Hey. Yesterday evening, out of the blue, I decided to figure out how much my food had cost. I did a little bit of math and added it all up, to three meals (all three meals were identical) for about $1.68. Each meal consisted of potatoes, salad greens, and Mary McD's Fresh Tomato salad dressing. All of the food was bought VERY inexpensively at the discount store, except the fresh tomatoes, which were .69c a lb at the produce stand.
Well, it got me thinking. I did really well in the second half of June, eating super simple: oatmeal, rice, veggies, beans. Lost some weight, ate what I already had in my pantry, etc. And, then payday came and I got thinking I was rich and ate some rich(er) foods and had a quite large meal for July 4th. I recognized where my "I've got money! Now I can eat whatever!" thinking was leading me.
1) I don't "have money." I am broke, but with a paycheck and a certain amount available for food...ehem...I bought healthy food, but I've been eating more of everything (not conserving, not saving some for later, etc)
2) eating simply and following a pretty monotonous diet is good for my spirit as well as my body.
with that in mind, to discipline myself in the area of eating very simply, I'm going to emulate Katydid and try to keep my eating under $3.00 per day.
Yesterday's grand total was $1.68 ish...
Today I had quinoa which is pricey at $3.50 a lb bulk. so my brekkie cost me $2.26...
(one cup of cooked quinoa=$1.71)
edit: I ate one HALF cup, not a whole cup, bringing my brekkie cost to 1.41 YAY! edit again: I figured out that one cup of COOKED quinoa is .59 c, which brings that meal down again but I'm not going to refigure it again. But it IS cheaperthis means I have to make it under .75c for lunch and dinner combined!
I can do it, though. Back to yesterday's meals of potatoes, salad greens, and dressing...or, if need be, JUST the greens, or JUST the potatoes.
I made a bunch of quinoa, which will be saved in the fridge, and I can make that one cup stretch over three meals which brings the cost down to .57c (whew. much better) BUT NOT UNTIL TOMORROW!