The Eat Cheap Challenge has been over for more than a week, and all the math I had to do to figure out how much soup I actually ate seems like a distant memory.
In Thursday's Commercial Appeal (go to commercialappeal.com/wendi), I summarize what the challenge taught me - but there's so much more that I learned that there's no room in the paper for.
Like, when you have little money to spend on food, all you think about is how you're going to get the cheapest food you can. Seriously - I wonder how much productivity nationally is lost because of hungry employees and stressed-out working parents worried about what they can possibly put on the table for dinner. My friends and family were soooo tired of me talking about how much I could spend and how much I'd spent and what deal I'd found, etc.
When you don't have money to spend on food, you eat like a pig when someone else is paying. Never again will I be an elitist snob when a homeless person or person at a soup kitchen asks for extra food. Of course they want extra food - if you don't know where your next meal is coming from, you gorge when you can.
My brother and I had a luxury that truly poor people do not: We could comparison shop in our nice cars all over town, with no thought to the gas we were spending. Poor people shop at their neighborhood grocery stores, and if even most of them are like the few I visited before and during the challenge - they suck. The produce selection and quality is absymal and you can find bologna but no low-fat sliced turkey for sandwiches. And we wonder why poor people are disproportionally overweight and in poor health. You would be too if your grocery store sold pickled pig's feet but no fresh brocoli.
If I can eat for $5 a week, and could eat really well, actually, for probably $15 a week, then there is no reason why anyone in this land should go hungry. Jesus said that when you do this for the least of these, you've done it unto me. And by this - he meant feeding the hungry, visiting the sick, caring for the poor, etc. I take my faith seriously, and it is immoral that anyone in America go hungry. Absolutely immoral and unconscionable.
I think as the economy continues to decline, more people will embark on their own Eat Cheap Challenge - maybe they won't call it that, but they'll be watching every dime they spend.
And now, I'm off to eat some lentil soup that I still have left, with some cornbread I made this week, with some turkey polish sausage added - meat I couldn't afford during the challenge, but an addition that makes it a really tasty meal.
And for dinner, I've got some chicken I couldn't afford to cook during the challenge - marinated in jerk marinade (hey, I'm half-Jamaican - the jerk must be done) and half a baked potato.
Not sure how much that will cost, but it'll be good. And my conscience will be clear, knowing that at least today, I'm being a wise steward of all the blessings I enjoy.
Wednesday, February 18, 2009
Tuesday, February 10, 2009
Lesson Learned
To invoke a bit of Alicia Keys/John Mayer… “Yes, my rice burned, but I called it a lesson lear-ear-earned…”
I have to say – no exaggeration – that this week-long Eat Cheap Challenge has changed me, for good.
First, the obvious. I had no idea how little one could eat on. It’s good that this was a competition and not just “let’s eat cheap for a week,” because I wouldn’t have stretched my dollar nearly as far. I recall talking to Wendi on the phone a few nights before we started this thing, and saying “I imagine we will be hard pressed to eat even somewhat healthy for less than $25 next week.” Wendi, who had already been to the grocery store responded, “If you spend $25 next week, you’ve already lost.” Nothing gets the competitive juices flowing like a rivalry-raising statement like that. But it was true. I grossly overestimated how much money it would take to survive for a week. Even after having gone to the grocery store, I thought I’d be doing well to come in under 10 dollars. A few days in, 7 dollars (a dollar per day) looked doable. By day 5, I was determined not to break 5 dollars. And seeing as how both Wendi and I broke that magic plane, I’m pretty certain we pushed it quite close to the limit, given our rules. You can eat quite cheaply when you’re really trying.
The second light-bulb that went off was how much money I’ve been wasting (yes, wasting) on food. In today’s America, it’s a struggle to eat healthily. I had convinced myself that as long as I was buying relatively healthy food, no expense was too great. You can’t put a price tag on your health, right? So I allowed myself to go out to eat and buy 10 dollar brown rice sushi rolls from Whole Foods whenever I felt like it, all in the name of promoting my health. What I realized this past week, is if you are spending more than 50 dollars per week on food, you have no excuse not to be eating healthy. Although my meals this past week were not absolutely ideal in terms of health benefits, it wouldn’t take drastic tweaks to at least get to a reasonable standard. A few more fruits and vegetables, change the bread to whole grain, add some lean meat, and no one could realistically criticize your diet as leading you to an early grave.
So given that second realization, I see some permanent changes in my future. When I visited the grocery store on Sunday to pick up food for this week, I did it with a much more discerning eye. I upgraded the quality of the bread, of course, and purchased some fruit and other side items too expensive for challenge meals, sure, but I also realized that I can’t go back to eating out for lunch every day or dropping $30 for a "healthy" meal. Before, I was proud that my average lunch at work was a Subway meal deal that cost about 8 bucks – less than what most of my co-workers spent on lunch. Now I realize that I can make almost the same exact lunch for under 2 dollars. 6 dollars saved per day, multiplied by 250 work days per year is $1500. If someone offered you a brand new flat screen TV to start bringing your lunch to work, would you do it? I am.
Also, you won’t see me on Iron Chef any time soon, but I’m also realizing the benefits of preparing more of my dinners at home as well. I’m convinced that with a little effort, I’ll be able to make twice the amount of brown rice sushi at home, for half the price.
Of course, probably the most sobering, recurring thought of this past week, and probably what helped get me through the past 7 days, is that many people eat on very little money, not by choice or for a competition, but out of necessity. One of our readers posted that her sister literally makes a choice between food and medicine each week. I’ve never had to make a choice like that. Even during the last week, I could have stopped and bought a $25 meal at any time if I really wanted too, and that knowledge also made it easier to live like this for a week. However, I’m not leaving this challenge without a heightened awareness of how fortunate most of us are, and the knowledge that it would take very little for me to make a difference in how much someone else has to eat on per week.
It’s for this reason that I’ve decided to take some of the money I’ll be saving from the lessons I learned this week and putting it towards helping someone else.
The picture above is of Leonel – he’s 4 years old and lives in Haiti. I know that there are many different programs and ways you can sponsor kids – I got to sponsor Leonel here.
http://www.planusa.org/
I liked Plan USA because they let you choose the country of your recipient. It’s $24 a month, a fraction of what I can save if I just put a few of the lessons I’ve learned this past week to work. If you’ve learned anything from following along with this challenge, maybe you’d like to help someone else out too. I don’t ask that you choose the same program I did – just offering one option – just that you help someone. Thanks for reading!
I have to say – no exaggeration – that this week-long Eat Cheap Challenge has changed me, for good.
