How Cut Out Carnivorousness to Boost Your Budget

Eating meat isn’t cheap. The cost of good, organic and responsibly farmed meat is pretty steep and, with supermarket prices seeming to shoot up every fortnight, cutting down on your family’s carnivorous streak could help to save you pennies and give you all a health kick too! If you’re considering taking a more veggie-friendly approach to your weekly shopping and food plan, we’ve put together a few facts and figures to inspire you, plus some great ideas to get your whole family tucking into cheaper, healthier meat-free food!

1. A Few Meaty Facts…
   

   
   Now, the Two Little Fleas team enjoy a juicy burger as much as the next on line bingo aficionado – but this isn’t about going totally meat-free (unless you’re a happy veggie already!). This is all about cutting down on the amount of meat you consume to make life cheaper and healthier too. Aside from the whole veggie morality debate, you’ll also be doing tonnes of good for the planet. Meat production is one of the worst industries which impacts our environment. But, closer to home, how does meat consumption affect you directly?

   Financially, the numbers speak for themselves. We’ve taken our numbers from Tesco this week:
   – 500g of organic beef mince = £4.00 (£8.00 per KG)
   – 500g of tinned chickpeas = £0.69 (£2.90 per KG)

   How about…
   – 500g chicken breast = £8.00 (£10.00 per KG)
   – 500g of red split lentils = £1.09 (£2.18 per KG)

   And when is comes to health, vegetables again come out on top:
   – Meat is full of saturated fats. These can stop your absorption of essential fats.
   – Eating too much saturated fatty acids can increase cholesterol and the chances of heart disease.
   – The average person in the developed world eats 30 animals every year – this is nutritionally unnecessary
   – Too much processed meat in a diet has been linked to premature death
   – Researchers now believe we should be eating not 5, but 7 portions of fruit and vegetables per day!

2. How to Eat More Veg

So how can you convince your young bacon and sausage monsters to swap kievs for kale?

• Don’t go ‘cold turkey’
  There’s no need to cut out meat altogether, but it’s time to start seeing it as a special treat. Keep meat for Sunday roasts or special family meals
• Variety is the spice of life
  Don’t stick to chickpeas and lentils. Branch out! There are so many delicious vegetarian recipes to try – and lots of inspiration to get you started too!
• Bulk up meat with veggies
  Instead of totally meat-free meals, cut down on the amount of meat you use in dinner time classics. Supplement half your mince for mixed beans or kidney beans in a chilli, or half the amount of chicken in your curry by replacing it with mushrooms or squash. (They’ll never know!)