While in college, like many of my colleagues, I experimented with food (among other things). After paying my tuition, buying my books, and paying my rent, I had just enough to afford me the standard starving student food budget. Meat is generally expensive, especially the sustainably sourced variety, but so are a lot of packaged meat-alternatives like Tofurky. After years of on and off pseudo-vegetarianism, I decided it was an opportunity to go on a primarily plant-based diet, but this time I was going to follow five simple guidelines:

1) Don’t be a bitch about meat.

I wouldn’t buy it at the grocers, but should an animal product just happen to be in something that I bought, I’d still eat it. Eating the chicken powder in my seemingly vegetarian dumplings (they were suspiciously cheap…) is better than licking my toes in starvation.

2) Buy local, buy seasonal.

By my ghetto student pad, there were three major grocery chains that ranged in price and quality. My room mate and I shopped at the cheapest one of course, locally known as the Fairway. Although Fairway didn’t have the abundance of products that Safeway or the higher end Thrifty Foods offered, their fruits and vegetables were usually the cheapest because they sourced from local farms and mostly offered in season produce. We ate a lot of apples and carrots.

To see what’s in season now, check out the BC Association of Farmer’s Markets website. Farmer’s markets are a great place to get seasonal, local produce. Unfortunately, if you’re on a tight budget and have a big appetite, it can kick your wallet in the balls.

Continue reading The Game Plan: Sustainable Eating for the Average Man