Cheap Eats: Vegan Bachelor Soup

The Topic: Eating on the cheap with Managing Editor Elizabeth Castoria

The Dish: Virgil once wrote,"Fortune favors the brave," and he could not have been more right—especially when it comes to dining inexpensively (which, I'm sure, is exactly what he had in mind at the time). Should fear rob you not only of delicious meals, but also of your cold, hard cash? Heck no! Go boldly into your kitchen, like you've never gone before! (Really, if anyone comes to mind when you think of Virgil, it's Shatner.)

I was richly rewarded by inquiring once about what my friend Joelle was eating. Joelle is something of a culinary genius, and is the embodiment of fearlessness in the kitchen. She'll put spirulina on anything. She'll whip up seitan in five minutes flat. Sometimes she'll get a little extra crazy and create something truly magical, and sometimes—very rarely—she'll wind up with a dud. But, that's the cost this culinary adventurer pays for all her stellar successes. So, she was once dining on a bowl of soup that looked, well, sort of like what you'd expect to find floating along the coast during a red tide. When I asked her what it was, she said, "Bachelor soup. It's my specialty." The "bachelor" part comes from the fact that this dreamy dish takes all of three minutes to make, and can be eaten straight from the pot while standing over the stove, like a barbarous bachelor. She was generous enough to share some with me, and ever since, I've been hopelessly hooked. I could eat this garnly looking soup day and night for the rest of my life.

Joelle's Bachelor Soup

Serves 1

What You Need:
6 cups water
1/2 tablespoon Tom Yum paste
1/2 cup frozen rice cakes
1/8 cup dried seaweed (we like wakame)
8 ounces tofu (or 1/2 asceptic package)
1/2 cup vegetable stock

What You Do:

1. In a medium pot over medium-high heat, bring water to a boil. Add Tom Yum paste and rice cakes, and boil for 1 minute.
2. Reduce heat to medium. Add seaweed, tofu, and vegetable stock, and simmer for 2 minutes, or until seaweed is soft. Serve in a bowl, if you must.

The Final Word: The seaweed is easily the most expensive item in this soup, and that can be lessened by buying in bulk from your local health-food store. Check the "ethnic" section of any major grocery store to find Tom Yum paste, or head to your local Asian grocery. Be bold. Enjoy this awesome, cheap soup. See if luck doesn't find you.

Decorating on a Dime

The Topic: Decorating your home without spending all of your hard-earned money by VegNews Associate Editor Jennifer Chen.

The Dish: I recently helped my wonderful yet woefully style-challenged friend decorate her new home. She and her husband are on a tight budget—$200 to redo their living room and bedroom—so she asked me to come over and lend my design skills. Now, I'm not a decorator, but I am known amongst my friends for designing on a dime. If you walk into my house and admire my turquoise blue distressed coffee table, I'll happily share that I got it from a flea market for less than a $100. While the stereotype might exist that vegans live in yurts or hippie communes, I know that our community has some serious style. Here are some ways to decorate your humble abode without distressing your wallet.

1. Score good deals. My favorite websites to hit first? Craigslist and Freecycle.org. On Craigslist, towards the end of the month (when everyone is moving out and wants to get rid of their furniture ASAP), search through the furniture sections. If there's a catalogue item from Crate & Barrel I'm eyeing, I'll try to find the same exact piece on Craigslist by entering "Crate & Barrel coffee table" as a search term. You can easily score IKEA items the same way. I love shopping this way because not only are you recycling an item, you can also get it for half the price. My tip: If you like an item, ask for pictures so you know what the condition is of the piece you're buying, and have a game plan for how you're going to transport it home. Search for your local Freecycle group and signup for the Yahoo group to join. Everything under the sun is on the list. For both sites, reply quickly if you want something or else some other lucky person will score your deal.

2. Coupons. I am the queen of coupons, and something I learned about the ubiquitous Bed, Bath, & Beyond (BBB) coupons that I get in the mail is that they never expire. Seriously. I found this out at while checking out at a BBB and the cashier asked me if I had my stack of coupons. I did not, but now I do. So save those 20 percent off coupons for your big purchases like new bed spreads, curtains, or kitchenware.

