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> Become vegetarian, if you aren't already. A laudable goal in terms of sustainability and health, but in most developed countries not a cost saving measure. M

> Become vegetarian, if you aren't already. A laudable goal in terms of sustainability and health, but in most developed countries not a cost saving measure. Meat is way too cheap, and often forms part of the bargains supermarkets use to attract customers. In the long term and the most pessimistic scenarios doing without meat may be cheaper though.

ganzuul 5y ago
Fresh vegetables are cheap. Look at how immigrants do it.
- joefife 5y ago
  You don't need to be an immigrant. Vegetables are cheap in UK supermarkets. 1kg carrots - 39p https://groceries.morrisons.com/products/morrisons-carrots-211713011 https://groceries.morrisons.com/products/morrisons-carrots-2... 2.5kg potatoes - £1 https://groceries.morrisons.com/products/morrisons-white-potatoes-289912011 https://groceries.morrisons.com/products/morrisons-white-pot... And so on. Vegetables are cheap. It's frustrating seeing people complain about food but not learn to cook. Making casserole is cheap.
  - jiggunjer 5y ago
    Raw, yes. But I use alot more seasoning with vegetables. I spend more time chopping and simmering. And the end result just isn't as enjoyable as a steak.
    - mrsuprawsm 5y ago
      With respect, this implies that you are not very good at cooking. You can make delicious, quick and easy food both with meat and with vegetables. If you try and cook a steak like vegetables, you will have poor results. If you try and cook vegetables like a steak, you will have poor results. If you treat each ingredient - meat, vegetable, or otherwise - in its own right and cook/season appropriately, then you can and will make excellent food.
      - jiggunjer 5y ago
        Nope I've had vegetables at top class restaurants so my cooking abilities are irrelevant to my claim that (on average) meat takes less effort to cook and still tastes better. I enjoy all the food I cook, I just enjoy meat more and doubt I'm the minority, but thanks for condescending.
        vrc 5y ago
        I have to agree. I’ve eaten and cooked (tasty) Indian food for most of my life. I’m biased, but Indian cookery has some of the most diverse and flavorful vegetarian dishes of any cuisine, and as a kid, I ate mostly vegetarian. After saying all that, I’m confident I _could_ be a vegetarian eating that diet (and have), but the meat dishes are still far tastier and something I’d prefer 9 times out of 10.
danuker 5y ago
If you consider the cost of healthcare in developed countries, it may be that meat is much more expensive.
- unionpivo 5y ago
  With exception of USA, individuals cost of healthcare is not that high. I pay several times more for my phone+internet per year than for my healthcare (and I have 2 separate chronic conditions)
  - CaptArmchair 5y ago
    > individuals cost of healthcare is not that high What you don't pay for out of pocket, you do pay either in quality of care or through your taxes, one way or the other.
    - jjoonathan 5y ago
      It's definitely possible to win this game compared to the US, because the situation in the US is so bad. We pay double and our health care isn't twice as good, not even close. You have to hustle hard in order to argue that it's even a smidgen better, let alone twice as good, because mostly it's just more expensive.
- throwaway3b03 5y ago
  You're somehow implying that eating meat is bad for human health, which considering how general a statement it is, is bound to be completely false. Human beings have thrived eating meat for hundreds of thousands of years. And it's a lot harder to completely address all the nutritional requirements on a purely vegetarian diet, but not impossible.
  - danuker 5y ago
    We've only lived long enough to suffer from the effects of meat in the past century or two. Here are videos exploring studies about meat, which convinced me. https://nutritionfacts.org/topics/meat/ https://nutritionfacts.org/topics/meat/
Cthulhu_ 5y ago
> A laudable goal in terms of sustainability and health, but in most developed countries not a cost saving measure. Meat is way too cheap, and often forms part of the bargains supermarkets use to attract customers. Where I live, this is no longer true; on the one side there was a big outrage at the super cheap meat (€3 / kilo at the lowest), pushing shops to sell meat at a higher price (and presumably better animal conditions, but I'm not convinced this is independently verified), on the other there's these certifications farmers can get for their animals' living conditions, and people are willing to pay extra for this. Anyway, in our household, freezer vegetables are a staple. We tried fresh vegetables for a while, but there's a lot of stems (in e.g. broccoli) and it's not as fresh or affordable as the frozen stuff. That said, I think that instead of raising the price of meat, they should lower the price, availability and diversity of vegetables. I would also encourage people to avoid these "vegetarian meat alternatives"; they're kinda scammy in that the ingredients are cheap but they sell it at meat prices. It's a lazy vegetarian's option. If you want to avoid meat for whichever reason, learn to make meals without something that kinda looks like meat.
deleted 5y ago
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ganzuul 5y ago

