Vegetarian Grocery Budget

Ok- we're in a recession and I'm a broke college student. Last month I went a little over budget with my various purchases, so this month I've been working on giving my budget a makeover. And with my non-negotiable costs being the way they are, it looks like the area I have to cut back on the most is the area I enjoy spending the most- food.

Basically, I need to stop eating out. Period. I also need to spend less on groceries than I've been spending (although my bank estimated spending is a little skewed because I generally shop at Walmart and sometimes I make other purchases there besides groceries, like cleaning supplies, toiletries, batteries, and occasionally actual splurge items like boardgames and shoes...). My old budget was about $175. My new one: $100. Now, Brian and I split the groceries, so this is really giving us a $200 budget for the household of 2, which in that perspective doesn't sound quite as bad, but still...It's going to be tough. I mean the household budget went from $325 to $200!

Now, you will read in a lot of places that a vegetarian diet is cheaper- which is true in some aspects. Beans cost less than meat. BUT at the same time if you try and switch it up and use tofu or tempeh...well that can get more expensive. Add in there nuts to switch things up/make awesome snacks and you've got trouble. You see , when articles tell you it's cheaper to do more vegetarian meals they really just mean cook some beans and rice 2-3 times a week and save money. But that's not exactly healthy.

So here are my tips to keeping your (and my) vegetarian food purchases in budget:

1. Keep a log
I've started saving a spreadsheet that I update after every grocery shop. I list the food, the date it was bought (some items are more expensive at different times of year + the economy varies with time too), the store it was bought at (helps for finding the stores with the best prices), the price, weight/amount, and price/unit ($ per oz, lb, liter, slice of bread, etc.). This can help you see if fresh, canned, frozen, or dried vegetables are cheaper and when and can help you know what store has the best bargains.

2. Check out what's in season locally
For me, this has meant check out a website and try and find as many local products as I can at Walmart. It's honestly not the best method because a lot of their food in the 'local' section is from Mexico, Chile, Argentina, etc. and even the US products can be from like Washington St. for a Florida store. A better method which I need to start waking up early for and trying is a trip to the farmer's market. At any rate, buying seasonal, local vegetables is the best way to get good quality food at the best possible price (they charge more off season since it's harder to get).

3. Make a lot of a couple things every week
Eat leftovers for a couple nights, or make leftovers your lunch, or freeze the leftovers. Do something so that the food you buy doesn't go to waste. I've generally been eating mine multiple times in a week. This week I'm eating mostly last week's leftovers which saved me a ton on groceries this week. I also made a lot of a soup last week, so I froze one container and ate/will be eating the other two.
Limiting yourself to purchasing more of the cheaper items instead of some cheaper items and some more expensive ones will help keep you budget in check. Plus you're not wasting money on wasted food!

4. Buy the things you'll use a lot in bulk if they're on sale
ONLY if you'll use them! (Notice the use a lot in the title). For example, Brian's parents give us rice in bulk (budget saver- free rice!). It may seem like you're paying a lot for what may be a 25-50lb rice bag at the time of purchase, but you can use it for several months. Same thing with beans. If you really like black beans or pinto beans you can buy the dried beans in bulk when they're on sale at your local store or the cans when they go on sale. If you need lots of coffee, you might consider getting the bulk coffee- although keep it in an airtight container so it doesn't go stale/absorb random smells.
Buy dried/canned food in bulk rather than fresh. I mean you can buy fresh stuff in bulk if you're planning on canning or freezing it, but I don't have that much storage in my apartment (or cans for canning/time to can) so I limit my bulk purchases to only a couple items that I can pack and store easily.

5. Pack your lunch
This may sound counter-intuitive. By packing my lunch, I'm buying more groceries/spending more money on groceries. BUT, by packing my lunch, I'm NOT buying my lunch at a restaurant or fast food place. Options from home are generally less expensive than restaurant fare and certainly more healthy than fast food. Plus, you know how hard it can be to find yummy vegetarian options at cheaper restaurants.

6. Plan Ahead
You might have figured out by now that to follow these guidelines, you're going to need to make a list of what you need at the grocery store so you can do all of these things without forgetting something. Plan out your meals- breakfast, lunch and dinner- for the whole week. Make list of missing items that you need to buy, eat before you go to the grocery store (so you don't impulse buy based on hunger), and stick to your list.

