secret admirer, adventures in budgeting, news

I think Dan and I may have a secret admirer. :)

Why? Because we received 1 1/2 pounds of very delicious looking coffee in the mail yesterday from "Women's Bean Project" in Denver, with absolutely no indication of who may have purchased it for us!



Whoever you are . . . thank you!

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Now we begin our adventures in budgeting!

First up, I made sandwich bread:

We haven't cut into these loaves yet (both are wrapped and in the freezer), but I did have a note on the recipe from the last time I made it, stating, "yummy!" Let's hope so! Loads of honey, Earth Balance, whole-wheat bread flour, and walnuts went into these babies . . . how could they not be yummy?

Second, Dan and I did our first round of cash-based, budget-friendly grocery shopping yesterday. We decided to hit the Asian market first, getting what we could that wasn't on a styrofoam tray wrapped in plastic, (their produce is CHEAP, but I just can't manage to be okay with that level of waste,) and came out with the following:

The above load ran us $29 exactly. Wow! What a steal!
We purchased . . .
oyster mushrooms
green onions
cilantro
firm tofu
basil
limes
nori
brown rice
garlic
red onions
bean sprouts
lemongrass
pad thai noodles
low salt soy sauce
coconut milk
lemon
yellow onion
and a "fun beverage" for each of us as a treat! (Fun beverages not pictured.)

I've made peace with purchasing a lot of non-local, non-organic ingredients by thinking that at least we are supporting a local business!

After the Asian market, we hit the Wedge to fill in the gaps:

We spent $72, after using our three quarterly member discounts and four "bring-your-own bag" discounts, and came home with . . .
BULK:
local, organic black beans
TVP
CHEESE:
local part-skim mozzarella
PACKAGED GROCERY:
12-pack Seventh Generation TP
2 bottles Seventh Generation dish soap (on sale!)
organic diced tomatoes (on sale!)
organic crushed tomatoes (on sale!)
PRODUCE:
local, organic cucumber
organic bananas
organic avocadoes
organic red grapes
local, organic watermelon
organic plums
local, organic green beans
local, organic cauliflower
organic eggplant
organic spinach
local, organic salad mix
local, organic cremini mushrooms
organic red bell peppers
jalapenos
local, organic roma tomatoes
REFRIGERATED GROCERY:
local, organic bulk eggs
local, organic heavy whipping cream

We came in at $101 spent this week, which is WELL under our rough budget of $125 per week. Holy moly! The thing that surprised me the most was that I was SURE we were going to spend more than planned this week, since we needed so much produce, and also chose to stock up on a few sale items. It's a relief to know one can work the budget and still not feel "deprived." :)

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This week's meal plan:
red curry with tofu and veggies, brown rice
vegetarian sushi, miso soup
pad thai
pizza, salad
chili, cornbread
and banana ice cream for treats!

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AND, last but not least, those of you who've read this whole long post get the best news of all -- I received a teaching job offer yesterday! WAHOOOOOOO! It's been a very long 3 1/2 months of working retail and going on countless interviews. I haven't officially accepted the job yet, (it's always good to think about things for a wee bit,) but I plan on acceping the job Monday morning, to start a week from Monday. Hooray!