First, the obvious. I had no idea how little one could eat on. It’s good that this was a competition and not just “let’s eat cheap for a week,” because I wouldn’t have stretched my dollar nearly as far. I recall talking to Wendi on the phone a few nights before we started this thing, and saying “I imagine we will be hard pressed to eat even somewhat healthy for less than $25 next week.” Wendi, who had already been to the grocery store responded, “If you spend $25 next week, you’ve already lost.” Nothing gets the competitive juices flowing like a rivalry-raising statement like that. But it was true. I grossly overestimated how much money it would take to survive for a week. Even after having gone to the grocery store, I thought I’d be doing well to come in under 10 dollars. A few days in, 7 dollars (a dollar per day) looked doable. By day 5, I was determined not to break 5 dollars. And seeing as how both Wendi and I broke that magic plane, I’m pretty certain we pushed it quite close to the limit, given our rules. You can eat quite cheaply when you’re really trying.
The second light-bulb that went off was how much money I’ve been wasting (yes, wasting) on food. In today’s America, it’s a struggle to eat healthily. I had convinced myself that as long as I was buying relatively healthy food, no expense was too great. You can’t put a price tag on your health, right? So I allowed myself to go out to eat and buy 10 dollar brown rice sushi rolls from Whole Foods whenever I felt like it, all in the name of promoting my health. What I realized this past week, is if you are spending more than 50 dollars per week on food, you have no excuse not to be eating healthy. Although my meals this past week were not absolutely ideal in terms of health benefits, it wouldn’t take drastic tweaks to at least get to a reasonable standard. A few more fruits and vegetables, change the bread to whole grain, add some lean meat, and no one could realistically criticize your diet as leading you to an early grave.
So given that second realization, I see some permanent changes in my future. When I visited the grocery store on Sunday to pick up food for this week, I did it with a much more discerning eye. I upgraded the quality of the bread, of course, and purchased some fruit and other side items too expensive for challenge meals, sure, but I also realized that I can’t go back to eating out for lunch every day or dropping $30 for a "healthy" meal. Before, I was proud that my average lunch at work was a Subway meal deal that cost about 8 bucks – less than what most of my co-workers spent on lunch. Now I realize that I can make almost the same exact lunch for under 2 dollars. 6 dollars saved per day, multiplied by 250 work days per year is $1500. If someone offered you a brand new flat screen TV to start bringing your lunch to work, would you do it? I am.
Also, you won’t see me on Iron Chef any time soon, but I’m also realizing the benefits of preparing more of my dinners at home as well. I’m convinced that with a little effort, I’ll be able to make twice the amount of brown rice sushi at home, for half the price.
Of course, probably the most sobering, recurring thought of this past week, and probably what helped get me through the past 7 days, is that many people eat on very little money, not by choice or for a competition, but out of necessity. One of our readers posted that her sister literally makes a choice between food and medicine each week. I’ve never had to make a choice like that. Even during the last week, I could have stopped and bought a $25 meal at any time if I really wanted too, and that knowledge also made it easier to live like this for a week. However, I’m not leaving this challenge without a heightened awareness of how fortunate most of us are, and the knowledge that it would take very little for me to make a difference in how much someone else has to eat on per week.
It’s for this reason that I’ve decided to take some of the money I’ll be saving from the lessons I learned this week and putting it towards helping someone else.
The picture above is of Leonel – he’s 4 years old and lives in Haiti. I know that there are many different programs and ways you can sponsor kids – I got to sponsor Leonel here.
http://www.planusa.org/
I liked Plan USA because they let you choose the country of your recipient. It’s $24 a month, a fraction of what I can save if I just put a few of the lessons I’ve learned this past week to work. If you’ve learned anything from following along with this challenge, maybe you’d like to help someone else out too. I don’t ask that you choose the same program I did – just offering one option – just that you help someone. Thanks for reading!
Monday, February 9, 2009
It's OVAH. And my total was...
Well, let's reveal what I had for a last supper. I had two slices of toast (with jelly) and a hard-boiled egg. Toast: 6 cents each, and egg, 11 cents. Was my only real protein of the day.
Dinner on Day 7: 23 cents
Which means my grand total for the entire week was: $4.85 cents.
Only a few times during the week was I TRULY hungry, and I can honestly say I ate more veggies and fruit than I do usually.
I don't normally eat breakfast ever, so while I know Aaron doesn't think much of my 1/2 a banana and a shot of generic soda for breakfast, that's more than I'd normally eat for breakfast. And yes, there aren't a lot of calories in salads or green peppers or sauteed spinach, it does fill you up, at least for an hour or so. And then, you just wait and drink water until you can eat again.
I've learned a lot - about how wondering what your next meal will be and how cheap you can make it can become an all-consuming obsession (and how that must affect the work performance and general attitude of those who have to live like this) and how much I've taken for granted. Like affording milk to put on cold cereal. Or affording meat that isn't processed.
I'd like to try this again - with no free meals, no dumpster diving or freegan methods and following the USDA guidelines on how much protein, whole grains, fruits and vegetables, etc. you're supposed to get each day. How cheaply could you get and follow government guidelines?
And I'd like to see if I could eat for a week on the meals served at soup kitchens around town. And I'd like to see if I could eat for a week on what I could "earn" by asking strangers for money.
Could I eat healthy on what I'd get on food stamps?
I have lots of questions about how people for whom this isn't a weeklong sibling-rivalry motivated challenge actually live.
But first, I want to cook the chicken I couldn't afford to cook last week - that's been marinating in jerk marinade for several days. That with some rice and a can of green beans I picked up last week are going to be delish. Never thought I'd get excited over a crockpot meal, but I am.
Like Aaron- more later on where this goes next, what this means for my future eating plans, etc.
Look for a column at commercialappeal.com/wendi soon (Sunday?) on the outcome of the challenge - and most importantly, lessons learned. And what happens to the money we saved.
Dinner on Day 7: 23 cents
Which means my grand total for the entire week was: $4.85 cents.
Only a few times during the week was I TRULY hungry, and I can honestly say I ate more veggies and fruit than I do usually.
I don't normally eat breakfast ever, so while I know Aaron doesn't think much of my 1/2 a banana and a shot of generic soda for breakfast, that's more than I'd normally eat for breakfast. And yes, there aren't a lot of calories in salads or green peppers or sauteed spinach, it does fill you up, at least for an hour or so. And then, you just wait and drink water until you can eat again.
I've learned a lot - about how wondering what your next meal will be and how cheap you can make it can become an all-consuming obsession (and how that must affect the work performance and general attitude of those who have to live like this) and how much I've taken for granted. Like affording milk to put on cold cereal. Or affording meat that isn't processed.
I'd like to try this again - with no free meals, no dumpster diving or freegan methods and following the USDA guidelines on how much protein, whole grains, fruits and vegetables, etc. you're supposed to get each day. How cheaply could you get and follow government guidelines?
And I'd like to see if I could eat for a week on the meals served at soup kitchens around town. And I'd like to see if I could eat for a week on what I could "earn" by asking strangers for money.
Could I eat healthy on what I'd get on food stamps?
I have lots of questions about how people for whom this isn't a weeklong sibling-rivalry motivated challenge actually live.
But first, I want to cook the chicken I couldn't afford to cook last week - that's been marinating in jerk marinade for several days. That with some rice and a can of green beans I picked up last week are going to be delish. Never thought I'd get excited over a crockpot meal, but I am.