7. But be a little flexible
If you're in the store and there's a good sale on something that falls into rule 4, then you might want to get it. But still, try and check the store circular online before you leave to anticipate this type of event.
Also, being flexible in terms of brands is a definite plus. Check out the price/unit on the tags by the items (instead of the full price) to help you find the best bargain on the item you need.

Keep In Mind:
There are tons of more tips out there on the web for cheaper grocery shopping, but there are some things I can't do. For instance, it's a lot cheaper as a vegetarian if you have your own garden of vegetables, but personally I live in an apartment with no patios, so there's no way for me to grow a vegetable garden or even an herb garden. It's also cheaper to buy more things in bulk than I have space to store. You can also save money by finding coupons online and in circulars, but this can waste a lot of paper, ink, and time if you're not selective about them and often times stores won't take grocery coupons printed online since you might have edited them.

Jamie Oliver's Food Revolution

I know my blog's original intent was more about becoming vegetarian and finding new delicious foods to eat that don't involve meat, but lately I've found a second food related interest that I've picked up...

SCHOOL LUNCH

It all started when I read about that elementary school teacher who decided to eat the school lunch everyday. I subscribed to their blog, wrote a post about my reaction, and have been continuing to read it. It really is eye-opening to see what the school food system has come to. Although my lunch meals weren't much healthier than what her school's serving in elementary school, they didn't come in the individual prepackaging which is horrible for the environment and probably has a TON of preservatives in it. My meals were cooked by women and men in the school kitchen. The only packaged stuff was the milk and orange juice. (Well I suppose everything was packaged and with preservatives it just was in a more economical Sam's Club size packaging).

Anyways, another new find in this school lunch conundrum is this new show on ABC Jamie Oliver's Food Revolution. Jamie Oliver (The Naked Chef as he used to be called) read a CDC report about Huntington, WV which stated that it is the most obese town in the nation (and our nation is the most obese nation in the world) and decided to start with that city for his food revolution. A look at his Wikipedia profile and from watching the show told me that he has done a similar project in England. He basically has 3 projects at once going on: he's helping a family (his "grass roots" effort), changing up the menu at an elementary school, and opening a shop where he gives free cooking lessons to kids.

It's kind of overly dramatic at times, and maybe not the best directed show, but there have been some real shocking moments for me in each of the two episodes so far. Also, I feel like the cooking shop thing is a little contrived- where do these kids come from? I mean in one episode a kid from his family comes in but the other kids just walked in without a chaperon...which was a little weird to say the least.

Anyways, first episode shockers: The family he's working with that want his help appeared to regularly consume NOTHING except fried foods and pizza, the kids in the school also apparently only wanted to eat said foods and strawberry or chocolate milk and the BIG one- the kids DIDN'T KNOW WHAT ANY VEGETABLES WERE!!!! I was shocked. First off, my family cooked real food at home and had me cook with them and most of my friends parents cooked real meals too (although most weren't as active with the food as I was). I live in the south and noone I know fries everything they eat except for pizza. Second, my elementary school only had chocolate milk on Fridays! What's this chocolate milk everyday thing all about? And not knowing any vegetables?! They didn't even know what a potato was! With all the french fries and mashed potatoes they eat I thought for sure that they'd know a potato!

Second episode shocker (really only one thing in this episode surprised me): The kids don't know how to use knives!!! The lunch ladies were like, 'are you saying they actually give knives to kids in your schools???' like it's some kind of alien idea. My elementary school had forks, spoons and knives, as have all of the cafeteria's I have ever been in. My parents gave me silverware as long as I can remember (I mean I'm sure they started me off with plastic wear and all, but still). All of my nephews and my niece know how to use silverware except for the newest one who is less than 5 months old! That just blows my mind.

Basically if you haven't checked it out yet, you should. It's up on Hulu and it's on ABC at kind of irregular times. The first episode premiered on 3/21/2010 and there was another episode yesterday (3/26/2010) and according to the show's website the next episode will be on 4/2/2010 and then on 4/3/2010.

