Breakfast: orange juice and a banana
Lunch: pb&j and a fruit crisp
Dinner: ramen noodles
My dear friend Patsy officially has the most wonderful smelling house in the world. It gives off the aroma of home and dinner and "real" food. Unfortunately, I couldn't stay and enjoy it tonight.
I feel like this is sounding increasingly pathetic as the week moves along...
Thursday, September 30, 2010
Wednesday, September 29, 2010
Wednesday
Another nutritionless, and now nearly tasteless, day of culinary wonders.
Breakfast: Orange juice and cereal
Lunch: PB&J and a fruit crisp
Dinner: Ramen noodles
Second Dinner: Grilled cheese
In between Dinner and Second Dinner, I spent a lot of time procrastinating on homework, trying to make my noodles last for as long as possible, being depressed, then eventually going to Trader Joe's to invest in four bananas. So subtracting that $.76 investment from my expenditures, I have $2.85 left for the week. My head really started hurting in the grocery store, and I felt an insane craving to buy something wonderful and filled with sugar, but I resisted and instead went home to a plate of gross grilled cheese. De-lish.
My friend Andrea also just informed me that TJ's has pizza dough for $.99. This may turn out better than grilled cheese, so it will most likely be my next investment. Yay, pizza!
I would really like a steak and/or chicken sandwich. I don't know how single people invest in meat/poultry on food stamps.
My other friend Mona also informed me today that some farmer's markets will match food stamp allotments with farmer's market tokens. For instance, $20 in food stamps = $20 in farmer's market tokens, increasing their budget to $40 at the farmer's market. The state of Tennessee does participate in this, although I can't find anything stating that the Nashville Farmer's Market is a participant yet.
http://www.fns.usda.gov/snap/ebt/fm-scrip-Bonus_Incentives.htm
An additional news article about this:
http://www.newschannel5.com/global/story.asp?s=13155974
If I had known about this earlier, I would probably be rolling in strawberries and cauliflower and carrots right about now. Maybe some fresh bread and hand rolled pasta. Local grass-fed beef. Maybe even a cupcake. Gah.
Breakfast: Orange juice and cereal
Lunch: PB&J and a fruit crisp
Dinner: Ramen noodles
Second Dinner: Grilled cheese
In between Dinner and Second Dinner, I spent a lot of time procrastinating on homework, trying to make my noodles last for as long as possible, being depressed, then eventually going to Trader Joe's to invest in four bananas. So subtracting that $.76 investment from my expenditures, I have $2.85 left for the week. My head really started hurting in the grocery store, and I felt an insane craving to buy something wonderful and filled with sugar, but I resisted and instead went home to a plate of gross grilled cheese. De-lish.
My friend Andrea also just informed me that TJ's has pizza dough for $.99. This may turn out better than grilled cheese, so it will most likely be my next investment. Yay, pizza!
I would really like a steak and/or chicken sandwich. I don't know how single people invest in meat/poultry on food stamps.
My other friend Mona also informed me today that some farmer's markets will match food stamp allotments with farmer's market tokens. For instance, $20 in food stamps = $20 in farmer's market tokens, increasing their budget to $40 at the farmer's market. The state of Tennessee does participate in this, although I can't find anything stating that the Nashville Farmer's Market is a participant yet.
http://www.fns.usda.gov/snap/ebt/fm-scrip-Bonus_Incentives.htm
An additional news article about this:
http://www.newschannel5.com/global/story.asp?s=13155974
If I had known about this earlier, I would probably be rolling in strawberries and cauliflower and carrots right about now. Maybe some fresh bread and hand rolled pasta. Local grass-fed beef. Maybe even a cupcake. Gah.
Tuesday, September 28, 2010
Tuesday
Last night I was offered food and drinks twice. Vegan chocolate cake and gumbo, things I normally would have tried because I've never had them before, but for the purpose of this experiment are off limits. At Theology on Tap, a group of Catholic young adults who gather to drink and discuss theology topics (as the name suggests), the smell of the wine was nearly overwhelming from the person's glass sitting next to me. I was starving, and I could feel a headache coming on from not eating enough calories for the day. I went home last night and ate nearly half of the cereal box while updating this.
This morning, I woke up feeling very weak and very hungry. I think I've realized that the most difficult part of this is not having enough to eat, but that I am forcing myself not to eat to stay within the budget. I feel like I'm not in control of my own life or decisions. I sort of feel like I'm on a diet with all of these restrictions. It's incredibly mentally taxing, and because I can't eat, all I think about is eating, about timing when I eat to be able to stretch it out as long as possible. I also have found that I need to increase my water intake.
