Sunday night got a little crazy. I'm now starting to plan the next day's meals the night before - not something I have done regularly in the past. Prior to this experiment, I would only occasionally know in advance what I'd be cooking for dinner, let alone having for breakfast or lunch. So on Sunday I baked some pretzel rolls to freeze, and likely take to work for lunch.
And, I managed to catch a bit of a cold on Sunday.
So I rolled out of bed at 0515, threw some clothes on and ran down stairs to take care of the various items for the diet for the day.
I switched over the chick peas in the crock pot for the pinto beans, put the chick peas in the fridge to work with later, then made myself some oatmeal to take to work, and packed two pretzel rolls, a banana, and the last of the Crouching Macaroni, Hidden Squash.
Time is one of the biggest nuisances of this experiment so far. It takes a lot of time and mental effort to do all this preparation. Trying to eat cheap and well takes time, planning, and preparation.
After getting through with the urinalysis, I went to the gym and did 48 minutes of cardio - 24 minutes on the stairmaster, 24 minutes on the elliptical, for about 600 calories burned.
The rest of the morning got a bit busy. I managed to eat the banana, but didn't have time for anything else until almost noon. At that point the question was, do I eat the oatmeal or the CMHS? I chose the oatmeal. It was going to go to waste otherwise, and it was cheaper. Before I went to teach - around 2:30 - I ate the pretzel rolls. I wasn't hungry when I got home.
When I got home, I made the brown rice and Kandie and I had the pinto beans (recipe: http://allrecipes.com/recipe/slow-cooker-pinto-beans/detail.aspx ). The pinto bean recipe was a bit bland. I added some hot pepper, but the beans themselves are kind of dull in flavor and texture. I'm wondering if this is just a matter of changing what I am used to eating - but right now, it was disappointing.
Since I knew I had some extra money in the budget at this point because of the lunch fail, I thought it was a good day to experiment with the kale (which I was suspicious of).
Several readers had suggested kale chips, which sound weird, but I decided to give it a try.
I looked up kale chips and found these instructions: http://allrecipes.com/recipe/baked-kale-chips/detail.aspx
breakfast
oatmeal $0.07
banana $0.15
coffee $0.13
brown sugar $0.01
total: $0.39
lunch
pretzel rolls $0.23
dinner
rice $0.07
pinto beans and ham $0.55
tea $0.02
total: $0.064
snacks
banana $0.15
kale chips $0.57
wheat bread $0.03
total: $0.75
day total: $2.01
total calories: 1,303
I love this recipe - you can get it here: http://www.seededatthetable.com/2011/10/14/pretzel-rolls/#
The kids ate a couple on Sunday, so I was down to six going into Monday, which was ok.
I also decided we'd have pinto beans in the slow cooker for dinner on Monday, so I set up the beans to soak, and did the other prep work for the dish - cut up the veges, measured out the ham, and measured out all the spices so I could just dump it all in when I got up for work - which was wicked early because we had to go in for our annual post-Christmas urinalysis, which was taking place at 0630.
Oh, and I also decided I wanted to try to make hummus for the first time because I figured it would be cheap and maybe even tasty. So I had started soaking the chick peas on Sunday morning and cooked them over night in the crock pot.
The kids ate a couple on Sunday, so I was down to six going into Monday, which was ok.
I also decided we'd have pinto beans in the slow cooker for dinner on Monday, so I set up the beans to soak, and did the other prep work for the dish - cut up the veges, measured out the ham, and measured out all the spices so I could just dump it all in when I got up for work - which was wicked early because we had to go in for our annual post-Christmas urinalysis, which was taking place at 0630.
Oh, and I also decided I wanted to try to make hummus for the first time because I figured it would be cheap and maybe even tasty. So I had started soaking the chick peas on Sunday morning and cooked them over night in the crock pot.
And, I managed to catch a bit of a cold on Sunday.
So I rolled out of bed at 0515, threw some clothes on and ran down stairs to take care of the various items for the diet for the day.
I switched over the chick peas in the crock pot for the pinto beans, put the chick peas in the fridge to work with later, then made myself some oatmeal to take to work, and packed two pretzel rolls, a banana, and the last of the Crouching Macaroni, Hidden Squash.
