Frozen fruit is much less expensive than fresh fruit, but it's still expensive and hard to justify on $3/day.
Nevertheless, I mixed in 2.1 oz of frozen strawberries into my oatmeal this morning. They added a nice flavor and sweetness for only about 20 more calories. But the cost - $0.125/oz, or $0.25! That's expensive when you think about it in terms of cost/calorie, and a $3 budget. Bananas on the other hand are 105 cal/$0.15, or 700 cal/dollar, vs. 80 cal/dollar for frozen strawberries.
I used the strawberries because I really wanted a little variety. But it left me at $0.68 for breakfast, and only 278 calories. That is 408 cal/dollar. On $3/day, that would extend to only 1224 cal for the day. That is not a sustainable level of consumption. Peanut butter, for example, is very efficient. It yield 1,651 cal/dollar. Brown rice is even better at 3,076 cal/dollar. Ever wonder why poor Asian countries rely so much on rice? There you go.
But this little indulgence set a tone for the day that led to a rather distressing evening.
I brought along a banana, an egg, and chicken chili with rice (left overs) to work. I contemplated where I was in the day expense-wise, and decided I didn't really need to eat the egg. So I ate the chicken chili and rice for lunch, bringing me up to $1.74 by noon. I made a cup of coffee in my office after lunch ($0.03), and then on the way home ate the banana ($0.15). So by dinner time I was at $1.92, and that started to make me a little stressed because I was really hungry.
But I talked myself down by promising myself a nice pizza for dinner.
I made the pizza using my white bread recipe for the crust ($0.30), 4 oz of sauce ($0.32), and 2 oz of shredded mozzarella ($0.47), for a total of $1.09 for the pie. I had kind of wanted to eat the whole thing, but then realized I couldn't afford it. So I stopped with half - about $0.54. But when you add up the calories, it's only about 400 (given how light I was on the cheese).
So after dinner, I was at $2.47 for the day - and only 1,249 cal. That's really not enough. I had $0.53 left and I started calculating what I could have. I had tossed the last of the wheat bread I had made because it had taken on a rock like hardness. That made me get baking a new loaf (this time just white) - but it didn't give me something to eat immediately. I thought about yogurt, but that was $0.36 for only about 200 cal.
I have to say this was probably the worst night emotionally of the whole experiment.
I should have just cooked up some brown rice. But eventually I remembered I still had a serving of the plantains and beans, so I had half a serving of that - also kind of expensive - $0.20 for only about 137 cal. But it held me over until the bread came out, and I had 2.5 oz of fresh, steaming hot bread, with about a 1/2 tbsp of jelly. That got me to 1,539 cal for the day.
I have to admit, I went to bed pretty unhappy. It was clear I had not planned the day well. With such a small budget, even small indulgences can have large effects. I think that's an important point. When you are near the edge, small missteps can send you over. Now, I would have survived, of course. But imagine if that was a small misstep that led to a crop failure.
I know I've been averaging not much more calories than what I consumed today, but some of it is what I ate, and some of it is when I ate it. I would have been much better off if I had eaten an egg instead of the strawberries. Or maybe used water for the oatmeal, kept the strawberries, and had an egg. I'm not really sure. I know I like protein - peanut butter, eggs - because they keep me going and feeling sated longer. But I also know I need stuff like strawberries, and it's hard to pull them in on this diet. The failure tonight was more psychological than practical. I could have eaten more bread. I could have made some rice. I thought about making some peas or corn, but ruled them out because they were expensive. And then I felt bad about not eating more healthy stuff, and eating too many starches.
All this can be done, but it takes planning, and small missteps can mess you up. Nassim Taleb writes about this in his books - especially The Black Swan: Second Edition: The Impact of the Highly Improbable Fragility"
. Many of us lead our lives living much closer to the edge than we acknowledge. We have jobs that we think are stable, and so we don't save enough money to have a cushion in case something suddenly changes and the job is gone. Taleb focuses on structuring not just your finances but your life around not being what he calls a "turkey". His analogy is that the turkey goes along day after day thinking he has a great life because the farmer brings him lots of food and takes good care of him. And because everything in his past has been so great and easy, he assumes that the future will be the same. And it is the same, until Thanksgiving morning.
I realize my report today is a bit of a mess, so here is the data:
day cost total: $ 2.80
day calories: 1,539
Rounding out the triad -
Exercise: a short run, about 33 minutes for 425 cal
Sleep: good - 7 hours.
Nevertheless, I mixed in 2.1 oz of frozen strawberries into my oatmeal this morning. They added a nice flavor and sweetness for only about 20 more calories. But the cost - $0.125/oz, or $0.25! That's expensive when you think about it in terms of cost/calorie, and a $3 budget. Bananas on the other hand are 105 cal/$0.15, or 700 cal/dollar, vs. 80 cal/dollar for frozen strawberries.