Breakfast:
Orange juice and more than two handfuls of cereal. Probably at least five. And a glass of water.
Mid-morning snack:
Half of my fruit crisp that was supposed to be saved for lunch.
Lunch:
PB&J and the remaining fruit crisp.
Dinner:
Ramen.
I would have liked to go out to eat tonight at one of my favorite studying/eating places, Fido or the Frothy Monkey or Portland Brew or Panera, but that isn't possible this week thanks to not being able to spend any money to eat or drink there. It's only slightly rude to order a glass of water and mooch off of their wi-fi.
Surprisingly, I'm not as hungry tonight as I was last night. Maybe it's not being as tempted by food offered by others. I have also consumed much more water today than yesterday, which helps a lot.
Is it Sunday yet?
This morning, I woke up feeling very weak and very hungry. I think I've realized that the most difficult part of this is not having enough to eat, but that I am forcing myself not to eat to stay within the budget. I feel like I'm not in control of my own life or decisions. I sort of feel like I'm on a diet with all of these restrictions. It's incredibly mentally taxing, and because I can't eat, all I think about is eating, about timing when I eat to be able to stretch it out as long as possible. I also have found that I need to increase my water intake.
Breakfast:
Orange juice and more than two handfuls of cereal. Probably at least five. And a glass of water.
Mid-morning snack:
Half of my fruit crisp that was supposed to be saved for lunch.
Lunch:
PB&J and the remaining fruit crisp.
Dinner:
Ramen.
I would have liked to go out to eat tonight at one of my favorite studying/eating places, Fido or the Frothy Monkey or Portland Brew or Panera, but that isn't possible this week thanks to not being able to spend any money to eat or drink there. It's only slightly rude to order a glass of water and mooch off of their wi-fi.
Surprisingly, I'm not as hungry tonight as I was last night. Maybe it's not being as tempted by food offered by others. I have also consumed much more water today than yesterday, which helps a lot.
Is it Sunday yet?
Monday, September 27, 2010
Monday
Confession: I became sort of panicked last night about this whole experiment beginning today, and as I was driving through a part of town that I'm not usually in, I spotted a Krispy Kreme and could not resist heading through the drive-through for a single glazed donut, something I probably haven't had in a year. I didn't exactly feel great afterward.
I went to Target yesterday to get the majority of my grocery shopping done. The round-up:
$1.57 Target brand grape jelly
$1.99 Jif creamy peanut butter
$2.00 Sara Lee white whole-grain bread
$3.00 Simply Orange orange juice (I cannot live without this.)
$1.29 6 pack of beef flavored ramen noodles
$.52 can of chicken double noodle soup
$2.00 Life cinnamon-flavored cereal
$1.84 shredded cheese
$.64 can of carrots (I guess I need some vegetables)
$2.54 Special K fruit crisps (obviously not a necessity, and I should probably have substituted actual fruit for this, but I am still lazy and currently addicted to these.)
= $17.39 grand total
So I have $3.61 currently left within my budget for the week.
Today's Meals
Breakfast: Orange juice and two handfuls of Life cereal. This is pretty much my everyday breakfast. I don't drink milk because I'm not a fan, and I eat my cereal plain because I hate the soggy consistency of cereal with milk. I will probably try to get bananas for the rest of the week because they're only 19 cents at Trader Joe's.
.JPG)
Lunch: Peanut butter and jelly sandwich with fruit crisps. I actually eat this quite frequently, but usually with grapes and an apple. I was worried that I wouldn't be able to afford fruit. I really wanted Chinese food for lunch today, though. The Sara Lee white bread (which I have never bought before, I usually get wheat but it was cheaper) is completely disgusting. Seriously, it's gross and I am never buying it again. I ate it though, even the crust. Gross. I still want Chinese food.
Dinner: Dinner was tricky because I had to run home from work to make ramen noodles and eat them rather quickly in order to drive 30 miles to meet with the family of the children I am observing for the Neuro paper. Normally I would have just stopped and gotten something but even the $1 menu at McDonald's would run up my budget rather quickly.
(On the way to their house, Franklin, Tennessee)
.JPG)
Note: I drink water for every meal besides breakfast. This is something I regularly do, the only other things I ever drink are orange juice and wine or beer or tea on occasion. I have never been a coffee drinker, and stopped drinking soda about...12, 13 years ago? So that part of this challenge is probably the least difficult for me.
