Friday, October 8, 2010

Eat Less Meat, Spend More Money

We just completed a meatless week...and we made some great meals! Last week we did 5 out of 7 meatless, and this week we decided to go for it every day! Husband generally likes meat meals more than I do, but he was totally on board this week. I admit, it definitely takes more planning...at the end of a long day it's easy to just grill up a chicken breast with some veggies. I wanted to incorporate some "fake meat" this week...definitely more expensive than real meat!

Ok, here on the island, everything is more expensive...including veggies! Two large portobellos will cost as much as a pound of ground beef, and nothing is ever in season! Do you pay $8 for one squash in September? We do! So, we did go a little over budget this week ($15 a day for food and drink, breakfast and dinner), but we would have gone a lot over budget...we are house sitting right now and they had some stuff that needed to be used up. We spent $109 this week, and this is what we ate!

Tuesday: Squash stuffed with mushrooms, onions, rice, broccoli

Wednesday: Tofu with teriyaki vegetables and rice

Thursday: Barbados Black Bean Cakes (from Vegetarian Times) with grilled sweet potatoes and mango salsa...really delicious!

Friday: Veggie Pizza...husband made the crust from scratch and we baked it on a pizza stone. As much as we make pizza, we don't own and have never used a pizza stone, but the place we are housesitting had one. I am sold!! The crust was amazing.


We topped it with mushrooms, onions, roasted red peppers, sun dried tomatoes, and some fake italian sausage. The sausage was really good, but at the regular market it goes for $9 for 4 links. I found it at the big box store for $5...still more expensive than pork sausage, $4 for 5 links.

Saturday: Grilled veggie kabobs with roasted rosemary potatoes

Sunday: Home made pierogies!
My very favorite! I had to work late, so T did it all...made the dough and a couple different fillings...potato and cheese, and fake ground beef ($6 for 12 ounces) with onions. Served with pickled beets and saurkraut...yum!

Monday: Enchiladas filled with leftovers...grilled veggies, black beans, fake meat, and served with a plum salsa.

At the end of the week, we both felt a little bit healthier, and a little bit lighter. The trend may continue!

Thanks for stopping by!

3 comments:

  1. ok..I need to eat before reading your posts. Now I am starving! What beautiful wholesome foods you make. I must have your mango salsa recipe!

    ReplyDelete
  2. Thanks! For the mango (or plum, or pineapple) salsa, just substitute the fruit for the tomato! I put in lots of onion, garlic, cilantro, a little honey, and season to taste! Always better the next day, too!

    ReplyDelete
  3. Great post, Barbara! Everything looks great and since my husband has taken another job out of town, I may have to try some of these meatless meals!

    ReplyDelete