Over the last week, I have been finishing a project I started a while back. The cold weather has had me feeling like wanting to stay in... so I had more time to look into it. It is something I had said in my last blog post that I would address next. Well, here it is: How I adopted a minimalist frugal diet to save on my food budget!
First, about my diet
As you may know, over the last several years I adopted a vegetarian diet, then a strict vegan diet. Switch it up to no-fat, low-fat, no process food, a little process food, mostly starch, mostly liquid (juices and smoothies), mostly fruits... etc... always staying away from meat, poultry, fish and seafood. It was meant for me to deal with MS. And it worked. The details around it changed as I wanted to try things. See what could be better. What would work with me and my lifestyle.
As of now, let's say I am mostly plant-based!
I basically stay away from meat, poultry, fish and seafood. I will have eggs once or twice a week. I ate cheese twice in the last 2 month ( a first in 6 years) and didn't really care for it. But I am not saying I will never have it again if it ends up being convenient. No other dairy (milk, butter, yogourt). However, I will eat a pastry, on some occasion, which I know may contain dairy.
I realized that this is the way that makes me happy. It doesn't feel to strict. It doesn't affect my health. And if keeps my weigh under control despite my crazy hormones! Being 46 is not easy hormonally!
It works for me.
My and my kitchen, a history.
I have had a love/hate relationship with my kitchen and cooking/baking. I never learned as a kid or teenager. I didn't really care for the food we ate at home. Never liked meat so much (only a few ones) and there was a lot of it.
When I first moved out, I tried. It was exiting to be able to eat what I wanted. But it didn't last long... Then when I bought my first house, it was the right thing to do right? So I decided to take a course in a well know chef's school in Montreal. There I learned all the basics. And more. So I tried again. And I got pregnant. The smell of food, especially meat, gave me nausea for about 6 months. So I stopped cooking. After my son was born, I was on maternity leave, and somehow his dad had set his mind to have a meal ready when he would get home. So I spent quite a lot of time in the kitchen between making supper and getting all the purees made for my son. I never bought a jar of baby food. Then I went back to work and that was out the window. I gave it another try when I became vegetarian, and another one when I went vegan, especially in my no store bought food period. But I felt "obliged" to do it and I hated it.
However, I do understand that it is healthier and cheaper to have a home cook meal. I put health as my number one priority. I had to figure out a way to make this work without feeling imprisoned in my kitchen several hours a day. And I did.
Minimalist diet.
By applying my minimalist lifestyle to my diet, I decided to declutter my cook books and go to recipes. I kept a single cook book - basically because it has a ton of health related information. Then I took all the recipes that are inexpensive and simple to make and created my diet plan around it. I also kept a few more "complicated" recipes for special occasions - like when my son is home, because these are his favorite meals.
And I noted everything in this notebook:
This contains all the information I need. And the handful of recipes I use regularly. Although, I make them so often I don't even need to refer to the actual recipe anymore.
Here are my go to meals.
1) Roasted veggies ( potatoes, sweet potatoes, carrots, turnip, beets, cauliflower, broccoli, Brussels sprouts...), farmer's market bread and homemade hummus.
2) Mashed veggies ( potatoes, sweet potatoes, carrots, red lentils - mashed with the cooking water and garlic powder, smoked paprika and salt), farmer's market bread and homemade hummus.
3) Basic veggies soup to which I can add red lentils, barley, pasta, cooked legumes... once again, served with farmer's market bread and homemade hummus! I can play around with this soup so much that it always is more or less different!
4) Barley mushroom celery soup. It goes well with a side of tofu... or hummus!
5) Salads - a few go to but not a huge an of salads in general
6) Buddha bowls - great to use up leftovers!
7) Fried rice - my husband's favorite
8) Pasta with homemade tomato sauce or Asian style with veggies and peanut sauce.
9) Hash Brussels sprout with eggs
I make my own mocked meat and sauce (aioli, brown sauce, "cheeze", tahini dressing, spicy peanut sauce, avocado sauce).
I also roast pumpkin and sunflower seeds coated with soy sauce, garlic powder, cayenne flakes. And sometimes chick peas!
For breakfast we eat toast or oatmeal with fruits. Sometimes crepes when we have more time... or even scrambled eggs with my "cheeze" sauce and roasted potatoes with Italian herbs.
And sometimes I make muffins, scones or a banana bread!
My ultimate frugal tricks.
1) Not wasting food.
I am not proud of this but for years I wasted food. Too much food. Way too much. But no more. I have put a stop to this back in October. And one thing that help was to simplify my eating. If you noticed, I use more or less all the same ingredients in most of my recipes. This way, without having to meal plan every week - which I cannot do for the life of me - I know what to buy and I know I will use it up.
2) Doing the math.
And this is what I worked on last week. I took a list of staples in my pantry, a pen and walked to 2 near by grocery stores. One is a regular grocery stores. My usual go to as I can get there everything I need. The other is a bulk food store, that holds most of my main staples and allowing me to bring in my own containers, it decreases my plastic bags usage - LOVE this idea!
I noted down the price of each of the items per 100g or 100ml. It took a while... and I got a few weird looks! ;) But I can live with that... Came back home, put everything in order and selected which food I would buy where from now on. By doing this, I can save a LOT of money without having to go to the stores more often. Just plan my trips differently. As most of my items are cheaper (and sometimes WAY cheaper) at the bulk store, I will also decrease my waste by having less packaging to get rid off! It's a win for me and a win for the planet. And it took about 3h walking to and from included!
Honestly, I am pretty happy with my diet, chosen meals and newly appointed grocery stores!
I think I will take a break from all that for now...
It may seem boring to some of you but I was never much into food. Making it or eating it. Even less buying it! I think I was about 8 or 9 when I asked my parents why there was'n a pill I could take instead of having to sit down for a meal as I didn't have time to eat! This was back in the early 80s! And I am still waiting for it... Then, when I started paying for my own food, I also kept thinking what I could do with all that money if I didn't have to buy food!!!
Well years later, at last, I have taken the time to think this over, do the math and finally get down to a way of eating that works for me and my wallet!
Did you ever think we spend to much time and money for food? Do you have go-to meals you eat over and over again? Do you know how much of your budget, or hard earned money, is spent on food? Are you OK with it?
if you liked what you read please share...
Chloe 💜&✌
No comments:
Post a Comment