Like Aaron- more later on where this goes next, what this means for my future eating plans, etc.
Look for a column at commercialappeal.com/wendi soon (Sunday?) on the outcome of the challenge - and most importantly, lessons learned. And what happens to the money we saved.
AARON'S END OF CHALLENGE TOTAL!
So, the last and final meal. Kind of wish I had some less anticlimactic to offer besides a bootleg version of pork and beans, but… it is what it is. I imagine there are people out there who live on $5 of food per week out of necessity, every week – and excitement is not what they feel when they are preparing and eating their meals.
For my last supper, no blasphemy intended, I cut up another one of my 11 cent hot dogs, but this time I mixed it in with a 1/3 of a can of blackeyed peas. The can of blackeyed peas was 25 cents, so that portion was 8 and 1/3 cents. How do I know it was actually a 1/3 of a can? I poured all the beans out on a plate, split it in three, took a picture, and then showed the picture to a few people and chose the consensus smallest pile of beans. Yeah, it’s that deep.
Then I threw in some hot sauce and spices (would have put in BBQ sauce if I had some, but I didn’t – I’m a bad, bad Memphian). Heated it all up, and voila! Pork and beans. Well, pork and peas, technically, but you get the point.
Total through Day 6: $4.35 and 2/3 cents.
Day 7
Breakfast – 8.5 cents
Lunch – 33 cents
Dinner – 19 and 1/3 cents
AARON’S TOTAL COST OF FOOD FOR THE EAT CHEAP CHALLENGE: $4.96 and ½ cent.
That’s right. Give me a 5 dollar bill on Monday morning, tell me to eat for the week, and I’ll bring you back change on Sunday night. What. And I actually had 21 full meals. I didn't have to resort to 25 calorie "meals" like, oh I don't know, half of a banana and two fingers of diet soda, or a green pepper and some wilted lettuce (ahem- still love you Wendi). One could realistically sustain themselves for a week on a 5-spot - which I would have thought was totally impossible 7 days ago.
After Wendi posts her total, I’ll come back and post again about what I feel I’ve learned from doing this challenge, and my thoughts for the future.
For my last supper, no blasphemy intended, I cut up another one of my 11 cent hot dogs, but this time I mixed it in with a 1/3 of a can of blackeyed peas. The can of blackeyed peas was 25 cents, so that portion was 8 and 1/3 cents. How do I know it was actually a 1/3 of a can? I poured all the beans out on a plate, split it in three, took a picture, and then showed the picture to a few people and chose the consensus smallest pile of beans. Yeah, it’s that deep.
Then I threw in some hot sauce and spices (would have put in BBQ sauce if I had some, but I didn’t – I’m a bad, bad Memphian). Heated it all up, and voila! Pork and beans. Well, pork and peas, technically, but you get the point.
Total through Day 6: $4.35 and 2/3 cents.
Day 7
Breakfast – 8.5 cents
Lunch – 33 cents
Dinner – 19 and 1/3 cents
AARON’S TOTAL COST OF FOOD FOR THE EAT CHEAP CHALLENGE: $4.96 and ½ cent.
That’s right. Give me a 5 dollar bill on Monday morning, tell me to eat for the week, and I’ll bring you back change on Sunday night. What. And I actually had 21 full meals. I didn't have to resort to 25 calorie "meals" like, oh I don't know, half of a banana and two fingers of diet soda, or a green pepper and some wilted lettuce (ahem- still love you Wendi). One could realistically sustain themselves for a week on a 5-spot - which I would have thought was totally impossible 7 days ago.
After Wendi posts her total, I’ll come back and post again about what I feel I’ve learned from doing this challenge, and my thoughts for the future.
Sunday, February 8, 2009
Lunch, Day 7
Note to self: if you do an eat cheap challenge again, eat the produce early in the week.
Otherwise, you'll be doing what I had to do with half my "lunch" today - which is pick out the pieces of lettuce that had started to rot. Now, I got this bag of salad mix for 50 cents, but I measured the bits that were edible and less than a cup qualified. So I chopped up my last freegan find - a green pepper that I truly did take out of a garbage can (5-second rule) last week at my cooking/knife skills class.
2nd note to self: Find a way to work potatoes into your budget, because that 1/2 a potato I had really held me for more than 5 hours. And if I'd gotten one that wasn't green, I could have eaten the skin.
Cost of lunch: 5 cents for salad, 3.5 cents for 4 oz. soda (really, it's only a shot glass' worth, just to have SOMETHING semi-sweet.): 8.5 cents total
Total spent on Day 7, not including dinner: 28.25 cents.
Running total so far: $4.62.
Less than the Big Mac Meal I'm eating Monday when this daggum thing is over.
Dinner TBA. There's always potatoes or lentil soup. Or both.
*Original post edited to add photo.
Otherwise, you'll be doing what I had to do with half my "lunch" today - which is pick out the pieces of lettuce that had started to rot. Now, I got this bag of salad mix for 50 cents, but I measured the bits that were edible and less than a cup qualified. So I chopped up my last freegan find - a green pepper that I truly did take out of a garbage can (5-second rule) last week at my cooking/knife skills class.
2nd note to self: Find a way to work potatoes into your budget, because that 1/2 a potato I had really held me for more than 5 hours. And if I'd gotten one that wasn't green, I could have eaten the skin.
Cost of lunch: 5 cents for salad, 3.5 cents for 4 oz. soda (really, it's only a shot glass' worth, just to have SOMETHING semi-sweet.): 8.5 cents total
Total spent on Day 7, not including dinner: 28.25 cents.
Running total so far: $4.62.
Less than the Big Mac Meal I'm eating Monday when this daggum thing is over.
Dinner TBA. There's always potatoes or lentil soup. Or both.
*Original post edited to add photo.
Day 7 - Final Meals of Cheapness
Breakfast and Lunch are done for me. I just have 1 meal left.
Breakfast I had oatmeal, no banana. I bought 7 at the beginning of the week, but I think my friend ate one earlier in the week because I ran out yesterday. So just plain oatmeal, which was nowhere near as tasty as it was with the banana. But it was cheap. 8.5 cents.
For lunch I tried a new concoction recommended by a friend. I picked up some cheapo eggs from Kroger - 11 cents each. Cut up one of my hot dogs and browned them in a skillet first. Then I beat two eggs and poured them over the hot dog pieces. Hot dog omelet! Threw in some pepper and spices, and it was actually really good. 33 cents for that.
.jpg)
Planning out my last meal now...
Breakfast I had oatmeal, no banana. I bought 7 at the beginning of the week, but I think my friend ate one earlier in the week because I ran out yesterday. So just plain oatmeal, which was nowhere near as tasty as it was with the banana. But it was cheap. 8.5 cents.
