Cheap Green Stuff, and a note on weight loss

Being vegan, I take in very large quantities of green stuff (apart from spearmint slices--those things are gooey, minty paradise). However, fresh veg are freaking expensive at the grocery store. Even Wal-Mart's produce ranges from merely shocking to horrifying, and it seems like quality varies every trip. Fortunately, I have three places for fresh veg that are much more reasonably priced and generally much fresher than the alternatives.

1. Aldi. This is where I buy most of my Western basics, anyway. I've seen potatoes for TWO DOLLARS A BAG. Really awesome salad mix (if time is worth more than money in that regard) is two dollars a bag for the good stuff--not just crappy iceberg with dry carrot shavings. There are always good produce deals. The only downside is that their selection is somewhat limited. What there is has always been good, though.
2. My local Asian market. Asian markets vary in quality. Tulsa has several. Most are cluttered or stinky or both. The newest one, however, Asian Mart, is clean, does not stink, and gets my business every week or two. They have a fantastic selection of high-quality produce for unusually low prices. Some is familiar to a Western palate. Some isn't. I buy both. (I actually picked up some edible geranium leaves the other day. They're very tasty! I'm going to locate some bulghur and use them to make tabbouleh!) As an example of prices, last time I was there, I picked up a bulb of fennel for... I think a dollar, certainly less than two. They normally run three or four in my area. They also carry inexpensive tofu and reasonably priced miso (six bucks for a kilo, I think?), and a HUGE assortment of delicious, delicious candies and fruits if you've got a little cash for a sweet tooth splurge. Definitely check the Asian (and Indian!) markets in your area. You're likely to find a great resource or several.
   
3. Local farm stores. I need to stress that these aren't farmer's markets. Farmer's markets in my area are expensive like you wouldn't believe, and they don't take food stamps. (As much as I love good garlic, I'm not paying a buck fifty a bulb, no matter how hot and delicious it is.) The places that I go to are not likely to be found in a lot of heavily urban areas. They're actually the stores attached to various large farms in my area. (Tulsa has what you might call a varied environment.) These places carry both locally grown and non-local produce for reasonable prices (most of the time), as well as various canned, dried, and sometimes frozen items, plus good seed if you want to grow your own. I can get a week's worth of produce for maybe $20 at one of these places if I pay attention to prices.

I try to eat on about $30 a week, now that I have food stamps and can afford that much. My last shopping trip ran well over that, but I was buying some staples I'd run out of, and I hadn't gone shopping in nearly three weeks so I could finish a sewing commission. By the end of it, I was borrowing old frozen lima beans from my roommates.

Quick note on Asian markets: stores primarily importing from Korea and Japan are likely to be more expensive than Vietnamese, Thai, etc. owned ones because prices in those countries are very high. If you go into a market and your eyes pop out of your head at the prices, it probably specializes in one or both of those countries. (Please argue with me on this point if you can. This will probably vary by region.) I think Asian Mart is Vietnamese-owned, but they cater to a much wider clientele.

I also have a special note to those of you (like me) trying to lose weight. (I'm not trying to lose a size or two, btw. Think 80 or 90 pounds.) Vegan diets are generally low in calories. This means that you might be full and think you're satisfied, only to start piling on pounds. Start tracking your daily calorie intake. I use SparkPeople to do most of the thinking for me (because it's free, seriously). I just enter how much I eat and when in the day. Turned out I was getting about 700 calories a day less than I needed to live. Oops. As soon as I started eating enough, things turned around. So if you've gone vegan and gained weight, or just can't get rid of it, see what you're eating. Worst case, you've got an idea of how much and what you're eating overall.

Did I ever mention I forget to update my blogs?

Sorry about that. I had a major sewing commission that I had to finish, and it sort of ate up a month of my time. I've been doing a lot of cooking over the last few weeks, which was nice, and I discovered all sorts of ways to occupy my stomach. (I also discovered that my normal caloric intake is even lower than I thought, so I'm trying to fix that. As in, my body thought it was starving to death because I kept forgetting to feed it. My cats, fortunately, fare better in that respect. They're downright chubby.) There's a particular rice dish that I got myself hooked on. It's technically a dessert, but, eh, I'll eat it for breakfast. As long as I'm getting calories, I'm good.

Take note: this dessert contains kidney beans. Seriously. Dark red kidney beans from a can. That's because I modeled it on some DELICIOUS Vietnamese desserts I've picked up at the Asian market more than once. In that region of the world, beans other than soy are dessert. They have sugar on them, and it works great. I promise.

Anyway. Here's the recipe.

Beans and Rice For Dessert

Enough water to fill a 2-qt pot
1/2 cup short-grain brown rice (yes, white will work, too--black might also, omnom)
1/2 15oz can dark red kidney beans, drained and rinsed
2 Thb sugar
1-2 Thb coconut milk powder (cheap at the Asian market) OR 1/3 cup coconut milk

Bring the water to a boil. Add rice, cover, drop temp to a simmer, and let boil for about 26 minutes. Add beans and boil another four minutes. Drain the rice quickly, return to pan, and clamp on lid to let it steam for 10 minutes. Remove lid, stir in sugar and coconut milk, and devour. This serves one.

I've also used sweet potato in place of the beans, and I'd like to try taro (again, see cheap Asian market), but the beans have an almost metallic flavor that's oddly meat-like against the rice and sugar. It's tasty as hell. I see you wrinkling your nose there, but I swear, it's good. Seriously.

And now I'm going to go and find some more calories. I'm having a hell of a time eating enough, even with a calorie tracker. I'm pretty much just doomed.

PS, I got my food stamps! YAY!!!! Now I can stop eyeing the container of breadcrumbs, wondering what it would take to make a sandwich out of them!