Cheapsey

We all know how hard it is to be a vegan on the go, so I’ll try to make it as easy as I can for us all. We’ll call it cheapsey, a nice little cheap and easy amalgamation. Well I’m going to start out with my one and only fast food staple, T-Bell. Taco Bell is great in the same way catching a punch is great compared to the full beating. Three bucks and your filled to the brim. The key, “Fresco.” It’s like an absolvent of your dairy sins. It’s their response to ‘eating healthy,’ like meat that’s not even sellable for human consumption in a market and hydrogenated tomatoes and genetically modified flour tortilla’s that soon enough will be animate will ever be healthy, but hey, they try, and their in lies some cheapsey vegan options. For fresco they throw some cilantro-ey pico de gallo on it, and fuck, I’d rather have that than cheese any day. I figured this out when I still had two letters to gain on my vegan card. Bean Burrito? Fresco, please. Pinto’s and cheese? Kick that cheese to the curb, how ‘bout some more red? Can you throw some tortillas to dip on in? Potatoes? Do it. Feeling saucy? Try a Seven Layer Burrito, fresco style. But here you have to mention that you don’t want sour crème either. Also, I have some research to do on my own, but I have the sneaking suspicion that the thing they’re masquerading around as guac isn’t vegan… I guess here I could mention Subway. Sometimes I just need a huge sandwich that’s heavy enough to be mistaken for a baby. You don’t touch that white bread, what are you? Trying to make them money? Wheat, baby, wheat. I just wish I could get some of those delic looking oats on the honey wheat… but I digress, I’ll take me wheat. Also, and pretty much the only reason I wanted to mention Jarred’s cash cow as pointed out by my friend Dylan, is how gratifying it is when prompted, “what would you like on your sub?” to respond with a hearty ‘All the vegetables, please!’ When I do that I feel I’ve accomplished something with my day, the world can rest easy, I’ve got my veggies. Worth it is that sweet baby V, the sweet onion sauce, throw it on the sammy, then throw yourself into the sammy with reckless abandon. It’s fun to support and stimulate local economy’s and a great place to do that are at local co-op’s. On Willy St. in Madison, the gay capitol of the Midwest, is the Willy St. Co-Op. The deli is phenomenal and a well priced places to get your yumms. They generally have some sort of quinoa, be it of breakfast variety or more on the dinner side, and they never put pesky Feta in it. If you don’t subscribe to quinoa, it’s about time you start. A half quart, which will last a few days, seeing how it’s a grain and fills you up mightily, will ring up in the two dollar neighborhood. If you’re ever there, you do your self a favor and get some Vegan Mac ‘n Cheese. It’s the best and they’ll share the recipe with you, plus it’s how I’ll make mine till the day I die. On the top of Capitol Hill lies my favorite gem of Seattle, the Madison St. Co-Op. They always have a vegan pizza by the pound and a slice will run you like a buck fitty. Here they put feta in the quinoa, but it’s on about an every other time ration, and there’s enough other vegan side dishes to sate your hunger. May I suggest the vegan risotto cakes? Why yes, yes you may, and on your behest I tried them, and they were wonderful. Really the only thing Willy St. has up on Mad St. is the salad bar. You can’t go wrong with a salad bar, and this brings me to the next cheapsey. A lot of huge suppermarkets will have a salad bar, and that is a quick and efficient lunch. Be warned though, the stuff in the bar is not the stuff on the shelves. Like you trust the produce of Woodman’s or CostCo anyways, it’s just a nice cheapsey solution. I trust you all know how to make a salad, but for cost efficiency stay ways from whole tomatoes and opt for mushrooms. That is if they charge by the pound. Go with sunflower seeds instead of walnuts, same reason. Just think about what’s lightest, it’s good that we use V and O or the lighter dressing versus the heavier dressing, the fat kids of the salad playgrounds. Talking on the most for your money, it’s time to move on to buffets. This won’t take long, but I have to mention the grocery lists of my friend Tom on the practices of buffet eating. Stay away from the super starchy foods, this is where a buffet will get you, light on the mashed taters, if you know they’re V, just a bite or two of breads, and hit the salads or tacos(light on beans). Also, at Indian buffets, the chana may be amazing, but all the garbanzos will get you. As we go around the Eastern peninsula let’s get to the Mediterranean. Falafel is a god send to cheapsey, it’s cheap, fast, and unbelievably delicious. If your ever in Sonoma, go to The World Peace Café downtown. First how can you turn down a place called a ‘World Peace Café’? Seriously, great local, in a great place, great food. On State St. in Madison is the Mediterranean Café, my early cheapsey staple for years. At this place, a nice container of basmati rice for fifty cents and a couple pennies, and a HUGE hummus plate with tons of pita for two bucks, two bucks, meal, BAM, Madison. Well let’s talk about a good staple, getting your food where you get you drinks, aka bar food. If you can get over yourself, I mean your about to drink some beers or some wxy, cause I’m assuming that’s all we drink, at least all I drink. Oh yeah, wxy=whisky, use it, learn it, love it, move it. But, I love my fried food, sorry, I like to test my immune system by giving ‘em some free radicals to deal with. French fries are a pretty classic cheapsey vegan staple, as all my friends will gorge on ‘em, but some happy hour sweet potato fries are defiantly worth it, and hit ‘em up. Your not getting the locations of these places, as they my secret bastions and I think you’ll be able to stumble on them yourselves if you’re not familiar. The Dice is amazing, famous for it’s super cheap drinks, and grab yourself some fried mushrooms, mmm… so good. The Local on Sunday it’s another cheapsey place if you like Schlitz. Watch some Adult Swim while eatin’ some Sloppy Jill’s, wonderful. If I’m doing this, I need to mention the Palomino, not so cheap on the food side, but they play the spade game with PBR’s so they come up free fairly often. If your lucky you can catch the Neil Young live ‘76 performance, where everyone in the bar will be trashed and singing along. It’s worth it just for that, plus the Tuffalo Wings are amazing, and the brunch is spot on. This is not a shameless plug, but I have to talk about the Squid and Ink, the local is so good and grungy, the food is imaginative for great vegan eats, and the peeps keep me there at least once a week. I love, love, love the Squid and neighbor hood, and you should get there before the condo’s take over. Eat the Monticrosto, I will you to. I never even had a real one, but a vegan one is transcendent. It’s not as fun telling you places to stop and drink, but it needed to be broached, so I’m going to move on. These were just kinda’ some quick ideas how to stay moving, but have some good places to grab stuff, but we all know, eat at home, save money and time. Here is my one personal suggestion here: keep nuts and granola in your bag. it’s a smart way to stay full and if your non veg friends make you hang out, you have some of your own food and you don’t look so weird, that is if you have judgmental, ass-hole, meat eating friends.