10 Healthy Foods with a Long Shelf Life

One of the benefits of eating vegan is plant based foods tend to last a lot longer than meat and dairy products. Find out some of the healthiest vegan foods with long shelf lives.

1. Frozen Vegetables - Frozen vegetables are frozen right after they are harvesting, sometimes making them healthier than produce that had to travel thousands of miles to get to your grocer. These are a great cheap way to eat your veggies. 
   For maximum health benefits, avoid extreme heat from boiling or the microwave. 
   To remove bitterness some frozen veggies have, squirt a little lemon juice while cooking. 
2. Frozen Fruit - But frozen bags of fruit or freeze fresh fruit that’s going bad. Great for smoothies!
3. Dry Beans - Buying uncooked beans (especially in bulk) saves a lot of money and cuts down on the sodium that’s in canned beans. (Some hints on cooking beans here)
4. Bulk Rice - Buying giant bags of rice is a great idea. You can keep the rice for long periods of time and save money in the long run.
5. Pasta - At $1 a box you can’t really go wrong with spaghetti. Look for store brands and if you can afford the extra 50 cents, try whole grain pasta for a healthier bowl of noodles.
6. Nuts - Nuts are essential for a healthy vegan diet, not to mention they last an incredibly long time. Save money by buying nuts in bulk online or at bulk grocery stores.
7. Nut Butters - A $6 family size jar of peanut butter can hold you over for months. Nut butters are great for breakfast, in smoothies, even mixed with soy or coconut milk in a stir fry.
8. Herbal Tea - Many teas, especially herbal teas have wonderful health benefits. Green tea releases antioxidants, while Red tea helps with allergies. Tea will last for a long time if kept in a tightly sealed container. Look in stores like TJ Max and Marshalls for gourmet teas at bargain prices!
9. Bulk Potatoes and Onions - Potatoes and Onions can almost make a meal on their own. They last a very long time, but be sure to keep them in a dark, dry, and cool place. Sunlight speeds up the spoiling process on these veggies significantly.
10. Soup - Poor people have been making soup for thousands of years for a reason. It’s easy, it saves rotting food, and it’s delicious. Initially (and briefly) boiling the food kills bacteria, and adding salt helps preserve the ingredients. (Check out this post on the benefits and how-tos of soup basics)

Help! I’m Cooking for a Vegan …and I’m not Vegan!

First take a deep breath and don’t worry, everything is going to be okay. Vegans are just like everybody else and if anything are usually more willing to try different foods.

Yeah, But I don’t know what vegans actually eat.

Vegans don’t eat any animal products. If it’s not a plant, it’s an animal. This includes:

• Meat (including fish, chicken, ham bones, and animal based broths)
• Milk (including butter, whey, and milk powder)
• Eggs (including mayo and egg whites)
• Some vegans don’t eat Honey, it’s best to ask first or simply not include honey in your dinner

A NOTE ON SALAD: While yes, vegans do eat salad, it is not the only food they can eat. If you make a simple green salad it is a great appetizer or side dish but generally is not a strong entree on its own.

There are a lot of foods that you’ll find very familiar that you can easily make a vegan and non-vegan version for all of your guests. Simply cook the meat/cheese on the side and combine while serving.

Italian

• Tomato Basil or Marinara Sauce w/Pasta
• Pasta Primavera (aka Pasta with sauteed veggies & olive oil)
• White Beans and Spinach over Pasta, Bread, or Rice
• Mushroom Risotto without Parmesean (substitute veggie bouillon for beef/chicken)
• Garlic Bread
• Bruschetta

Mexican

• Bean Burrito (no cheese or sour cream, add avocado instead of cheese)
• Veggie Fajitas (mushroom, bell peppers, and grilled onions)
• Rice and Beans
• Nacho Salad
• Guacamole & Chips
• Pico de Gallo & Chips

Asian-Inspired

• Vegetable Stirfry with Rice
• Thai Vegetable Curry with Rice
• Veggies with Spicy Peanut Sauce

American!
If you’re from a meat and potatoes type family your son’s new vegan girlfriend might sound threatening. But there are ways to cook a traditional meal while accommodating vegans.

