Nuts n' Berries Cafe, Encino CA

If you happen to be in the Encino area and want a truly healthy/delicious lunch at a reasonable price, try Nuts 'n Berries Cafe. While it is located in the lobby floor of an office building on Ventura Blvd, I assure you the food is amazing and creative. Seating is limited but they have an outside shaded patio area which is small but provides comfortable seating.

Some of my favorites in rank order include:

Ahh-Raw-Sh salad: A HUGE salad made of Romaine lettuce, cucumber, tomato, red onions, parsley, mint, avocado, mango, strawberries, walnuts, dates and a spicy lime vinaigrette. Super fresh and super delicious

Price: $8.50 (a truly reasonable price for the size, freshness and value)

The Mango: This is one of my favorite sandwiches! A truly imaginative creation of organix crunchy peanut butter, fresh mango and a sprinkle of cayenne pepper. A nice mix of crunchiness and sweetness. The cayenne pepper adds a kick as well.

Price: $5:50 (includes a side of fresh fruit - the good kind, not just cantaloupe and melon, or tortilla chips)

Sweet Monkey: Another fun sandwich of organic crunchy peanut butter, banana slices and honey. Crunchy and sweet again.

Price: $5:50 (includes a side of fresh fruit - the good kind, not just cantaloupe and melon, or tortilla chips)

As you can see, very reasonable prices and the best part is that the food is delicious!

Nuts 'n Berries Cafe
15840 Ventura Blvd
Encino, CA 91436
(818) 501-6808

Hours: 7am-5pm Monday-Friday

Fresh & Easy

From UK's famous grocery store chain Tesco comes Fresh & Easy to the U.S.



This is an awesome chain of grocery stores (all over southern California) that is affordable and offers fresh food items. I really like to get bags of fruit there. They also have pre-made meals for on the go that use fresh ingredients (i.e. they are perishable). I bought the majority of my ingredients for Thanksgiving from here. Also make sure to visit their website http://www.freshandeasy.com/ for really great coupons to print (such as $5 or $6 dollars off if you spend $30 or more) before your visit. Read their mission below:

	We treat people how we like to be treated and nobody tries harder for customers.
	We think fresh, wholesome food should be accessible and affordable to everyone.
	We're a neighborhood market, so it only makes sense that we care about our neighbors and our environment.
	People who are valued are better able to value our customers, so creating a rewarding workplace is very important to us

Keep a look out for a store near you! I promise, you'll be very pleased.

Emerging Importance for FRUGALITY

Given this recession, yes I said recession, there is a new importance/need for this blog which I have admittedly been terrible about updating. Let's start with one update per week about a new cost saving place. This week I actually have two! I guess I need to make up for my neglect. I'm thinking about having more of a focus. Since the holidays are coming up maybe I can share things along the lines of buying economical/practical/awesome gifts. I don't know what the readership is on this blog or even if there is any readership but if you are reading, then I hope this is helpful in some way or at least provides ideas. Anyway, times are hard right now for everyone and it only looks like it's going to get worse - but hopefully frugality will let our dollars stretch just a little bit farther :)

- Sash