I’ve been googling and I now want to eat ALL of these things.
Check this one out: Vegan Muffaletta Casserole
Except that’s a ton of processed shit, and fake meat/vegan cheese is also expensive, and… that’s not actually what goes on a vegetarian muffuletta? I had one a couple weeks ago and it was loaded with mushrooms and peppers and eggplant and I think squash. Maybe I can adapt it? And use actual cheese because that was on there too.
You can make vegan meat so easily! I make Seitan all the time, and veggie sausages from beans. Recipe looks good though!
Okay! We are back to savingish! Yesterday I even turned down an excuse for takeout for a boxed Mac n cheese.
Today -
Oatmeal
Green smoothies
Boiled eggs
Pancakes
Fruit
Yogurt
Pizza 3-4 ways (keto crust, raw vegan crust and cheese, and in paratha- then as our last one was finishing SIL showed up with her family and pizza )
Started yogurt in the instapot
Tomorrow- prep bean chili enough to freeze
-chicken drumsticks, baked tofu, asparagus and salad
Wednesday - eat bean chili
Thursday - salmon with zoodles
Leftovers as tacos or pizza
I’m also drafting out a new weekly plan of breakfast being porridge, smoothies and eggs
Lunch being tacos, pancakes, pasta or crackers and dip
Trail mix by my bed and also in the kitchen for random hunger
Iced green tea in the fridge
I also need to make a batch of energy balls and restock trail mix soon - those are Thursday jobs
So far we don’t have to buy much more for baby. The only thing I’m figuring out is diaper storage- right now they are in a big Rubbermaid storage tub. So we could keep doing that, and just use a caddy or basket with a few days worth. Or get a bar cart.
And I want to get two glass baby bottles in case we need to supplement. We got newborn diapers yesterday and will get postpartum diapers next box store trip
I found unscented everyone soap and lotion on sale at a health food store and got two of each! I was going to order online and this is a way better deal (11.99 each!). When we get close I’ll pull anything scented out of the bathrooms and replace with these. I still need to grab a handful of unscented bar soaps, some of our are unscented and some aren’t, but they are also mixed ingredients which is a little dicey if there’s a reaction.
I feel like there ‘should’ be more shopping but there just isn’t much we need to do! For some of the bigger sizes we’ll need a few pieces, but for the small sizes we seem really prepared.
The last planned spending items are new socks for me and polo shirts for G. Daycare shoes for 
.
I started it on the stove to brown some ingredients and then moved it to the oven. It’s delicious and is an immediate addition to our staple foods. I want to try cooking curry like this too. I used an enamel baking pan so it could move from one to the other without making other things dirty.
I’ve started buying mostly red onions. They cost more but they don’t hurt my face, so I actually cook with them. That is cheaper than takeaway!
I should note that I also need recipes right now that are QUICK because overwhelmed with moving tasks. Some of these fancy delicious-looking roux-based Creole dishes that I am eyeing might not be a prudent choice right now! 
I think I am going to start with red beans and rice; that can be done in an Instant Pot and does not take a ton of ingredients that I do not have.
How was I not aware of that thread?
It sucks to have to avoid processed food though. Would make things a lot easier; like, I don’t do jarred pasta sauce any more, or premade hummus, or frozen pizzas or burritos since the sodium is just off the charts. (I mean, hummus isn’t THAT bad, I guess, but a serving size is 2 Tbsp? Who in hell only eats that much hummus! )
Egg-based stuff would work though! Eggs are cheap. Potatoes are cheap.
Not that it helps you now, but think how much earlier there’ll be tomato harvests now to make jarred sauces. (Hm, maybe make a note of it on your calendar now? I know canning keeps you very busy.) And even if your garden only has a little bit other people will probably have too much - gardening gods willing, I will probably have zucchini coming out of my ears in a few months. Of course now I’ve probably jinxed it and they’ll all get eaten by squirrels or rot on the vine or something, lol.
