October 10, 2012: Menu planning and Vegan oatmeal and chocolate chip cookies

Menu planning is essential if one wants to eat well and maintain their budget.
Being a good helpmeet is doing well with the resources you've been given.

What I like to do is create at least three lunches and three dinners for the week. I plan the dinners around a few main ingredients so that way I can minimize spending. For example, a few weeks ago we ate squash. We had wild rice pilaf with squash, squash risotto and squash lentil stew. I ended up buying some rice among other vegetables for all the dinners, along with a squash that was .58/lb.

Lunches often include the leftovers from the night before. Sometimes three lunches and three dinners will be too much for the week and sometimes it's too little. It takes troubleshooting and experience to get a good feel for how much food you'll need. Our family eats a ton (well, just me actually...haha).

I make mostly vegan/vegetarian meals, so costs are down already since I don't buy meat at all. I stock up on beans, lentils, and various rices and grains to plan my meals around.

Make lunches simple. Since we don't eat meat during the week (I'll take more about this later), we don't do a whole lot of meat sandwiches. We do however, have grilled cheese sandwiches. I tend to buy a lot of fixings for salads to fill in as sides. I always have a few kinds of fruits and veggies available, as well as frozen veggies for sides.

Yogurt is a staple at our house. I tend to stay away from dairy yogurt and eat soy yogurt as the rest of my family eats low fat Greek yogurt. I buy the tubs, as it's cheaper and I stay away from brands that add refined sugar. I do buy brands that use evaporated cane juice.

My goal is to include as many plant based foods that are chock-full of nutrients, minerals and antioxidants to nourish my family. Take note of your family's favorite foods. Make them often to show you love them.

Once I have my meals set, I make a list. I organize the list according to how the grocery store is laid out. I get all 'cold' stuff last to make sure that it stays as cold as it cans for as long as possible. I also like to buy a few 'convenience items' like Boca burgers, a package of Alexia sweet potatoes, etc for those days you may run out of food. It happens!!! We eat at lot in our house!!!

Keep eating out to a minimum. That means, planning ahead wherever you go. For example, my husband is involved in politics on the weekends. Last weekend, he had a political get together about an hour away. The night before, I packed him a sandwich, some fruit and a granola bar, along with something to drink. Every little time you  'grab a bite to eat wreaks havoc on your budget. Five dollars here and there can add up to hundreds in a year.

Don't get me wrong. Some weeks I am exhausted from cooking, prepping, chopping and doing insane amounts of dishes. I get tired of being creative and sometimes, darn it! We have a pizza. Don't beat yourself up if you are meal planning most of the time and doing what you can to save money. Our family does buy a lot of natural and organic foods. We spend around $50-$70/week on groceries. That's about $10/day for three people, making that about $1 per meal. That's cheap!!! I hope I did the math right!:)

I recently made some vegan oatmeal cookies with chocolate chips:
Here's the recipe. They turned out great.

Vegan oatmeal cookies with chocolate chips

2/3 c grapeseed oil
2/3 c organic white sugar
1 c brown sugar
1 t vanilla
1/3 c soy milk (unsweetened)
1 3/4 c whole wheat pastry flour
1 t baking soda
1/2 t baking powder
1/2 t salt
2 2/3 cup Better Oats quick oats
1/3 c chocolate chips/chunks your choice

Add all oil and sugars together. Add the flour and the soy milk slowly.  Add the oats and the chocolate. Bake for 350 for about 8-10 minutes. The edges will get brown. That's when you know they're done. I made the cookies into tiny balls, about the size of golf balls. I think I made mine too big, but they turned out just fine! Husband approved!