Time is one of the biggest nuisances of this experiment so far. It takes a lot of time and mental effort to do all this preparation. Trying to eat cheap and well takes time, planning, and preparation.
After getting through with the urinalysis, I went to the gym and did 48 minutes of cardio - 24 minutes on the stairmaster, 24 minutes on the elliptical, for about 600 calories burned.
The rest of the morning got a bit busy. I managed to eat the banana, but didn't have time for anything else until almost noon. At that point the question was, do I eat the oatmeal or the CMHS? I chose the oatmeal. It was going to go to waste otherwise, and it was cheaper. Before I went to teach - around 2:30 - I ate the pretzel rolls. I wasn't hungry when I got home.
When I got home, I made the brown rice and Kandie and I had the pinto beans (recipe: http://allrecipes.com/recipe/slow-cooker-pinto-beans/detail.aspx ). The pinto bean recipe was a bit bland. I added some hot pepper, but the beans themselves are kind of dull in flavor and texture. I'm wondering if this is just a matter of changing what I am used to eating - but right now, it was disappointing.
Since I knew I had some extra money in the budget at this point because of the lunch fail, I thought it was a good day to experiment with the kale (which I was suspicious of).
Several readers had suggested kale chips, which sound weird, but I decided to give it a try.
I looked up kale chips and found these instructions: http://allrecipes.com/recipe/baked-kale-chips/detail.aspx
Pleasantly simple and quick, and to Kandie's shock, I actually ate them:
She insisted on a picture.
They actually weren't bad. I was surprised at how they were actually satisfyingly crunchy. The thing about the kale chips is that they are clearly a middle class health conscious snack. That little pile you see on the white plate ran about $0.57 - a lot on a $3 diet. Too much to repeat. Especially given I was still hungry after dinner. So I ate another banana. At $0.15, much more satisfying.
Then in preparation for Day 6, I baked a loaf of wheat bread.
Recipe:
2 C all purpose flour
1 C wheat flour
1/4 C canola oil
1 tsp sugar
1 packet dry yeast
3/4 C water
total cost: $0.74 for approximately 24 oz loaf, or $0.03/oz
I had a slice off the bread at the end of the day as a bed time snack. ($0.03)
Sleep was crap leading into Day 5. I was scurrying around doing food preparations until about 11. Then my cold didn't really let me sleep well. And I had to be up at 5:15 because I knew I had to do more preparations in the morning. I probably got about 5 hours of sleep. On top of the cold, that left me feeling pretty bad most of the day. Not eating properly probably only added to that feeling.
Prices are all kind of jumbled in this post, so here's the whole day:
oatmeal $0.07
banana $0.15
coffee $0.13
brown sugar $0.01
total: $0.39
lunch
pretzel rolls $0.23
dinner
rice $0.07
pinto beans and ham $0.55
tea $0.02
total: $0.064
snacks
banana $0.15
kale chips $0.57
wheat bread $0.03
total: $0.75
day total: $2.01
total calories: 1,303
In an effort to eat out less, eat better at home, and spend less at the grocery store, I've been trying to get better about sitting down w/a pen, paper, and cookbooks and plan out dinners for a week or two in advance. On one sheet of paper I break down the meals by day (protein/veg/starch in most cases) and try to throw in a meal or two w/a lot of servings so we can eat leftovers the next night (not sure how well that works in a large family). On another sheet of paper I write down what ingredients I need to purchase and take it w/me to the grocery store. The meal plan get stuck to the fridge door so I know what I'll be preparing in the near future. I'm trying to get better about doing this b/c I do find it cheaper to buy ingredients ahead of time so I'm not buying stuff on the fly when I'm at the grocery store and pick up whatever looks appealing. We tend to buy whatever is appealing w/o looking at prices and I'm trying to move away from that approach. I think once one becomes accustomed to meal planning (instead of saying, "Oh, I think spaghetti would be good tonight," or "I'm too tired to cook, so let's grab Whataburger instead") life is a little easier. Maybe you're trying a similar approach.
ReplyDeleteI agree - if there is one thing that is clear so far from this experiment is there is a lot to be gained from planning.
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