One week down eating as a vegetarian - and vegan at that. Friday I added rice back and Saturday I survived eating at a restaurant. Today, however, came the biggest challenge - grocery shopping.
Let me start with the fact that, like most people, I am on a budget. I budget between $100 - 150 every two weeks for groceries for me and my daughter. So, knowing that going in caused a bit of stress because most of the times I've gone in for healthy groceries I end up blowing my budget.
I started in the produce section, getting everything I need to make my veggie juice and lots of apples since my daughter loves them. I've decided to keep making my own juice for my breakfast to make sure I'm not eating a ton of preservatives or sodium.
The Safeway in Kensington, MD has a very small section of vegetarian products tucked in the corner of the produce section. I was very happy to find tofu on sale for $1 per container (usually $3+). My daughter also loves tofu so this is a plus for us. I also picked up some veggie patties that were on sale so I can have those while my daughter has her turkey burgers this week for dinner.
We skipped most of the staples since we have more than enough of pasta, rice and canned tomatoes and I didn't want to go over budget. Lucky for me my daughter LOVES vegetables and I had her pick out the canned (no sodium added) and frozen veggies.
So far, so good. However, there were three things that were hard - soy sauce, bread and soup.
I had wanted some soy sauce for the rice I had made and to use for flavoring when I made veggies. First, low-sodium soy sauce is really expensive - $3.50+ for a little bottle. The Safeway brand was much cheaper, but one tablespoon had 36% of my daily recommendation for sodium in it! I couldn't believe it - and neither could the woman next to me when I exclaimed at how much sodium was in it. We both ended up not getting soy sauce.
Next, I couldn't find the bread that I wanted, heart healthy with low fat and no high-fructose corn syrup. I've decided to pull out my bread maker this week and make my own bread since I have all the ingredients at home. I just hope it fits in the new sandwich holder I bought my daughter for school.
As for soup, I was craving soup on this cold winter's night and I love the Safeway brand Tomato and Basil Bisque and Butternut Squash Soup. I couldn't find the Butternut Squash, and then saw that the Tomato Basil Bisque contained Chicken Stock. Who knew? So off to the canned soup aisle we went. I've always known that canned soup is high in sodium and now I had to read labels for the stealthy chicken stock and sodium. I finally found Campbell's Select Harvest 100% Natural Healthy Request Harvest Tomato with Basil soup - and it was on sale. Which is great because, again, it would be around $3.50 per can.
This, plus breakfast and lunch stuff for my daughter, cat food and litter, cleaning sponges and a new vegetable peeler (mine didn't survive the last week of peeling) all came to $105.
All to say that, when not buying meat, eating healthy on a budget can be done.
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3 comments:
Good for you! =) This sounds like an awesome idea! I've been wanting to do something like this for awhile, I really wish I had it on my list because reading this is inspiring. Maybe I'll just try it soon anyway =)
You should! If this month goes well, I might keep up this lifestyle. It's really healthy and, according to MFP, I seem to be getting enough protein and vitamins. Of course, I do take a daily vitamin so that would help fill in any that I am missing in my diet.
2 tips:
1. Shop at the international / Asian market if you can. Tofu is always $1 there. :) Plus interesting, and sometimes cheaper, veggies.
2. Make your own soup!! There is nothing so satisfying as putting a bunch of veggies together and having an amazing soup that you know is totally fresh and doesn't have any of that extra sodium, etc. An ex bought an immersion blender - turned out to be the present I ever got. Highly recommend!
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