I’ve thought about posting a list of ingredients we always have on hand for a while now, but haven’t gotten around to it.  I was going to post a photo of our fridge, but since I live with seven (yes, you read that right, 7) other people, it would be a pretty crazy photo.  And we have two refrigerators that we have our food in anyway.  Did I mention that I live with 7 boys?  Boys eat a lot, so the fridges are pretty packed too.

Anyway!

How We Grocery Shop

Mex and I have a pretty standard list of items that we buy at the grocery store.  We don’t have a set routine of when we go grocery shopping and we don’t have a specific budget that we stick to, but in general we shop about once a week and spend anywhere from $20-$60 depending on what we need.  We spend a little more when we’re out of things like olive oil, coffee, spices, but that generally only happens every month or so. We’re on a pretty tight budget.

I should also note that sometimes we plan out what we’re going to make before we go to the store, but more often than not we just buy what looks good and make something with what we buy.  We always make a list though.  Sometimes we get something that wasn’t on the list, but we mostly try to stick to what’s on it.

Additionally, I always read labels to make sure what I’m buying is 1) food and not a junky food-like product, 2) meat free, and 3) doesn’t have trans fats or HFCS.  Sometimes it means I have to spend a little more money to get real food, but not always. It’s worth it, anyway.

We generally don’t have to buy all of these items every shopping trip, but this is what we generally like to have on hand.  I’m sure I’ve missed a few things, but I think this is a pretty good idea of what we have most of the time.  It may look like a lot, but remember it’s all purchased over time.  A lot of the “middle aisle” column items we buy maybe once a month.

Produce

• Bagged baby spinach (always from Trader Joe’s, it’s $1.99 for a huge bag)
• Shredded carrots (huge time saver!) or baby carrots
• Red Bell Peppers
• Onions
• Garlic
• Broccoli (sometimes fresh, sometimes frozen)
• Celery (we like to dip!)
• Zucchini
• Bananas (for oatmeal and snacks)
• Apples
• Other fruit (whatever looks good/is on sale)
• Potatoes

Dairy/Refrigerated Section

• Almond Milk (I like Almond Breeze, unsweetened)
• Yogurt (usually Greek and usually plain)
• Cheddar cheese
• Cottage cheese
• Earth Balance
• Tofu (extra firm)
• Eggs
• Vegenaise (vegan mayo)
• Juice

Frozen Food

• Frozen vegetables (broccoli, corn, edamame stir-fry blend)
• Frozen blueberries (for smoothies, pancakes, oatmeal)
• Trader Joe’s brand naan (yum!)

Middle Aisles

• Whole wheat pastry flour
• Baking powder/soda (for when the urge to bake strikes!)
• Cocoa powder
• Vital Wheat Gluten (for making seitan)
• Cereal
• Oats (rolled and steel-cut) (usually from the bulk bins, saves $$!)
• Ground flax seeds
• Crackers or pretzels
• Olive oil
• Ketchup (always the organic kind since it doesn’t have high fructose corn syrup)
• Mustard
• Hot sauce
• Vegetable bullion
• Jarred jalepenos
• Canned chickpeas
• Canned black beans (sometimes I buy dried, too)
• Canned crushed tomatoes
• Dried Lentils
• Rice (bulk bin is your friend here!)
• Quinoa
• Pasta (usually whole wheat, and I like to have a spaghetti type noodle and a shape on hand)
• Pasta Sauce
• Peanut butter
• Coffee
• Tea
• Whole wheat bread
• Tortillas

Spices

• Sea salt
• Pepper
• Garlic powder
• Oregano
• Basil
• Thyme
• Rosemary
• Crushed red pepper flakes
• Cumin
• Cinnamon
• Ginger
• Nutmeg
• Dill

Treats (things we get occasionally)

• Ice cream
• Root beer (these two go together- we love root beer floats!)
• Beer or wine
• Tortilla Chips (Trader Joe’s brand longboard chips are the perfect shape for dipping!)
• Salsa (Trader Joe’s brand Salsa Especial is amazing)
• Chocolate
• Bagels and cream cheese

How We Pay for Groceries

Also, for those folks that read my blog that are curious about how we divvy up the cost of groceries, I thought I’d share how Mex and I do it.  I know when we moved in together we weren’t sure what the best way to do this was, and I would have liked some advice from others who have been there!  We don’t have a joint bank account or anything like that (too soon!), so we wanted to divide the cost of food down the middle like we do with rent and bills.

Initially, we kept receipts for everything and if one person paid at the store, the other would reimburse the one who paid for 50% of the cost.  This is probably a good method for some people, but it was kind of a pain in the butt for us to keep track of everything that way.  It led to a lot of conversations like “do I owe you money for groceries?” and the response of “I can’t remember… maybe?”

In the end, we decided to just take turns paying.  Sure it’s not an exact 50% division every time, but it’s close enough.  Also, we each pay for our own personal stuff separately (like toiletries, etc).

