Day 29 - The End Is Near
Tomorrow’s post will be a review of the entire month; a tidy little conclusion to this experiment. So in some ways, today’s post is the last “real update”.
I’ve still got food left over. I could probably stretch what I’ve got another 4-5 days with no trouble at all. Instead of a dollar a day, I think it’s going to end up being more like 90-cents a day.
Tonight I’m going to have rice mixed with mashed potatoes, frozen vegetables and a hot dog. It eats like dog food, but it’s been a staple of this month. It’s not a bad meal and it only runs me about 30-cents. This will be sort of a farewell meal. I’ll certainly be eating on Thursday, but just a snack here and there because I have a rendezvous at Taco Bell planned for
There are a few things about this month that I won’t miss:
- Constantly washing dishes. I have a dish washer, but it seems like a waste to run it for 1 pot and 2 bowls, so I mostly just wash everything by hand after I use it.
- Drinking nothing but water. I can’t wait to suck down a giant Coke.
- Relying on salt to flavor everything. There’s a reason it’s the most popular spice in the world, but enough is enough already.
- Having to skip out on lunches with friends and co-workers.
- Not getting Raisinettes at the movies. It’s the only time I ever eat them since they’re disgusting, but a movie just isn’t a movie without them.
- Passing up free food.
All of that aside, there are a lot of things I’ll miss. I’m saving that list for tomorrow, but if you look back over all of these entries, I think you’ll find that there are more positive ones than negative.
posted by Evan at 9:36 AM
9 Comments:
You could have cheaply added spices to your rice or beans.
You could have also added raisins, and some chocolate it actually very cheap, like $0.25 for a chocolate bar.
Sheesh wish I read this a little earlier, I hope you're careful about the whole mass-eating. Many people have died eating a bit too much after extended fasts.
I'm pretty certain you could've made delicious meals on a dollar a day rather than putrid combinations of rice and potatoes.
i have to agree with the spices deal, I have an Indian room mate who really doesn't have a lot of cash, but he can cook up some nice meals, they stink, but they taste great.
I love taco bell too so the whole time I was wondering why you didn't get some refried beans, pretty cheap, and mix them with some cheap cheese and or rice, if you wanted to "splurge" you could have gotten some cheap tortillas from a Hispanic groc. and had yourself burrito night.
Why did you pass up free food? Isn't that a legitimate way to supplement your diet?
if you're going for the totally free spices, grab the pepper packets! I used to put salt on everything but I've pretty much replaced it with pepper.
Who knows where to download XRumer 5.0 Palladium?
Help, please. All recommend this program to effectively advertise on the Internet, this is the best program!
You can suppliment your food pantry by picking leeks, mushrooms, ginger if your lucky. Mint grows all over the place, makes a nice tea.
In trying to understand your food choices, I wish you had chosen nutritionally dense foods to keep health up better.
I made menus for one dollar a day using as many nutritionally dense foods/ideas as I could fit into the $30 budget and have as much variety as possible. Also decided the menu for 30 days would be 3 simple meals per day. Gave myself permission to use the spices, flavorings, seasonings I already had; as well as small things like yeast, baking powder, baking soda, salt etc.... since I bake at home. It came in under $30, I hunted for every. single. bargain. possible, thus I could have included some of the spices/flavors/etc. used in that $30. Another secret is: if you can afford it, buy some things in bulk. The dry milk in mylar bag was maybe ?1/4 gone at end of month, so what I used was about a $1.10 and now I have it for possibly 3 more months depending upon use. Bulk items may cost up front, but the usage will last more than 30 most likely....just hunt for the very best price.
I made a huge pot of chicken homemade noodles soup with vegetables, found 3 chicken thighs on sale. The jam for pb&j was low sugar homemade from freezer, I got the strawberries on sale during summer season, it was about a dollar per 2 cups for the jam and a dollar for peanut butter on sale.....menu that day added up at 68 cents:
$.07.....oatmeal
$.26.....peanut butter n' jam sandwich
$.35.....chicken homemade noodles soup with veggies
I found 8 oz. of mozzarella on sale for a dollar, and pepperoni slices for a dollar, so decided to make homemade pepperoni pizza (probably my most expensive meal item, but the pizza was 16 inches and I made 4 meals out of it), the cheese was 2 cups when shredded, but though a bit sparse, I was able to cover the entire pizza and didn't notice the less cheese when eating it. Total that day added up at 99 cents:
$.07.....oatmeal (1/3 c. quick oats, 1 T. dry milk powder, 1 T. sugar)
$.16.....lentil soup, homemade per serve + $.06.....slice homemade whole wheat bread
$.70.....homemade pizza, 2 large slices per meal
Another day, total added up at 95 cents:
$.27.....whole wheat pancakes (3 medium-large) topped with $.22.....half cup of applesauce
$.28.....ramen and vegetables
$.20.....black bean taco soup, homemade per generous serving
I found making soups and having a slice of whole wheat bread or toast, no butter, was filling, nutritious, and inexpensive. The soups were measured at 1 and 1/2 cups per serving. Found a sale on eggs I always buy for $1.00 per 18 pack. I had a mylar bag of
dry milk powder, so I looked up the price paid: it was 7 cents per Tablespoon.
I found a sale on vegetable oil for 99 cents/48 oz.....wow, haven't seen it that low for ages....it was Crisco brand vegetable oil.
Wow, was I ever creative!! One more day to show variety and nutrition possible, total added up at 75 cents:
$.25.....oatmeal pancakes (5 medium) topped with cinnamon sugar
$.24.....homemade tomato soup, one serving + 2 pieces whole wheat bread/toasted
$.26.....pinto beans over rice (complete protein, fiber in beans)
Not really into white bread, but made half-a-size french bread for 16 cents to have with fiber dense soups such as the lentil soups or bean soups (got 8 slices, that's 2 cents a slice). French bread has only flour, yeast, salt, water, a bit of oil. The secret is to raise it 10 minutes, punch down lightly, cover......repeat about 5 times.....gives it a very light texture. Yes, my whole wheat bread for half loaf would be double the 16 cents, but I use an egg in it and it's packed with good nutrition/fiber, which is why I don't bake white bread except for an occasional french loaf.
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