Day 176- The Swiftly Approaching Half-Way Point

So. The 14th of August is the half-way point. I *was* going to do semi-organized, totally off-budget cheat before then, but cash flow says no. Actually, cash flow says no to lots of things, but I'm sure I'll get over it. I'm a big girl (sometimes, kinda).

The important thing about the halfway point (other than the bit where I'm maybe closer to getting to eat easy food again) is that I'm counting it as almost a do-over. Obviously this first half of the year has been pretty much Fail. I've still had chips, pizza, and other random things that aren't any good for me. I've eaten very little of my preferred healthy-type junk food- like avocados. It feels like I've lived on junk food and bread, which probably isn't too far off.

So, for the second half of the year, I've got a slightly different plan of attack. I'm going to try that "meal planning" thing. To some extent, anyway. I want to try basing a week's food around one or two main ingredients that are more flexible, and making several things around them. So if I pick chickpeas and potatoes as my main items for the week, and have some other stuff in the pantry, I'd work with that. Add a veggie or two (and onions), and make fun stuff- like channa masala, falafel, hummus, and maybe pirogies or knishes. If I'm in a black bean kinda mood, I could pick up tomatoes, frozen corn, onion, a lime, and maybe an avocado for black bean salad, and black bean dip, and black bean burgers or soup.

Because my schedule is pretty flexible right now (in a good way, for once) I can shop and maybe cook on the first day of sales. So set my week to Wednesdays, or something. With both work *and* cooking to procrastinate on I just need to block Hulu and I'll either be the most productive person ever or I'll have a very clean house. Either way I should end up with food.

I *think* this should work. The cheat-o-rama will still happen, I just don't know when right now. I think after I get my first "big" payday. Well, and pay the car insurance, and rent, and...

The rest of the rules should stay the same. Depending on how the first couple weeks go (and they may start a bit later than the halfway point- that cash-flow thing again) I may boot the sanctioned cheating altogether. Money left over from planned purchases will roll over to later weeks, obviously, to cover more expensive purchases (like oil and sugar). Any food I've got at the start of the second half carries over. I can't think of anything I'm missing in this update.

Have I mentioned lately how much I want to be filthy stinking rich enough to have someone *else* be responsible for cooking, cleaning, and meal planning? If only rich housewives came in "male." I think the cook/ housekeeper thing is the only part of fabulous wealth that interests me. Though a personal masseuse would be nice.

On food- I ate after I got home from dog-sitting. Some oatmeal, a big batch of (slightly burnt) popcorn, and some very rubbery gluten steak-thingies. Will not be sharing the gluten recipe. It was foul.

Bear was happy to see his parents, who were maybe not so happy to see him. He then stared at me some more, and did his "I am so abused, how dare you leave me with her" routine. He does very good sad eyes. Doesn't even wag his tail. If only I could get him to do sad eyes for a camera. Instead he poses all "inquisitive, innocent" dog-like.

Comments, suggestions, ideas? Positive/ constructive preferred, obviously.

Day 150- Frustration

The very organized, very nice blogger over at Less is Enough is following me here (total squee-ing fan girl moment), and had some interesting- and very accurate- points in her recent project update article/ post.

Go ahead over there to read it- I'm afraid that if I sum up I'll get it horribly wrong.

Back? Yay.

So basically, on pretty much everything, she's dead on right. Just about.

In semi random, semi-importance order, least to most-

I'm really bad at keeping records. I know it makes it tough sometimes to figure out where I am money-wise, and if I'm over or under overall. Honestly, I have about 10 or 15 dollars left between now and the halfway point. Realistically, I have about 80 cents I can put toward food right now, so it doesn't matter.

That's actually part of why I started off with a bunch of food. Well, and the cash for the first half of the year, but I ended up re-appropriating it. I knew I had cash at the beginning. I had a pretty good idea what was available within walking distance (though the vitamin store and tiny Mexican grocery were surprises). I also have a (pretty good) idea of what foods end up being cheapest on a vegan or even limited dairy diet- beans, rice, wheat, corn, oats. I wanted to make sure that I had that stuff- the big, easy stuff- before I filled in with wants. May not be exciting, but in the two weeks before I started, there were only 3 types of beans I could find anywhere in Charleston for around a dollar a pound.

