Since we are constantly asked what we eat, I have decided to post our dinner menu plan for this coming week. Over the next few days I will add the cooking tips and the recipes we use.
There are several things to note – we almost always have certain basics in our fridge. These include cooked brown rice and prepared beans of some type; this week it is navy beans. In our cupboards we keep a supply of things like olive oil, nuts, herbs, spices, canned and frozen veggies and salsa. As a practical matter we buy bulk and stock items like rice, beans, nuts, flours, oils, herbs and spices once a month on a “big shop” day.
Every weekend David and I spend part of a day procuring and preparing the food for the week. We have a lot of fun and use it as quality time together spent shopping, cooking, talking and singing to the tunes on Pandora.
Yesterday was the day.
First to the market for seasonal veggies. One of the big things I hear all the time about healthy eating is that it is expensive. It really isn’t! Because we eat a primarily plant-based diet, we are spared the expense of meat, eggs, milk and other dairy products. But I digress.
Back to shopping, sure we prefer local, but it is not cheating to shop at Costco or Sam’s Club or even WalMart for things like containers of organic spinach, onions, carrots and celery. It also pays to look for your local supermarket specials!
For the regular weekly fresh things we try to shop local. It can get pricey so that idea is to buy only what you will used. A handy trick for keeping the cost down is to decide exactly what you can afford to spend and then get that amount of cash from the ATM and go shopping (cash in hand). The game is to find fresh foods that are reasonably priced,look good and are fresh and still stay on budget.
This week there were lots of great spring choices at good prices. We spent under $40 which included a huge splurge on fresh organic tomatoes at $3.50 a pound. Here is what we came home with:
- yellow onions
- celery
- carrots
- corn on the cob
- a bunch of red leaf lettuce
- cucumbers
- tomatoes
- green onions
- baby spinach
- asparagus
Back home we spent spent some time in the kitchen cooking:
- mirepoix
- cups of brown rice in the rice cooker.
- a couple of bags of navy beans in the pressure cooker
- Made 1/2 the beans into Southwestern Baked Beans in my crock pot
- Roasted the asparagus in the oven (more about roasting later)
Here’s the menu plan based on what is in the fridge and cupboards and what we got at the store:
Monday | Greek Salad (uses lettuce, tomatoes, cucumbers, green onions) and Quick White Bean Soup |
Tuesday | Southwestern Baked Beans (uses mirepoix), Corn on the Cob and cucumber salad |
Wednesday | Pasta and veggies (uses asparagus and spinach) with tossed salad of lettuce, radishes and green onion (all fresh from our garden) |
Thursday | Bean Patties (another recipe to look for), rice with sauteed spinach and chopped carrot/celery salad |
Friday | Rice and Veggies (uses left over veggies, mirepoix and cashews) |
I just made myself hungry!