Question is, please can you stop me going vegan?

A comment that came in this morning.

 “Eddie , if you live in St Albans you are probably quite well off, how the hell can I live on a low carb diet on the dole in Bradford? I worked out a vegan diet would be cheaper ie beans lentils rice etc, There are loads of asian shops/supermarkets here selling that type of food cheap. Dr Neil Barnard (if you've heard of I don't know) wrote a book for diabetics on a vegan diet . I have to pay £6 water rates a week £10 electricity, about £3-4 mobile phone £21 buss pass ( last two essential due to job centre pressurising on job search) - take out also £9 rent which is not covered by housing benefit, forget about clothes, shoes, haircuts, t.v. licence etc I have. Question is ,please can you stop me going vegan?? (Got about twenty quid a week left out of the just over seventy J.S.A.) Before anyone shouts out scrounger I worked on building sites as a labourer for more than twenty years, more hard work done in any five years of that than a lifetime of middle management.”

Thanks for the comment. First I have no axe to grind with anyone who follows a vegan diet, or any other diet. But I can hear what you are saying. I don’t live in St.Albans, we went there to see the Magna Carta exhibit at the St.Albans Cathedral. It was drafted in the Cathedral exactly 800 years ago and signed two years later. “The 1215 charter required King John to proclaim certain liberties and accept that his will was not arbitrary, accepting that no freeman could be punished except through the law of the land.” Wiki Also I am not well off. OK back on the case.

One of the points discussed with Franziska yesterday was the fact many people in both our countries are having to rely on food coupons or food welfare of some sort or another. Very often the foods available are high carb and highly processed. The last thing many people need. All food is expensive these days, but big savings can be made by buying economy lines from supermarkets. Eggs are a basic for us and provide a great deal of good stuff for a relatively low outlay, if you keep away from organic and top quality free range. A large swede or cabbage can be bought for around a pound each and can go a long way. ASDA do some amazing deals on chicken legs and thighs, a pack for around £5 would last for at least three meals for a single person. Tinned fish such as pilchards can be picked up for low cost and are one of the best foods you can eat. Tinned tomatoes are a good basic, add some minced beef, layer it up with some sliced courgettes or aubergine and that makes a nice lowcarb lasagne. Check out our recipe blog here. Some of the foods mentioned are expensive such as nuts and clotted cream, but other ideas are fairly low cost. We post up what we eat, and even if we could afford fillet steak, foie gras and lobsters, which we can’t, we would never have put them on food blog aimed at the average person, for obvious reasons. Have you tried the Trussell Trust which runs 345 food banks nationwide ? They can be found here.

On last point you said “Before anyone shouts out scrounger” Almost all of us have had hard times and needed help, we all could end up unemployed or disabled. Falling on hard times is not a crime, and there but for the grace of god, or fate go all of us. The fact that some people, too many people, who are living in the UK and the US, ( two of the richest countries in the world) are struggling and going short of healthy food is a national disgrace.

Thank you for your comment and I wish you good luck and good health.

Regards Eddie