Love’s Lentil’s Lost

Lately, I’ve made a LOT of bean soup for our weekday lunches. It’s usually lentil, alternating from red lentil to green lentil for “variety.” But I can’t bring myself to do it this week. I am lentiled-and-legumed out. This morning, hugging Man from behind while he finished our pancake breakfast, I glowered at the remaining three pounds of red lentils (one pound of which would normally be cooked today, Sunday, for soup for the week) and hid them behind the coffee beans.

Today, I went to Safeway to break the bean monotony, my first trip there in about two months. Though I’ve read all about it, I was shocked at how much grocery prices have gone up. The organic frozen lunches I like (from Amy’s) are all about $1.50-$2 more than they were before. Cereal, already crazy expensive, costs even more (I saw, with my own eyes, a single box that cost almost $6). Thanks for those ethanol subsidies, big government.

We don’t eat any processed food, which means we can’t take advantage of a lot of coupons. We’re not big on big chain grocery stores, either, for logistic more than philosophic reasons. First, we don’t own a car, which means we’re on foot most of the time and can’t buy more than we can comfortably carry for at least a half mile or so. We get a local, organic produce box delivered from Capay every Tuesday, which takes care of most of our produce needs for $29/week (and is a lot less expensive than the equivalent would be at Whole Paycheck). If we need something specific during the week we get it from the small market on the corner, and we usually pick up a few things at the farmers market on Saturday.

We buy bulk food and other staples from Other Avenues, a local food co-op, and we bake our own bread (having finally gotten a viable San Francisco sourdough starter going!). We’re doing OK as far as grocery costs go.

I did pretty well at Safeway today, though, and spent $25.24 on:

• Two lunches for Man and I tomorrow (tuna salad sandwiches, because we baked bread yesterday and have to use it)
• Two breakfasts for me (yogurt with fruit we already have and need to use before it spoils)
• Two more lunches for me (adapted from the English Major’s Late-to-Work Chickpea Salad), comprised of canned organic chickpeas, red onion, parsley, feta, and a bit of olive oil and lemon juice
• Guacamole fixins for Man
• Lettuce enough for sandwich toppings and side salads (we’re having BLTs tomorrow night for dinner, to use the rest of the bread, and because BLTs make me literally SWOON over Man every time he makes them, they are so incredible, so he makes them on purpose now)
• Soup onion, celery, and carrots (for whatever lentil soup alternative I come up with)
• One big treat lunch for me: Organic frozen black bean and tofu enchiladas for $2.50 ($.45 off with my Safeway card

I know others have done better for $25.24, but it’s not bad for seven meals and change with grocery prices being what they are.

Also, in keeping with the recession spirit, my library-not-buying books goal is coming along. I’ve now borrowed, rather than bought, three books, none of which have been subject to late fines. I’ve saved $38 so far, which is what these books would have cost if I’d bought them from Amazon.