Eating Veg at School Functions

Today I had the luxury of two free meals provided by my department because I applied to their grad school and they were having a preview weekend. Yay! They had a breakfast early this morning and then a lunch. For breakfast- everything was vegetarian. There was coffee, juices, bagels, pastries, bread, doughnut holes, and fresh fruit. I had coffee and fresh fruit with a slice of a chocolate bread. Yummy! Then for lunch they ordered a bunch of pizzas. I was going to go for cheese, but by luck they ran out and the box next to it was pineapple! It was just pineapple slices on cheese pizza and it was so good! I had two slices of that and some apple juice. :)

Then tonight I had to make something quick because Brian and I were going bowling for this fund-raiser for our local American Meteorological Society chapter. Sooo I made some beef (for him)/mushroom (for me) stroganoff and it was good. ^^

lol Unfortunately I'm already hungry again (after two bowls!)...I might have to go grab a snack... =P

Tofu Salad Sandwhiches and Leftover Asian Soup

Thursdays are my busy days. I wake up early because my earliest class is on those days, so I have to lay everything out the night before or I am a mess- pack my lunch, set up my coffee, maybe even my clothes. Then I'm on campus all day because I have class on and off (mostly on) from 9:30-3:15, then I have my volunteer work at the NWS office and send up the weather balloon, leaving me on campus until about 00-01Z. (lol Yeah I threw in Zulu time because that's how I roll). Today I was particularly busy because I also had a makeup class before NWS time and had to copy notes from a friend for a notebook I lost after NWS, plus pick up a folder from home for my boyfriend...so I was running around. LUCKILY- I knew about most of this and planned ahead.

For lunch, I packed myself a tofu salad sandwhich and lychee jellies. Basically I smashed up some uncooked, drained tofu and added mayonaise (making it not vegan, but you could use that nayonaise stuff if you really wanted to), dijon mustard, and some fresh ground pepper, then spread it on bread. It was a first try and...it was pretty good, but I'm not sure if I'd want to try it again...it starts out like an egg salad sandwhich, but then it has a weird aftertaste...I think I'll just stick to the real stuff for now.

For dinner, I brought some leftover soup which I added some pepper to when I packed it for myself because I made it bland for the bf since he doesn't like it spicy. It's really good.

Well it's time for me to finish up a lab due tomorrow and get some sleep so I can wake up early for my new grad student orientation breakfast. ^^

Delicious Grilled Cheese Recipe

Alright I took some blog time off, so I'm trying to make up for it with recipes. :P

So this was my dinner tonight. It's amazing and the boyfriend loves it too. But I will be honest, as far as vegetarian foods go, this one is one of the least healthy, but it is such a good comfort food that I think it is well worth the caloric splurge. This grilled cheese in particular has 3 different cheeses, pesto, and caramelized onions. It's delicious cheesy goodness.

You will need:

• 2 slices bread of your choice (it's great on Texas size bread and whole wheat bread), per sandwich
• 1 slice of Swiss, 1 of Cheddar and 1 of Provolone
• pesto, to taste
• 1/8 yellow onion, diced
• butter, as needed
• brown sugar, 1 tsp or to taste

In a small pan, melt 1tbs or so of butter. Over medium eat, add diced onions and brown sugar. Stir until brown sugar is mixed throughout/no longer in clumps. Heat until onions are wilting and caramel colored and delicious. While the onions are cooking, spread pesto on one side of both slices of bread. Place cheese on one slice, on top of pest, in some sort of order that you like (I usually go white orange white, but that's just me). When onions are done, place caramelized onions on top to taste, close sandwich and spread some butter on the top slice. Heat another pan and melt some butter (you're seeing now why this is so unhealthy but delicious) over medium heat. When butter is melted, add sandwiches with buttered side up. Heat until desired sandwich color is reached (about 1.5-2 minutes with my stove), flip and repeated on other side. Yum! You're ready to enjoy you buttery, sweet, salty, onion and garlicky, super cheesy grilled cheese. :) Enjoy!

ALSO- Surprise Bonus Recipe
For St. Patty's Day, my friend Jane came over and brought beer (that we dyed green lol) and I made a potato soup and some Irish soda bread. I will not give you the soda bread recipe because the recipe I used turned out kind of bad- it was WAY too wet and I had to add a ridiculous amount of flour to make up for it and then  it came out very heavy. It was tasty, but heavy... Anyways, here is a link to the potato soup recipe that I used.  Although note: I used vegetable broth and used Herbs de Provence instead of thyme because that was the closest thing I had...and I had no parsley.