For lunch I tried a new concoction recommended by a friend. I picked up some cheapo eggs from Kroger - 11 cents each. Cut up one of my hot dogs and browned them in a skillet first. Then I beat two eggs and poured them over the hot dog pieces. Hot dog omelet! Threw in some pepper and spices, and it was actually really good. 33 cents for that.
.jpg)
Planning out my last meal now...
The Final Day....
First, a wrap-up of Day 6. After some, um, discussion over whether the sandwich I got from a coupon my sister was going to trash counted as "dumpster diving" (which had been defined and accepted earlier in the week not as putting your feet in a dumpster - hello, I'm too prissy for that - but rescuing food that was headed directly FOR the trash), I decided that to keep the peace, I would count the sandwich as my third and final free meal.
So today, it's spending $ for food...
Had a half-banana last night for dinner after drinking enough water to float a ship, so grand total for day 6 was: 49.9 cents.
Grand running total through Day 6 was: 4.339. (would probably be like two cents lower if I went back and counted minute fraction of cents all the way through).
Breakfast this early afternoon was probably the healthiest I've had this week: sauteed baby spinach (rescued from the trash, freegan fashion, a week ago at a cooking class) and 1/2 of a green-tinged potato bought on the Easy Way cheapo table. When I was pondering why the potato was green, another shopper told me that the green part is not good for you, but just eat the inside, and I'd be fine.
Except when you microwave it and start mashing up the inside, some of the green gets in there. So I ate green. Hope I live. But the 2 potatoes were 79 cents, and I just had half of one, so breakfast on the final day is: 19.75 cents. I don't feel FULL, but filled, and the spinach - Popeye would be proud.
Just two meals to go...
So today, it's spending $ for food...
Had a half-banana last night for dinner after drinking enough water to float a ship, so grand total for day 6 was: 49.9 cents.
Grand running total through Day 6 was: 4.339. (would probably be like two cents lower if I went back and counted minute fraction of cents all the way through).
Breakfast this early afternoon was probably the healthiest I've had this week: sauteed baby spinach (rescued from the trash, freegan fashion, a week ago at a cooking class) and 1/2 of a green-tinged potato bought on the Easy Way cheapo table. When I was pondering why the potato was green, another shopper told me that the green part is not good for you, but just eat the inside, and I'd be fine.
Except when you microwave it and start mashing up the inside, some of the green gets in there. So I ate green. Hope I live. But the 2 potatoes were 79 cents, and I just had half of one, so breakfast on the final day is: 19.75 cents. I don't feel FULL, but filled, and the spinach - Popeye would be proud.
Just two meals to go...
Day 6 - Saturday of Substinence
Another day, another less than a dollar.
After another morning of oatmeal and early afternoon of PB and bread, I hit up the mexican flea market here in Atlanta to see if I could get some super cheap fruit/vegetables/foodstuff to make a meal out of... nope. I can't afford to eat swap meet produce. That was something. Did you know you can buy clothes by the pound? Also something.
I ended up visiting Kroger and was able to score some really cheap hot dogs to quell the vegetarian-induced hallucinations I was having yesterday. So that made for a little bit cheaper dinner than the rice and peas (and broke the monotony as well). I found one mustard packet from Panda express - probably not intended for hotdogs, but it went well. I only found enough ketchup for one dog, so I put a packet of hot sauce I scored from Taco Bell on the other hot dog. Not too bad. And I found a perfect use for the ends of the loaf of bread I purchased - they don't break like regular slices when you fold them, and thus make good hot dog buns.
.jpg)
Bread slices: 5 cents each. Hot dogs: $1.09 for a packet of 10 - or 11 cents per dog. So 2 hot dogs with "buns" for 32 cents.
Combined with my 21.5 cent oatmeal and 27 and 1/3 cent peanut butter sandwiches, my day of food cost me 80 and 5/6 cents.
Total after 6 days: $4.35 and 2/3 cents.
That's less than a footlong at subway. And it's fed me for 6 days. Not too shabby.
After another morning of oatmeal and early afternoon of PB and bread, I hit up the mexican flea market here in Atlanta to see if I could get some super cheap fruit/vegetables/foodstuff to make a meal out of... nope. I can't afford to eat swap meet produce. That was something. Did you know you can buy clothes by the pound? Also something.
I ended up visiting Kroger and was able to score some really cheap hot dogs to quell the vegetarian-induced hallucinations I was having yesterday. So that made for a little bit cheaper dinner than the rice and peas (and broke the monotony as well). I found one mustard packet from Panda express - probably not intended for hotdogs, but it went well. I only found enough ketchup for one dog, so I put a packet of hot sauce I scored from Taco Bell on the other hot dog. Not too bad. And I found a perfect use for the ends of the loaf of bread I purchased - they don't break like regular slices when you fold them, and thus make good hot dog buns.
.jpg)
Bread slices: 5 cents each. Hot dogs: $1.09 for a packet of 10 - or 11 cents per dog. So 2 hot dogs with "buns" for 32 cents.
Combined with my 21.5 cent oatmeal and 27 and 1/3 cent peanut butter sandwiches, my day of food cost me 80 and 5/6 cents.
Total after 6 days: $4.35 and 2/3 cents.
That's less than a footlong at subway. And it's fed me for 6 days. Not too shabby.
Saturday, February 7, 2009
Breakfast and a Surprise Blessing for lunch...
Day 6. One stinking day left.
Breakfast: Two scrambled eggs, 1/3 slice of cheese (yes, we are getting that specific with it) with two slices of toast: 22 cents for eggs, 3.6 cents for cheese, 6 cents each for slice of bread and 4 oz. of soda at 3.5 cents = 41.1 cents. Pretty filling, actually.
My sister came over this morning (OK, so it was afternoon by the time I got up) so we could run some errands. Earlier this week, I had a banana, I ate while I was working in my home office - and I discovered last night I didn't eat the whole thing. Left at least a third - which means I can subtract 5.3 cents from my running total. Here's a picture of said banana:
My sister didn't want to eat anything I had to eat, so she went to Chick-Fil-A and brought her lunch over to my place to eat while I was getting ready. When she was done, I asked her - is there anything you didn't eat that you were going to throw away (planning to dumpster dive in my own trash!) and she was about to... oh Lord, help me... throw away... Jesus, I can't believe what she was going to do... a coupon for... a free chicken sandwich.
OK, let the record reflect that the only meat I've have this week has come from meals someone has bought for me (and I still have one freel meal left) AND turkey hot dogs. That's it, and I have been craving animal flesh (sorry, vegeterians).
So for lunch, I had a chicken sandwich free from Chick-Fil-A. I can't believe my good fortune. Would have been delightful with the shake my sister got when we went through the drive-through, and yeah, I wish I'd had some fries, but that big ole piece of chicken was... a gift from God himself sent straight to my belly. Thank you, baby Jesus, for that chicken!
Dinner, TBA, but today, I've eaten 41.1 cents so far.
Grand total, minus the 5.3 cents for the banana I didn't eat, not including Day 6's dinner: $3.848.
