Low-Cost Vegan Menus
Based on USDA Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) Budget
By Reed Mangels, PhD, RD
In 1931, in the midst of the Great Depression, experts suggested, "that when there is little money to spend for food, the diet should be built around the grain products and milk, with enough vegetables and fruits to supply the necessary additional vitamins and minerals... The fruits and vegetables should be those that are in season and where possible, less expensive in price. Tomatoes, cabbage, carrots, and onions are all inexpensive vegetables."1 If we replace milk, which we can assume meant cow's milk in America in 1931, with soymilk, this statement can be said to promote a vegan diet as a relatively low cost way to meet nutritional needs.
How inexpensive can a vegan diet be and still provide health-supporting food without requiring hours of travel to different stores and lots of meal preparation? Sometimes vegan diets are perceived as expensive. Our experience has been that they can be pricey if we choose lots of convenience foods and out-of-season produce, and mainly shop at specialty stores. We've also found that vegan diets can be incredibly inexpensive and can be planned using foods that are readily available in supermarkets and big-box stores. We decided to plan a week of vegan menus whose cost would not exceed the food cost allotment from the United States Department of Agriculture's food assistance program.
The Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) is a federal program that provides nutrition benefits to low-income individuals and families. These benefits are used at stores to purchase food. The program is administered by the USDA Food and Nutrition Service (FNS). According to the most recent report, more than 36 million individuals, about 11% of the population, will participate in SNAP in 2020.2
Households that participate in SNAP are expected to spend about 30% of their own resources on food. The allotment (total amount of SNAP benefits) for a household is calculated using a maximum monthly allotment and subtracting 30% of a household's net monthly income. The maximum monthly allotment provides an indication of the government's expectation of food costs for a household. For example, the maximum monthly allotment for a four person household is $646 dollars for households in the 48 contiguous states and the District of Columbia. This works out to $148.26 to feed a family of four for 7 days (using 30.5 days/month). The allotments are different in Alaska, Hawaii, Guam, and the U.S. Virgin Islands.3
We planned a week's worth of vegan menus for a family of 4 consisting of a 40-year old male, a 40-year old female, their 13-year old son, and their 6-year old daughter. This family lives in an urban area. Menus were planned to meet the needs for most nutrients, to provide adequate calories, to use foods that would be available in chain grocery stores, and to be easy to prepare.
Weekday breakfasts and lunches required little preparation time; lunches were often based on leftovers. We planned on children packing lunch, since few schools have vegan options.
We sent volunteers to stores to check prices and item availability, and modified menus as necessary. When finding the cheapest price to use at stores, in general we looked for off-brand/store-brand versions of the ingredients. At times, the store brands came in sizes that were far larger than what was necessary for the recipe, so we looked for smaller, cheaper variations of the product. For products that would be used many times and would not go bad quickly, such as peanut butter or jelly, we used the price for the larger size packages. For products like spices, sometimes the store-brand sizes were too large, and even though they offered a better per-ounce price, they still cost more than the name-brand product for what was actually needed. In those cases, we opted to use the smaller package size. We used the regular price of items, rather than sale prices since sales are usually for a limited amount of time and don't reflect the price that a shopper could expect to pay.
The total cost of the menu was based on the amount of food actually used unless the food was perishable. For example, a container of salt might cost 89 cents but only 2 cents worth of salt would be used. We expect that some items will already be on hand and that this will balance out the cost of buying a larger amount of other items than is needed for a week.
Research volunteers went to stores in Maryland and Iowa. The cost of the menu and availability of foods varied as indicated in the table below. In many cases, if items were not available, we were able to use nutritionally similar substitutes. For example, if frozen collards were not available, we replaced them with fresh collards or frozen kale. In some cases, an additional store would need to be visited for a few products. For example, we did not find tofu at Walmart in Iowa, but it is available at other stores. In most cases, food for a family of four for a week cost less than the SNAP allotment of $148.26.
| Store, Location | Menu Cost for 1 Week of Food for Four People | Number of Items Not Available at Store |
| Giant Food Stores, Maryland | $151.37 | 0 |
| Save-A-Lot, Maryland | $102.28 ($123.56)* | 6 – tofu, soymilk, vegetarian baked beans, water chestnuts, soy sauce, whole-wheat tortillas |
| Walmart, Maryland | $136.21 | 0 |
| ALDI, Maryland | $117.46 ($135.03) | 9 – lentils, red lentils, split peas, tofu, cayenne pepper, vegetarian baked beans, water chestnuts, popcorn, whole-wheat tortillas |
| All above stores in Maryland, combined using lowest price for each food | $96.78 | 0 |
| Walmart, Iowa | $130.74 ($138.02) | 1 – tofu |
| ALDI, Iowa | $134.35 ($148.80) | 7 – tofu, lentils, red lentils, split peas, popcorn, water chestnuts, whole-wheat tortillas |
| All above Iowan stores, combined using lowest price for each food and making substitutions for unavailable foods | $116.63 ($123.91) | 1 – tofu |
*Amount in parentheses is the cost with all items included. Cost of missing items was estimated based on other area stores.