Homemade Chips and Homemade Dip ^^

So last Monday I made Allie's delicious avocado-mango-black bean salad (recipe below for other readers that may make this culinary discovery later) and bought some of those fancy blue corn tortilla chips. Well it was delicious, but I ran out of chips and had some extra dip.... sooooo I ended up making my own tortilla chips with some corn tortillas that I had on hand from doing fajitas a while ago (I know those are normally done with flour tortillas but it's all I could find in the right size at my crazy Walmart) and it was AMAZING. Even the meat-a-tarian said that it was restaurant quality. ^^ So here are the recipes:

Avocado/mango/black bean salad (Allie's notes in red):

·        2 mango, chopped

·        2 avocados, chopped

·        1 1/2 cups cherry tomatoes, quartered * I had 2 cups of cherry tomatoes, as a filler to make it last more

·        half a small red onion, diced

·        2 cloves of garlic, minced

·        1 jalapeno pepper, seeded and minced * I added 2, you know I like it spicy

·        3 tablesppons limejuice

·        1 15-ounce can of black beans

·        sea salt

·        freshly cracked pepper * I added lemon pepper and a small amount of paprika

·        2 tablespoons choped cilantro

·        Cumin? * I didn’t have any, so I didn’t use it.

First DRAIN THE BLACKBEANS very well. Then add the blackbeans to mixing/serving bowl and use a napkin to absorb excess liquid. Then pretty much mix all of it together. Be sure to add plenty of the limejuice over the avocados to prevent browning, and refrigerate leftovers after eating immediately.

And for homemade tortilla chips:

• fajita-sized corn tortillas, cut into chip sized pieces (I like to make about 6 chips/tortilla, pizza cutter works well for this)
• canola or vegetable oil (for frying)
• salt, to taste

Pour oil into a frying pan, about 1" deep. Heat pan until water sprinkled into pan rolls, but doesn't explode. Add chips, fry until golden brown. Shake off excess oil and move chips to a plate with paper towel or a pan with a drip tray to get off excess oil. Salt to taste. Serve warm (not hot).

School Lunches

Alright, in college we have it easy as far as lunch goes- there's on campus dining halls to eat at, we can make and bring our own lunches, we can drive off and get something and hope to find parking again, etc. We have options. But remember back when we were in elementary school and there was only the one cafeteria line? Your parents either made your lunch for you or gave you money, or you had the special government plan and that was your lunch- not much choice. Remember how bad some of the food tasted? It wasn't all that healthy either...a lot of hamburgers, pizza, chili fiesta sticks (which I thought were delicious- but not exactly healthy, I mean a bunch of ground beef in a flour tortilla that you dip in cheese?), french fries, chicken fried steak, etc. I mean sure they always had an apple or an orange and probably a little pre-packaged salad, but they always looked old and bruised (and you couldn't exactly go wash off your pesticide-filled apple that you probably didn't know had pesticides because you were 5). I remember one time I went to turn in some lunch money for my balance in middle school and saw a lady arranging the lettuce leaves for a salad 3 hours before lunch...while not wearing any gloves... that was it for me with those pre-packaged salads.

So why am I talking about this right now? It's not like I have a kid in school or anything- I am my own kid in school that I have to make lunch for (although I often forget). No. I'm writing this because there's been some buzz about an anonymous school teacher who has had it with the unhealthy lunches they serve at her school and has decided to prove the point by eating her school's cafeteria food for a year and blogging about it. You should check out the blog link- it's pretty interesting. In a recent post, she had a guest blogger who has his own blog and occasionally talks about food. He's a teacher too and travels around, but right now he's teaching English to kinder-gardeners in Japan. His guest post kind of made Japan seem like a magical place for school children to me lol.

Anyways, it got me thinking- if you were to raise your kid vegetarian you'd have to pack their lunch EVERY DAY. I mean they really don't have that many healthy options at the school lines involving the proper servings of vegetables and fruits. Even if your kid wasn't being raised a vegetarian, they're getting used to eating these fatty meats and salty and fried foods all the time and won't think anything of eating it later and get into bad eating habits and you should probably pack their lunch anyways.

Personally, I never really thought about it much as a kid. I was lucky, my mom made me lunch most of the time and I'd get goodies like PB&;J, yogurt, trail mix, washed fruits and veggies, etc., but not everyone was getting to eat that kind of healthy food. I ate in the lunch line on the days when they had the "yummy" food. And at home, my parents always had me cook with them, which is why I'm a good cook now. I mean, in middle school we went through a rough patch after my dad died and we couldn't afford to pack my lunch all the time- I qualified for the discount lunches so we did that more often than before. But by middle school the school had more options because kids that age are more picky and I didn't really think anything of it. When my parents cooked with me they also taught me what foods were good for you and which you shouldn't eat as often, so I knew how to pick healthier options and when I could indulge and grab the pudding. But a lot of kids don't have that. A lot of families don't know proper nutrition and can't teach it to their kids. A lot of parents don't know when to tell their children 'no, you can't have another bowl of ice cream'. A lot of parents don't have enough income to buy enough healthy food to get their kids a good lunch every day.