And in all honesty, I knew that if I didn't front load with food and make it too expensive to quit, I wouldn't make it through the first week. I'm lazy- if I'd left myself an easy out at the beginning, I'd have taken it.

Which kinda leads into the gigantic topic of frustration. Which is, really, what it's all about at this point.

Story-

Say you're driving cross country (for readers in Europe or other less over-sized places, we're talking 4000+km's here) and your car breaks down. If that's all that's wrong, no problem, adventure. You get to see a new place, stay a couple nights at a hotel, meet some new people, see stuff you might have just driven past.

Break down on a deserted road in the middle of nowhere and it gets a little more adventurous and a lot less fun. Toss in being broke and having a dead cell phone...

Any of them alone would be fine. All together and they just add and add, and you (or I) end up angry, and nervous, and scared, and frustrated.

In the car scenario I'm the kid walking up to the creepy farmhouse in the Texas Chainsaw Massacre movies...

By itself the food wouldn't be so big a deal. Believe it or not, in normal life I don't really obsess over food- I just eat it, whatever's easiest, available, and meets my dietary restrictions.

Toss money, job hunt stress, rat-hole flea pit apartments, bedbugs, gas-leaking cars, and more solitude than even I prefer in there and it gets kinda stressful. I guess that's coming across here, huh?

Moving and this food project are the only two points I really thought out and chose. The rest of it has grown out of them. I never regret moving- it's like affordable long-term travel, slow style.

The food thing, though- it's a really big, really easy target. Partly because I chose it, partly because I could fix it with a couple hours spent at my friendly local DSS office, and partly because it's something I do have control over.

Getting frustrated about the housing thing isn't worth it- it'll be over when it's over. Same with the cold. And I'll find a job (or some other legal way to make money) eventually.

The food thing I have total control over, though. I choose to buy cheap food (and to cheat when funds are available), I chose to try to eat on a super strict budget. I choose not to get foodstamps (which are $170 or 270 a month, don't remember, for an adult with no income in SC), I choose not to spend gas for possible free or reduced cost food.

Not a particularly healthy relationship to have with food, but for now it'll have to do.

Until less is enough pointed it out, though, I didn't realise that's what it was- frustration. I thought it was just anger, or boredom, or a deep need for ice cream.

I have an opportunity that I'm trying to talk myself into (which has nothing to do with what I do here, really), which could take some of the pressure off from those other problems. Well, not the gas leaking car problem, but I can deal with that one- it's kinda my stand in for roller coasters and sky diving. It'll be nice if I do it, but it requires organisation from me, and that's not one of my strengths.

Otherwise, August 14th starts the second half of the year- give or take a day. I'm going to try and scrounge a pile of cash and take a couple days off from the food budget before then- not saying it will happen, just that if I can find the cash, I want a food vacation. I'm not quitting- I've no interest right now in food stamps, and the only way my cash food budget is adjusting is down- I just want a day or two of bacchanalian food orgy. It was that or a week in Ko Samui, and the food was gonna be cheaper.

On the 14th of next month, though, I think I'm gonna try starting out differently. I still have a small stock pile of staples. I'll leave those in play, but I think I'm going to go forward with a weekly shopping/ cooking plan. It'll be easier to keep track of (for as long as my interest sticks with tracking this time), and it'll allow me to just blow a week, if I know I have leftovers to cover other stuff. Because, yeah, I'm pretty much lacking in flexibility at this point. Some of that's mental, but a good chunk grows out of the pantry, too.

Oh, and food? Yesterday I had a loaf of herbed bread (italian seasoning in pizza dough) dipped in oil and balsamic vinegar. And some more coconut rice-stuff. Tasty high carb junk food. Back to soup today, I think. And black bean burgers.

edited to fix ko samui link

Day 116- In Which I Think About Changing the Rules

Not in any kinda huge way. Honest.