***
This seems like a good opportunity to tell you about a fairly new writing gig that I have going on.  I’m the LA Budget Meals Examiner over on Examiner.com.  I’m excited about it and really enjoying writing about eating great meals on a tight budget.  I have a couple of posts up already but am adding more soon, so go check them out!

Question: Do you have any tips for grocery shopping on a tight budget and still eating well?  I’d love for you to share them in the comments section

While Mex is an omnivore, he mostly eats a vegetarian diet at home out of convenience.  He likes my cooking and doesn’t seem to miss eating meat at home.  While there are plenty of foods that Mex and I both love, he can be a little bit picky.  He despises (DESPISES!) tomatoes.  He’s fine with tomato sauce, or ketchup, but if a tomato chunk is visible, he’s not going to eat it.  When he eats salsa, he dunks his chip in the jar vertically to get the juice without getting any of the chunks. He also doesn’t really like guacamole, raw onions, or cilantro, all of which I love.

I shouldn’t pick on him too much though, because other than those few things, he is a pretty fearless eater and will try (and usually enjoy) almost anything I make.

A dish we both love to make are spicy vegetarian tacos and burritos.  Something about stuffing a tortilla full of spicy soyrizo, creamy refried beans, chunky salsa and crunchy vegetables just makes us both very happy. It helps that they are easy to customize to each of our likings.  His are piled high with cheddar cheese (I only like a little bit), while mine are stuffed with chunky salsa, guac made with cilantro, and onions.

Our Build Your Own Taco nights usually start with a pan of sizzling soyrizo for the both of us.  I love the spicy flavor of the soyrizo and how crispy the little bits get from just a few minutes in a pan.  While Mex is an omnivore, he really likes soyrizo.

Then we each grab a flour tortilla, preferably the homemade version, and start building our own tacos.

This night I started by spreading a thin layer of the We Can’t Say It’s Cheese* on the bottom of the tortilla.  Then I spooned on some of the soyrizo, a spoonful of brown rice, some crunchy shredded carrots, spicy salsa, and baby spinach on top.

I folded the whole thing in half and put it in a pan to crisp up on both sides.  I like CRUNCH!

Then I added a sprinkle of cilantro, and half of a small avocado to finish it off.

Yum!

The only thing it was missing was black beans.  I love creamy black beans on my tacos and in my burritos.

* I’m sorry to say that I just don’t like this product at all.  It tastes really weird.

Question:  What do you like on your tacos? Cilantro, avocado, spicy salsa and black beans (or refried beans) and my favorite fillings.

For some reason in the middle of the afternoon last week the idea for Soyrizo Stuffed Twice Baked Potatoes just came to me.  I’ve never had a soyrizo stuffed potato before, so I have no idea where the idea came from, but it sounded like a good one.  I knew that cheese and sour cream are great in mashed potatoes or on top of baked potatoes, and that cheese and sour cream are also delicious in tacos, so I figured I’d go one step farther and add my favorite taco filling to the mix.

Can we call this fusion food?

I love twice baked potatoes, but haven’t had them in years.  My grandma used to make them for me when I was little and I’m not sure I have had one since she passed away many years ago.  I desperately needed to fix that situation.  (I love how my memories are intertwined with my love of food.)

We have a large bag of potatoes that need to be used up so I might just have to make these again this week during the pantry challenge (except I’m out of sour cream and cheese…).

They really were that good.  I bet they’d be great for kids too.

Soyrizo Stuffed Twice Baked Potatoes

Plan on about 2 small or 1 large Russet potato per person.  I made 4 small potatoes.  The amounts below are approximate, but this is a pretty free-form recipe so don’t go nuts trying to measure things out.  You know how to make mashed potatoes, don’t you?

Also, these would be very easy to veganize, substituting vegan versions of the butter, sour cream, and cheddar cheese.  You could easily omit the sour cream.

Ingredients:

• 4 small potatoes
• 1/3 package of Soyrizo (Trader Joe’s brand)
• 1/2 a small onion, chopped
• 1/4 cup milk (I use almond milk)
• 1 tbsp butter
• 2 tbsp sour cream
• 1/3 cup grated cheddar cheese

Start by baking the potatoes.  Use whatever method you normally use to bake potatoes, whether you nuke them in the microwave, or bake them in the oven.  I was running short on time so I did a quick blast in the microwave and then finished them off in the oven so that the skin would be crisp.  You want to fully bake the potatoes, as the second cooking time is really just to get everything hot and melt the cheese.

While the potatoes are baking, brown about 1/3 of a package of Trader Joes brand Soyrizo ($1.99-such a great deal!) with some chopped white onion in a bit of olive oil.  It should only take about 5 minutes or so over medium heat.

When the baked potatoes are done, let them cool slightly.  (If you value your fingers, give them at least 10 minutes.  I went right at them and it hurt!  I ended up holding them in a potholder while I did the next step.)

Next, scoop out the flesh with a spoon and place it in a mixing bowl.  Work slowly and carefully, making sure you leave a bit of the white in the potato shell so that it holds it’s shape.

