Last week I had an interesting discussion with a friend, who said that veganism is a “rich- people” thing. Well, she argued that following a vegan diet is expensive. I realized that there is a lack of information about what a vegan diet consists of. The idea of veganism being expensive is partly because people believe that it is necessary to buy often expensive vegan hamburger, vegan sausage, vegan cheese, vegan cookies, etc. There is also a perception that it is essential to buy more expensive foods, such as quinoa, chia seeds, coconut oil, etc. But this is totally incorrect.
In my experience, following a diet without any animal-derived foods is simple, and not necessarily expensive. Although my blog has recipes with more expensive ingredients, on a daily basis my meals are mainly based on vegetables, fruits, grains, legumes, seeds and cereals, and almost no industrialized or processed foods. I rarely buy a vegan cheese, vegan hamburger, vegan cake, etc.
Well, I know some people will say “but fruits and vegetables are expensive.” Yes, sometimes they are not cheap, but when we delete industrialized and processed foods from our grocery shopping list and focus mostly on fruits, vegetables, grains, legumes and cereals (bought in a bulk) you’ll realize that it’s not that expensive. It’s a matter of prioritizing health, fitting some time in the week for meal preparations at home and making changes when going to the supermarket. When opting for a vegan diet, you will exchange, for example, dairy cheeses and butters for raw chickpeas, and may prepare hummus or tofu. Also you will substitute the meat, which is usually very expensive, by different types of beans and lentils; or maybe for quinoa, and prepare a wonderful vegan risotto. And, instead of buying sugary cakes, you can buy oats and bake your own cookies like this one, or the porridge below that is cheap, and simple to prepare.
Now, are you thinking about breakfast? Then , why not trying this oven porridge and you’ll have a breakfast option for your entire week!!
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- - 2 cups rolled oats
- - 2 cups vegetable milk (I used almond milk)
- - 2 mashed ripe bananas
- - 2 tablespoons of brown sugar (you can also prepare this recipe without sugar)
- - 1 tablespoon cinnamon (you can use cacao too)
- - 2 tablespoons chia seeds soaked in 6 tablespoons water for 5 minutes
- - 1 cup of blueberries (can substitute for strawberries, apples or peaches)
- 1. Place the oats in a large bowl, heat the vegetable milk and pour over the oats. Stir and let stand for about two minutes, until the oats soften and absorb some of the liquid. Add the mashed bananas, cinnamon, sugar and chia seeds. Mix everything very well. Gently mix in the blueberries.
- 2. Place the mixture in a baking dish and bake for 35 minutes at 200 ° C, or until lightly browned and the liquid has dried out completely.
- 3. Serve hot or cold.
- I like to eat with some vegetable milk and a spoon of peanut butter over the top.
I am allergic to Chia is there a replacement I could use?
Hi Sylvia, many thanks for visiting the blog. You could do the porridge either without any chia seeds or replace it with flax seeds:)