Shopping While Broke

Sometimes I wonder if I should change the name of my blog to "The Broke Vegan." It doesn't ring as well as "The Lazy Vegan" but it's still just as charming.

I've written and revised about 13 shopping lists this past week. Have I learned anything? Yes. I've learned that it's time to find another job.

This week, I've been a poor example of a vegan living on $115 a week. I still have my puttenesca sans the pasta. I used the last of it feeding myself and a friend (totally unplanned, by the way). Since then, I've been eating whatever my mom could buy. Pathetic, I know. And I've been counting the days until I could go to the grocery store to buy my own vegan-friendly food.

Disregard my failure week, if you don't mind, and let's get back on track.

Now, last week, I talked about the dreaded shopping list. Well, I've been following some of those tips according to my budgetary confines and have created a well-planned, and soon to be well-executed meal plan and grocery list. True, I had to scour the weekly grocery ads for sales; sometimes sacrifice is a necessity to survival.


My meal plan looks a little something like a skipping record. Here's something I find works really well: take an inventory of what you already have in your pantry and your fridge, and look for vegan recipes that use what you already have - that way you can cut down on what your spending at the grocery store. Also, I think that if you split your list into different stores (preferrably close to one another), you can save. Maybe not on gas if you're going to places that are an entire town apart. For example, my list for this week has me going to a sale at Reasor's, then to the Neighborhood Wal-Mart down the street and then back to Whole Foods about 1.5 miles away. For me, that will take a bit of gas since I drive an eco-enemy SUV.

Reasor's, here in Oklahoma, has a sale called the 10 for $10 sale every now and then. I've found that this week they are having their 10 for $10 on Progresso soup and Vitamin Water (plus General Mills cereal is only $2!). It is true that Progresso is not my favorite soup in the whole world because it is loaded with sodium and sometimes has sneaky dairy products in the soups that we vegans tend to trust (their vegetable soup has parmesan cheese in it). Fear not, my fellow vegans, I will be cautious and I will READ MY LABELS!!!

Another tip I'm trying is shopping day by day per my meal plan. For the grocery list I'm using on Monday, I have only the things I need to make the meals on my meal plan for Tuesday and Wednesday. Pay attention:

Tuesday
Breakfast - Smoothie with soyogurt
Lunch - Red Cabbage Salad
Dinner - Cucumber Avocado Sushi Roll

Wednesday
Breakfast - Soyogurt Parfait
Lunch - Cucumber Avocado Sushi Roll
Dinner - Chili

So, for my grocery list, I have everything I need to make those items on the list. When the meal plan changes to something different (which won't be until Friday) I'll get it on Friday after work. This is definitely a trial and error sort of thing.

I'll let you know if it works to help me save money. It may and it may not. LOL. :)

Until next Sunday, enjoy a very lazy vegan week. Ciao!!



The Lazy Vegan