Money Saving Tips for New Vegans

Shop Online

Wide Range to Choose From: Doing your food shopping online has many benefits, from saving time and money to giving you access to a wider range of products. For new vegans, shopping online at places like Ocado gives you more variety for the, often pricey, vegan alternatives. Find over 20 different types of vegan cheese from basic and affordable to those for special occasions, rather than the one or two types in Sainsburys and other supermarkets. Search “vegan” in the search box to find a whole list of vegan items, and search by price to get the cheapest.

Online Only Savings: Other savvy ways to save online include cheap delivery when you book certain time slots, and using online voucher code websites to get money off your shop. Sites such as Discount Promo Codes offer regular free delivery codes, give you direct access to sale pages and offer exclusive money off codes for many products.

Use Social Media

Joining or following local vegan social media pages is a greatly underrated tool for new vegans, especially when it comes to saving money. With Facebook groups such as Supermarket Finds UK or Cheap Lazy Vegan, you can ask questions about veganism, and search for posts about specific vegan products to find just what you need. People are always sharing their latest supermarket finds, vegan news, and discussing current deals and offers.

Bulk Buy & Cook in Batches

If you are just starting out your vegan journey, or are continuing with Veganuary, bulk buying foods can save you time, money and food waste. With cheap online delivery and cash and carry options, bulk buying tinned goods with a long shelf life such as beans, soup and veg means you can be stocked up on the essentials. Dried foods such as pasta and rice are easily available to buy cheaply in bulk, and can be adapted easily to personal taste with herbs, spices and fresh ingredients. Why not find some vegan recipes you want to try out, and get the ingredients in bulk? Large packs of frozen vegetables are not only cheap (especially from places such as Iceland), but you can cook large batches of your favourite recipes.

Go Shopping in the Evening

Shopping in the evening is an easy way of saving money, as well as being convenient. Many shops begin reducing prices of foods by at least 50% from 4pm, with many supermarkets offering discounts of up to 75% from 7pm. Although most foods are discounted due to a close sell by date, often the use by date on items is longer and they can last at least a week more. This is also great if you need a snack on the way back from work, such as the vegan wraps available in Tesco and Sainsbury’s, or a quick ready meal for the evening such as Tesco Vegan Lasagne.

Find the Best Price by Shopping Around

Although shopping around for the best price can sound like a time-consuming task, once you find the best bargains it can be very rewarding. When I first became vegan, I remember shopping around and taste testing the few vegan foods available at local supermarkets to find the best products at the best price. In recent years the number of vegan items readily available has sky rocketed, with the dairy alternative market growing by a huge $5.2 billion since 2016. This broadening range of products has also come with some unforeseen benefits as the price of the basic essentials (such as milk and margarine) have significantly decreased. This price drop varies from shop to shop, with basic long-life Soya Milk in Sainsbury’s being now 90p compared to Morrisons where it’s only 59p. The long-life products allow you to stock up on essentials but not at a price close to standard dairy milk at 80p for 2 pints, 21p more expensive than a litre of Soya.

Grow Your Own

Growing your own fruit and veg has become somewhat trendy in recent years, with allotments becoming more popular and people wanting to live more sustainably. As a new vegan, growing your own fruit and veg can not only save money at the supermarkets but can also become a great new hobby. Now with tips online about the easiest vegetables to grow, you can get growing in your own back garden! Why not even look to planting herbs to flavour your food? Herbs are easy to grow and can be grown inside if you don’t have a garden. You can even buy the herbs in the plastic pots on your next shop to get you started.

What you Already Use & What to Look Out For

Already Vegan Essentials: The majority of vegans have become so having had a number of years as a vegetarian. With the number of Vegans increased by 360% in 10 years according to the Telegraph, going from vegetarian to vegan has the advantage that many of your store cupboard essentials are not just vegetarian also vegan.

Top 10 Already Vegan Foods

• Bread
• Pasta
• Gravy (e.g. Bisto original)
• Meat-free Mince (Most is vegan)
• Spreads & Sauces (e.g. Jam, Peanut Butter, Ketchup)
• Baked Beans
• Biscuits & Doughnuts (e.g. Oreos, Co-op doughnuts)
• Rice
• Rice Noodles
• Crisps (e.g. Most Walkers Crisps and Pringles)

Things you Thought were Vegan: One thing to look out for is certainly items which many people assume are vegan, but aren’t. These include vegetarian items such as most of the Quorn range (which does now offer a Vegan range), fresh pasta and noodles which often contain egg. It’s the items like Milk chocolate that take you buy surprise as your average person forgets that it contains milk. Even wines and beers can be non-vegan with them being passed through fish intestines to purify.

Top 10 things to look out for

• Chocolate & Sweets (Many sweets contain Gelatine from animal bones!)
• Wine and beer
• Crisps (Some salt and vinegar crisps contain milk, but many prawn cocktail crisps are vegan!)
• Soups & Sauces (Such as Pesto which contains cheese, or Worcester sauce with Anchovies)
• Salad Dressing (A few contain Rennet)
• Some Cereal
• Dairy Free Cheese (Often just Lactose free, with other milk ingredients)
• Dairy Free Milk
• Beauty Products (Many have been tested on animals or contain Milk or Beeswax)
• Veggie Burgers (Often contain milk/egg)