Heather recommended I try mixing peanut butter into my oatmeal, so that's how I started Day 4 - adding in 0.4 oz of peanut butter into my oatmeal. It added some flavor, which was nice. I had a banana and coffee as well, for a total of $0.43, and approximately 427 calories.
On Saturday night I went to Wal-Mart with Kandie and shopped around the grocery section to see if I could find any better prices than I had found at the HEB. I was somewhat surprised to find that I did not. I did scope out a 2 lb bag of mixed vegetables for $2 - giving me a medley of vegetables for about $0.0625/ounce. In the past when I've been going hard on dieting, I've bought cans of mixed vegetables - usually peas and corn - and eaten the whole can with just some Frank's. The vegetables give you a lot of volume without too many calories, so it's a way to stave off being hungry and get some decent nutrition (less the sodium I suppose). Since I knew Kerryn was watching, I decided I would try frozen. The price for frozen appears to actually be less than canned - I priced a can of pees and corn at $0.0906/oz, making it almost 50% more expensive. And I assume frozen doesn't have the extra sodium and might even retain more nutrients.
For lunch I had that bowl of veges with some Frank's, a no-name brand Bratwurst, and some brown rice. Basically fast food. Total cost was $1.00 -
rice $0.07
veges, 6 oz $0.37
bratwurst $0.55
total calories: 565
During the day I decided to make spaghetti sauce just to have it on hand. I made about 56 oz, for a total cost of $4.46, or $0.08/oz. My sauce recipe is here if you want it: http://recalcitrantegg.blogspot.com/2009/02/calzone-recipe.html
I needed the sauce because I was craving pizza! I made my own dough (the basic bread recipe works for dough), used my own sauce, but used the no-name brand mozzarella.
Total cost for the pizza was $1.22, and you know what? I ate the whole thing.
Total calories for dinner: 781
I also had three cups of tea over the course of the day. Drinking it black to cut down on sugar.
I spent an hour shopping at HEB on Sunday (after the hour on Saturday at Wal-Mart), strategizing food. Having to come up with sort of nutritious, low calorie, low cost foods is perhaps more challenging than I anticipated.
I didn't get much exercise on Sunday - did some housecleaning.
Sleep was normal, maybe a bit more - about 7.5 hours.
Final counts:
Total cost for day: $2.77
Total calories: 1,773
From what I understand, frozen veggies are better for us than canned ones b/c they often lack salt and other preservatives. For this reason I try not to buy canned ones unless the frozen or fresh version isn't available. As a whole, frozen veggies are pretty cheap and I think they taste better than canned ones. Sometimes the frozen ones have more servings.
ReplyDeleteI know protein can be pricey, but have you thought about adding more protein to your diet? Mark and I find it keeps us fuller substantially longer than veggies, fruits, or starches. He often snacks on peanut butter right out of the jar w/a tablespoon. Eating tuna fish mixed w/relish and mayo (assuming you like that combo) is another cheap protein dish/snack.