Well, ok, maybe it is a kinda big change, but really? I'm pretty much doing this already, and just haven't added it. I'm going to try to make this more "fair", and I think by limiting things like this, might come a bit closer to by budget.

What am I changing?

I'm adding one official "cheat" each week.

Bag of chips, meal out, chocolate bar, pint of coconut milk ice cream, that vegan cupcake they sell at whole foods that's the size of my head, whatever.

It just has to either be a single item, or a single meal. So 1 bag of chips, or cupcake, or combo at the falafel shop. Not "a bag of groceries". I want to further limit it to being something that's eaten by itself if I bring it home- so choco or ice cream, but not "cheese" or "meatballs", so it's like a tasty luxe splurge, rather than really "cheating" on what I can make on this budget.

I think "allowing" myself to cheat, within a set system, will cut back on the actual cheating itself, and, with the reward available, I should end up cooking more... Not so much endless slog, more "w00t, I had a break, how can I do that at home cheap and easy".

Related to that, I cheated yesterday. I was at the mall, filling out applications (and looking for jeans- the great extra-super long jean hunt has begun... again...) when, on my way out, I saw it- the gyro shop.

They had falafel. I *like* falafel.

I'm not even going to pretend I hesitated. i thought about it for all of 2 seconds before i was at the counter, ordering tasty falafel pita.

Ok, it wasn't the tastiest falafel pita I've ever had, but what can you expect from a place in the mall with two Mexican guys and a Korean dude working behind the counter? But... I didn't have to cook it, and other than being a bit bland, it wasn't bad.

In other news, I ended up frying half a sweet potato (the other half had gone strangely woody), with half an onion and most of a head of garlic for breakfast yesterday. It was yummy, but I definitely prefer my garlic roasted. I'm trying to find the perfect balancing point of garlic consumption. Somewhere the mosquitoes don't want to eat me, but less than the point at which I'm barred from entering public establishments. I don't think such a sweet spot exists, but I'm trying.

Also, I have the code monkey song stuck it my head. It makes me want Fritos. And geeky code-monkey types. Should have moved to San Jose....

Day 80- New Rule!

Oatmeal no more than once a day!

I only ate oatmeal once yesterday, and Wow, was it ever nice. Not the oatmeal, that's pretty much crap, but the variety. Now that was yum.

So, a bowl of oatmeal, a bowl of sauerkraut (now all gone, so sad), and this wild seitan idea I had while talking myself out of cheating.

Let's call it Seitan and Peas

I need to work on the texture- braising and then trying to fry left it rubbery, but I finally got enough flavor in the seitan itself that I didn't need to attack it with some kinda heavy sauce. I'll share when/ if I figure out the texture issue- I think I might end up having to "chicken fry" it.

The major bonus to wheat meat (well, other than the "not meat" bit) is that you can add the seasonings in while you make it, like a cake, rather than trying to add flavors later through marinading. This makes it faster to prepare, with somewhat less planning. If I figure out how to get the texture less like boiled fat, it'll be better, but the whole thing from "wow, I'm hungry" to "Om nom nom" was less than 45 minutes- including taking pics and some clean up. Probably closer to half an hour, if you wanna get all technical. And I was making up the recipe as I went.

Starting off thoughts of how I could have made this better-

• Onions in the "sauce"
• Garlic!
• It would have been good over rice
• Frying the "meat" to give it some texture before adding back to the cooking liquid/ sauce

All in all, though, not bad.

Askin' for help-

Ruby Leigh over at Five Dollar Day has about a pound of dry soy beans, and no good recipes. The only things I know to do with soy beans are turn them into soy milk, or turn them into tofu (kinda the same thing, really...), or try to swap them out for other beans in something. She's looking for actual tested recipes or ideas, if anyone's got them.

Day 7, part 1

Food has been... interesting... the last couple days. I had popcorn for dinner on day 5 (yes, homemade, yes, lazy, yes, tasty, and I know I need to eat more). Yesterday I did Mad Shopping Extravaganza with Mom, and she bought lunch. She also keeps trying to feed me, give me food, and may at some point get desperate, break into my house, and hide food in my fridge. I hope she doesn't, though, since it's kinda silly.

