Wednesday, September 16, 2009

The Great Pescatarian Experiment - the grocery haul

For the last couple of months I have been living life the pescatarian way. At first I doubted how successful this whole experiment would be but it's actually been going ridonculously well! I even survived the temptations of a visit home to Toronto. Yaaay me!

Now one aspect of my life that has been dramatically altered is grocery shopping.




From the offset I assumed that increasing my seafood intake would result in a massive grocery bill. Turns out I was wrong!!




If anything I'd say my grocery bill has actually managed to go down! :oD




Recently I bought a yogurt maker; my breakies now consist mostly of fruit, a bit of yogurt, and 1/4 cup of granola (I try not to overdo the granola as it can be high in fats and calories.




I generally eat seafood once a day but I try to make sure I mix up both lunch and dinner to include non-seafood options. Omelettes have been great in that regard! Dead easy, inexpensive, versitaile, and loaded with proteins!!!




Like most meat eaters I've indulged in some tofu based dishes. For the most part I tend to be selective about the tofu I eat, since it can sometimes be highly processed. Nonetheless there's no denying tofu can make an amazing meat replacement.




Now I'm not going to pretend that there will ever be a substitute for a medium-rare grilled T-bone steak! There will never be a replacement for that but if you choose your recipes carefully you won't notice too much of a difference!




Cook up some tofu in a stirfry and you won't be able to notice too much of a difference. Cook up some paneer in your tikka masala and you'll wonder why you ever needed chicken! :o)




Now there's no doubt that this lifestyle isn't for everyone but there's no harm in having a meatless meal here or there. You may even be pleasently surprised by how much cheaper it can be!!! :o)



PS: this post featured pictures from this week's grocery haul - and the meat belonged to the Fiance

7 comments:

Allison said...

I try to have atleast a few meatless meals each week, and it really helps the grocery bill!

Anonymous said...

I'm on pescatarian too because I love fish!!! :)
so fun to see so many groceries pic ;)

Lo said...

im vegetarian (2 months now) and dont even crave meat anymore! good luck!

p.s. I saw some honey nut cheerios in the background ;) my cereal of choice!

-lo

A Toronto girl out West said...

Allison,

Isn't that funny - most people assume eating meat free is more expensive. But it really isn't! :o)

Coco,

Yes fish is yummy! I've yet to try to see if chimichurri will work on shrimp. I'm hopeful! :o)

Lo,

Yeah I have to say the meat cravings are gone on my end too! I tried a bite of what was described as amazing roast beef the other day. It just felt wrong. God knows what I'm going to do for Thanksgiving! lol

CarolynM said...

Tofurkey for Thanksgiving!

Yves "chicken" nuggets and cutlets are great.

Marianne (frenchfriestoflaxseeds) said...

I don't know why anyone would assume not eating meat would be expensive - last time I checked, meat/poultry/seafood usually costs the most on my grocery bill, along with my beloved cheese. Mmmm, cheese.

I'm all for the seafood - born and raised west coaster here. But no way I'm giving up my thanksgiving/christmas/easter turkey & stuffing, that's for sure! LOL.

A Toronto girl out West said...

Marianne,

I think the cost of produce depends largely on where you live. And if you have access to a Chinatown! lol :oP