As you can see from the table on page 25, if you are able to shop at several stores, choosing the lowest-priced items from each store, your grocery bill may be lower than if you only shop at one store. However, time and transportation costs often limit people to shopping at one store. You can still have low-cost, healthy meals without going to three or more stores each week. We did not visit stores like Costco or Sam's Club, which require a yearly membership fee. If you can afford the membership and the cost of purchasing large quantities of staple foods like dried or canned beans, pasta, aseptically packaged soymilk, grains, and cereal, you may cut costs even more.
We developed the menus mainly using canned beans and a few quick-cooking dried beans. If you have the time to soak and cook other dried beans, this may be a less expensive option than canned beans. Cooked dried beans can be packaged in freezer-safe containers and frozen for later use.
Seasonal produce may be less expensive and can replace some of the fruits and vegetables we include in the menus. Prices for some produce may occasionally be lower at farmers markets; a growing number of farmers markets are redeeming SNAP benefits.
The menus were planned to use leftovers, thus reducing food waste and saving time on meal preparation.
Whether you're a student on a limited budget, a parent trying to feed your kids healthy foods while paying rent and dealing with other expenses, or an older adult on a fixed income, choosing a vegan diet can be a way to save money while eating a healthy, whole foods diet. The menus that are included in this project can be used by SNAP participants and others who need ideas for low-cost foods.
Thank you to our volunteers who contributed to this project: Casey Brown, Lauren Capano, Emily Carter, Amy Dell, Emily Greco, Hannah Greene, Autumn Hengen, and Katie Nunemaker.
REFERENCES
1 "An Inexpensive Christmas Menu" Housekeepers Chat, Washington, DC: USDA, December 22, 1931. Quoted in Zigelman J, Coe A. A Square Meal. A Culinary History of the Great Depression. New York, NY: HarperCollins Publisher; 2016. P. 93.
2 Food and Nutrition Service. USDA. Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program. www.fns-prod.azureedge.net/sites/default/files/resource-files/34SNAPmonthly-1.pdf.
3 Food and Nutrition Service. USDA. SNAP Eligibility.www.fns.usda.gov/snap/recipient/eligibility#Am%20I%20eligible%20for%20SNAP. August 14, 2019.
SNAP Weekly Low-Cost Vegan Menu
| Sunday | Monday | Tuesday | Wednesday | Thursday | Friday | Saturday | |
| Breakfast |
Pancakes* with
blueberries and pancake syrup
Orange |
Whole-grain cereal with soymilk and banana
Whole-wheat toast with jam or fruit spread |
Oatmeal with peanut butter Orange Soymilk (optional) Whole-wheat bread (optional) |
Peanut butter toast with a sliced banana and cinnamon
Apple (optional) Soymilk |
Whole-grain cereal with soymilk and banana
Whole-wheat toast with jam or fruit spread |
Peanut butter toast with a sliced banana and cinnamon
Soymilk |
Tofu scramble*
Hash browns* Orange Soymilk |
| Lunch |
Baked bean and pasta
casserole*
Steamed broccoli Peanut butter on whole-wheat bread (optional) |
Wrap with black beans and sweet potato
Cantaloupe cubes |
Garbanzo spread*
sandwich
Carrot sticks Banana (optional) |
Wrap with black beans and sweet potato
Banana or orange |
Spicy red
lentil dish* with brown rice (leftover from
Wednesday)
Collards (leftover from Wednesday) Apple |
Sweet bean sandwich spread* on whole-wheat bread
Orange |
Pasta fruit salad*
Chickpeas Whole-wheat bread (optional) |
| Dinner |
Black-eyed peas and
collards*
Mashed sweet potato Soymilk Peanut butter on whole-wheat bread (optional) |
Broccoli and tofu sauté* with brown rice
Corn on the cob Whole-wheat bread (optional) |
Wayne’s Tofu Chili* on whole-grain pasta
Steamed kale Soymilk |
Spicy red lentil dish* on brown rice
Cooked collards Soymilk (optional) |
Black bean burgers* on whole-wheat buns with sliced tomato
Baked sweet potato Steamed broccoli |
Fried rice*
Sautéed tofu* Mashed sweet potato Whole-wheat bread |
Lentil soup*
Whole-wheat bread Carrot sticks |
| Snack |
Cantaloupe cubes
Whole-grain crackers with split pea dip* |
Carrot sticks with peanut butter
Popcorn |
Peanut butter sandwich
Apple |
Carrot sticks with split pea dip* (leftover from Sunday)
Popcorn |
Whole-grain crackers with split pea dip* (leftover from Sunday) |
Carrot sticks with peanut butter
Soymilk (optional) |
Raisin cookies*
Banana Soymilk |
*Recipe provided online at www.vrg.org/nutrition/snap-weekly.php
© 2020 The Vegetarian Resource Group
Pancakes
Recipe by Reed Mangels, PhD, RD
(Makes 14)
1-3/4 cups all-purpose flour
1 Tablespoon plus 2-1/4 teaspoons baking powder
3/8 teaspoon salt
1-1/2 Tablespoons vegan sugar
1-3/4 cups soymilk
5-1/2 Tablespoons oil, divided
Blueberries (optional)
In a large bowl, combine flour, baking powder, salt, and sugar. Add soymilk and 3 1/2 Tablespoons of oil, and mix until flour is moistened. Place the remaining 2 Tablespoons of oil in a large skillet and heat on medium-high heat. When the oil is hot, pour batter into circles about 4 inches across. Cook a few minutes on one side, until bubbly, and then flip and cook on the other side about 2 more minutes or until golden brown.
