Black Bean Veggie Soup

Soup weather is upon us! The rain has finally started consistently falling in Santa Cruz and cooking is what helps keep our apartment warm. I had a lot of leftover veggies this week (some from Thanksgiving, some that had been overlooked during Thanksgiving) so I decided to make soup. Simple inexpensive ingredients too! Most of my veggies were from Trader Joe’s and all organic. I know I need to start writing down the prices more often but I believe organics at TJ’s are at least a dollar more, depending on what you buy. I want to say that the amount of vegetables to make the soup is around $10. I get canned beans in bulk from Costco.

Food Shopping: Safeway & Trader Joe’s

One of my main goals for this blog is to write a series of posts about comparative food prices. Here are some facts that influence my shopping. I try to spend no more than $30 a week on groceries. I live with my boyfriend so that means we split the cost of food shopping. So, combined, we try not to spend more than $60 a week on groceries. That can get you a lot of food for two people! I am located in Santa Cruz, California and have a number of options when it comes to food shopping, including a farmers’ market on Wednesdays.

Cayenne Nutritional Yeast Potatoes

I went to Safeway about a month ago and bought a 15lb bag of potatoes for $5. That is a lot of potatoes. I have made gnocchi, baked potatoes, morning potatoes, seasoned potatoes… and I am still not fully done with the bag. Here is a quick, easy, and delicious way to prep Russet potatoes for a side dish or even a snack if you are potato obsessed like me.

Meatless Meatballs

A couple weeks ago I had cravings for meatless meatballs. I follow Gardein on a few social media sites and their meatless meatballs are pretty dang good and when I saw them pop up on my Instagram newsfeed, I knew I had to satiate my cravings somehow. I looked up easy vegan meatball recipes and lentils seemed to be the reoccurring trend as the main ingredient.

Crispy Lentil Fritters

I have over a dozen cookbooks, including Eat Vegan on $4 a Day, but mainly get inspiration/recipes from The Internet. Pinterest and Tumblr specifically. These two sites have helped me find some amazing affordable and easy recipes to make.