So for "lunch" (more like breakfast) I had falafel in a pita with veggies and tahini with a side of Bam!'d fries and a Coke. And ZOMG was it good. Well, except the tahini. Tahini, in case anyone out there doesn't know (which is probably just about everyone) is paste made from sesame seeds. It tastes like unsalted sesame seeds. And chalk. I can't stand it, but it's full of calcium and stuff, so I eat it anyway.

But I won't be buying any, and my bones can break, I don't care. It feels like licking chalkboards.

Then last night I went crazy with my food cooking, since I have my crockpot now and added a wok and some other gadgets.

Most of this stuff went into a country fry/ hash sorta thing. It was yummy, chop (and/ or peel), and toss in a frying pan (wok) with some oil and salt- just add it in order of cooking speed. I put everything but the onions in at the same time and the beets weren't cooked all the way.

Later I made black bean cheater chili, and I'll put a recipe up when I make it again. It would have gone farther/ been better over rice, but I was lazy and haven't made any yet.

On to shopping!

First was a place I love, and a slight change to the "rules"-


The $3.49 "fruit" is actually 8oz blanched, slivered almonds, which I have plans for (staple). The two items for 1.99 are a five pound bag of potatoes (cheaper but lower quality/ fewer potatoes elsewhere) and a three pound bag of honey tangelos- I think. Oh, and since I'm pretty sure the only veggies anywhere for 50 cents or less a pound are sweet potatoes and cabbage right now, the rule change is that I can go up to $1 a pound. I'd rather not, but woman cannot live on sweet potatoes and cabbage alone.

Mom bought a bag with 4 red onions in it and gave me two. I should have her and DSD over for dinner to make up for it. Need furniture first, though.

Everything else is a "staple"

This is Earth Fare. I hoped they'd have baking yeast in the bulk bins, either they don't, or I just couldn't find it. Yeast nutrtnl flakes is weird vegan stuff- has vitamin b12, tastes kinda nutty/ cheesy. If you've never had it before and want to try it, get it at a whole foods-type store. The stuff at vitamin places is usually brewer's yeast, which tastes like gross and should not be used to make fake cheese.


Target of super early closing +2. McCormick is imitation vanilla extract, off brand. Fleishmans is a small tub of yeast. Raisins explain themselves.

and finally World Market

Only the first two here are food- $3.02 worth of curry powder. It's a 2x2 bag and a 4 or 5 inch square bag. Should be enough for the year.

I think this just about ends my major staple buying. I need to pick up a big bag of flour (found it for $12.50/50lbs), some more rice, and about twice as many beans. I'd also like to get some corn meal for polenta, but that's more difficult to find here. Zany southern-types.

Totals for yesterday-

• $4.04 in monthly veggies, $0.76 overspend made up with "luxury" money
• $1.62 in weekly veggies, should last through the coming week $2.34 for 2 weeks, $2.66 left for Feb. 21-27.
• $18.01 for basic staples and "stuff"

Total spent- $23.67

Total spent so far-

• $58.49

Total random money picked up off the ground- $0.25

Now I can make just about anything I want! Yay!

Oh yeah, and before I go- I tend to be wordy. Anyone out there in intarwebs land, do you prefer one huuuge long post, or more shorter ones?

Less than a week until I start

With only four days, really, until I start this crazy thing, I'm beginning to have doubts that I can do it. I'm running into some things that have a potential to develop into total road blocks. One problem I'm encountering is that the price of rice has gone up- a lot- in the last couple years. Pricing it out at the Asian market has shown me that if I can't find a much cheaper source, my bulk starting point is going to be much lower than I had hoped.

Another problem is that sometimes a cheap place to live means carry over from the previous tenants. In my case that means I have several million six legged pets. Gross, food crawling on, infesting pets. So any bulk stuff I get I'm going to need to be able to secure from roaches. Wish there were a faster way to solve this problem.

So. Potential ways to solve my problems.

