This month it’s World Vegan Month, next month it’s Christmas and then boom – hello Veganuary! To help you with your menu planning for the biggest vegan occasion of the calendar year, we thought we would share with you some of top tips on how you can have cost effective Veganuary!

Use beans and pulses to build your dishes

Tinned beans and dried pulses are essentials that all chefs have in their stores. Building vegan dishes that require no centre of plate meat alternative but deliver on all round flavour can help you keep costs down. You could even re-create and elevate a nostalgic classic, beans on toast using butter beans in a delicious smokey tomato sauce on sourdough toast. Delicious!

Don’t forget about frozen foods

Frozen foods can be a great way to keep the costs down and they also lock in a huge amount of their nutrients when frozen. A lot of our amazing wholesale desserts are actually frozen and pre-portioned which makes them cost effective by reducing waste. We’ve also launched some amazing frozen pre-prepared salads too – check out our Greek style vegan feta salad recipe here.

Re-assess high-cost, low-profit menu items

Many businesses have items on the menu that, despite the high cost and valuable time to make, don’t perform as well as other items. It’s a good habit to continually evaluate the performance of your menu vs time and cost and identify menu options that could be removed or replaced to ensure a more efficient, cost effective menu.

Offer meat substitutes

One in ten consumers are now choosing plant-based alternatives because they represent better value.¹ With more consumers looking for new ways to save money but still indulge on favourite menu items, meat substitutes on menus could be a great way to appeal to this demographic.

Streamline your menu

Focus on what you do well. If that’s pizza and pasta, then maybe steaks and more expensive dishes can be avoided. Streamline and design a menu that you are confident in and specialises in what you do well for most dietary needs. This will improve efficiency in the kitchen and inventory management. It will also provide customers with more high quality meals in less time.

So there you have it, our top 5 tips on how to have a cost effective Veganuary!

If you want to discover more meat free products, understand what’s happening in the meat free market or simply get inspired by some meat free recipes – then head over to The Meat Free Space! We’ll be ready to help you prepare for any meat free occasion!

Check out our delicious vegan recipes here.

Hungry for more? Check out our related blogs:

• Chef Martin’s top 5 vegan protein alternatives
• Quick guide to 3 plant based proteins
• Our top 5 vibrant veggie recipes
• 4 ways to save energy and costs in the kitchen
• 5 ways to reduce food waste
• How to increase the profitability of your menu