Week One: Chipoltle Chili, Sag Aloo, Juan Burritos and Manicotti

This post is about what I bought and plan to make over the next week or so. I'll post more detailed recipes as I make them. The idea is to use several ingredients multiple times - this cuts down on costs. The challenge is not feeling like I'm eating the same thing every night.

Main ingredients this week include:

1. Tomatoes 
2. Spicy Chilies
3. Pinto Beans

I could also probably add onion and garlic to this list, but those occur in so many of my recipes, they don't seem special enough to list.  Main entries for this week include:

1. Sag Aloo (a curry dish with spinach and new potatoes)
2. Chipoltle Chili
3. Juan Burritos (probably not the technical term - growing up, these were burritos with rice, beans, ground beef, guacamole and cheese)
4. Manicotti

Tomatoes are going in the chili, the sauce for manicotti and the guacamole for the burritos.
Spicy chilies go in the chili and the Sag Aloo
Pinto beans go in the chili, as well as re-fried beans for the burritos  

$43.07 this week.  Here's a more complete look at my shopping list and prices:

Item/Used For	Quantity	Price/Quantity	Total Price
Grape Nuts Knockoff / Breakfast	24oz	$0.13/oz	$3.18
Crunchy Peanut Butter / Vegan PB Twix	18oz	$0.17/oz	$2.99
Semi-Sweet Chocolate Chips / Twix	12oz	$0.32/oz	$3.78
Organic X-Firm Tofu / Manicotti	12oz	$0.17/oz	$2.09
Canned Chipoltle Peppers / Chili	7oz	$0.33/oz	$2.29
Elbow Macaroni / Chili	32oz	$0.07/oz	$2.39
Poblano Peppers / Chili	0.67lbs	$2.08/lb	$1.39
Anaheim Chile / Chili	0.22lbs	$2.08/lb	$0.45
Jalapeno Peppers / Chili	0.23lbs	$0.98/lb	$0.22
Habanero Peppers / Chili	0.04lbs	$8.98/lb	$0.35
Large bag of Spinach / Aloo/Manicotti	?	?	$2.18
Yukon Gold Potatoes / Aloo	1.85lbs	$0.78/lb	$1.44
Bananas / Breakfast	1.71lbs	$0.68/lb	$1.16
Vegan margarine / Twix	1lb	$1.77/lb	$1.77
Avocados / Burritos	2 Small	$0.50/each	$1.00
Roma Tomatoes / Chili/Manicotti	2.42lbs	$0.68/lb	$1.64
One the Vine Tomatoes / Chili/Manicotti	2.49lbs	$0.99/lb	$2.46
Chipoltle Chili Powder / Chili	0.07lbs`	$16.99/lb	$1.18
Dried Pinto Beans / Chili/Burritos	32oz	$0.11/oz	$3.49
Small Lemons / Aloo/Manicotti	3	$0.20/each	$0.60
Sweet Onions / Aloo/Chili/Burritos	1.62lbs	$0.88/lb	$1.42
Garam Masala / Aloo	0.04lbs	$20.69/lb	$0.82
Garlic / Aloo/Manicotti/Chili/Burritos	2 cloves	$0.39/clove	$0.78
Ginger root / Aloo	0.09lbs	$2.98/lb	$0.26
Sunflower Seeds / Manicotti	0.38lbs	$3.99/lb	$1.51
Dried Pineapple Rings / Snack food	0.59lbs	$3.79/lb	$2.23

Bold items indicate something that I bought more of than I needed. Those items can be put in the pantry and used for later recipes.

Notes: It's hard to make shopping and spending a science.  This week I'll be using some tortillas I need to get rid of - I don't know how much they cost and they're not on the list. I'll also be using spices, flour and other pantry style ingredients. Finally, I purchased some items that I won't use this week, and they're not on the list.  I'm keeping track though, and a vegan-pantry post is coming.