3. Gather three objects you love. I stole this idea from Style Network's show Dress My Nest with Thom Filicia because I think it's genius. What Filicia does for each of his style-challenged couples is ask them to give him three objects that they love. He takes the objects—framed photos, dresses, souvenirs—and creates their style from their own personal objects. So that's what I did with my friend. Her wedding invitations had a nice red Asian theme and a photography book she picked out as one of her objects had beautiful black-and-white portraits. So when I saw a $25 table lamp with a red, white, and black flowered lampshade at Target, I snagged it immediately. It's so much easier to shop when you know what you're looking for instead of just grabbing random furniture pieces you like (and racking up a huge bill). Bonus tip: Target has some amazingly cute designs for cheap. And if you grab items out of season, you'll land some hot deals like red-and-white place mats for $1.33 each.

4. Flea markets. Haggling might not be your thing, but even a gentle, "Can you do better?" will often help lower a price on a piece. Even better, try this tactic just before the flea market closes. Vendors don't want to haul all of their wares back so bargain-bidding is easier. One of my favorite flea markets is the Melrose Trading Post in Los Angeles. When you find a great flea market and your favorite vendors, visit their stalls often. I scored so many deals at the Melrose Trading Post from a furniture guy who makes the most adorable vintage-looking furniture pieces (like my writing desk that was originally a sewing machine table). I visited him so much that every time I did, I got better prices. Vendors want you to keep coming back so tell them how much you love their pieces, bring friends (which is the best word-of-mouth for them), and gently ask what they can do for their best customer (that's you!).

5. Design blogs and magazines. Design magazines like Blueprint and Domino were my go-to mags for design ideas but in the wake of those publications' closure, a whole slew of drool-worthy design blogs have popped up. (Check out these mags for great ideas: ReadyMade, Anthology, and Dwell.) While you don't have to go and buy a suggested $1,000 bed frame, you can collect great ideas and styles (try the free website Evernote.com to store your ideas on the go). Here are some of my favorites, along with some picks from the VN staff (VN Editorial Assistant Anna Peraino was particularly exited to share her fave design blogs.): Apartment Therapy, Craft, Design Sponge, Craft Gawker, and California Home + Design's blog.

The Final Word: It may take extra effort to find the truly great decorating finds out there, but once you do, you can happily brag to your friends just how little you spent. You don't have to redecorate an entire room, but finding key pieces will help bring your whole place together. With a good eye on deals, you too can dress your nest for less!

Cheap Groceries at Ethnic Markets

The Topic: Filling up your grocery bags at ethnic markets (and saving tons of money while at it) by VegNews Editorial Assistant Alexandra Chang.

The Dish: It’s true that buying groceries and eating in is cheaper than going out, but there’s also a significant price difference between buying groceries at Whole Foods or Safeway and getting the same veg-friendly products at an ethnic market. Here in San Francisco, ethnic market tends to mean any of the dozens of Chinese, Japanese, Korean, Mexican, and Indian markets throughout the city. But even if you’re not in a metropolis, there’s probably at least one ethnic grocer near where you live. Though they might be a bit intimidating at first, the rewards are completely worth it.

1. Basics First: For grains, noodles, and beans, these markets have the best deals by far. I grew up eating rice at every dinner, and have fond memories of lugging bags bigger than my torso into the trunk of the car. My family of five went through a 50-pound bag in a few months, but now I can hardly get through five pounds in that time. For $30 at any Asian market, 50-pounds—around 250 uncooked cups—lasts forever for one person. You’ll also find packs of eight single-serving shaped rounds of dried noodles for 99-cents. And beans? The prices at Mexican grocers are insanely affordable.

2. Milk and Meat Replacements: Every Asian market has at least a few brands and varieties of tofu. Larger grocery stores like 99 Ranch have more than a dozen. Silken, extra-firm, baked, seasoned, or fried, because it’s such a cultural staple, tofu goes for cheap. You can even afford to experiment with different types—I love extra-firm and baked tofu—in your favorite recipes. Non-dairy milk is also plentiful, ranging from unsweetened rice to chocolate soy, all for at least one-third less than natural foods markets.

3. Spice up a Meal: I went to a big chain grocery market recently (as a last resort for some Earth Balance) and saw tiny containers of spices priced at $8.99. Granted they were organic and fancily packaged, there is no reason for a savvy vegan to purchase such items when just as satisfying spices reside in the aisles of any ethnic market at one-eighth the cost or less. The same goes for premade sauces—soy, black bean, vegetarian BBQ, and all. It’s simple and cheap to achieve the layered taste of a great Indian curry or prepare a delicious Chinese stir-fry.

