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.

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)

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.