Grocery Shopping!

[trent]

My first time as a vegetarian in the health food store! I felt like a kid in a candy store! I bought organic fruits and veggies, natural peanut butter, raw almonds, sunflower seeds, McCann Irish Oats, Soy milk, cubed soy, vegan cheese, tempah, organic raisins, edamame, veggie burgers & hot dogs, whole wheat buns, black beans, brown rice, Garbanzo beans, veg. baked beans, whole wheat pasta, vegenaise, etc., etc, whooohooo!! I took the garbanzo beans and mashed em with a little garlic, olive oil, lemon juice, red peppers, black olives, and curry powder and shoved it in a whole wheat pita. WOW! Delicious. Also, my first time eating a pomegranate, what a cool, tasty and fun fruit to eat!! Sorry if I sound spastic but i am loving going vegetarian/vegan! I wish I would have started earlier. Anyway, I have to go look in the classifieds so I can find a second job to afford all of this organic/health food! Ha, Ha!

[Amy]

An organic food store just opened up where I live. I went last week to check it out. I was also like a kid in a candy store. I just bought some Veganaise for the first time and absolutely fell in love. LOL Anyway, enjoy all of the goodies.

[trent]

Thanks Amy. I haven't tried the Veganaise yet but will let you know what I think when I get around to it.

[RawVgn]

What you eat is a lot more important than if its organic-though organic is sure nice if you can afford it. If you focus on inexpensive staples like bananas, melons, and citrus fruit you can really stretch your dollars. I typically buy about 200 pounds of fruit a week for my 4 member vegan household for about $60-$70. Probably a third of it is rind and peels, but it's still not very expensive. I haven't been in a 'Health Food Store" in years; just the local Walmart (though I do go elsewhere for raw nuts.)

[trent]

Thanks for the input RawVgn. Yeah, I was thinking the same thing. I will get alot of my food from the grocery store and go to the natural/health food store for certain things. I really do like the health food store. It is mom and pop owned so I am going to try and support them as much as possible ya know? I am also excited about checking out the local farmers market! Anyway, thanks again for taking the time to reply.

[DV]

Definitely check out your local farmers! You may find that many of them are far more sustainable than an industrial organic farm and use less chemicals than and industrial conventional farm - even if they're not certified organic. Additionally, you may find that they have incentives (such as a CSA membership or work for food) which make the food even cheaper. Eating a whole foods, seasonal, local diet as a vegan can be very inexpensive.

 

I understand your shopping excitement. I went through the same thing - and then I started collecting cookbooks. We're having friends over tonight to taste test recipes I'm submitting for a friend's cookbook. I am still amazed at the things you can do with nut creams. The world of vegan cooking is exploding right now (you must check out some of the vegan food blogs) and I think it will get even better as more professionally trained chefs start experimenting!