Day 5 of Allergy Free Meals

I made it a whole week cooking meals free of soy, dairy, eggs, peanuts, and legumes!  Overall, I think it was a positive experience.  Zach enjoyed some of the meals but due to his age, he's not super into variety.  He tried everything I cooked which was a plus.  I will just have to make sure to continue offering him different types of foods so when he starts to diversify his tastes, he'll be ready to partake more fully of what I prepare.

Breakfast today was a bit of a failure.  I attempted to make vegan strawberry yogurt.  The recipe I used was pretty basic.  Only three ingredients.  The process started out well enough...

Soy Free Vegan Strawberry Yogurt

When the "yogurt" finished setting, I threw it in the blender with some strawberries.  Once I turned my blender on, I knew this was not going to work out.  I definitely needed a food processor.  Unfortunately,  my food processor stopped functioning a few months ago.  It was very disappointing to be so close to finishing but not having what I needed to get the job done.  Note to self: buy a food processor. 

Lunch was haystacks (a taco salad of sorts).  Ingredients I used were corn tortillas chips, kidney beans, brown rice, spinach, tomatoes, green onions, and vegan sour cream.  A food processor would have also been helpful for the sour cream recipe.  I was desperate to not throw this recipe out as well so I pulled out my coffee grinder and gave it a whirl.  It worked well enough but definitely would have worked better with a food processor.  On the plus side, it tasted great! 

Haystacks with Vegan Sour Cream

Vegan Soy Free Sour Cream

1 cup raw cashews (must not be roasted or salted)--I didn't have a whole cup of cashews so I used almonds and cashews to complete the measurement.

1/4 teaspoon salt

1 -2 teaspoon apple cider vinegar

1 small lemon, juice of

Cover cashews with water and soak for a few hours, or overnight.

Pour off all water, and place nuts in food processor.

Add 1/4 cup cold water, salt, vinegar and lemon juice.

Puree for 3-4 minutes or until completely smooth and creamy in consistency.

Use in any recipe that calls for sour cream.

Refrigerate in an airtight container for up to a week.

For Dinner today, Mike wants to treat me to a meal.  I'm not sure where we will go but I'm excited not to cook!  

Food Budgeting 

To conclude my week of allergy free cooking, I wanted to share with you what I spent on groceries for the week.  Before I bought groceries on Sunday, my fridge was pretty bare.  I did have some staples on hand but not a whole lot.  

I don't know about you but budgeting for groceries is somewhat stressful for me.  My husband has an opinion on how much I should spend which is always lower of what I think is reasonable.  This week I wanted to do some research and find out what other people spend on groceries for the month.  I found a broad range from $250/ month to $1064 to feed a family of four.  Mike and I tend to be middle of the road people so I figured $500 was a reasonable goal for us.  My sweet husband of course thought this was a bit high.  He wasn't convinced with my research.  

A little irritated I dug deeper to find some answers.  I came across a website put out by the USDA on what it costs to feed a family at home. They even divide it into four plans (thrifty plan, low budget plan, moderate plan, and liberal plan).  After looking at the numbers, Mike and I had an interesting conversation and decided to revisit our food budget plan for the month.   We agreed that we would  shoot to stay under $600.  Although this seems a bit high, I think it's reasonable for us since we buy mostly organic, higher quality foods.  

My food bill for the week was $190.55.  I knew it was going to be a bit high because I had to buy some staples I normally don't purchase every week.  I anticipate the rest of the month will even out.  I'm curious what some of you spend on groceries.  What is your monthly/weekly food budget?  How do you save money on food?