Peanut-butter-and-jelly sandwiches are always on the menu, but there are also hot meals, thanks to groups like Hare Krishna, whose vegetarianism is part of their mission, and the Quaker Friends Center at 15th and Cherry.
"I would say almost all the meals here have at least had a vegan option. Most meals are vegetarian, at least, and a lot have been vegan," said Andrew Claxon, an Occupier who has assisted in some meals. "A lot of the donations like canned goods just happen to be vegan. Meat is pretty rare because we have no way to store it to keep it at a proper temperature for health reasons."
At home, you likely have a way to regulate food temperature. But using less meat can help stretch a food budget. A recent study in the American Journal of Clinical Nutrition said a good way to save money while improving health is to replace "some red meat with less-expensive whole grains and beans."
Last year, prolific cookbook author Robin Robertson released Vegan on the Cheap (Wiley, $17.95), with "pennies-a-serving" recipes and tips such as checking ethnic groceries for staples and making your own condiments.
Robertson points out that if you have a yard, or just a windowsill, you can grow some of your own food, another plant advantage.
This year saw the more specific Eat Vegan on $4 a Day by Ellen Jaffe Jones (Book Publishing, $14.95), a former TV investigative reporter. She goes into the consumer-ripoff aspects of our food system, such as the Department of Agriculture spending to promote meat and dairy vs. fruits and vegetables. Eat Vegan also has tips and recipes. (See a recipe from each book here.)
Four dollars a day too extravagant? The blog "Vegan for $3.33 a Day" chronicles how one woman puts these ideas into practice with even more savings. How low can these plant-strong penny-pinchers go? A dollar a day is a nice round figure - anybody?