Breakfast: Two scrambled eggs, 1/3 slice of cheese (yes, we are getting that specific with it) with two slices of toast: 22 cents for eggs, 3.6 cents for cheese, 6 cents each for slice of bread and 4 oz. of soda at 3.5 cents = 41.1 cents. Pretty filling, actually.
My sister came over this morning (OK, so it was afternoon by the time I got up) so we could run some errands. Earlier this week, I had a banana, I ate while I was working in my home office - and I discovered last night I didn't eat the whole thing. Left at least a third - which means I can subtract 5.3 cents from my running total. Here's a picture of said banana:
My sister didn't want to eat anything I had to eat, so she went to Chick-Fil-A and brought her lunch over to my place to eat while I was getting ready. When she was done, I asked her - is there anything you didn't eat that you were going to throw away (planning to dumpster dive in my own trash!) and she was about to... oh Lord, help me... throw away... Jesus, I can't believe what she was going to do... a coupon for... a free chicken sandwich.
OK, let the record reflect that the only meat I've have this week has come from meals someone has bought for me (and I still have one freel meal left) AND turkey hot dogs. That's it, and I have been craving animal flesh (sorry, vegeterians).
So for lunch, I had a chicken sandwich free from Chick-Fil-A. I can't believe my good fortune. Would have been delightful with the shake my sister got when we went through the drive-through, and yeah, I wish I'd had some fries, but that big ole piece of chicken was... a gift from God himself sent straight to my belly. Thank you, baby Jesus, for that chicken!
Dinner, TBA, but today, I've eaten 41.1 cents so far.
Grand total, minus the 5.3 cents for the banana I didn't eat, not including Day 6's dinner: $3.848.
Need... More... Food.
No, I didn't eat a Gollum yesterday, but I feel as though I might. Yesterday I had the exact same 3 meals as the day before: oatmeal, pb sandwiches, and rice and peas. It's not that I'm hungry. I feel as though I've actually been getting plenty food, probably helped in no small part by me eating breakfast each day when I would normally have coffee. It's not even the oatmeal, or the peanut butter sandwiches. It's the fact that when I go home there is no slaughtered animal waiting for me. With apologies to the vegetarian readers out there, I'm what one could call a meatatarian. I am seriously used to having meat with every meal. But when figuring out how to survive on less than a dollar a day, meat is pretty much the first thing to go. I can't afford to pay for the food the animal has to eat, AND the animal. I feel as though I'm starting to look at the small animals outside my window differently. Maybe I can use the money I save on therapy .
Anyway, here's what I spent yesterday, day 5. (cuts and pastes from day before)
Oatmeal and banana - 21.5 cents
Peanut butter sandwiches - 27 and 1/3 centsRice and blackeyed peas - 43 cents
Day 5 total: 91 and 5/6 centsChallenge total: $3.54 and 5/6 cents (and seeing as how Wendi and I are now separated by less than a nickel, yes, I am counting minute fractions of pennies).
Problem is, unless I happen upon a coop-escaped chicken wandering around Midtown Atlanta, I don't know that I can follow Wendi's current 70 cent clip. A man has limits. I might hit the grocery store later to see if a great sale can pull me out of the hole. Suggestions welcome. (and please, no more "I have a great recipe for ONLY 8 dollars" emails - seriously yall)
Friday, February 6, 2009
Dumpster Diver Strikes Again....
This week, I have been to more events that had food I could not eat. It's been insane, as if the universe is freaking taunting me.
Tonight was another example - a DEAR friend and former boss is changing jobs and was having a champagne party at her house tonight. I've been to her house for shindigs before and the food is always good, so I was excited to see her but in an intimate setting with just a few people, was afraid I was going to slip up and forget and accidentally grab one of those cookies with jelly in the middle. (Man, they looked good, and I don't usually even like those cookies!)
But my friend told everyone there about my "challenge." I stayed to the bitter end (like to the almost impolite, everyone else is gone, why aren't you gone too point) and scored the veggies she was throwing out! At last - not bitter celery! And two little slices of some cheese - I don't even know what kind, but I know it's not that processed crap I have in the fridge.
So dinner was dumpster dived/dove and free. I'll have to go to bed in the next hour, though, because a few carrots, four sticks of celery, three cucumber slices and a few pieces of cheese won't hold me long.
Total spent on Friday, Day 5: 73 cents.
Grand total: $3.49 for 5 days.
Tonight was another example - a DEAR friend and former boss is changing jobs and was having a champagne party at her house tonight. I've been to her house for shindigs before and the food is always good, so I was excited to see her but in an intimate setting with just a few people, was afraid I was going to slip up and forget and accidentally grab one of those cookies with jelly in the middle. (Man, they looked good, and I don't usually even like those cookies!)
But my friend told everyone there about my "challenge." I stayed to the bitter end (like to the almost impolite, everyone else is gone, why aren't you gone too point) and scored the veggies she was throwing out! At last - not bitter celery! And two little slices of some cheese - I don't even know what kind, but I know it's not that processed crap I have in the fridge.
So dinner was dumpster dived/dove and free. I'll have to go to bed in the next hour, though, because a few carrots, four sticks of celery, three cucumber slices and a few pieces of cheese won't hold me long.
Total spent on Friday, Day 5: 73 cents.
Grand total: $3.49 for 5 days.
Just Two Days Left....
Today was a bit different - as I am starving. Aaron's right - I didn't eat much yesterday because I knew I had a free meal coming. I could hold out because fried chicken thighs were dancing in my mind.
Today - no free meal. So I had to eat.
Breakfast - 1/2 serving of lentil soup. And maybe not even that much, but I had to put something on my stomach: 10 cents
Snack: A hard-boiled egg because seriously, I thought I was going to faint: 11 cents
Lunch: 1/3 can of pork and beans (16 cents - the beans are so tasteless, it's not funny) and two hotdogs (9 cents each) and 2 pieces of cornbread (this batch - I made a new one, yielded six muffins, so the cost per muffin went down to 9 cents): 52 cents
Dinner: TBA, but maybe just salad mix because I want to win.
Aside from the days I've gotten a free meal, I know I'm not eating even 1200 calories. And today, I hit the wall.... I really did feel dull, mentally, because I'm hungry. And I haven't been taking my usual multivitamin, because it's not part of the rules.
Just had a conversation with a friend about poverty and she was saying why a lot of poor people are overweight is because they eat a lot of bad carbs. Because carbs tend to be cheap AND they release serotonin in the brain, which makes you feel good. (This is ala poverty guru Ruby Payne, who was in town presenting today and my friend heard the presentation).
And it makes sense, because that cornbread made me quite happy. I was irritable, edgy, moody, even feeling depressed, but after I got that cornbread in me, I thought - I can go on. Pretty sad, eh?
Today - no free meal. So I had to eat.
