Budget Vegetarian Grocery List for College Students

My main constraints for grocery shopping as a PhD student: I don’t have a car and I only make around $3,000 per month. $1,700, or close to 57% goes to rent. Yes, the cost of living in Seattle is high, and PhD students don’t make too much. I can only hope to get to that postdoc soon…

Alas, it’s important to stick to a budget. To be strategic with limited resources. This not only saves money, but time. With fewer back and forth trips, I tend to only get what I need. I don’t tend to impulse buy anything that isn’t on this list. I know filling a basket when bouncing between aisles is probably a psychological trick to get people to buy more.

The key to my grocery budget is keeping certain foods stocked in my pantry while having enough variety and flexibility to be okay with alternatives.

As a vegetarian with a few allergies to celery and apple (unless they’re both cooked well), I find Seattle has a variety of stores with enough promotions to make this make sense. I spend around $200 – 300 on groceries per month, but that fluctuates since different foods come in different amounts. That figure doesn’t include eating out or ordering in.

I promise to do a Cribs photoshoot of my fridge,
but here's a pic of the real kitchen hero:
L'oignon, L to the OG.

Apparently all of the onions above
caramelize to this amount.

Vegetables

• Onions – my staple item to add to most dishes; Red onions are generally good by themselves. White onions are good as a topping. Yellow onions are best when cooked.
• Green Onions – I buy two bundles every month or month and half, but grow the rest from scraps.
• Bell Peppers – I usually go with green peppers, but I often see them sold as a traffic light pack.
• Mushrooms – I tend to buy shitake and enoki.
• Leeks – When I feel like a Farfetch’d. Good in soups, eggs, pasta, and rice.

Proteins

• Beans – Red, white, black. Canned is good for quick meals, but I occasionally make a larger pot of red beans and rice.
• Eggs – I usually get 18 eggs for $3. I typically don’t make omelets, but I do add a fried egg to sliders, burgers, and rice dishes.
• Tempeh – I don’t get this
• Tofu – Usually extra firm tofu in most dishes, but soft tofu can go in some soups.
• Impossible Burger – about $6 for 6. I prefer making smaller patties for sliders.
• Veggie Dogs – these come in packs of 8 or 9, exactly so that you have to buy a weird amount of buns
• Nuggets – These are just convenient

Nuts and Grains

• Almonds – Good by themselves and to make almond milk and almond meal
• Bread – about $1.50 per loaf; I’m not adventurous enough to have start making sourdough, but I do use crusts to make cinnamon toast or bread pudding
• Cereal – Good with or without milk.
• Oatmeal – I’ve been making overnight oats with yogurt, fruit, chia seeds, and other mix-ins.
• Rice – A 25-pound bag can go for several months.

Pasta Noodles

• Fettuccine – Good with alfredo mushroom sauce.
• Lasagna – Layers of gooeyness, or to separate layers of meatloaf.
• Macaroni – Good as mac and cheese or as macaroni salad.
• Ramen – Versatile if you're crafty with mix-ins. Oil, vinegar, eggs, onions, other veggies. 
• Spaghetti – The sauce can be plain so the protein can be added later.

Frozen

• Frozen Vegetables – Easy to steam when cooking rice, or throw in to soups.
• Frozen Fruits – Great for smoothies. Usually doesn’t matter which kinds.

Meal Starter Sauces

• Pasta Sauce – Mostly a shortcut.
• Curry Blocks – These tend to be Japanese-style curries.
• Miso – Not a regular item, but one to keep in mind for adding to dishes beyond miso soup.

Cheeses

• Mozzarella (shredded) – To add to stuff. I sometimes get the sliced kind for caprese.
• Cheese Curds – About $8 for a pack. Good out of the bag or as a topping.
• String Cheese – Usually a portioned snack.

Snacks

• Popcorn – about $4 for 6 bags which get about 2-3 servings
• Yogurt – about $3 for 5 servings

Occasional Items

• Bananas – I haven’t found the right amount that works for me because I can’t eat a bunch by the time they start getting overripe. I do freeze the rest for smoothies.
• Milk – About $3 per gallon; although I tend to make almond milk, a gallon of milk smooths out the need for it as an ingredient by volume since other milks have a higher unit price.
• Potatoes – Like bananas, I can’t eat enough or make enough stuff before they sprout.
• Tomatoes – To be honest, I tend to only add these to sliders.

Discussion

The above grocery list has a lot of flexibility. I do buy items outside of the above, especially sauces, condiments, oils, spices, and vinegar, but I don’t buy them often enough on normal grocery runs. My bottom-line, I stick to an overall limit and buy whatever I can get under that limit. As of writing, I don’t count macronutrients, like fats, carbohydrates, and proteins, but maybe I will because I know I should.

(I also noticed that I wrote this right before traveling, so I won’t be restocking my pantry and fridge quite yet. However, I’ve been prepping different meals to hold me over until next week.)