Weekly Menu for 6/21 - 6/27

Being a vegan, I get asked often what I eat. There are a lot of people who still don't know what a vegan is and how it compares to being a vegetarian. When I explain the difference, I get some crazy looks and they think all I eat is lettuce and tofu. While lettuce and tofu are both delicious when prepared properly, vegan food is so much more than that and can be quite tasty. I try to prepare most of my meals from scratch, but with two children and getting close to my due date with my third, processed foods like fake meats (generally, I try to keep those to a minimum) have started gaining popularity on our menu for the time being.

One big misconception about vegan food is that it's very expensive. It can be expensive for some people, but I prefer to cook "veganized" versions of more normal types of food, and stick to a strict budget ($600 a month for food and all other essentials--shampoos, soaps, detergents, toilet paper, clothing, toys, etc.). I probably spend less money on food than most non-vegans. It's all about careful planning and not being wasteful.

Each week, I try to plan out a menu for the week, make my shopping list, and buy everything I need in one big trip to the grocery store. Sometimes I go to two different grocery stores, as the cheaper one doesn't carry a lot of vegan essentials and their produce is not always the best. Here in the South, my "go to" stores are Food Lion (for the basics at a cheaper price) and Harris Teeter (for fresh produce and special foods).

Because I typically do my grocery shopping on Friday afternoon or on Saturday while my husband can watch the kids, I begin my menu on Saturdays.

This week, my menu is as follows:

Saturday

Breakfast: Vegan Coconut Yogurt & Granola

Lunch: Maple "Bacon" Tempeh and Tomato Sandwiches

Snack: Popcorn

Dinner: Spanish Rice

Dessert: Hot-Fudge-on-the-Bottom Cake w/ Vegan Ice Cream

 

Sunday

Breakfast: Pancakes w/ vegan breakfast sausage (Gimme Lean Sausage)

Lunch: --- (our Sunday breakfast is more of a brunch, so we're still not very hungry around lunch time and will either eat leftovers or some sort of snack before we go to our 1:00 p.m. church service)

Dinner: Chili Dogs, Loaded Baked Potatoes, & Corn on the Cob

 

Monday

Breakfast: Orange Marmalade Muffins

Lunch: Vegan Chik'n Fingers w/ Sweet Potato Fries

Snack: Apples & Peanut Butter

Dinner: Breaded Eggplant w/ Spaghetti & Marinara Sauce

 

Tuesday

Breakfast: Sausage Biscuit (using the second half of the tube of Gimme Lean sausage from Sunday)

Lunch: Peanut Butter & Banana Sandwiches

Snack: Teddy Grahams (not something I typically buy for the kids, but we still have some leftover from a road trip)

Dinner: Bean Burritos

 

Wednesday

Breakfast: Cereal & Fruit

Lunch: Pizza Hummus w/ Triscuits and Fruit

Snack: Popcorn

Dinner: Sesame Tofu, White Rice, & Green Beans

 

Thursday

Breakfast: Cinnamon Toast

Lunch: Peanut Butter, Crackers, & Raisins

Snack: Pears

Dinner: Southern Black-Eyed Peas w/ Biscuits

 

Friday

Breakfast: Vegan Coconut Yogurt and Granola

Lunch: Sloppy Joe's

Snack: Fruit Cocktail

Dinner: Grilled 'Cheese' Sandwiches & Tomato Soup

To satisfy anyone's curiosity on the cost of groceries this week, the total comes to: $105.36. This also includes things like soy and almond milk, vegan butter, orange juice, grape juice, and other things that are not necessarily on our menu but we do consume each week or that I'm running low on and like to have on hand.

Jenny