So yesterday, I did my first vegan shopping trip. Wow, was that exhausting! I knew that I was going to be there longer than usual but I felt that the day was never going to end. Before leaving the house, I planned my meals for the week and then made my shopping list (my very long shopping list) and put on my comfortable shoes and then headed out. I picked up a coffee and then was on my way. I wasn't sure which store to shop at; I was torn between three places. There was Whole Foods, that I just knew was probably the best place to find vegan foods, the grocery store that I usually like to shop at that has quite a good selection of organic and vegetarian foods, and then the store I least like to shop at but is the most affordable. Since I was not only shopping vegan, but also on a budget, I decided to go to the most affordable place. Big mistake!!
You see, not only did I sign up for the 21-Day Vegan Kickstart this week, but I also signed up to join Project: Food Budget where bloggers set a weekly food budget and then each week share their experiences. I didn't realize at first when I signed up for both challenges that they would begin on the same week. So now not only am I shopping vegan, but on a budget as well! This just may be a really good thing because I think it would be very easy to go way over budget with the vegan shopping. I have found that the better the food, the more it will probably cost.
So I went to the cheapest grocery store and I quickly found out that this store does not cater to the vegetarian or vegan kind! I began in the produce section. This was probably the easiest part of the whole trip since most of my list was fresh produce. Then I moved on to the rest of the list. This was not so easy. I think I read the labels on every item I picked up. I was very surprised to find out that many products contained milk or eggs, products that I would never havethought did. For example, I could not find any bread crumbs or croutons that did not contain milk. I had no idea that there was milk in bread crumbs. Maybe I'm just a bit ignorant but I thought it was just...bread! I guess that shows me that you don't really know what's in your food unless you read the label.
Well, after about two and a half hours later, I had made it through the entire store. I knew that I was not going to continue going to this store. This store was a place for people on a budget but not those who are looking for healthier foods. There was not many choices for vegetarians or vegans. And if there was a vegan option, there was only one option and it was not cheap! There were some products that I could not even find, such as soy cheese and soy yogurt. It was frustrating!
So I have learned that I need to shop at a place that has more options and keeps the vegetarian and vegan shoppers in mind. I'm sure that if I went to Whole Foods I would be able to find everything I need, but I still need to try to stick to my budget and I don't think I can do that and shop only there. So next week I will try the other grocery store that is a bit more expensive but has more choices for vegan shoppers. Let's hope I have better luck!
