Veganomics kicked of this week with my PB&B Smoothie and continued with Moroccan Eggplant with Couscous and Spicy Sesame Eggplant & Snap Peas with Quinoa. This week’s lessons included finding local produce with a Seasonal Produce Map and getting the Scoop on Spices. Here is a breakdown of how well I followed the Veganomics guidelines, starting with food purchases from June 1-7:
Splurges:
Bing Cherries ($5.95): At $2.99 a pound, I could not resist these dark, sweet treats and bought about 2 pounds. I can eat these by the bowlful, so nothing going to waste here. Cherries aren’t quite in season yet here in Michigan, but are in California, so I could not shop local this time.
Roasted Red Chili Paste ($3.79): Needed for Spicy Sesame Eggplant, hopefully I will continue to use this to make it worth the price. It will stay fresh for quite awhile though, so it should not go to waste.
Chocolate Soy Milk ($3.69): Required for Cherry Jubilee Smoothies, which I make most mornings to take on-the-go, so I can justify the price. I love the taste, the parent company is donating money to clean energy, and who doesn’t need more calcium?
Bag of Lemons ($3.49): A necessary evil, since all of my lemons were sacrificed to my Memorial Day Sangria. I tried to look for a better deal, but the loose/bulk lemons were all a little green, so the bag seemed my best bet.
Grapes ($3.35): For the longest time, grapes were about $0.99 a pound (practically giving them away!) but were $1.99 a pound this week. Now that summer produce is starting to trickle in, grapes and apples aren’t on sale, but the apples were only $1.87. These are my lunchbox staples, however, so I did not want to go without.
Above: Sugar snaps to the rescue, saving a dish gone wrong
Saves:
Ginger ($0.51): Ginger is seldom expensive, and a great cooking staple. One piece will last for weeks.
Cabbage ($0.56): A bargain, already cleaned and ready to be chopped, I could not pass this one up.
Sugar Snap Peas ($0.80): I’m sure you thinking “What a deal!” but the unfortunate thing is that the cashier rang these up as green beans ($0.99 a pound) instead of sugar snap peas ($3.49 a pound). I didn’t notice until I got home, but I also saw that she rang up my eggplant ($0.99 a pound) as the more expensive variety ($3.50 a pound), so I feel this was an even trade.
Zucchini ($1.29): At $0.99 a pound, I really couldn’t go wrong with zucchini. What usually gets me is that zucchini can spoil quickly, so this was purchased and used within 2 days to avoid waste.
Broccoli ($1.67): Large heads of broccoli are 3 for $5.00, but the beauty of those specials is that you don’t have to buy 3 to get the reduced price. Just one will be plenty, and while I will need to spend some time cleaning and chopping the broccoli, it is worth the extra effort.
A vast majority of my grocery bill came from the produce department, with only a few items from other areas:
Chocolate soy milk
Roasted Red Chili Paste
Chicken breast tenders ($3.00 for a pound, about to hit the sell-by date)
Gallon of milk (on sale $2.50, will last me two weeks)
Orzo pasta (on sale $0.99 a box)
Total grocery bill: $57.41
At first glance, it might seem that I spend a lot on groceries for one person (well, one and a half, if you count James), but I eat all of my meals from home. Breakfast is a smoothie to-go, lunch and snacks are prepacked, dinner and dessert are usually eaten at home, and I like to bring a large thermos of iced tea with me wherever I go.
This bill was actually lower than usual because there were some food staples like cheese, yogurt and hummus that I did not need to buy this week. I did need to make two trips, however, because the first time I went on Sunday morning the produce folks were still struggling to fill the Saturday-ransacked bins. There were no fresh cucumbers, zucchini, or basil so I returned on Monday for those items, plus I forgot the bean sprouts for dinner and needed more canned tomatoes.
Above: Garlic is inexpensive, healthy, and flavorful
On-the-Go Food Purchases: $3.87
This is a drastic decrease for me, as I avoided “impulse” buys and snacks throughout the day. This sole purchase was from Starbucks, which is somewhat of a weekend tradition for James and I. Fortunately, we like inexpensive items: brewed coffee for James, plain iced tea for me.
In all fairness, James did make some purchases for me this week, including a delectable brownie after the steamed eggplant debacle. Our usual trade-off is that I make dinner and he buys dessert or drinks afterwards, and he gets a bulk of the leftovers for lunch the next day. If I’m not cooking, we take turns paying at restaurants. Since we try to break even, I’m not going to count his food purchases in this project…yet.
Food Waste: Minimal
After the embarrassing amount of pre-Veganomics food waste from cleaning out my refrigerator and cabinets, I have a renewed drive to get the most for my money. I donated some leftovers from Moroccan Eggplant to James and his co-workers, and had the rest for dinner. Also, after the let down with Spicy Sesame Eggplant, I was determined to make it an enjoyable dish.
I also started turning to my pantry and substituting ingredients in recipes, taking advantage of items I’ve already purchased. For example, I purchased golden raisins and dried cherries for making granola, but they were also great in the Moroccan Eggplant leftovers. Then in reworking the Spicy Sesame Eggplant, I added quinoa purchased awhile ago but that I had no idea how to use.
Above: Dried cherries dress up some leftovers
For next week: Utilize more “forgotten” pantry items to improvise in recipes and avoiding unnecessary food purchases. Look for more seasonal produce items and locally-grown produce for recipes as well as snacks and boxed lunches. Continue to avoid “on-the-go” food purchases, which are usually more expensive and wasteful. My goal is to keep the food budget between $60-70 a week, or about $10 a day (which is more than some people spend on lunch everyday!).