Breakfast - 1/2 serving of lentil soup. And maybe not even that much, but I had to put something on my stomach: 10 cents
Snack: A hard-boiled egg because seriously, I thought I was going to faint: 11 cents
Lunch: 1/3 can of pork and beans (16 cents - the beans are so tasteless, it's not funny) and two hotdogs (9 cents each) and 2 pieces of cornbread (this batch - I made a new one, yielded six muffins, so the cost per muffin went down to 9 cents): 52 cents
Dinner: TBA, but maybe just salad mix because I want to win.
Aside from the days I've gotten a free meal, I know I'm not eating even 1200 calories. And today, I hit the wall.... I really did feel dull, mentally, because I'm hungry. And I haven't been taking my usual multivitamin, because it's not part of the rules.
Just had a conversation with a friend about poverty and she was saying why a lot of poor people are overweight is because they eat a lot of bad carbs. Because carbs tend to be cheap AND they release serotonin in the brain, which makes you feel good. (This is ala poverty guru Ruby Payne, who was in town presenting today and my friend heard the presentation).
And it makes sense, because that cornbread made me quite happy. I was irritable, edgy, moody, even feeling depressed, but after I got that cornbread in me, I thought - I can go on. Pretty sad, eh?
Day 4 Roundup
Yesterday was a pretty boring day - all meals I've had before: oatmeal and banana, peanut butter sandwiches, and rice and peas. I keep reminding myself that there are folks out there that would love to a consistent 2000 calories, so I shouldn't complain. As of next Monday, I get to eat what I want.
My meal costs:
Oatmeal and banana - 21.5 cents
Peanut butter sandwiches - 27 and 1/3 cents
Rice and blackeyed peas - 43 cents
Day 4 total: 91 and 5/6 cents
Challenge total: $2.54 - it's close, but Wendi has one more free meal left. And she also seems to be eating about 40 calories per day outside of her free meals. Half a banana and a half a diet soda? Seriously? I simply can't do that. I have to get my 1600+ calories in or I won't function.
One particularly bright spot of the past few days... I think I've learned how to make rice! Last night's rice and blackeyed peas were actually really good. Threw some assorted seasonings in there, plus my trusty Soul Food salt, drained the water off of the beans (thanks Mom!) and it even looks better. Plate not so pukey. Wow, that sounded depressing.
Thursday, February 5, 2009
There's a Free Meal A-Coming!
Happy happy, joy joy!
A girlfriend promised to feed me dinner tonight, and even though she's sick, she's sticking with her commitment. It's a good thing, otherwise I'd be so disappointed I'd recreate the Passion Play in her front yard, complete with me climbing up on a cross.
And where have I chosen to have dinner? Piccadilly's. Like my brother, I'm a creature of habit, and once I get started on something, there's no stopping. I cannot WAIT to eat. (This will make three P's outings in less than a week - which is like more than I did all of last year.)
When my girlfriend said she was sick, I was like, oh, no, I'm going to have to eat lentil soup for dinner again! And it made me think - what about people who truly didn't have anything to eat and someone breaks a promise to feed them?
All that's got me through this day is knowing I had a free meal coming at dinner time. And if that meal fell through, well, I did have a back-up, but all he was going to be good for was an extra value meal from McD's. And I want real food, real meat, real seasoned veggies, all that.
So far, I've had breakfast - a banana at 16 cents.
And I'm about to eat a salad, 10 cents worth.
Total for today, Thursday, will be 36 cents, for a grand running total of $2.76 for FOUR DAYS.
A girlfriend promised to feed me dinner tonight, and even though she's sick, she's sticking with her commitment. It's a good thing, otherwise I'd be so disappointed I'd recreate the Passion Play in her front yard, complete with me climbing up on a cross.
And where have I chosen to have dinner? Piccadilly's. Like my brother, I'm a creature of habit, and once I get started on something, there's no stopping. I cannot WAIT to eat. (This will make three P's outings in less than a week - which is like more than I did all of last year.)
When my girlfriend said she was sick, I was like, oh, no, I'm going to have to eat lentil soup for dinner again! And it made me think - what about people who truly didn't have anything to eat and someone breaks a promise to feed them?
All that's got me through this day is knowing I had a free meal coming at dinner time. And if that meal fell through, well, I did have a back-up, but all he was going to be good for was an extra value meal from McD's. And I want real food, real meat, real seasoned veggies, all that.
So far, I've had breakfast - a banana at 16 cents.
And I'm about to eat a salad, 10 cents worth.
Total for today, Thursday, will be 36 cents, for a grand running total of $2.76 for FOUR DAYS.
Wednesday, February 4, 2009
A Discovery...
When I don't like what there is to eat and I don't have any other options, I'd just rather not eat. I can honestly say that I'm not hungry, but I can also honestly say that facing all the reasons I eat that nothing to do with hunger has been eye-opening.
So it was a CHALLENGE to force myself to eat today, because my options (that I can afford and stay in contention and win) were few and none really appealed to me.
Breakfast: 1/2 a banana and 1/2 a serving of diet soda: 8 cents plus 3.5 cents= 11.5
Lunch: a grilled cheese sandwich (man, that processed cheese is starting to taste nasty): 28.5 cents
Dinner: 10 cents worth of salad and soup and cornbread: 4=55 cents
Total for Wednesday, Day 3: 95 cents
Running total for all three days (with only one free meal spent): $2.40 and 1/2 cent
I can't believe I've only eaten $2.40 worth of food - well, yes I can, because I am already tired of looking at all those servings of lentil soup taunting me in my fridge. The salad mix ain't bad, though.
So it was a CHALLENGE to force myself to eat today, because my options (that I can afford and stay in contention and win) were few and none really appealed to me.
Breakfast: 1/2 a banana and 1/2 a serving of diet soda: 8 cents plus 3.5 cents= 11.5
Lunch: a grilled cheese sandwich (man, that processed cheese is starting to taste nasty): 28.5 cents
Dinner: 10 cents worth of salad and soup and cornbread: 4=55 cents
Total for Wednesday, Day 3: 95 cents
Running total for all three days (with only one free meal spent): $2.40 and 1/2 cent
I can't believe I've only eaten $2.40 worth of food - well, yes I can, because I am already tired of looking at all those servings of lentil soup taunting me in my fridge. The salad mix ain't bad, though.
Day 3 update
Breakfast and Lunch were the same today. 21.5 cent oatmeal and banana for breakfast, and 27 and 1/3 cents for peanut butter sandwiches (no time to hit the drive thru today). You know what they look like by now, no photos necessary.
.jpg)
.jpg)
For dinner I had my 3rd and final free meal of the week - sushi! Sushi is a particular love of mine, but it is also normally pretty expensive, so it was cool that I got to get some free sushi this week. And this wasn't some totally unrealistic invitation-only sushi dinner that someone poor would never be able to get. This was a totally free happy hour that this restaurant around the corner from me throws every Wednesday night. I knew I was going to hit this up before this challenge even began. The crowd looked to be the regular happy hour crowd - thirty-somethings drinking fruity drinks at the bar, stopping by the free sushi only once so as not to look as budget as they probably were, and skully-wearing shameless Georgia Tech students returning to the back of the line as soon as they got their plate, cueing up for round 2. I didn't exactly fit the mold of either crowd. I was still wearing my suit and tie from the office, but firmly entrenched in the sushi table turnstile.
