Meal Plan Woes

Obviously I’m blogging less.  Why?  I’m cooking less.  My new job comes with a pretty big meal plan that can accomodate me eating lunch 5 days a week and me and Ryan 3 nights a week in the school dining facilities.  Not the healthiest fare, but we make it work.  Too, it saves us a ton of money!  It’s a recession, darnit, and we gotta pinch pennies.

Speaking of saving money, Ryan and I have decided we’re not getting a car (in the most car-centric city ever).  We are buying a motorized scooter called the Buddy.  It gets 120 miles to the gallon and only costs $200 a year for insurance.  Meanwhile, I also got a street bike, so we’re being green, healthy and saving money on gas!  Now, this plan works mainly because I don’t have a commute, Ryan has a short commute, all the stuff we need is relatively nearby and it’s sunny 300+ days a year in Phoenix.  Too, no super cold winter days. 

Because of our new plot to save tons of money, we have run into the issue of not always being able to haul large loads from Costco or Ikea.  We have plenty of cars we can borrow, but I really want to work on using what we have and making the most of bulk foods. 

Enter Joanie’s bag o rice

We also stocked up on all the regular stuff such as tomato sauce, pasta, dried beans, oatmeal, soymilk…enough to hold us over for a good long while!

Tonight I got to cook dinner.  It’s been a while.  On the menu was a bed of lentils with harissa, topped with carmelized onion/green bean/goji berry/ tahini mess, garnished with julliened roasted red peppers and grated carrot.  Woo hoo was it spicy!  But, very delish.

Tonight I’m duty, so here’s to hoping for a quiet night.  Meanwhile, big pancake breakfast at our place in the morning before our friends take off for Tour de Fat.