I used the strawberries because I really wanted a little variety. But it left me at $0.68 for breakfast, and only 278 calories. That is 408 cal/dollar. On $3/day, that would extend to only 1224 cal for the day. That is not a sustainable level of consumption. Peanut butter, for example, is very efficient. It yield 1,651 cal/dollar. Brown rice is even better at 3,076 cal/dollar. Ever wonder why poor Asian countries rely so much on rice? There you go.
But this little indulgence set a tone for the day that led to a rather distressing evening.
I brought along a banana, an egg, and chicken chili with rice (left overs) to work. I contemplated where I was in the day expense-wise, and decided I didn't really need to eat the egg. So I ate the chicken chili and rice for lunch, bringing me up to $1.74 by noon. I made a cup of coffee in my office after lunch ($0.03), and then on the way home ate the banana ($0.15). So by dinner time I was at $1.92, and that started to make me a little stressed because I was really hungry.
But I talked myself down by promising myself a nice pizza for dinner.
I made the pizza using my white bread recipe for the crust ($0.30), 4 oz of sauce ($0.32), and 2 oz of shredded mozzarella ($0.47), for a total of $1.09 for the pie. I had kind of wanted to eat the whole thing, but then realized I couldn't afford it. So I stopped with half - about $0.54. But when you add up the calories, it's only about 400 (given how light I was on the cheese).
So after dinner, I was at $2.47 for the day - and only 1,249 cal. That's really not enough. I had $0.53 left and I started calculating what I could have. I had tossed the last of the wheat bread I had made because it had taken on a rock like hardness. That made me get baking a new loaf (this time just white) - but it didn't give me something to eat immediately. I thought about yogurt, but that was $0.36 for only about 200 cal.
I have to say this was probably the worst night emotionally of the whole experiment.
I should have just cooked up some brown rice. But eventually I remembered I still had a serving of the plantains and beans, so I had half a serving of that - also kind of expensive - $0.20 for only about 137 cal. But it held me over until the bread came out, and I had 2.5 oz of fresh, steaming hot bread, with about a 1/2 tbsp of jelly. That got me to 1,539 cal for the day.
I have to admit, I went to bed pretty unhappy. It was clear I had not planned the day well. With such a small budget, even small indulgences can have large effects. I think that's an important point. When you are near the edge, small missteps can send you over. Now, I would have survived, of course. But imagine if that was a small misstep that led to a crop failure.
I know I've been averaging not much more calories than what I consumed today, but some of it is what I ate, and some of it is when I ate it. I would have been much better off if I had eaten an egg instead of the strawberries. Or maybe used water for the oatmeal, kept the strawberries, and had an egg. I'm not really sure. I know I like protein - peanut butter, eggs - because they keep me going and feeling sated longer. But I also know I need stuff like strawberries, and it's hard to pull them in on this diet. The failure tonight was more psychological than practical. I could have eaten more bread. I could have made some rice. I thought about making some peas or corn, but ruled them out because they were expensive. And then I felt bad about not eating more healthy stuff, and eating too many starches.
All this can be done, but it takes planning, and small missteps can mess you up. Nassim Taleb writes about this in his books - especially The Black Swan: Second Edition: The Impact of the Highly Improbable Fragility"
. Many of us lead our lives living much closer to the edge than we acknowledge. We have jobs that we think are stable, and so we don't save enough money to have a cushion in case something suddenly changes and the job is gone. Taleb focuses on structuring not just your finances but your life around not being what he calls a "turkey". His analogy is that the turkey goes along day after day thinking he has a great life because the farmer brings him lots of food and takes good care of him. And because everything in his past has been so great and easy, he assumes that the future will be the same. And it is the same, until Thanksgiving morning. I realize my report today is a bit of a mess, so here is the data:
| breakfast | |
| oatmeal | $ 0.10 |
| milk | $ 0.19 |
| sugar | $ 0.01 |
| coffee | $ 0.13 |
| strawberries | $ 0.25 |
| lunch | |
| chicken chili | $ 1.01 |
| brown rice | $ 0.05 |
| Dinner | |
| pizza | $ 0.54 |
| snacks | |
| banana | $ 0.15 |
| coffee | $ 0.03 |
| tums | $ 0.04 |
| tea | $ 0.02 |
| bread | $ 0.06 |
| jelly | $ 0.01 |
| plantains and beans | $ 0.20 |
day cost total: $ 2.80
day calories: 1,539
Rounding out the triad -
Exercise: a short run, about 33 minutes for 425 cal
Sleep: good - 7 hours.
Part of what I enjoy most about collaborating with Mark on his project is reading his insightful comments in his posts. This project has forever changed my views of what are considered “luxury” items in the grocery store. Prior to my work with Mark on the $3 diet, I would have never categorized fresh or frozen fruits as such. But, I realize they truly fit in this category, along with dairy and meats, two other food groups I would have never considered "luxury" either.
ReplyDelete