4. Produce Galore: Though you may not be able to afford kale from natural food stores or farmers’ markets on a daily basis, you will be able to stuff your cart full at ethnic markets. At my favorite neighborhood produce joint, kale is only 99-cents per bunch. Usually steep-priced special veggies are also discounted, in particular those associated with the culture’s cuisine. Baby bok choy, Chinese broccoli, edamame, and various mushrooms are cheaper in Asian grocers, while Mexican grocers’ tend to have lower prices on peppers, olives, and avocados.

5. Surprise Treats: Ethnic markets aren’t only for your everyday staples; they’re a place to explore the variety of veg-friendly food items you’ve never tried or even seen before. Ever heard of basil seed drink or sweet sesame-filled rice balls? Or thought about adding pickled radishes and kimchi to your next meal? What might be considered specialty items at the standard grocery store are so common to certain cultures that they’re cheaper than buying a can of soda at Walgreens. Treat your taste buds to new flavors, without hurting your wallet.

The Final Word: Seeing the total amount at the checkout stand of ethnic markets never fails to surprise, in the best of ways. So if you’re on a budget and looking for regular grocery items or wanting to cook up a fantastic meal from another culture, then add ethnic markets—may they be Asian, Mexican, Indian, or other—to your grocery shopping rounds.

Now Swap it Out

The Topic: Scoring sweaters, skillets, and more at a swap party by VegNews Editorial Assistant Anna Peraino

The Dish: When money is so tight you can’t even afford regularly priced kale (and yes, I speak from personal experience), the last thing on your shopping list is an immersion blender or a new sweater. While the occasional Goodwill or eBay purchase can get you some things on the cheap, you still have to shell out dough. Enter: the swap party, where you can score FREE stuff sans dumpster diving (gross) or stealing (illegal). Hosting a swap party is easy, cheap, and fun to do—read on to find out how.

1. Find stuff to offer up. The classic swap party is for clothing. If that's the way you want to go, gather gently used clothes, shoes, and accessories you don’t want and put them in a bag. “But I love all my clothes, Anna!” No, you don’t. Stop lying to yourself, okay? You haven’t worn that high-waist black and white polka-dot pencil skirt in two years, so throw it in a bag. (But seriously, I’m looking for one. Let me know.) I challenge you to expand your swap-party horizons past your closet! DVDs, kitchen items, lamps, and old boyfriends work too.

2. Add friends. Involve others who have similar bags containing similar items by sending an invite to friends announcing your party. Possible cheap avenues include, but are not limited to: evites, emails, Facebook invites, carrier pigeons, smoke signals, and yelling.

3. Pick a swap site. Meet at a large location (say, your living room). Each swap participant should section off a part of the room to set up their goods, so that each of you can walk to the others' "store.” Set up a full-length mirror as well (if your party includes clothes), so that you and your friends can ogle at each other ("That looks so much better on you!”) Set up clothing lines or tables to display items; if you’re cramped for space, neat piles work too. Other organizational options include sorting by room, style, color, or type of thing.

4. Craft a swap strategy. Order, people. Without a solid swap strategy, you and your guests will end up brawling over blender attachments as pairs of jeans fly across the room. One possible strategy is to use tokens—one token for each item a guest brings. Another option is to take turns: draw straws to determine the order, and then let one person go at a time, limiting the number of items you can pick up per turn. The rest of you can nosh and sip while you wait. Speaking of which...

5. Provide cheap (and yummy!) snacks. What’s a party without food and bubbly, right? Serve small bites that friends can pop in their mouths while examining martini shakers. Why not serve White Bean Bruschetta, Cashew Coconut Date Cookies, Green Tea Cakes, or have your guests bring their favorite bites? And might I suggest some Champagne to go with that? I’m a sucker for bubbles. I’m an even bigger sucker for four-dollar bottles of bubbles. Plus, after a glass or two, everything will look great on you.

The Final Word: After an afternoon spent with friends, food, and fabulous finds, you will walk away with a slammin’ new cocktail dress or serving bowl, good memories, and a happy stomach. “One man’s trash is another man’s treasure” is as true today as it was whenever that phrase was created (I’m picturing horse-drawn buggies), so plan, swap, and enjoy your new finds!