My neighbor keeps telling me how well peppers are going to do here! I only have 1 sweet pepper plant though (it was free). Might want to get myself a sweet banana pepper; those are like $3 at the farmers market and they went WILD in Chicago so I expect better results here.
I already have 2 gallons of strawberries in the freezer for jam, once we are settled in and I can think about canning. $15 for a flat of local strawberries IN APRIL, yes pls!
I love Everyone lotion! I was buying Babyganics which came in smaller bottles. I usually use scented but I also buy unscented for when I want to add tea tree oil.
You don’t have to follow every recipe 100%! You can always just modify to make things faster. I look at each recipe like: “what can I take away and use from this” rather than “what will be too difficult about this” and I think that shift might help for you? Recipes can be used for inspiration!
For sauces and hummus and salad dressing and replacing all those salty convenience foods: I’d just batch cook and freeze them. If you create a schedule of doing one each week (week 1: tomato sauce; week 2: curry starter, etc.) then eventually your freezer will have all the easy stuff you need. First I’d create a list of allll the things, including stuff like bouillon mixes and dry things since you can just mix them yourself. Then I’d schedule it out so you only have to do one a week.
Have you looked at all the cheap food in your area yet? You literally live in a food paradise IMO! Like if someone asked me for my top food destination in the USA I’d probably say New Orleans. There is delicious cheap bread everywhere there, which could be used for very basic quick veggie sandwiches. I bet there are so many other things too. I think approaching it with “what can work for me” will be more fruitful than “what won’t work about this recipe/idea/food”!
I have really been impressed by the in season produce for sure. It is cheaper than Chicago and actually tastes good! I have not found cheap bread but also haven’t really looked for it. I’ll put that on the list, there is a bakery down the street I have been meaning to check out.
Making a list of batch cooking is an excellent idea. Right now I am just flailing about and literally cannot remember what I even used to make.
I wonder if one can make roux ahead in large amounts or if it would get gross?
My homemade hummus always comes out terrible. I suspect because I don’t have the patience for peeling chick peas which is supposed to improve the texture. But I do at least have my food processor back now!
You can also just make a light roux! Light roux only takes like 5-10 minutes! Peeling chickpeas does improve texture for hummus but I rarely do it. Probably you aren’t using high quality tahini or olive oil or enough lemon juice or tahini. That’s the problem with a lot of (non middle eastern) people’s hummus IMHO-- they almost never use enough tahini for me. Buy tahini at a middle eastern store or buy a middle eastern brand on Amazon! It makes a huge difference. And lots of lemon. All the lemon.
Decent olive oil makes a huge difference IMO too. With few ingredients, each of those ingredients really needs to be good and fresh.
Yes! My theory is that part of why middle eastern food hasn’t spread in popularity to the same degree as other cuisines is because people use subpar ingredients and then determine that it isn’t very good/flavorful. I’ve had people mention that after eating my homemade Lebanese food, like “wow it’s so flavorful! usually middle eastern food is so bland!”
But like, hummus has so few ingredients (same with kibbeh, babaghanoush, stuffed grape leaves, etc.) if you skip one or two of the ingredients and then use poor quality for another ingredient, it’s…not going to be great. Feta too, like good feta cheese tastes like champagne, bad feta cheese tastes like almost nothing. Ditto for olives, herbs, etc.
Also, cook dry chickpeas instead of using canned, it makes all the difference. and once they are cooked then “fry” them in a pan for a couple minutes with a bit of baking soda, the skins fall right off like magic.
That’s definitely the ideal way to do it! I sometimes use canned and I find they’re ok if everything else is really high quality, but cooking from dried is def the best.
Yeah, I have found that the TJ’s tahini just isn’t that good!
I know a lot of people knead flour and butter and store that in the fridge or freezer to start a roux
the correct ratio of tahini to beans is 1:1 right? haha…probably overkill but it tastes so good with more tahini than any recipe ever calls for! Also twice as much garlic and lemon juice