I was playing cute at first. My first plate (the first pic), I just got 8 pieces of sushi, seeing as how there were several people behind me and I wanted to be polite. But as I was pouring out some soy sauce, I looked up to see this 4'11 girl behind me carefully balancing her plate so her mountain of tuna and avocado didn't go cascading across the stained concrete. Everyone behind her seemed to be following suit. You see what I did for round 2 (2nd pic above).
I had this meal at around 6pm, so I'm hoping it holds me over until the morning. But bottom line - it was free.
Tally at the end of three days: $1.62 (and 1/6 cent - nyah!)
.jpg)
.jpg)
For dinner I had my 3rd and final free meal of the week - sushi! Sushi is a particular love of mine, but it is also normally pretty expensive, so it was cool that I got to get some free sushi this week. And this wasn't some totally unrealistic invitation-only sushi dinner that someone poor would never be able to get. This was a totally free happy hour that this restaurant around the corner from me throws every Wednesday night. I knew I was going to hit this up before this challenge even began. The crowd looked to be the regular happy hour crowd - thirty-somethings drinking fruity drinks at the bar, stopping by the free sushi only once so as not to look as budget as they probably were, and skully-wearing shameless Georgia Tech students returning to the back of the line as soon as they got their plate, cueing up for round 2. I didn't exactly fit the mold of either crowd. I was still wearing my suit and tie from the office, but firmly entrenched in the sushi table turnstile.
I was playing cute at first. My first plate (the first pic), I just got 8 pieces of sushi, seeing as how there were several people behind me and I wanted to be polite. But as I was pouring out some soy sauce, I looked up to see this 4'11 girl behind me carefully balancing her plate so her mountain of tuna and avocado didn't go cascading across the stained concrete. Everyone behind her seemed to be following suit. You see what I did for round 2 (2nd pic above).
I had this meal at around 6pm, so I'm hoping it holds me over until the morning. But bottom line - it was free.
Tally at the end of three days: $1.62 (and 1/6 cent - nyah!)
Aaron's Pukey Plate
I thought I'd get the characterization out there at the beginning since I know it's coming.
I may have underestimated how important this "cooking" thing would be to this challenge. Rice and blackeyed peas should be an easy enough task to accomplish, right? I mean, all food comes with instructions on the label, yes?
I figured out the whole 1 cup of water to 1/2 cup of rice thing - cool. Little bit of oil - done. Didn't have any regular salt, but I threw something from my cabinet called "Soul Food Salt" into the pot. Dunno whether it made a difference or not. I let it boil and then covered it. After that, how do you know rice is done? Loud hiss? Semi-angry hiss? Smoke? Anyway, the rice that was not stuck to the bottom of the pot tasted OK. Heated up the blackeyed peas and added a healthy dose of hot sauce - the culinary girdle on my out-of-shape cooking.
Despite what the plate looks like, it was edible. I mean, my stomach hurt and all, but I'm not sure if that was because I scarfed down 400 calories worth of blackeyed peas in about 4 minutes or if it had anything to do with my inability to cook them.
The first bite was actually not half bad. I decided to eat it as quickly as possible, so as not to give myself the chance to start disliking it as the law of diminishing returns set in. After all, that was all I had to eat for the evening, and it was over 8 hours since my peanut butter lunch. 12 hours later, I'm happy to report that everything stayed down and I've lived to blog the tale.
Tha dirty: 1/2 cup of rice was 1/5 of an 89 cent package, or 18 cents. Blackeyed peas were a solid quarter. Meal: 43 cents. Challenge to date: $1.13 and 1/3 cent.
Tuesday, February 3, 2009
Day 2 - free pizza!
Confession: Those who know me well know I'm a night owl. Regularly up until 2 or 3 a.m., working and doing some of my best writing, but then, not out of the bed until like 10. Or 11. Or later.
So my breakfast this morning was free - and came directly to my door from a dear friend who lives out of town and ordered me a pizza. Yes, she took pity on me and sent me a medium pizza with pepperoni, sausage, and mushrooms. That was like the best pizza ever.
Lunch - which was much later - was salad mix. Honestly, that's all I had an appetite for.
Dinner, which I'll probably eat before midnight to keep the days separate, will be lentil soup.
So total for today: 12 cents for the salad mix, 21.5 cents for the soup equals: 33.5 cents for today. (If I eat more at dinner, I'll update in the am.)
Went to a fancy event with a carving station and free wine and all sort of buffet food - but I was working, and I don't like to eat the food when I'm working. But I really could have had a slice of that roast beef. I drank water instead.
Ran into Susan Sanford, president of the MidSouth Food Bank at this event (Tennessee premier of Oscar-nominated documentary "The Witness") and she talked about some programs they're working on to give those in Memphis who want to help those who are hungry. Stay tuned for more info on that.
Total to date: $1.45 and a half cent
Day 2 - details to come soon
Today has been busy - workwise, but I'll update my progress tonight. I'll share this - got my first free meal in a very unexpected way. And taking a page from my brother, I ate like a bear headed for hibernation.
Not sure what I think about "pretending" to have just come through a drive-through to score some jelly.... Is that cheating or being creative?
Not sure what I think about "pretending" to have just come through a drive-through to score some jelly.... Is that cheating or being creative?
Old Faithful
Peanut butter, that is. Growing up, I ate a peanut butter sandwich pretty much every day, until my mother stopped making my lunch (junior high?). My sisters liked to mix it up - different cold cuts some days, maybe a PB&J every now and then, but not me. Those who knew me in elementary school knew I was a young man of routine. Part on the left side of my afro, blue windbreaker, peanut butter sandwich, and let's keep it moving.
The jelly I would normally put on this sandwich is a luxury I can't afford, so these sandwiches are literally peanut butter and bread. I do have a plan to fix it up, however - I am going to try running into a nearby fast food joint and pretending like I just came through the drive thru to see if I can score a few jelly packets. I'll keep you updated.
Now, the raw data: I got a loaf of bread with 26 slices (yes, I did stand in the store and count the slices in different brands' loaves to see who had the most slices) for $1.29. That's about 5 cents a slice. The peanut butter was 1.32 for the jar, 18 2-tablespoon servings worth. I use just one tablespoon of PB per sandwich, for a whopping 7 and 1/3 cents of PB in my lunch. 27 and 1/3 cents for lunch today. What.
Running total after lunch today: 70 (and 1/3) cents.
Please Eat Me, I'm Delicious! (Day 2)
Breakfast, Day 2 version.
So apparently I missed the part of the rules where extra points were awarded for style and presentation. I'll try to do better from here on out. Wait, just checked the rules again - it's just whoever eats the cheapest. Oh well, Wendi, you can always try this for your next challenge.
