Project Food Budget: Week 7, Getting Healthy

I haven't been eating too much this week because I wasn't feeling good. But really, that's all the more reason to eat balanced meals every day. This week, I'm going to make a shopping list for nutrients and weight loss. I haven't run out of any staples, so I decided that I'm going to buy $15 worth of vegetables and a box of $4 flax seed cereal. Then I'm going to go through some awesome vegan blogs, cookbooks, and recipe sites, and make the healthiest, easiest meals I can find.

I've got Veganomicon and a couple of whole foods cookbooks, as well as tons of pretty good recipe blogs favorited.

There's not much I can say for this past week, but I'll try to post another update before next Thursday.

Other participating blogs:
Reluctant Vegetarian
Maria Marz
Veggie Converter
Ashley's Dairy Free Cooking Blog
Motor City Girl In the Steel City
Veggie Burgher
Baked Beans and Broccoli...Vegetarian Budgeting
Sweet Rehab
The Happy Cactus
The Vegetarian Salmon
Test Kitchen Tuesday
Newly Vegan
Always Sick and Tired
Veggie on the Cheap
MeloMeals: Vegan For $3.33 A Day

Project Food Budget: Week 6, Free Week!

Okay, late again. Next week I'll write my entry when I go to school. I'm kind of in the process of overhauling my life, so I've gotta get back into the swing of things.

This week, I didn't have to buy anything! Everyone should try to do this one week. I bet everyone can plan a week's worth of meals one Sunday (or Thursday) using things you already have on hand.

I didn't make anything fancy this week, but I just mixed together what I had on hand: frozen vegetables; some fruit; rice; pasta; bread; and plenty of condiments, sauces and spreads, including my leftover peanut sauce and garlic sauce.

It made for some pretty good meals. Some meals I just ate a PB&J bagel or a bowl of garlic rice. Other days I made a whole pasta dish with veggies and sauce. There are also a lot of good sandwich options in there. It all depended on my mood. But it was really a decent menu and I didn't have to spend anything. So clean out your pantry!

I'm sure these people are doing better than I am!
Reluctant Vegetarian
Maria Marz
Veggie Converter
Ashley's Dairy Free Cooking Blog
Motor City Girl In the Steel City
Veggie Burgher
Baked Beans and Broccoli...Vegetarian Budgeting
Sweet Rehab
The Happy Cactus
The Vegetarian Salmon
Test Kitchen Tuesday
Newly Vegan
Always Sick and Tired
Veggie on the Cheap
MeloMeals: Vegan For $3.33 A Day

Project Food Budget: Week 5, Better Late Than Never?

Well, I'm about a day late for this blog post, and it's not going to be a very good one. I'm so busy lately.

Anyway, my goal is $20 and I spent $26 today! Pretty good. I've been eating: bagels with Earth Balance or peanut butter and jelly; Subway sandwiches (okay, that added $10); Smart dogs; and some odd snacks and frozen meals I had on hand.

Today, Dave and I picked out some new recipes and bought ingredients. He made some (Daiya) cheesy garlic bread, and I made broccoli and garlic sauce from VegWeb. It was pretty good, but a little too spicy, and that's with half as much garlic as the recipe suggested. Then we made homemade peanut butter cups with semisweet chocolate chips and natural peanut butter. Yuuummm. I know those things don't go together, but it's what we were craving.

Some other things we wanted to try are Mexican rice, cheesy potato bake, spring rolls, cinnamon rolls, and tofu scramble. I want to replicate the Vegan Popeye (spinach and mushroom) from the Rutherford Pancake House... and we really wanted some kind of creamy potato soup recipe, but I couldn't find one.

Tomorrow, after my Saturday morning class (UGH), we're off to Asbury Park for the weekend to see the Bouncing Souls tomorrow night. I'm thinking Subway sandwiches for the train ride, and then I have to get a vegan sandwich from the Twisted Tree Cafe and a triple decker, deep-fried PB&J from the pub. It just comes with the territory. So that might set back my budget a bit.

My goal for next week is to write a real entry, on time!

Other budgeteers:
Reluctant Vegetarian
Maria Marz
Veggie Converter
Ashley's Dairy Free Cooking Blog
Beauty, Fitness, and Health...Oh My!
Motor City Girl In the Steel City
Veggie Burgher
Baked Beans and Broccoli...Vegetarian Budgeting
Sweet Rehab
The Happy Cactus
The Vegetarian Salmon
Test Kitchen Tuesday
Newly Vegan
Always Sick and Tired
Veggie on the Cheap

Project Food Budget: Week 4, Major Slacking

Well, my eating healthier and cooking more goals were not achieved. I would probably have tried harder if it were not for school starting up again. I happened to get a terrible schedule that couldn't be avoided: 3 night classes (3 hours each!), one day time class twice a week, and a 3-hour Saturday morning class! So between doing homework, staying up late, and spending so much time on campus... I haven't had much time to think about eating right, much less actually do it.

The good news is that I'll be under budget this week. When I "cooked," I only ate my famous lazy pasta dishes... all I needed was my leftover peanut sauce, and the pasta, marinara sauce, and nutritional yeast that I already had. Today, I was desperate enough to buy a footlong Veggie Delite from Subway ($5). If I go shopping tomorrow or this weekend, which I hopefully will, it will only be for some fresh produce for recipes, not totaling more than another $5. That's $10 less than, or half of, my $20 budget. Awesome!

Now, I know the lack of time is just an excuse. There are lots of blogs, websites and books out there devoted to telling someone how to live who has a low budget and little time. And I already know that I have plenty of supplies on hand to make sandwiches or wraps... besides that, I can make anything that tastes good cold, pack it in my old insulated lunchbox, and be set for the day.

* Read and utilize information on fast, low budget meals.
* Buy nothing but fresh produce, whatever I have to do.
* Do one yoga video from YouTube every day. (Unrelated, but I'm getting out of shape.)

We'll see what happens. Here are the other participants this week:
Reluctant Vegetarian
Maria Marz
Veggie Converter
Ashley's Dairy Free Cooking Blog
Beauty, Fitness, and Health...Oh My!
Motor City Girl In the Steel City
Veggie Burgher
Baked Beans and Broccoli...Vegetarian Budgeting
Sweet Rehab
The Happy Cactus
The Vegetarian Salmon
Test Kitchen Tuesday
Newly Vegan
Always Sick and Tired