• Vegetable Casserole
• Bean Casserole
• Green Bean Casserole
• Baked Beans
• Mashed Potatoes (sub milk for soy milk and put the butter on the side)
• Sides of fresh vegetables 
• Vegetable Soup
• Cabbage Soup
• If you really want to show off, make a home made veggie burger

As a vegan when I go to someone’s house to eat this is all I want:

1. To not inconvenience the cook.
2. To feel safe eating the food and not worried that the host doesn’t know that butter isn’t vegan.
3. To not draw attention to my diet. Cholesterol problems and factory farms are generally not great dinner conversation.
4. To eat and enjoy the company.

For great vegan recipes go to www.vegweb.com

The Cheap Vegan Pantry: What You Need and What Must Go

So you decided to start eating healthy and maybe even vegan but you’re worried about staying on track. One way to guarantee you won’t slip up is to clean out those temptation items and restock the pantry.

So first determine a goal

The Cheap Vegan Goal: The goal of this blog is to provide ways for people to eat healthy and vegan on a low budget. The posts I write tend to be focused on eating whole (non processed) foods affordably while getting the daily recommended nutrients. This pantry guide will reflect that.

What Can Stay

When you’re going through your pantry look at each item and ask yourself these questions:

1. Are all ingredients vegan? (list of non-vegan ingredients here)
   
2. Do I know what each of these ingredients are?
3. Could I find all of these ingredients in nature?
4. Are there less than 10g of sugar in a suggested serving of this food?
5. Is this an unprocessed whole food?
6. Is this caffeine free?
7. Can I cook normally without this food?*

If your answer to all these questions is “yes” then it’s 100% good to go.

If you had to answer “no” to 1 or more of these questions, you need to evaluate if that item is worth keeping. Being truly conscious of what your eating is the first step to eating healthier. Knowing that you don’t know the last 20 items in the oreo’s ingredients list might help you think twice before eating one again.

**If you answered “no” to 3/6 of the questions and you answered “yes” to number 7, chuck it. It’s not like you can never eat those foods again, but keeping them out of your house will help you cut down.

Also Note: Some items such as sugar for baking are a little different. You might want to get rid of white sugar and switch to raw sugar or agave, but you might not find it necessary to eliminate all sugar from your life.

That brings us to alterations. Taking our favorite staples and upgrading them.

• White pasta -> Whole Wheat Pasta or Ezekiel  Pasta
• White Flour -> Whole Wheat Flour or Buckwheat Flour
• White Sugar -> Agave Nectar, Raw Sugar, Unsweetened Apple Sauce
• White Rice/Cous Cous -> Brown Rice, Quinoa Seeds
• Vegetable Oil -> Extra Virgin Olive Oil (salad) Virgin Olive Oil (sautee) Canola Oil (high heat)
• Table Salt -> Sea Salt

I’m not going to mislead you, some of these ingredients are slightly more expensive than their less-healthy counterparts, but the extra $1 is worth your health. These are the basic building blocks of all of your meals, save money on the perishable stuff you have to buy weekly.

Now that you’ve tossed and exchanged, here are some cheap vegan basics:

Must Have Shopping List!