Fresh vegetables are cheap. Look at how immigrants do it.

joefife 5y ago
You don't need to be an immigrant. Vegetables are cheap in UK supermarkets. 1kg carrots - 39p https://groceries.morrisons.com/products/morrisons-carrots-211713011 https://groceries.morrisons.com/products/morrisons-carrots-2... 2.5kg potatoes - £1 https://groceries.morrisons.com/products/morrisons-white-potatoes-289912011 https://groceries.morrisons.com/products/morrisons-white-pot... And so on. Vegetables are cheap. It's frustrating seeing people complain about food but not learn to cook. Making casserole is cheap.
- jiggunjer 5y ago
  Raw, yes. But I use alot more seasoning with vegetables. I spend more time chopping and simmering. And the end result just isn't as enjoyable as a steak.
  - mrsuprawsm 5y ago
    With respect, this implies that you are not very good at cooking. You can make delicious, quick and easy food both with meat and with vegetables. If you try and cook a steak like vegetables, you will have poor results. If you try and cook vegetables like a steak, you will have poor results. If you treat each ingredient - meat, vegetable, or otherwise - in its own right and cook/season appropriately, then you can and will make excellent food.
    - jiggunjer 5y ago
      Nope I've had vegetables at top class restaurants so my cooking abilities are irrelevant to my claim that (on average) meat takes less effort to cook and still tastes better. I enjoy all the food I cook, I just enjoy meat more and doubt I'm the minority, but thanks for condescending.
      - vrc 5y ago
        I have to agree. I’ve eaten and cooked (tasty) Indian food for most of my life. I’m biased, but Indian cookery has some of the most diverse and flavorful vegetarian dishes of any cuisine, and as a kid, I ate mostly vegetarian. After saying all that, I’m confident I _could_ be a vegetarian eating that diet (and have), but the meat dishes are still far tastier and something I’d prefer 9 times out of 10.

danuker 5y ago

If you consider the cost of healthcare in developed countries, it may be that meat is much more expensive.

unionpivo 5y ago
With exception of USA, individuals cost of healthcare is not that high. I pay several times more for my phone+internet per year than for my healthcare (and I have 2 separate chronic conditions)
- CaptArmchair 5y ago
  > individuals cost of healthcare is not that high What you don't pay for out of pocket, you do pay either in quality of care or through your taxes, one way or the other.
  - jjoonathan 5y ago
    It's definitely possible to win this game compared to the US, because the situation in the US is so bad. We pay double and our health care isn't twice as good, not even close. You have to hustle hard in order to argue that it's even a smidgen better, let alone twice as good, because mostly it's just more expensive.
throwaway3b03 5y ago
You're somehow implying that eating meat is bad for human health, which considering how general a statement it is, is bound to be completely false. Human beings have thrived eating meat for hundreds of thousands of years. And it's a lot harder to completely address all the nutritional requirements on a purely vegetarian diet, but not impossible.
- danuker 5y ago
  We've only lived long enough to suffer from the effects of meat in the past century or two. Here are videos exploring studies about meat, which convinced me. https://nutritionfacts.org/topics/meat/ https://nutritionfacts.org/topics/meat/

Cthulhu_ 5y ago

> A laudable goal in terms of sustainability and health, but in most developed countries not a cost saving measure. Meat is way too cheap, and often forms part of the bargains supermarkets use to attract customers. Where I live, this is no longer true; on the one side there was a big outrage at the super cheap meat (€3 / kilo at the lowest), pushing shops to sell meat at a higher price (and presumably better animal conditions, but I'm not convinced this is independently verified), on the other there's these certifications farmers can get for their animals' living conditions, and people are willing to pay extra for this. Anyway, in our household, freezer vegetables are a staple. We tried fresh vegetables for a while, but there's a lot of stems (in e.g. broccoli) and it's not as fresh or affordable as the frozen stuff. That said, I think that instead of raising the price of meat, they should lower the price, availability and diversity of vegetables. I would also encourage people to avoid these "vegetarian meat alternatives"; they're kinda scammy in that the ingredients are cheap but they sell it at meat prices. It's a lazy vegetarian's option. If you want to avoid meat for whichever reason, learn to make meals without something that kinda looks like meat.

deleted 5y ago

[deleted]