Day 1: Crouching Macaroni, Hidden Squash

Finally made it to Day 1 - and so far (as of 8:46 PM), all is well.

For starters, I weighed in at 197.8. Not good. Target weight is 175. I'll be combining some calorie restriction with the resource restriction, but generally targeting a livable calorie count - somewhere around 1800-2000.

I had an appointment this morning across town, so I snagged a banana ($0.15) and my first dose of HEB (the local grocery store chain) coffee. I was pleased to realize that six scoops of coffee made an ounce, and since I can make 9 cups of coffee with six scoops - my usual ratio - I was in business for $0.13. (I drink six cups, Kandie drinks about three).



The banana was fine, the coffee, well, let's just say it's not Dunkin' Donuts. Later in the morning I added a sprinkle of cinnamon (not charging myself for that - it's really such a small amount). That made it a bit more palatable.

Taking some advice from Kerryn, I added blueberries to my oatmeal instead of sugar. But not fresh blueberries - those are for rich people like Kerryn and her family. Here in the $3 diet land, we use frozen blueberries ($0.203/oz). I used 1.3 ounces today - adding $0.27 to my $0.10 of oatmeal.

Breakfast added up as:

banana	$0.15
oatmeal, 1/2 cup uncooked	$0.10
sugar, 2 tsp	$0.01
frozen blueberries, 1.3 oz	$0.27
coffee	$0.13
dash of cinnamon for coffee	$   -

total:                                        $0.65

calories: 372

Lunch was supposed to be split pea soup and fresh bread. The schedule got thrown off a bit, so the bread wasn't read on time. But the split pea soup was.

Carrots ($0.25) and onions ($0.28) - which were surprisingly expensive. Especially the onion. This is the weird thing - I use onions all the time in my cooking and I have never thought of them as expensive. And yet here I am now worrying about my onion usage.



I used 8 oz of split peas ($0.44). I also used a bratwurst (instead of ham - because I had bratwurst and didn't have ham).



Split pea soup is really simple to make. Pour the peas in a pot, add water, and the meat. Bring to a boil, then simmer for about 30 minutes. Add the other vegetables. Let simmer another 30 minutes. Eat.



Everything is better with a little hot sauce. A teaspoon of Frank's is about $0.01.


Pea soup was good, but for a surprising 500 calories, it was not that good. And it left me hungry after about an hour. Not sure I'm thrilled with that outcome. I have another bowl for tomorrow's lunch though.

split peas, 8 oz     $0.44
carrots, 5.2 oz     $0.25
onions, 4.6 oz      $0.28
bratwurst, 1 link   $0.55
salt                      $0.01
pepper                $0.01
total                    $1.52

I ate half the recipe, so I charged myself $0.76



Here's the basic bread sitting in the proofing basket. Basic bread is flour (3 cups - $0.31), yeast (1 packet - $0.27), salt (negligable - I charged myself $0.01), and water. It doesn't get any more basic than that.

To make bread, you have to mix the ingredients and let it have an initial rise of about an hour. Then you punch it down, knead it, and let it rise again. The proofing basket is for the second rise.



I like to bake my basic bread in a 4 qt cast iron dutch oven - 30 minutes with the cover on, 10 minutes without to brown the top a bit.



I love fresh bread. It's an amazingly cheap source of calories.

flour, 3 cups	$0.31
yeast, 1 packet	$0.27
salt	$0.01
total	$0.60

For 1200 calories of food, you can't beat $0.60.

I ate about a quarter of the bread today - for $0.15.

Dinner was the squash and macaroni recipe Kerryn recommended. I am renaming it "Crouching Macaroni, Hidden Squash" for future reference.



Starting with two cups of squash (which worked out to be about a pound), I boiled it instead of steaming - wasn't paying attention to the recipe that closely I'm afraid and missed that until after I was already going.



This concoction was the butter, flour, squash, and liquid from the pasta. I confess, at this point I was a bit skeptical that it would work out - it seemed like too much liquid.



I found shredded cheddar for roughly the same price as block cheddar, so saved myself the effort and used the shredded.



But once the cheese was mixed in, it got quite a bit thicker. Adding the pasta, and it was just right.



This was a big success for Kandie and I - we really liked this recipe and will definitely make it again.

squash, 16 oz	$ 0.47
shredded cheddar	$ 0.71
pasta, 8oz	$ 0.39
butter, 1 tbsp	$ 0.09
flour, 1 tbsp	$ 0.02
Total	$1.68

This made about four servings, so my portion was $0.42.

I've had two cups of tea and haven't snacked outside of the 1/4 loaf of the bread.

Total for the day: $2.04.

Total calories consumed - 1,584. I also put in about 70 minutes of cardio at the gym. The machines estimate about 1,024 calories burned. That's not normal for me - 30-40 minutes is more normal. I had some stress to burn, so I pushed it a bit.

I did feel a little deprived today after lunch - the soup just didn't stick. I also need to up the calorie count a bit for realism. An adult male should be eating more than 1,584 calories if he isn't actively trying to lose weight. And given that I had plenty of money left, I could have.