Saturday - Picture Book Style

I began my morning by shaving my head. I wanted to look dapper for our first day grocery shopping for vegan food.


















Suzanne and I put on our best smiles and headed out to get some delicious food. Our stops were the Farmer's Market, Fareway, and the Co-op.


















Our first stop was the Farmer's Market at Falls Park. Despite being incredibly cold and windy, we walked away with some amazingly colorful and tasty food. We also learned how brussels sprouts grow. This was quite possibly the highlight of our trip to the Farmer's Market. I imagined them growing as bulbs in the ground, like cabbages for example. I was not expecting a brussels sprouts light saber.

After the Farmer's Market, we decided that we needed an energy boost. We went to the best coffee shop in town, Coffea Roasterie. We were treated to some amazing coffee and partook in some enlightening conversations including topics such as pugwiches (our friend Emma was wearing a shirt that had a bunch of pug's stacked on top on one another between two pieces of bread, hence pugwhiches), the band Gwar, and Halloween.

After we left Coffea we went to Fareway. On our way there we saw a gorilla.

After Fareway, we stopped at the Co-op and saw our friend Arlo. Dude is the coolest cat around. He helped us find some items that we needed and we ended up walking out with a ton of great stuff. I was pretty excited about the almond butter that we got to grind ourselves. YUUUUUUM!










Some of you may be wondering how much our grocery bill was. The impression is that one will spend a ton more money on "health" food because it's considerably more expensive. However, we found that we actually spent about the same amount that we typically spent before. It could have been a little more, but we came to the conclusion that we would actually be saving some money in the long run because we'll be cooking more meals rather than going out to restaurants. Before, we would spend money on groceries and then go out several times a month on top of that. Because the vegan restaurants in Sioux Falls are somewhat limited, we think that we'll end up saving a little money with this transition. Only time will tell!

Suzanne and I will be making our first vegan meal tonight and we couldn't be any more excited. On tonight's menu is Chipotle Mac & Cheese with Roasted Brussels Sprouts! Pictures and recipe to follow tonight!

-Bearded Vegan