City Living, On the Cheap

The Topic: City Living, On the Cheap by VegNews Associate Publisher Colleen Holland

The Dish: There's a big rumor going around that's time to debunk once and for all: Living in a city is impossibly expensive. Yes, places like San Francisco, New York, Los Angeles, Boston, and Seattle have some of the highest rents in the world (hello, $2k matchbox, rat-infested studio in NYC), but once you're in, you're golden. That means that if you can make rent each month, there are myriad ways to live cheaply in today's most desirable metropolises. Here's how, without resorting to a diet of boiled beans and rice for the rest of your (urban) life.

1. Eat at Ethnic Eateries. In smaller towns, there is often one token Thai restaurant, one Mexican place, and maybe an Indian eatery. When there's no competition, prices go up, so you end up paying a lot more than you should for a veggie meal. But in the city, competition is fierce, keeping the prices down at some of our favorite veg destinations. Think Vietnamese sandwiches for $4, veggie burritos and falafels for $5, and Thai lunch specials for $6. And given the ample portion sizes expected in the city, these dishes can easily be spread out over two meals. Lunch and dinner for just $2.50 a pop? I like that.

2. Free Entertainment is Everywhere. Having lived in a city for most of my adult life, I am often overwhelmed by the sheer volume of weekend activities that present themselves every Friday. We're talking multiple concerts, multiple walking tours, multiple lectures, plus hundreds of activities you never even hear about. Included in this lengthy list is lots of free activities. In San Francisco, I love summer concerts at Stern Grove, book signings at my local book shop, and roaming the aisles of our year-round farmers' markets. There are also plenty of museums that are either always free or offer free admission at least once a month.

3. No Need for Gyms. Besides the fact that I can't stand gyms, there really is no need to pay for a fancy gym membership in a large city. Urban parks provide miles of trails for walking, hiking, and bicycle riding; the local Y or high school offers cheap swimming passes; and free yoga classes exist in nearly every city, especially in the summer (don't miss Saturday morning yoga at Chicago's Millennium Park).

4. Huge Library Network. The bigger the city, the often better the library system—which provides absolutely free books and DVDs for your reading/viewing pleasure. Growing up, I loved my small-town library, but that hard-to-find book you just have to have will exist somewhere in the vast network of urban libraries. And with new state-of-the-art of lending systems, you can request and renew books online so to avoid those pesky late fees!

5. Living Car Free. Hands down, being able to ditch the car (and insurance and gasoline and parking and maintenance) is one of my favorite things about living in a city. This amounts to huge cost savings, even with a monthly bus or train pass along with the occasional cab fare and rental car charges. Because public transportation is often good in urban areas, there's just no need to have a car—and you'll get some free exercise while walking or biking to your favorite veg restaurant for that scrumptious lunch special.

The Final Word: I admit: Rent doesn't come cheap in some of today's hottest veg-friendly cities. But if you're yearning to live (or better manage your budget) in Seattle, Boston, or New York , and don't know how you're going to swing it, take it from me. It can be done, without sacrificing your quality of life.

Greens for Less (Green)

The Topic: Standout Salads by VegNews Managing Editor Elizabeth Castoria

The Dish: It's very clear—my love for salad is here to stay. I could (and often do) nosh a big pile of greens for two meals every day, and nothing makes me happier than seeing a big, beautiful kale salad as a part of any meal. But you know what I don't particularly love? Making salad. As a kid, my family cooked dinner together just about every night, and somehow the task of making salad almost always fell to me. Woe, the injustice! How I longed to sauté, to scramble, to, well, anything but make salad! Clearly, my burgeoning culinary talents were squandered. But, on the bright side, I now make a pretty decent salad, which can't always be said of my other kitchen experiments. Plus, buying restaurant salads (like the one pictured above from Herbivore) can be insanely expensive. So, how's a gal to eat gargantuan amounts of veggies every single day while saving money and not spending her entire life chopping broccoli? Simple. Here are my time-tested salad-making methods:

1. Buy in Bulk. Duh. I like to fill my cart once a week or so with a couple kinds of kale, pre-washed spinach (hint: buying the spinach with its stems means you have to spend time chopping, washing, and you usually pay by the pound, which means you're literally throwing money away!), red and green cabbages, and romaine. Is cabbage usually the cheapest of these? Yes. Does it also fill you up and add awesome crunchiness to your salads? Hell yes.