Preheat your oven to 400 degrees, if it’s not already on.

To the potato flesh, add a splash of milk, bit of butter, and a bit of sour cream.  Mash well and add the soyrizo and onion mixture, then season with salt and pepper.  Make sure not to add too much liquid, you want a fairly thick consistency so they mound up nicely in the potato shells.

Finally, scoop the mashed potato mixture back into the potato shells, mounding it high.  Top with a little grated cheddar cheese and bake at 400 for another 3-5 minutes, or until the cheese melts.

To serve, I topped mine with some quick guacamole and a sprinkle of cilantro.  Feel free to add salsa, more sour cream, some hot sauce, etc.

For the first meal of the clean out the cupboards challenge, I made Spaghetti and Vegetarian Meatballs.  I usually use the “Beanball” recipe from Veganomicon, but I was out of a lot of the ingredients called for in the recipe, so I modified it quite a bit.  The result was really good, so I’m going to share the recipe.

The pasta was whole wheat spaghetti and the sauce was from a jar and was doctored up a bit with dried oregano, basil, and crushed red pepper flakes.

NotMeat Balls

Adapted from Veganomicon

These come together really quickly and the whole meal, including the pasta and sauce, can be on the table in less than 45 minutes.  If you don’t have the Better Than Bullion, you can just up the amount of salt in the recipe, or add a splash of soy sauce.

• 1 can kidney beans, rinsed and drained
• 1 cup rolled oats (see method)
• 1/4 cup plus 1 tbsp vital wheat gluten
• 2 tbsp olive oil
• 1 cloves garlic, minced
• 1 tsp mushroom Better Than Bullion
• 1 tbsp ketchup
• 1/2 tsp dried oregano
• 1/2 tsp dried basil
• 1/4 tsp dried thyme
• 1/4 tsp crushed red pepper
• 1 tsp sea salt

Method:

In a blender, pulse the oatmeal several times until it is the same size as breadcrumbs.  Measure out 1/2 cup to use in the recipe.

In a large mixing bowl use a fork to mash the kidney beans until all the beans are mashed.  Add the rest of the ingredients and mix well until everything is incorporated. The resulting mixture should be slightly sticky, but not wet.  If the mixture is too wet, add another tbsp of vital wheat gluten.

Form the mixture into walnut sized balls and place in the baking dish.  Spray the tops of the balls with olive oil.  Bake for 20 minutes, flip, then bake another 10 minutes.

Use the notmeat balls on top of a plate of spaghetti or stuff into a roll for an awesome dinner!

I had so much fun blogging for Veganmofo that I’m about to give myself another challenge.  I love having a theme to my blog posts, it seems to help the writing process along and make blogging so much more fun.

What’s this about a challenge?

We’re heading home for the holidays soon, and have decided that we won’t be grocery shopping before we leave in over a week.  We have a pretty well-stocked pantry and while the fridge isn’t bursting with food, there is plenty in there to last us until we leave.

Why are we doing this?

Well, for starters, we don’t want to have to throw out a bunch of food before we leave for vacation.  I hate having to do that.

Additionally, we’re young people who live in an expensive city with a pretty small monthly budget. Being good with money isn’t a luxury in LA, it’s essential.

Also, I love a challenge in the kitchen! Especially one that doesn’t involve me spending money.

We are already quite frugal at the grocery store, but if, say, we decide to make pasta for dinner, and we don’t have any garlic, normally we would run to the store to pick it up.  Or if we run out of almond milk, same thing.  So until we leave, we’re not going to do any of that.

And we didn’t grocery shop in anticipation of this challenge, so the contents of our cupboards and fridge are sort of a mish-mash of foods that don’t necessarily go together. I think the challenging part of this will not be staying out of the grocery store, but rather coming up with creative uses for that can of baked beans and the several bags of grains that are in the back of the cupboard.

The Rules

It’s pretty simple, we won’t be grocery shopping. We also won’t be eating out at all (including beverages), although I have some $ left on a Starbucks gift card that I may use up (money that is already spent doesn’t count, I’ve decided).

What about fresh vegetables and fruit? We’re going to pick up a very small amount of fresh fruits and vegetables today, and perhaps a dozen eggs or so, but nothing else.  We have plenty of frozen vegetables and fruits on hand (I stocked up when they were on sale) so we certainly won’t be malnourished.

What can you expect to see on the blog? Plenty of soups, that’s for sure!  I love soup, so this doesn’t bum me out at all.  We also have a 10lb bag of potatoes(!), a couple of boxes of pasta and jars of sauce, plenty of rice, lentils, and quinoa.

We have bread for sandwiches, tortillas for tacos, and Mex has some chicken in the freezer if he wants it.

I’ll try to post each day with what we’ve come up with.

I’m excited for the challenge and can’t wait to see what we come up with!

Question: Have any fun ways to use up potatoes?  We are big fans of breakfast potatoes and oven fries, but are looking for other creative uses for them! Any good latke (potato pancake) recipes?