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Being a vegan in the US can save you money on your grocery bill, according to new research. Vegans spend an average of $34.23 less on their groceries each month compared to omnivores, even once more expensive substitutes were factored in.
Online shopping coupon site CouponBirds tallied up the cost of an average weekly shop using data from Walmart, Kroger, and Target. Based on 45 common grocery items bought by omnivores, it came to $232.17. The analysis breaks down the difference that would be spent by people following other diets, including gluten-free, vegetarian, and vegan. It does this by looking at how many substitutions would need to be made in each case.
For a vegan, 23 of the 45 items would need substituting, bringing the cost to $223.62 a week. This makes a vegan’s grocery bill $8.55 cheaper a week, or $34.23 cheaper a month, than an omnivore’s. These savings represent the lower cost of some vegan products compared to animal-based products, including plant-based meats and milk. The analysis also compared the cost of seafood products with vegan versions based on recipes taken from food bloggers. For example, while crabs legs cost an average of $14.18, using oyster mushrooms instead, per one of the recipes used, saved $9.07.
Read more: ‘My Vegan Weekly Food Shop: Protein Sources, Pantry Staples, And More’
However, 10 of the vegan alternatives were more expensive, including most vegan butter and cheese, vegan bagels, and vegan barbecue sauce. As a result, the vegetarian diet turned out to be the cheapest because it had all the savings of vegan meat alternatives and none of the added costs of vegan dairy and snack foods.
Healthier plant-based food is cheaper
The contents of the average omnviore’s grocery basket used by CouponBirds as the basis for comparison with other diets was taken from research into what Americans typically buy. Dairy products, fresh produce (with fruit juices included in this category), and snack foods are the top items being purchased in US grocery stores.
For its analysis, CouponBirds aimed to do like-for-like swaps. This means that the vegan grocery basket was packed with pre-made foods and unhealthy snacks, the latter of which were more expensive than the non-vegan versions. Other research has found that if people are buying whole plant-based foods such as beans, fruit, and vegetables rather than substitutes, a vegan diet is the most affordable. Compared to typical diets in countries including the US and UK, healthy plant-based diets would reduce grocery costs by up to a third.
Read more: Digital ‘Nudging’ Can Motivate Online Shoppers To Buy Plant-Based Foods, Says Study