2. It Slices! It Dices! So, the greens are probably not what take you the most time, salad prep-wise. With a handy food processor equipped with a shredding disc, carrots and beautiful red and golden beets are done in no time.

3. Go Big. Find yourself a huge freaking bowl. Like, a really, really, really big one. Really. Big. I like a simple stainless steel bowl (check out your local restaurant supply store for super cheap options!) that's really wide, fairly flat, and ideally about the size of my torso. I'm on the short side, but who's counting? This enormosity is now your salad bowl. Put all your prepared veggies (in addition to those mentioned, I like green onions, hearts of palm, garbanzo beans, cucumbers, bell peppers, and sometimes cubed tofu) in said bowl. Now, the most crucial step...

4. Stay Naked! You know what dressing your whole salad does? Freaking ruins it, that's what! Leave your week's worth of salad in the huge bowl undressed, and it'll stay fresh through the week. Dress it the first night you make it, and you now have a huge pile of slimy pre-compost. Throughout the week, serve yourself a plateful, and just dress that. Voilà! Soggy spinach is a thing of the past.

The Final Word: Here's hoping you find yourself with tons more time, a happily full stomach, and a slightly more full wallet. Just think, if you started a company that you only worked on in the time you saved by not having to make salad every night, someday you could be totally rich! Or, you could just sauté something to go with your salad.

Budget Vegan Valentine's Day

The Topic: Celebrating Valentine's Day without breaking the bank by VegNews Associate Editor Jennifer Chen

The Dish: While there are fabulous Prix Fixe Valentine's Day dinners at restaurants like Millennium, $75 per person is a bit steep for me. Sometimes Valentine's Day can be more about dropping serious cash on candy, cards, fancy dinners, and flowers, and you forget that it's really about spending time with the person you like. So here are my tips for romancing your partner with special gifts that cost only one or two pretty pennies, not millions.

1. DIY Dinner. Instead of an expensive dinner out, my husband and I are cooking for each other. He's going to make me one of my favorite meals—he makes a mean seitan marsala—and I'm whipping up Candle Café's chocolate mousse pie for dessert. Add some candlesticks and a glass of Framboise and it's a way more personal meal than any five-star chef could create.

2. Love Letters. The art of handwriting a note or a letter means so much more now than the 10,000 emails we read every day. Pick up a simple notebook at your local art supply store and spend the week writing love letters to your significant other. Each day, write about how you fell in love with them, favorite dates, or even a love poem. For a little inspiration, Pablo Neruda's collection of 100 Love Sonnets is so wonderfully romantic. And how much did your own love sonnets cost you? $2.99.

3. Handmade cards. One of the best Valentine's Day cards I ever got from my husband is a drawing he did of our yellow lab and our tuxedo three-legged cat holding a heart in their paws. Ridiculously cute and I loved it more than any $5 puffy-heart-fancy-cursive-generic Valentine's Day card. Draw something that means something to the both of you. Handwrite the note. Get creative. It only costs a sheet of paper and your time.

4. Free flower delivery. Who doesn't enjoy getting flowers? It's sweet and it makes your office desk look pretty. But instead of paying someone $15-plus to drop off flowers to your sweetie, do it yourself. If it's possible, pick up a pretty bouquet from a corner market (red roses are so overpriced that day, so go for something like pink Gerber daisies, which last longer anyway) and hand-deliver them to your significant other's office. Bonus points for getting to see your sweetie mid-workday? Check. Are you a better surprise than some random delivery guy? Definitely.

5. Mixed CD. Maybe I'm old school, but a mixed CD with your partner's favorite songs or just great love songs (try Aretha Franklin, Stevie Wonder, or Sade) is a great way to share music you love with the person you love. Draw a great cover, handwrite the songs that are on the CD, and hand it to them before your romantic DIY dinner.

The Final Word: Valentine's Day is about celebrating the person you love and not about how much money you spend on said person. Ultimately, putting some thought and care and a little bit of elbow grease into the day will be much more rewarding than a dinner that costs more than a quick weekend getaway (hint: take said getaway the weekend after V-Day, when the crowds have died down). Enjoy the day!