I came across a really interesting article from Gourmet magazine while procrastinating on a work project earlier. I don’t know about you, but I feel like I’ve been hearing a lot about how more people seem to be citing money as a reason to go vegetarian in recent months.

So behold, Recession-Bred Flexitarians—”semi-vegetarians who dabble in carnivorous cuisine from time to time.”

Meat being as expensive as it is, it makes sense that choosing legumes, soy products, nuts or other vegetarian options over, say steak, can save you money, even if you only do it a few times a week.

If you don’t want to take the jump to full vegetarianism (especially if you, like me, don’t believe in restrictive diets), this can be really easy to stick with. Besides that, a lot of research supports the notion that the American diet is too heavy on meat in general, so why not take advantage of the recession and use it as an excuse to do something good for your health?

Personally, when it comes to saving money, I think a lovely bowl of homemade lentil soup or spinach pie beats a Big Mac any day.