Can you save money by eating a flexitarian diet?

The 'flexitarian diet' has been suggested as an important way in which humanity can solve the problem of the growing world population and the negative environmental impacts of eating meat and diary products from animals. Meat and other animal products require a lot of land and water, and also produce greenhouse gases (cow farts) that contribute to global warming, and other environmental pollutants (e.g. ammonia from their poos/wees). In comparison, growing plants takes up a lot less space, requires less water, and produces less greenhouse gases.

According to the link above about the 'flexitarian diet', 'Worldwide, livestock accounts for between 14.5 and 18% of human-induced greenhouse gas emissions.' Wow! Well.. I always did feel a bit guilty about liking baby lambs and pigs but then realising that we're raising them to eat them...

So let's eat plants instead! In the 'flexitarian diet' you don't need to cut out meat entirely, but cut it down to a burger a week or a large steak each month. You can get your protein from nuts and legumes (e.g. beans, lentils, chickpeas) instead of from meat. You can still have a couple of portions of chicken, and a couple of portions of fish each week. Your egg ration would be about one and a bit each week, and your milk/dairy ration about one glass of milk a day.

Can you save money on a flexitarian diet? Yes, I think so! Consider that, at Sainsburys:
- 2 Sainsburys beef burgers cost 2.25 pounds; but 2 Linda McCartney vegetarian 'quarter pounder' burgers costs 1.50 pounds and 2 Sainsburys sweet potato, quinoa and lentil burgers cost 1.50
- 8 normal Sainsburys sausages cost 1.50 pounds; but 6 Linda McCartney vegetarian sausages cost 2.00 (just a teeny bit more!)

And if you're willing to pay just a little extra to help the planet (go on, we've only one planet!):
- 4 pints of Sainsburys semi-skimmed milk costs 1.15 pounds (51 p/litre) and 1 L of Alpro soy milk costs 1.50 pounds
- a 400g block of Sainsburys mature cheddar costs 2.05 pounds, but 200 g of Violife vegan cheese costs 2.60

Will it be yummy? Yes! It's basically a vegetarian diet most of the week with a little bit of fish, chicken and occasionally some meat. There are some nice flexitarian recipes on the BBC Good Food website to get you started.


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