Day 24: 6 days left!

Only six days left - and I can't say I will miss the limitations. Except that I am worried I will just blow up like a puffer fish again.

Day 24 started with deciding to spend a little more money up front because day 23 went well. I decided to make hashbrowns and a fried egg.

I fried the potatoes in a teaspoon of oil, added some Mexican spices - cumin, chili powder - and then I used a few packs of Papa John's "parmesan" cheese. 

Ingredients in one of these packs:

parmesan cheese (cultured pasteurized part-skim milk, salt and enzymes), powdered cellulose addad as a flow agent, potassium sorbate as a preservative and titanium dioxide. Contains milk. 

Mmm.

But they were free. I don't know if they added anything really.

But the end product was satisfying.

So breakfast worked out to:

potato	$ 0.24
oil	$ 0.01
egg	$ 0.16
spices	$ 0.01
tums	$ 0.04
coffee	$ 0.13

Total:                         $0.59

Lunch was the last of the left over Crouching Macaroni from the other day ($0.42), and then some bread ($0.03) and an oz slice of cheddar ($0.24) - total: $0.68.

In the afternoon I had some tea ($0.02) and another slice of bread ($0.03) as a snack.

I started preparations for dinner a few days earlier with soaking some red beans. 

gratuitous bean shot:

The day I let these set out, I decided to make something else, so I took a tip from Kerryn and froze these beans.

They went into Dot in a couple of big lumps:

I cooked them on their own for the rest of the day, because the red beans and rice recipe on the back of the bag actually called for cooked beans. 

The recipe on the bag called it "red beans and rice", I think of it more as "red beans and kale". Did I say, "kale"? Why yes, I did.

To make this I used:

bratwurst

onion

kale

oil

sugar

vinegar

red beans

green pepper

I cut the casing off of the bratwurst (one link, about 3.6 oz, or $0.57) and mashed it up and started it frying first. Then I added the onion (3.3 oz, $0.11). Let those to work things out for a while, then added the green pepper ($0.33/pepper at Wal-Mart, half a pepper - $0.17). Once that was going, the recipe called for 1.5 tbsp spoon of canola, 1 tbsp sugar, 1/3 C cider vinegar. Once that was simmering, you add the beans (7 oz dry, $0.56) and 2 cups of chopped kale (3 oz, $0.15). You cook the mixture until the kale is wilted, then serve over rice ($0.15).

The beans and kale dish cost $1.63 total. I ate 1/4 of it ($0.41) plus the rice ($0.05) for a total of $0.46 for dinner.

Can't say I was all that excited about this dish, nor was Kandie. Kandie didn't like the sweet and sour nature of it (I kind of liked that); I didn't like the chewiness of the kale. Yes, I said the kale. If I make this again, I will probably 1) reduce the sugar, and 2) add the kale before I add the beans to cook it down more. Or I need to really chop it much smaller. 

After dinner I had spent only about $1.77 for the day, so I baked a banana ($0.18), had some tea ($0.02), and then toasted some cheese on bread.

I'm getting really good at cutting precise amounts of bread and cheese. These were 1 oz each, perfect on the first cut for both.

Post-toast:

Food-wise, this felt like a good day. Emotionally, I feel much better if I have plenty of money left over going in to dinner. Kerryn and I have talked a little about the concept of "meal insecurity" - people who don't know if they are going to have 3 meals a day. I start getting a little panicky if I feel like I can't get my food (see Day 22). I can only imagine the desperation that one would feel if faced with that sort of situation.

I did finally go to the Randolph Commissary for the first time during this experiment. I hate the Commissary. (For non-military readers, that's the military grocery store you find on military bases. It is inevitably jam-packed with grey haired retirees who will elbow you out of the way mercilessly to get in front of you in line. And then you have to use their baggers, who expect a tip. I can take my own damn groceries to the car. And then there is a 5% surcharge added to your bill. This usually eliminates most of the savings you can get by shopping there unless you are careful.) So I did find a few good deals that I was excited about, because they are staples here at the $3 Diet. Onions were $1.49/3# - almost half the price I had been paying at HEB (that's the civilian grocery store that dominates San Antonio). Also Kraft Cheddar and Kraft Mozzarella for $0.18/oz! That's like 25% less than I had been paying for no-name brand cheese at HEB! I had also picked up an acorn squash at HEB, but realized it was going to cost me $0.77 for half, so it's been sitting in my fridge. At the Commissary they were $0.55/#, so now I can price the one I have at about $0.27. So expect to see acorn squash on the dinner menu this week. I still hate the Commissary and won't shop there even if the cheese is 25% less. It's not worth the hassle. But on the $3 diet, you have to put up with some stuff.

Day cost total: $2.17

Day calories:   1,535

Rounding out the triad -

Exercise: none. We had something of a hectic day. I had planned on walking with Kandie, but by the time we had time, it was dark and neither of us wanted to go. We'll call this a rest day.

Sleep: poor. We had some unpleasantness that had Kandie and I up during the night. I'd say I wound up with about 6 hours.