Breakfast: rice pudding made with silken tofu.
More breakfast: baked banana oatmeal.
Work lunch: Navy bean dip with carrots. This ended up super thick and cheesy because I dumped in a bunch of nutritional yeast. I liked it!
Roasted cauliflower
Garlicky noodles with broccoli
Whole wheat bread with flax and sunflower seeds. Finally used up the last of a gigantic bag of ground flax seeds I’ve had in my freezer for about a hundred years!
The budget:
Sunflower seeds $1.24 Dried oregano $0.42 Dried basil $0.33 Tea $2.94 Popcorn $5.09 Dry roasted edamame $3.73 Onion flakes $2.27 Ginger garlic seasoning blend $1.00 Onions $1.00 Gum $1.20 Raisins $1.00 Butternut squash $2.00 Cauliflower $1.00 Broccoli $1.00 Olive oil $3.00 Vanilla $3.00 Coconut peanut butter $3.98 Total $34.20 Remaining $25.54
I feel like I spent a lot of money this week and didn’t end up with a lot of food. I hit the WinCo bulk bins for spices, which to be honest I didn’t really need (but bulk spices are fun!), and I went a little overboard on the snacks while I was there (popcorn and dry roasted edamame). The bulk bins are a great deal, but I always get scoop-happy and buy more than I originally intended.
Then I wandered over to Big Lots and found cheap olive oil (which I also didn’t need!) and vanilla. Then I found Earth Balance coconut peanut butter for $1.99 at Grocery Outlet! I already had a ton of peanut butter, but not coconut peanut butter. It seemed mandatory that I buy at least two jars. And, before I’d even bought anything for actual meals, I’d spent a good chunk of my monthly budget.
Next week is looking like a whole lot of oatmeal and PB&J because I’ve got almost no produce and very little money left for the rest of March. Plus, I have to save a few dollars for a trip to San Francisco at the end of the month because I know I’ll be eating out. The moral of the story is that impulse buys are big trouble!
Food budget aside, this is the first month in a long time where I’m actually going to have a negative income, and that’s a little scary. I planned for this and knew I’d be going at least a month without a paycheck during my job transition, but I don’t like this feeling at all. I’m fortunate enough to have plenty of savings to cover my expenses until the money starts rolling in again, but I’m really glad right now to have set such a strict food budget. Every little bit of my savings I don’t have to spend certainly puts me ahead in the long run.
thousand dollar vegan 
Your rice pudding looks so nice and creamy! Those noodles with the broccoli look exceptionally yummy.
Do any of your grocery stores do clearance produce? I just realized recently that my favorite produce store does a clearance produce shelf. They usually do bags of about 3 pounds of one very ripe item for a dollar. It’s a great deal if you have time to do a lot of cooking and maybe freeze some of it if you won’t get to it before it spoils. This sort of thing seems like it would be perfect for you while you are between jobs.
I haven’t actually found a great source for clearance produce, but I definitely keep an eye out for it. There’s a Korean grocery store that always has clearance, but it’s usually growing mold by the time they mark it down. Occasionally I find 3lb bags of overripe bananas at Grocery Outlet for $1, which is exciting. I guess I need to branch out and do some more scouting!