Why is vegetarian meat so expensive?

Question

What about it, makes it so expensive compared to regular meat?

Answer 1

its free to have a baby cow

Answer 2

Vegeterian meat isn't in high demand. It also is more labor intensive to produce and create palitable dishes. If you would have tried vegan cheese like 10 years ago, you'd know what I mean.

Answer 3

What the h**l is vegetarian meat? If you're a vegetarian then why do you eat meat?

Answer 4

its made of soy and you don't have to eat so much of it..its filling ..i had some great veggie hamburgers but i am not a vegan..but it is great to eat vegetarian and the cost don't bother me but my wife won't give up meat..and i love meat too..but i wish i could eat more veggie stuff..it was told to me a long time ago that the vegetarian process or natural foods take more money as they have to process it and the process cost more..something to do about supply and demand and economics..it would be more cheaper if there was more of a demand for it..and Mc Donald or the other burger joints went vegan..then it would come down..as it would have to be more competitive..also the shelf life is shorter because it does not have all those preservatives and MSG ..and chemicals you can't pronounce or spell

Answer 5

That's a good question. I'm not quite sure. I think it's because things that are custom-made or produced in small quantities are more expensive in general. When something is mass produced, it makes the prices go down.

So hopefully as more and more people become vegetarian, the cost of faux meats will decrease.

Also, there are a lot of subsidies for meat production that makes it less expensive. One of the reasons fruits and vegetables are so expensive is that there aren't as many subsidies for healthy foods like these.

Answer 6

because of the time and effort to make it.

it is more costly to make because of the time it takes.

also, there aren't a lot of vegetarians; therefore if they sell it at a higher price, they will be making more profits.

Answer 7

Supply and demand.  It is a specialty food.  Till recently, the demand was not great.  Really not even easy to find in the neighborhood grocery store till the last few years - and then only a very small selection in a very small area of the store.

That is changing.  But even with the change - with the growing and rising costs of food in general - I see everything coming up to the cost of the soy and other 'vegetarian' based meats - and even possibly the 'vegetarian' meat getting even more expensive.  But then I see food in general going up in cost.

The time to watch your money and be wise with budget is now.

Answer 8

It's expensive because a highly processed low-demand specialty food.

Organic tofu - a highly unprocessed high-demand food - on the other hand, is cheap and a much wiser choice than analog meats.

Answer 9

I do not know but Problem because not many people eat meat that they make a lot of money off of it and not veggie

Answer 10

Your making the mistake of comparing veggie burgers, and veggie hot dogs to beef burgers and beef hot dogs. Beef hot dogs and burgers use the lowest grades of beef, tons of fat and other nasty fillers; this is why they are inexpensive. Compair the veggie ones to a high quality stake and you will find that "vegetarian meat" is less expensive per pound.

Answer 11

It's also now gotten to be more expensive because of the demand for grains such as corn for ethanol and soy.  The US is now shipping out of the country more than they are shipping domestically because they make more profit that way.