Make real savings this World Vegan Month

It’s the time of the year when crisp mornings make us think about heating our homes or craving a warm meal. What both have in common is price. Needless to say, since all costs are going up, we wonder where we could ‘pinch’ a penny or two. However, worry no longer; use Vegan Month to live healthier and make savings.

Number crunching

This bit is about to get a little mathsy, so get your thinking hat on. There are:

• 11,800 care homes for older adults in the UK
• A total of 320,300 older residents

Meals served per day:

• 960,900 meals served in care homes
• 199 million meals served in hospitals

Some of these numbers may be too big to imagine, so let’s talk money. How much would it save you to have a Meat-Free Monday for a month? Your menu might vary from the dishes mentioned here but I can guarantee that, by using smart swaps, you will make savings. This only includes main meals since puddings and snacks are optional extras.

Menu for November Meat-Free Monday per person

Calculations made in August 2023

*Ready-made tofu scramble was used for the calculation, hence the higher price, but you could easily make your own, which will reduce costs in cooked breakfast and scramble.

Breakfast includes 2 sausages, 2 eggs, tomato, baked beans and 2 slices of bread. By making your own veggie sausages you can cut the costs even more.

By choosing the correct ingredients you can ‘cut’ the price without compromising the nutritional value or the taste.

In a month you could save £17.15–£24.65 per person, depending on the prices of your provider.

Meat-Free Mondays or 3 meals per week over a year could save you £205.80– £295.80 per person.

Introducing more vegan meals in the week would lead to even more savings.

If you need more reasons why...

• Reduced CO₂ emissions and a minimised carbon footprint. Do check what your carbon emissions pledge is within your organisation.
• Often plant-based dishes require less cooking time to be prepared, which means saving time and energy.
• Increased vegetable intake, higher fibre content, a closer intake of vegetables and fruits to 10 a day.
• A change of menu could spark more interest in trying the food and looking forward to next meal.
• You may say that you don’t need to save but have a look from another side of things: by saving throughout the month, especially this close to Christmas, perhaps you would have more budget to make the festive season a little more special than last year (even though prices rising might have made you think it won’t be possible)?

Try vegan Mondays this November and see what responses you get. To make sure it is successful, get inspired:

https://vegetarianforlife.org.uk/recipes/menu-planners