Post Punk Kitchen Forum

ooh that sounds good smoothie- a freezerfull of muffins and pancakes.

I just spent $200 at Costco...but now I have ALL THE PRODUCE. ALL OF IT.

Right now I'm cooking brown rice - gonna try to do some assembly line casseroling. I have had my Costco membership for a couple months now and I have a love-hate relationship. I love the frozen fruits and vegetables, their produce is actually really good quality, the 3-pack of soymilk... but on the other hand it's easy to buy way too much of stuff, and I'm always buying things I didn't intend and not getting what I did go there to buy. It's getting a little better as I get used to what they have. I wish they had Earth Balance!!!!

Yes! I could go on and on about the joys of freezer muffins, but I'm actually out at the moment - these last couple weeks I've been decadently enjoying a double batch of jumbo pumpkin muffins. I just got "150 Vegan Muffins" and it is pretty much as advertised - the pumpkin muffins are all I've made so far but they were great. The only budget downside is that most of the recipes require fauxgurt - I need to start making my own like a respectable vegan.

I did the weekly shop today and spent £48 (about $76 I think). That includes all the household stuff. I'm budgeting at £55 so I have a few quid spare for fresh veg later in the week.

So the first week of the month is over and ended up at about $81. The goal was about $75 so not too far off the mark. That was including two takeout meals that cost about $40 together, so if we hadn't had them it would have been better (they were tasty though!) We have to do a grocery shop this weekend so the spending continues...

Two days til I shop... I've spent some money on odds and ends (read: bananas), but that's it. My budget seems to be $80 but it's because I'm running out of some stuff and am stocking up on staples. The rest of the month will be more like $20-30 a week after the big shopping.

I went to the farmer's market and spent $10 on 4 apples, 3 cukes and a bunch of dill. They were honeycrisps, but also a reminder that it is so easy to spend money on food I don't need.

I'm really ashamed. I blew my budget by Wednesday. I'm such a stress-shopper.

Considering I spent $265 today, September is probably going to be a write off. Most of that was costco, so things like a $17 of walnuts, $30 of almond milk, 5kg of rice, etc...

How much is a block of tofu for you guys? I'm pretty sure it's insane here because one is like $3 (on sale) (and it's less than a pound). I already miss Vancouver for it's produce markets. Organic yellow peppers were on sale today for $9.99/lb. Ha.

I'm in Brooklyn, NY and it varies a lot. At the local, smallish supermarket, a 14 oz block of Organic tofu costs about $2.70. At the bigger and less pleasant chain supermarket in my hood they sometimes go on sale for $1.99. At one of the bigger markets in Chinatown, you can get the same amount (non-organic) for under a dollar. I try to stock up whenever I go to one of the Chinese markets, but I probably only go every 4-6 weeks or so, so sometimes I've got to suck it up and pay the higher price.

I used to pay $1.99/14 oz tofu, but the international market that recently opened up near me sells 12oz blocks for 99¢.

$3 for 500g (17.6 oz) at the Chinese shop, otherwise a lot more for less...

How often do you guys eat tofu? I eat it maybe once a month or so.

I'm so jealous of your affordable tofu!

I'm going with €50 a week. I get paid every 2 weeks so I generally do my shopping every 2 weeks. I have 3 places I do my shopping.... Tesco for the staples like grains, beans, household stuff, toileteries (I order online and get it delivered so really easy to keep to budget) Aldi for fresh fruit and veg then the health food store for odds and ends. So far I have spent €53. I haven't needed to go fresh fruit and veg shopping yet because I still have plenty of food in the freezer and fridge to use up. I'm putting off going to the health food shop at the moment because all I need is yeast and agave nectar. I should be well under budget this fortnight which is great because Lidl have a waffle iron on special next Thursday and I NEED one.

We just got a surprise tax bill and we're taking a trip next month, so we're kind of freaking out about cash at the moment. So we're going on a pantry/freezer challenge to try and cut spending. We did both spend a little money this weekend out with friends, but we're trying to trim everything else.

Friday we cleaned out the fridge and did tacos with all the veggies. Only splurge was some guac and salsa. We used the leftovers in tofu rancheros for brunch - also had pancakes. We have a ton of frozen beans and canned tomato stuffs in the pantry, so that's what it sounds like for the rest of the month.

I got $100 out in cash for food for the rest of the month, I'm hoping to only use that and maybe a little more for treats on the weekend and such. Spent $14 yesterday at the farmer's market and the co-op yesterday getting chard, a couple peppers, canned tomatoes, pasta, beets, sweet potatoes, and possibly one other thing.

I live with a roommate who used to be an omnivore and decided to essentially go vegan when we moved in together (he is vegetarian and will occasionally eat baked stuff that have eggs, etc...) and he really likes tofu. I want to make sure he feels that vegan food is yummy and filling, etc... so we end up eating it a lot (definitely more than once a week). I really like it too, though budget-wise, beans would be better.

Probably once or twice a week here. Typical preparations include roasted with some sort of marinade, mashed up into tofu ricotta, blended up in a smoothie, ground up in baked goods, in hybrid cashew/tofu firm cheeses, cubed up and thrown into soups as-is, as part of the filling in dumplings, etc. I really like tofu!

Here I pay 2.99/14 oz of Nasoya everywhere I go. Our local grocery store just started carrying this new tofu, I think it's 2.47/8 oz? It's really good. My favorite one is Soy Boy, which is in the co-op. It's 7.99/almost 4 lbs of tofu!

There's a Market Basket where I used to live (and will probably still go to occasionally) that sells some asian brand tofu for $.99/block of 15-16oz. Not organic, but not GMO, so I'm content with it. Not quite as good as the althernatives, but for me on a budget, I'll take it.

I dream of living in the land of cheap tofu. It costs about €3.50 for 400grams here.

I think we're going to stick to our budget this month, only because I spent £460 on dentistry this month. I have about £70 left for produce until the 30th.

That sounds like the supermarket price for tofu here (only the blocks are usually 300 grams there). I love my local Chinese shop for tofu and noodles!

Stayed well within our budget grocery-wise: €63. We got takeout and ate out though which was €35 total. Oh well, it was worth it.

i never managed to get around to setting a goal for myself so i think i will go with $375 for September. $400 was my goal for August and i spent $355 so i hope this is doable.

however i just got back from the grocery store and i feel like grocery prices on everything went up this week. everything seemed expensive. i wonder if it is from the hurricane and oil prices going up?

i also was pretty much out of everything this week so needed a lot of produce and staples. and i bought stuff for NEXT weekend since we are going away and will have a little cottage where we can cook.

gotta dig through my receipts to see where we are

I could easily do that with honeycrisps. Those and pink lady apples are so good.

I try and keep my total food bill at $300 for the month and I feel like it is way too much for just one person. I'd like to trim it down to $200. My goal for this month is to use CSA stuff to supplement my full cupboards and only buy other perishables.