1. Nutritional Yeast - A great source of vitamin B12, a great unique flavor, great for satisfying those cheesy cravings.
2. Cashews and Walnuts - Nuts are a great source of protein and cashews are in a lot of vegan recipes, especially raw vegans. Walnuts are a vegan source of Omega 3s and are great in salads and stir fry. Having some nuts to throw in to a meal is always a good choice, not to mention a quick fix when you want a snack.
3. Brown Rice
4. Whole Wheat Pasta
5. Quinoa - Learn more about quinoa here.
6. Beans - Beans are a great source of protein, fiber, and iron. Stock up on a variety of beans/legumes so you can see what works for you and keep what you like. If you’re not a big fan of beans learn to like them by using some Cheap Vegan tricks found here.
7. Whole Wheat Flour
8. Herbs and Spices - Here are the basic must haves: Basil*, Cilantro*, Oregano*, Thyme*, Cumin, Cinnamon, Black Pepper, Cayenne Pepper/Crushed Red Pepper, Chilli Powder, Garlic Powder, Onion Powder (**spices are expensive, growing an herb garden with these plants will definitely save you money and add class your meals)
9. (Extra) Virgin Olive Oil - Oil is expensive. Buy a giant bottle of Olive Oil at BJs or Costco and then refill an olive oil drizzler to cut down on waste and save money.
10. Unsweetened Apple Sauce - Use as a sweetener or an egg replacer in baking.
11. Granola - Can be used as a snack, breakfast, or even dessert. Granola is a great staple to keeping you full and is a nice replacement for a sweet treat.
12. Vegetable Bouillon Cubes - Great flavor booster.
13. Ener-G Egg Replacer - Great for baking, pancakes, and an emergency thickener.
14. Corn Starch - A must have thickener for all types of sauces and soups.
15. B-12 Vegetarian Supplement - B12 is very important for vegans to keep track of since you can only find it in animal food sources. Many cereals and drinks are fortified with B-12 but it’s good to take a vegan daily vitamin to be sure you’re getting enough.
16. Onions and Garlic
17. Oat Meal - Use in baking or for breakfast.
18. Potatoes - Preferably small red, purple, or other colorful potatoes.
19. Sea Salt
20. Hot Sauce - If all else fails during your kitchen experiments, it’s always nice to have some Cholula on hand to spice up a meal.

Next Step: Buying Food to Match Your New Basics

While you’re at the grocery store keep the same questions in mind. If you would have thrown it out when you renovated your pantry, don’t buy it now! Eventually you’ll learn what works for you. And always…

• Buy store brands to save money.
• Try to buy unprocessed whole foods. You’ll find that cooking with only whole foods is surprisingly cheaper than buying processed or pre-made food.
• If you’re budget is truly tight, don’t waste money on fake meats and other processed vegan foods. They’re usually more expensive. Try making your own home made.
• Shop often to ensure you are getting fresh foods and not throwing away your wasted food and money! Always remember, it’s worth your time to eat well.

Vegetable Soup Recipe

Made some soup out of the vegetables I wrote about yesterday. Slow cooked them on the stove top all day and the broth turned out wonderfully.

How to Make for 2 people:

• 1 Carrot
• 1 Parsnip
• 1/8 head of cabbage
• 1/4 an onion
• 1 stalk of celery with leaves
• 1 tomato
• 1 red potato
• 1 clove of garlic
• crushed red pepper, nutritional yeast, and salt to taste

Dice ingredients. Cover with water. Cook at low temperature at least 30 minutes or until potatoes are soft. Add more water if the vegetables aren’t covered. Do not boil. Use red pepper, nutritional yeast, and salt and season to taste.

Like I said in my post about soup, you can use any vegetables and any seasonings, these are just some I had around. The longer you slow cook the soup/let the soup sit, the richer your broth will become. A delicious and nutritious meal, and it cost less than a latte.

Check out more soups on the blog hop here

Avocados are AWESOME Heres Why:
Health- Avacados are packed full of good fats that help your body. In salads/with other vegetables, these fats help your body absorb minerals from the other vegetables as well as antioxidants. It has a lot of carotenoids and is a good anti-inflamatory. So don’t be fooled when you hear avocados are a high fat dense food, these fats, like the fats in olives, are anti-inflamatory and are a highly beneficial item to add to your diet.

Food/Cost-Here’s some quick easy ways to eat avocado. You can pick them up most times for $1 each, thats good for about 2 servings (.50 per meal) So I’ll eat half at breakfast and half at dinner. Cut it in to slices to put in a burrito, pair it with sliced potatoes and tomatoes, or in a salad with cucumbers, or just on it’s own for a snack. If you have a really soft avocado, you can even spread it on toast like butter, sprinkle some salt on there or make a sandwich.

***Cheap Easy Instant Guacamole Recipe***
2 Avacados
1 Tbsp Salsa
squirt of lime if you have it.

smash it all together and bam, homemade guacamole. Salsa has all of the ingredients you need to make home made Guac and it’s already in your fridge, all packaged together. (Man I Love Salsa.)