As many of you might already know that life in New York isn’t the easiest because it’s very expensive to live here, especially Manhattan. We need to budget our daily expenses in order to save up for traveling and big spendings. Thus, I cook Monday to Friday, and prep lunch for my husband to bring to work most of the time. As we eat plant-based diet, we prefer to eat home cooked meals since we like a big variety in fruits and vegetables, and we don’t like dishes that’s are greasy and salty, which is the case we find in most of the restaurants here.
Fresh Produce
We have been plant-based diet for more than a year and a half. We find buying fresh produce in New York easy, especially there is a Whole Foods Market near by. Normally I go grocery shopping 2 ~ 3 times a week, and my weekly staples are tomatoes, leaf vegetables, zucchinis, carrots, garlic, onions, potatoes, bell peppers, non-dairy milk, fruits, tofu, beans, rice, and noodles. I also like to buy season fruits and vegetables, and from time to time I would buy imported ingredients depending on the recipes I’m going for that day.
Reusable Bags
Always bring canvas bags when go shopping. Not only for grocery. There are many reusable bags out there, however, most of them are made from synthetic materials. I used to use the synthetic reusable bags for grocery as they are foldable, light and sturdy, but once they break, they cannot be recycled and it’s not biodegradable. Definitely bring your own bags to reduce the wastes.
Vegan Options
There are also a big variety of vegan products such as non-dairy yogurt, chicken-style seitan and Beyond Meat that are available in the States. My husband and I especially love the Beyond Burger, as we find it 10000 times better than non-vegan burger patties. It’s juicy, flavorful, and most importantly free of soy, gluten and GMO. We also love to have pancakes for breakfast/brunch on weekends. The vegan pancake mix that we go for is Cherrybrook Kitchen’s Original Pancake Mix as it’s delicious yet quick and easy.
Prices
As any other big cities in the world, the standard of living in NYC is relatively high. For our diet and budget, it’s definitely sensible to cook at home during the week. We find the grocery prices reasonable for New York standards, especially for the quality. For fruits with peels like bananas and pineapples, I like to buy from street fruit carts as they are usually sold cheaper than in the grocery stores.
** All photos mine