I do sort of wish that I did have a husband and children (just for the challenge), because I think that might even make this project a bit easier because of how much more difficult it is to prepare meals for a single person. By increasing the budget and simply splitting a slightly larger meal among more people, I would probably be able to afford something other than noodles for myself every night for dinner. I would probably have had a taco dinner tonight with my imaginary children and adoring husband. But my delicious dinner of noodles with my cat was just as wonderful, really.
I went to Target yesterday to get the majority of my grocery shopping done. The round-up:
$1.57 Target brand grape jelly
$1.99 Jif creamy peanut butter
$2.00 Sara Lee white whole-grain bread
$3.00 Simply Orange orange juice (I cannot live without this.)
$1.29 6 pack of beef flavored ramen noodles
$.52 can of chicken double noodle soup
$2.00 Life cinnamon-flavored cereal
$1.84 shredded cheese
$.64 can of carrots (I guess I need some vegetables)
$2.54 Special K fruit crisps (obviously not a necessity, and I should probably have substituted actual fruit for this, but I am still lazy and currently addicted to these.)
= $17.39 grand total
So I have $3.61 currently left within my budget for the week.
Today's Meals
Breakfast: Orange juice and two handfuls of Life cereal. This is pretty much my everyday breakfast. I don't drink milk because I'm not a fan, and I eat my cereal plain because I hate the soggy consistency of cereal with milk. I will probably try to get bananas for the rest of the week because they're only 19 cents at Trader Joe's.
.JPG)
Lunch: Peanut butter and jelly sandwich with fruit crisps. I actually eat this quite frequently, but usually with grapes and an apple. I was worried that I wouldn't be able to afford fruit. I really wanted Chinese food for lunch today, though. The Sara Lee white bread (which I have never bought before, I usually get wheat but it was cheaper) is completely disgusting. Seriously, it's gross and I am never buying it again. I ate it though, even the crust. Gross. I still want Chinese food.
Dinner: Dinner was tricky because I had to run home from work to make ramen noodles and eat them rather quickly in order to drive 30 miles to meet with the family of the children I am observing for the Neuro paper. Normally I would have just stopped and gotten something but even the $1 menu at McDonald's would run up my budget rather quickly.
(On the way to their house, Franklin, Tennessee)
.JPG)
Note: I drink water for every meal besides breakfast. This is something I regularly do, the only other things I ever drink are orange juice and wine or beer or tea on occasion. I have never been a coffee drinker, and stopped drinking soda about...12, 13 years ago? So that part of this challenge is probably the least difficult for me.
I do sort of wish that I did have a husband and children (just for the challenge), because I think that might even make this project a bit easier because of how much more difficult it is to prepare meals for a single person. By increasing the budget and simply splitting a slightly larger meal among more people, I would probably be able to afford something other than noodles for myself every night for dinner. I would probably have had a taco dinner tonight with my imaginary children and adoring husband. But my delicious dinner of noodles with my cat was just as wonderful, really.
Saturday, September 25, 2010
Predictions
Besides Florida beating Kentucky tonight, I predict that this experiment will not actually be too difficult for me because I am a terribly picky eater. I regularly eat peanut butter and jelly and ramen, and rarely, if ever, touch a vegetable. It's not exactly healthy, but I don't believe in torturing myself. The most challenging part of this will be combating my own laziness in order to prepare lunches and cook dinner instead of eating out on the run, as I usually do. The second most challenging part will be social interactions, because I often eat out with friends as well.
My favorite foods:
ice cream
chicken
pasta
burritos
chicken noodle soup
Least favorite foods:
tuna
salad
tuna salad
pickles
anything involving the use of mayonnaise
dishes I cannot immediately determine the contents of, and which therefore may contain mayonnaise
I'm actually really looking forward to this challenge as one of my favorite things to do is talk about food. I enjoy trying new foods (this is a relatively recent breakthrough for me) and new local restaurants. Unfortunately, that's going to have to be put on hold for a week. Along with all wine consumption, sigh. I can't wait to see how this turns out!
My favorite foods:
ice cream
chicken
pasta
burritos
chicken noodle soup
Least favorite foods:
tuna
salad
tuna salad
pickles
anything involving the use of mayonnaise
dishes I cannot immediately determine the contents of, and which therefore may contain mayonnaise
I'm actually really looking forward to this challenge as one of my favorite things to do is talk about food. I enjoy trying new foods (this is a relatively recent breakthrough for me) and new local restaurants. Unfortunately, that's going to have to be put on hold for a week. Along with all wine consumption, sigh. I can't wait to see how this turns out!
Thursday, September 23, 2010
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)