But I tend to use beans and lentils or aubergine to replace the meat in things like curries, or dried soya chunks. I do treat myself to processed meat alternatives every now and then as I like a lot of them - the fishless fingers and quorn nuggets are great - but it's not every dinner. If you were eating decent quality meat every night you would spend lots more. Cheap processed meat, probably much the same, or less if you had it with bulky carbs rather than a few different types of veg.

Were currently not feeding a family as it is just my OH and I for now but thought I'd comment anyway - as others have said it completely depends what you buy as to whether is cheaper or not. We sometimes make chickpea or lentil curries which would work out about 50p for a tin of each. But then if we had a meat alternative like Quorn or Oumph it could be a couple of pounds instead for the meat alternative. Processed meat like chicken nuggets and sausages tend to be more expensive if you buy the veggie version but imitations of fresh meat like chicken breasts and mince are cheaper veggie. It all depends really 😊

Yes I have been a vegetarian for 20 years and there are times it's way more expensive. I've alway's gave my DCs meat so every day I cook 2 different meals. Me and dp are vegetarian and 4dcs eat meat.
Example. Nuts are very expensive lentil and beans are cheap. Fresh veg can also add up. I do not like premade veg meals they seem to be very salty. It costs more to make a vegetarian meal then it do a free range chicken meal. When you cook with veg you need spices stocks sometimes you have it in if not it can easily add up
Quality eggs cost £3 for 10
Cheese costs ave £3
Nuts various prices Ave £5 from grape tree
Oils stocks spices over £15
Lentils pulses beans £4
It's just a rough estimate although if you shop with bulk buying in mind you can do it cheaper if you shop weekly it can add up. From my experience.