I was looking at my site stats, and saw that someone was searching for the kinds of groceries a vegan would buy for a week. I thought (even though I made a “photo journal” that covered about 4 months) I’d list the typical stuff I buy, or keep on hand.

I’m not a real healthy eater, and not much of a cook. So this is just what I’d typically buy/eat, and not what I would recommend. I do tend to buy organic, if available — especially to avoid the “Dirty Dozen”. Also, I eat sugar, which some vegans don’t.

Breakfast:

I buy any vegan cereal (something healthy like Nature’s Path Optimum Rebound or others like Amaranth flakes, or something comforting like Cheerios that I like with brown sugar as a snack). Generally, and especially if I’m buying the expensive organic brands, I’ll look for something that is “buy one, get one free”. I also have a variety of hot cereals on hand, but don’t eat them very often.

I keep soy or rice milk on hand. Again, I prefer organic, but tend to buy whatever is on sale. I also prefer the taste of rice milk. (I also have a soy milk maker, but tend to use that only in cooking or on granola, because it’s somewhat gritty.)

Coffee, tea, juices

Lunch:

If I don’t bring lunch from home, I’ll buy either a vegan soup in the cafeteria, or buy some widely-available brand of accidentally vegan entree (like various Asian — Annie Chun? — or Delmonte microwaveable meals) or nuts & Clif Bars from our little store at work. I might bring leftovers or what I need to make a peanut butter & jelly sandwich (organic peanut butter in glass jar, organic preserves and organic bread — usually Nature’s Oven or Aunt Millie’s). I also found some accidentally vegan cookies at the store at work.

Dinner:

Always on hand: potatoes, onions, carrots, garlic, pasta, sauces, and something like Lightlife ground round-style crumbles, “turkey”-style slices or “chicken”-style strips for a variety of meals, including pizza, pasta, chili mac, hash, etc.

Sometimes on hand: Follow Your Heart mozzerella “cheese”, olives, ready-made pizza crust, tofu, Lightlife Gimme Lean breakfast “sausage”, dry split peas, celery, soy ice cream, Wax Orchards chocolate fudge sauce and Wax Orchards Fruit Sweet, fresh and/or frozen fruit.

That’s basic. And it isn’t much. And even if I buy organics when available, it doesn’t cost too much as long as I buy only what I plan to eat. And even if it did, it’s cheaper to buy organic, than to buy my lunches in the cafeteria or a restaurant.

(Something like a pot of homemade split pea soup would supply a week’s worth of lunches.
A pot of pasta with sauce, etc., could last me a week, if I wanted to eat the same thing every day/night.)

Anything else I make for dinner could last for an extra meal. But I usually eat it all instead of taking left-overs to work — even the pizza. In other words, I pretty much “forage” for breakfast, lunch & snacks, and have a big dinner and maybe a bowl of cereal as a bed-time snack.

[For those who find this site on a search for "what do vegans eat?", the answer is simply that we eat a plant-based diet -- anything that doesn't have ingredients that come from living or dead mammals, birds, sea creatures, etc. (So, for example, besides not eating the flesh of anyone who died, we also do not eat anything with dairy products/byproducts, eggs, gelatin, mayonnaise, animal-based broths, etc. And it isn't difficult to do at home, but can be a challenge at typical family restaurants, church social functions and family holidays.) For information on vegan nutrition, click here, or Google for other resources. For easy vegan recipes, click here, or Google for a specific recipe, or especially for special vegan holiday recipes. If you're interested in going vegan, there are simple ways of substituting animal products in your favorite recipes, and an increasing amount of meat and dairy alternatives in larger grocery stores, health food stores, or on-line.]

I found this today on Bishop Marc’s blog: What is eaten in one week: a perspective

I decided it might be interesting to try to do something like this in place of a food journal, for the following reasons:

1) For the past two years I tried to keep a food journal during Lent. I think it would be more interesting to visualize, also to have a sense of portion, and to know how much to allot myself for the week.
2) It might help me know exactly what I’m short of, and need to buy.
3) It might help me keep track of how healthy I am or am not eating.
4) If I “start out fresh” with an empty cupboard & refrigerator, I can keep an accurate record of what my food costs really are. (Not that they’ll be “real”, or accurate, because I buy snacks at work, and I tend to “buy one, get one free” whether or not I plan to eat it during a given week.) So I think if I do this on a weekly basis, I’ll just take a picture of whatever I buy (and maybe include whatever I pick from the garden), and the total I spent on food for the week.
5) It might answer the question people have, “What do vegans eat?!”

The picture I’m posting was taken on a Saturday evening. I included old fruit & veggies that I still need to eat. I may buy more tomorrow, but I felt that the amount of food shown in the picture represents pretty well how much I eat in a week’s time.

Actually, I’m posting two. Since this is an animal-friendly site, I feel obligated to post one picture of my cat checking out the Yve’s Meatless Ground. The second is just the food….

Disclaimer for the “Food Police”: I eat Oreos when I get a hankering. I don’t know if they’re vegan. I don’t see any identifiable animal ingredients on the label, and the cholesterol is listed at 0%. So although they contain sugar, and little else that would be considered food ingredients, I consider them “vegan-enough”.

This is probably more and less than I’d eat in a week. I wouldn’t be inclined to eat the Field Roast roast, cold cuts, two packages of Yves Meatless Ground, Lightlife Smart Strips and the Dixie Diners Chicken (Not) ‘n Dumplings all in the same week, all by myself. On the other hand, I’m down to two store-bought potatoes. Will I eat rice and pasta the other nights, or make pizza on the flat breads? Who knows. I’m also out of fresh fresh fruit. What I have, should be eaten tonight or composted.

Maybe I’ll try to arrange future photos in the order of the vegan food pyramid.

On another topic, but about food, I took some pictures of a sweet potato that is growing on its own in my kitchen without dirt or water. I may put it in a pot, because it’s pretty. Here are two of the pictures I took:

But, now I’ll digress. I have this picture on a T-Shirt. I tend to wear it to church picnics (when I go, which hasn’t been for at least a year). I’m posting it, because the pig’s ears remind me of the sweet potato leaves….

Let’s see if I can make it a banner link….

Nope. Click here, if you want to go to the GoVeg site.