Vegan on the cheap
Henry Firth and Ian Theasby chat to LAUREN TAYLOR about money-saving meat-free dishes
WHETHER you’re attempting Veganuary, going full vegan or just want to cut down your meat consumption and be a bit healthier in 2022, learning a few new plant-based recipes is a good place to start.
But when it comes to animalfree food, the cashew milk cheeses, fake meats and egg substitutes that now adorn supermarket shelves aren’t exactly synonymous with wallet-friendly food shopping.
Henry Firth, who makes up half of vegan power duo BOSH!, along with pal Ian Theasby, says: “Vegan food has exploded and now it’s all over the supermarkets, which is great. You’ve got burgers, sausages, fish alternatives, milk alternatives – the problem is, that stuff can be quite an expensive way to eat, if you’re buying all of that in your weekly shop.”
So for their sixth cookbook – BOSH! On A Budget – the pair, both aged 37, wanted to “show people the grassroots of vegan cooking” instead.
“It’s grains, it’s fruits, it’s nuts and seeds, it’s inherently cheap and it’s inherently healthy,” says Henry. “People don’t understand that.”
Their new collection of cheap vegan recipes doesn’t avoid meat and diary alternatives altogether, they’ve just gone very light on them. “We’re not absolutists”, says Henry – there’s a “little sprinkling of vegan cheese, the odd splash of plant-based milk”.
But the dishes come in at £1 or £2 a portion – and many cost far less. And it was easy, says Ian, “because vegan food is actually very, very cheap”.
Saving money in the kitchen is often as much about how you cook, as it is about the ingredients you use. For example, you could cook a 10-portion vegan ragu and then use it in several dishes – from lasagne to bolognaise. A lot of their recipes are specifically designed to be freezer-friendly too.
“Get into the mindset of buying less,” suggests Henry, “and then try to use as much as possible of the thing that you bought.
“Use the whole veggie as much as possible.”
Less waste means less money wasted as well, and it’s good for the environment – a big reason the duo went plant-based in the first place.
If nutrition is your priority this January, Henry says: “A very colourful fruits and vegetable-based diet is both affordable and pretty much the best thing as far as your body is concerned.”
He believes the notion that it’s hard to get all the nutrients you need in a vegan diet is only true if “all you’re eating is crisps, pasta, chips and beige-coloured things – then absolutely, you’re going to struggle!”
It’s been seven years since the childhood friends went vegan themselves. Through their Youtube channel, BOSH.TV (youtube. COM/C/BOSHTV) and a massive social media presence, they’ve quelled many misconceptions about veganism since then – yet for men, they feel like there’s still a social acceptance issue.
“There’s definitely still some stigma attached to men being vegan,” says Ian.
The idea that eating lots of meat and drinking lager is ‘manly’ is embedded in our culture, he says, “but those negative aspects of British culture are becoming unravelled and changing for the better”.