| Total calories per pancake: 122 | Fat: 6 grams |
| Carbohydrates: 15 grams | Protein: 2 grams |
| Sodium: 209 milligrams | Fiber: 1 gram |
Lentil Soup
From The Lowfat Jewish Vegetarian Cookbook
by Debra Wasserman
(Serves 4)
2 onions, peeled and chopped
2 cloves garlic, peeled and minced
2 teaspoons vegetable oil
1/2 teaspoon dried basil
1/2 teaspoon oregano
One 6-ounce can tomato paste
2 cups dried brown lentils
10 cups water
Salt to taste
One 10-ounce package frozen spinach
In large pot sauté onions and garlic in oil over medium-high heat for 2 minutes. Add remaining ingredients except spinach, cover, and simmer 40 minutes over medium heat. Add spinach. Cook 25 minutes longer until lentils are soft.
| Total calories per serving: 438 | Fat: 4 grams |
| Carbohydrates: 77 grams | Protein: 29 grams |
| Sodium: 279 milligrams | Fiber: 15 grams |
Black Bean Burgers
Adapted from Simply Vegan by Debra Wasserman
(Makes 11 burgers)
4 cups cooked black beans, mashed
2 stalks celery, finely chopped
2 carrots, finely chopped
1/2 small onion, minced
1/2 cup whole-wheat flour
Salt and pepper, to taste
4 teaspoons vegetable oil
Mix ingredients except the oil in a bowl. Form 11 flat patties. Fry in an oiled pan over medium-high heat until lightly browned and cooked through, about 3-4 minutes per side.
| Total calories per burger: 111 | Fat: 2 grams |
| Carbohydrates: 18 grams | Protein: 5 grams |
| Sodium: 215 milligrams | Fiber: 6 grams |
Wayne's Tofu Chili
Recipe by Wayne Smeltz adapted from Simply Vegan by Debra Wasserman
(Serves 4)
12-ounce block firm tofu, cubed into small pieces
1-1/2 Tablespoons vegetable oil
1-1/2 medium onions, chopped
2 green peppers, chopped
3/4 28-ounce can crushed tomatoes (remainder can be frozen for future use)
One 15-ounce can black-eyed peas, rinsed and drained (see note below)
One 15-ounce can kidney beans, rinsed and drained
1 large jalapeño pepper, minced
Garlic and chili powder, to taste
Sauté tofu in oil for 10 minutes. Add onions and green peppers, and stir-fry 5 minutes longer. Lower heat. Add tomatoes, black-eyed peas, beans, jalapeño, and optional spices. Simmer for 12 minutes.
Cook's Note: Can't find black-eyed peas? Substitute black beans, navy beans, or pinto beans in this recipe.
| Total calories per serving: 555 | Fat: 14 grams |
| Carbohydrates: 84 grams | Protein: 32 grams |
| Sodium: 500 milligrams | Fiber: 22 grams |
Pasta Fruit Salad
Adapted from Simply Vegan by Debra Wasserman
(Serves 4)
3 cups cooked whole-grain pasta
3 apples, cored and chopped
3 scallions, finely chopped
7.5 ounces water chestnuts, drained and chopped
3/4 cup raisins
Combine ingredients in a bowl. If time permits, chill before serving.
| Total calories per burger: 316 | Fat: 1 gram |
| Carbohydrates: 80 grams | Protein: 4 grams |
| Sodium: 40 milligrams | Fiber: 9 grams |
Reed Mangels, PhD, RD, is VRG's Nutrition Advisor and a regular Vegetarian Journal columnist. She is the author of Your Complete Vegan Pregnancy and contributed to Simply Vegan, and The Vegan Handbook.