Both my lunch and dinner yesterday were free (couple slices of donated pizza for supper), so my first day total was: 21.5 cents. That's how we like to start things off.
I've doubled that total with breakfast this morning - oatmeal, cinnamon, banana. And regardless of how pretty it is, it still tastes just fine. Got a cheap lunch already packed up in my office as well - I'll update early afternoon with the details.
Monday, February 2, 2009
Dinner, Day 1
A mug full of lentil soup and cornbread, plated on beautiful dishes a friend gave me.
Look closely and see how much (how little) I spent! Lentils have lots of protein, soup called for lots of chopped veggies and a can of tomatoes - so I got my servings of veggies in today.
If I weren't on a budget, I would have replaced some of the water with chicken stock. And it would be SLAMMING with a sliced kielbasa in it - but that is so not in the budget. Meat in general, is not in the budget.But the soup was good. I would eat it even if I weren't on a budget. And the bitter celery tastes fine in the soup.
Total cost for three meals on my challenge first day? $1.12.
And I think we can all agree this tops the picture of puke that Aaron posted and pretended it was his breakfast.
And I think we can all agree this tops the picture of puke that Aaron posted and pretended it was his breakfast.
My First Breakfast, Lunch
21.5 cents. And yes, we're counting half cents. I had, probably not coincidentally, a serving (a full one) of oatmeal with some cinnamon and a banana, same meal as Wendi (just twice as big). Unlike Wendi, I'm fine with oatmeal. This is actually the same breakfast I used to have on one of my health kicks a few years back. I could easily do this all week. I got 7 bananas for 90 cents, so they're about 13 cents each, and my serving of oatmeal was 8.5 cents. I'm guessing Wendi found some bananas for cheaper than I did...
Today we had a luncheon at work where my boss ordered in sandwiches and chips from Jason's deli. 2 meals down, 21.5 cents spent. I usually don't even eat a breakfast as big as I did this morning, so I wasn't super hungry. But I utilized a skill I picked up during my super-broke college days: when you can eat for free, eat like a bear storing up for hibernation.
Making Dinner for Today... and several other days
Lentil soup - yum! I love lentil soup - lentils are high in protein and a bag of them, dried, is amazingly cheap. I won't say how cheap until my brother has coughed up some info. Starting coughing, Aaron.
Buying veggies cheap has its drawbacks... I'd planned to snack on celery during the week, but this stuff is so bitter (old? stale? picked too soon?) I'm not sure I'm going to make it on celery.
Just read where a CNN reporter is going to eat on what he'd get in food stamps, $176/month. Do you know what I could get for $176 a month?? Well, for starters, celery that doesn't taste gross.
Day One Breakfast: Oatmeal and a Banana for...
11.5 cents. That's right. Only ate half a serving of oatmeal, because I really, really don't like it, and half a banana. And a 16 oz bottle of water (refilled from the tap, of course).
One morning down, 6 to go. Am eager to see if oatmeal is as "filling" as everyone seems to claim. It's still not the tastiest breakfast food to me - only the banana kept me from gagging.
Not sure if we're counting 1/2 cents, but it could be the difference between winning and losing. The longer the oatmeal sits on my stomach the more I think - that wasn't intolerable.
Sunday, February 1, 2009
5 Hours and Counting....
The challenge starts tomorrow. Had another last-supper today - unexpectedly, as my parents wanted to go to PICADILLY'S after church. This is the second trip to old-folks-buffet land (don't get me wrong, the food is good) in two days - but Moms paid.
Total bill for the six of us, $55 or so, and I could eat on that for a month.
I took an continuing education class tonight - Knife Skills (on food, not people) - and lucked up on some spinach, a half-chopped pepper and some cilantro - out of the garbage, which was headed into a compost pile at the Botanic Gardens.
There were probably 20 people in the class, and we chopped up all sorts of stuff (Melissa Peterson of Edible Memphis was our great teacher and she's a prepper for the Neely's cooking show on the Food Channel) - and I didn't keep anything I sliced and diced, just stuff that was in the garbage and didn't look like this:
About to do some serious math on the meals to see how I can follow the rules on fruits/veggies AND try to win.
Eating Up While I Can...
It's Superbowl Sunday, and I am fully aware than I will likely spend more money on food for the superbowl party I'm attending than I will the entire next week. Mentally preparing myself for what will likely be an eye-opening week.
Even though I haven't started, I already feel like I've come to some significant realizations. I spent a considerable amount of time in grocery stores yesterday, and realized that a lot of the foods that I thought were the cheapest foods one could eat were luxuries compared to what I'll probably be eating this week. I had planned on making eggs and tuna staples of my cheap week of eating - nope. Too expensive. At the farmer's market, most of the fruits and vegetables did not even provide the most bang for my buck.
I was able to score a bunch of bananas to give me one of my fruit/vegetable servings each morning for 90 cents. And I also stumbled upon this at Kroger:
That's right. 4 cans of blackeye peas for a buck. Normally $2.80 for 4. Sure I'll probably eat more blackeye peas this week than I have the entire past 3 years combined, but I imagine that folks on restricted budgets also end up eating whatever their grocer puts on sale.
Packs 8 grams of protein per serving, and there's 3.5 servings per can. Which brings me to my next realization - I'll probably be eating healthier this week than I normally do. One concern was that it was much cheaper to eat unhealthy than to eat healthy. I think that may be true when you are talking about food that has been prepared for you. But even cheap unhealthy food has to factor in the cost of preparation. The absolute least expensive food out there hasn't been processed - it's pretty much a straight line from the fields to you. Which is about as healthy as you can get. Oats, beans, rice: all inexpensive, and good for you. Now if I can just figure out how to make these things taste good...
Even though I haven't started, I already feel like I've come to some significant realizations. I spent a considerable amount of time in grocery stores yesterday, and realized that a lot of the foods that I thought were the cheapest foods one could eat were luxuries compared to what I'll probably be eating this week. I had planned on making eggs and tuna staples of my cheap week of eating - nope. Too expensive. At the farmer's market, most of the fruits and vegetables did not even provide the most bang for my buck.
I was able to score a bunch of bananas to give me one of my fruit/vegetable servings each morning for 90 cents. And I also stumbled upon this at Kroger:
That's right. 4 cans of blackeye peas for a buck. Normally $2.80 for 4. Sure I'll probably eat more blackeye peas this week than I have the entire past 3 years combined, but I imagine that folks on restricted budgets also end up eating whatever their grocer puts on sale.
Packs 8 grams of protein per serving, and there's 3.5 servings per can. Which brings me to my next realization - I'll probably be eating healthier this week than I normally do. One concern was that it was much cheaper to eat unhealthy than to eat healthy. I think that may be true when you are talking about food that has been prepared for you. But even cheap unhealthy food has to factor in the cost of preparation. The absolute least expensive food out there hasn't been processed - it's pretty much a straight line from the fields to you. Which is about as healthy as you can get. Oats, beans, rice: all inexpensive, and good for you. Now if I can just figure out how to make these things taste good...
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)