So, what do you think? Do you think school lunches should be regulated to be healthier? Or do you think that school lunches are something that shouldn't be as high on the priority list as other important things such as classroom sizes that are getting bigger and bigger with recession budget cuts or the way that we are teaching (or rather not teaching) our kids to read?

Also, would you raise your kid to be vegetarian or would you let them eat meat and educate them and let them choose for themselves?

Catching Up On Good Times and Good Eats

So the day before yesterday I had mac and cheese leftovers for lunch. Then Allie came over and we studied and then made an amazing meal for dinner. It was a Jamaican Jerk veggie meal with rice, sauteed coconut curry tempeh, an AMAZING mango-avocado salsa (that Allie made)- all the food was her recipes. Oh! And for desert we made fried plantains that has a little honey and cinnamon sugar on them and served them warm with ice cream. Sooooo yummy.

Then YESTERDAY I ate my Indian leftovers for lunch (from an Indian restaurant I went to the other night, it was mushroom masala).Then I went over to Allie's place and we snacked on the avocado-mango salsa with blue corn tortilla chips while watching TV. Then for dinner we had vegetable pizza and cake. The pizza had mushrooms and spinach on tomato sauce and topped with cheese. (And I had some cheese pizza too). It was delicious. :) Aaaaaaaaaaand I had great time with Allie. :)

Now today...Idk what I'm doing yet, but I'm sure it'll be delicious. All the food I've been eating lately has been delicious. :)

Home :)

My mom is so accommodating of my veg aspirations! This morning I had coffee and an apple cinnamon pecan cereal (Post) for breakfast. Then I had a pumpkin-red lentil curry soup for lunch and a lightly salted mix of nuts for a snack, and NOW I'm waiting on my mac n cheese for dinner. :) I love being home.
Aaand I can't wait for me and Allie's study party Wednesday and whenever the hot-tubbing may happen!!! :)

Veg on The Road

IT'S SPRING BREAK!!!

Which means, I get to go home for a little bit. ^^ It also means interstate food that satisfies me and my carnivore boyfriend. Luckily, Waffle House is all over the place and the two egg breakfast with hash browns fits my diet, but also offers bacon and ham and burgers for the boy. Plus they have coffee, which is always a plus for me. :P

And tonight for dinner with my mom at home we made veggie fajitas with what she had in the fridge. It was flour tortillas with salsa, sour cream, cheese, onions, bell peppers and carrots. I know carrots aren't exactly your normal fajita filling, but it was really yummy. :)

Veggie Lasagne and Cooking Ahead

So tonight I made veggie lasagna with mushrooms and eggplant in it. I think it's delicious- but beware of oven ready lasagna noodles- they don't cook as much as you'd want them to...maybe they'll be better as leftovers...I mean like, the flavors are great, but the texture's a little too crunchy...

Also, since I had extra eggplant leftover that I didn't want to go bad, I tried to recreate the eggplant stir-fry from the buffet place Brian and I went to last week. I also had leftover tofu and mushrooms and bell peppers so I threw them in too....and I threw in a little basil last minute (Italian since I didn't have any Thai lol). It's seasoned with rice vinegar, soy sauce, lime juice and hoisin sauce, and thickened with corn starch and a little bit of sugar to combat all the tartness I threw in. It's yummy...I haven't totally eaten it yet, only tasted while cooking...but the tastes were really good.

Kung Pao Tofu

http://www.chooseveg.com/kung-pao.asp
There's the recipe.

It was delicious.
I didn't have zuchini, but I used celery and mushrooms instead.
I didn't have bean paste, I just used the hoisin sauce to sweeten up. No sugar added in mine either (although if you overdo the chili sauce, I recommend using the sugar to sweeten it up and balance it.
O and I used rice vinegar instead of red wine vinegar.
Basically substitute ingredients you don't have with those you do. lol
Anyways, It was amazing. An I just wanted to share the deliciousness. <3

Also, this was my first time preparing tofu (shock/gasp), and it didn't end up perfectly so I'd love tips if you have any (Allie :)  ). I mean it tasted good, but when I was trying to squeeze it to drain it started to crumble and I was just wondering how people get their tofu to keep its shape, but not be overly watery...you know? I just had super-crumbled tofu which would be great in like vegan lasagne, but I kind of wanted the bigger pieces for the stir-fry.