Have you heard the latest outrage by Barack Obama? He’s spending a whole $200 of taxpayer money—enough to buy David Paterson a toaster—to put a vegetable garden on the White House grounds (or, rather, Michelle is, being the woman, bec…

My point was exactly that when I have to eat processed food, which unfortunately I find myself having to do more and more these days with a 50-hour workweek, it is always a lot more expensive. (But Trader Joe’s does help!)

I also do not think it is helpful to try to bully people into going vegan. I personally encourage people to try to cut down their meat consumption as much as they can and just to think about their choices, but most people, quite frankly, instantly “turn off” if you just tell them to “go vegan.”

Listen, it doesn’t take much time to nuke a potato. A baked potato can be had in about 4-6 minutes. Just wash a potato, cut out the eyes, stab it with a fork a couple times, microwave it for a few minutes, and stick it on a plate. Top it with salsa and eat it with a simple side salad and steamed veggies. Total meal in under 10 minutes and WAY under 10 bucks.

Or… how about a can of black beans, rinsed, in a med. pot with a can of diced tomatoes, some hot sauce, and frozen corn. Bam! You have a black bean soup in about 10 minutes. Eat it with a side salad or bread.

You could even do what I did in college: take some soba noodles, add a bag of frozen veggies and your favorite spice mix (Mrs. Dash, Spike, Tony Chatchere’s…whatever) to make a soup and eat that with a couple pieces of fruit for dessert.

Or hell, just order a veggie pizza without the cheese.
Or get a bean burrito from your favorite Mexican place.
Or take a boxed rice mix and add veggies and tofu to the rice cooker with it: a meal in 20 minutes that only took 2 minutes to prepare because the rice cooker does the rest.

It’s not that hard to be vegetarian or vegan on a budget. Just think a little more creatively than how they taught you in elementary school. yeah, I know our public school lunches and nutrition programs sucked, but don’t be a whiner. Be an adult and suck it up. Do it for your health, the environment, animals.. whatever, I don’t care, just do it. GO VEGAN NOW.

VERMICOMPOSTING. I have a bin with worms in it that I can put my compost materials in it. The worms help transform it into wonderful, rich soil. People are often afraid of this, thinking it smells bad but it really doesn’t–it smells like soil! And it’s super easy–even if I don’t have a garden to use the soil, I can donate it to neighbors and local farms/gardens (maybe in exchange for fresh produce!)

For more on worm composting: http://your.kingcounty.gov/solidwaste/composting/wormbins.asp

SWAPS.
Friends and I have had clothing swaps, trading clothes instead of shopping for news ones. We’ve also had book swaps when we’re ready for something new to read. Reusing is fun, especially when served with wine …

POTLUCKS.
Yum. And a good opportunity to learn recipes from friends, solving that ol’ how-do-i-cook-for-myself hurdle …

TRYING NEW THINGS.
I challenge myself at a local farmer’s market to try out at least one new food item each time I visit. It helps me to slowly integrate unfamiliar items into my cooking and diet, a way to work with the learning curve. I’m happy to welcome spelt bread and rutabegas into my life …

EATING WHEN I’M READY TO EAT
I’m trying to no longer eat when it’s a habit, or after I’m full. I’m trying to eat more slowly, savoring it. I think treasuring food more will do a great deal for my local food habits and sustainability, to say nothing of my increased joy.

Actually, urban farms and community gardens are really huge right now in cities like Detroit, Washington D.C., Milwaukee, and Chicago. Besides all the usual benefits of local food, it’s also a wonderful way neighborhoods are reclaiming vacant land, remedying creating an ‘oasis’ in areas known as ‘food deserts,’ creating safe spaces and transforming the relationship city people have with their own land–that is, remembering that it is in fact LAND in the first place!

I believe this next food (re)evolution is starting in the cities. I see it happening and its so inspiring.

There’s also a lot of little things, like taking cloth bags to the grocery store, that aren’t difficult and help the environment while improving your own experience. When oil prices spiked, the plastic bags our local grocery stores started getting in were super-thin and broke at the drop of a hat. Cloth bags? Not so much.

You don’t really need to go that far, though. I have minor small talk relationships with maybe 2-3 vendors at my greenmarket. The bottom line is that they’re there. You can ask questions, and they will actually be able to answer you. They will usually tell you straight about things, too, because that whole “The Customer Is Always Right!” thing doesn’t really exist in this kind of relationship.

And it’s not even something that every single person has to do on the individual level every week. Twenty people asking for grass-fed butter can get the farmer thinking about trying it out, and fifty people buying the butter keep it in the repertoire and maybe even bring down the price. Then the dairy guy at the other end of the market starts doing yogurt. Maybe somebody else sees all this and decides to look into renting a booth to sell farmstead cheeses. Or maybe the first dairy guy is able to expand into selling his butter in a few local stores. Supermarkets have their moments, but they just can’t do this kind of stuff.

But I did want to make one comment.

I’ve been a vegetarian for 20 years and I have found that my grocery bill is consistently higher than that of the meat eaters I know. Yes, vegetarianism it is better for the planet, but is it a less expensive diet? No way. UNLESS….you have the time to cook everything from scratch, which, quite frankly is impossible for many of us. So please keep this in mind.