• I can buy smaller portions more often, still using the 78.50 to pick up bulk stuff a month at a time.
• I can change the balance of money. Instead of $3 a week (about) for grains and protein I can have $4 a week, leaving $3 for fresh veg and fill ins.
• I can drop rice totally and just buy flour as needed. This would be much more affordable, as white flour is $12.50 for 50 pounds.
• I can eat less- fewer calories, and more unhealthy ones
• I can increase my budget. This is not happening yet.

I need to get excited about this. I need to do my shopping. I need to find cheap beans. I only have three days left between now and the start of my shiny new food budget, it's time to get serious. Or at least cheap and creative.

I'm also thinking about changing the allocation of weekly cash around a bit. I'd like to have some money to get spices and seasonings at the beginning- I was thinking of pulling $0.50 a week from the veggie money, for $13 at the start for seasonings. That should give me enough of my most used spices to get through the entire year, or at least spread the replacement cost over the end of the year. Also, I'm lucky in my timing of all this- I should be getting some kind of tax refund in the next week, so that gives me a good amount of starting cash. If I didn't have that, I'd have to buy smaller amounts more often, and that'd lead to waaaay fewer calories- one thing I really don't need.

Anyone out there have ideas about how to work around or solve my price and bug problems?

Welcome and an Introduction

Last year, wandering the interwebs, I came across a bunch of people (like 3) who had done a really cool challenge. They were eating on a dollar a day. They set up different rules- only spend that day's dollar, buy stuff out of their garden, and so on- but they were all trying to do the same thing- eat on a dollar a day for a month.

I remember thinking as I read through their stories that I could do that better, or easier, or longer.

Well, here I am. Broke, newly moved, and almost totally without food. Like those who came before me I've got some rules, but unlike those before me I'm not doing this to help anyone else. This is all about my grocery bill. If other people can afford to/ have budgeted/ want to donate because of this, great, but I'm just trying to eat. So onto the Rules.

Basic Rules

• I get 365 dollars for the whole year (that's 1 a day)
• I start Valentine's Day 2010, and end (hopefully) 13 Feb. 2011
• Free food is free- This includes occasional lunch from dad and overwhelming zucchini bounty in August.
• Vitamins don't come out of this money.
• If I lose more than 15lbs I have to either increase the money per day or stop altogether. (I am @ 130 now, 115 gives me a BMI of 17)
• If I hit the Powerball jackpot, this ends. Right away. Same with any other large chunk of money.
• Just because some people don't have access to someplace is no good reason not to shop there. Costco is in, as are World Market, Whole Foods, the local veggie shop, Asian market, and Dollar store.
• I do not, will not, and never will again shop at Walmart.

Money Rules

• The money will be split into 6 month chunks- $182.50 every 26 weeks.
• $104 will be held back from the first 6 month's money to provide veggies, fruit, and random wants.
• weekly money will be portioned out one $20 bill, or 5 weeks, at a time.
• $1 each week will be used for larger monthly purchases- stuff like juice, onions, bagged fruit, spices, or carrots
• $0.50 a week will go into a fund for splurge items
• $2.50 is left each week for picking up fresh fruit and veggies. Any money left over at the end of the week carries forward, as does food.
• $78.50 will be available at the beginning for picking up staples- rice, flour, beans, that kinda stuff.
• Water is covered by my rent, as is electricity, so those costs don't come out of this.

Food Rules

• The food will be 100% plants, because that's what I eat.
• Veggies and fruits must be less than $0.50 a pound.
• Anything more than $0.50 a pound must come wholly from the splurge fund- ex. If lemons are 3lbs for $2, if I only have $1 in the fund, I can't get them.
• Monthly bulk stuff is exempt from this rule. If onions are $1.59 for 3lbs, I'm not going without for a month.
• I will eat at least 2 meals a day, everyday.
• I have to at least attempt to have 1 serving of fruit and 3 of veggies every day. (I hate fruit)
• Anything eatable I already have is fair game.- Right now this is 3/4th's of a tub of earth balance, two cans of chickpeas, and a can of pinto beans.

I'm sure I'll miss piles of nutrients, and that there are ways to do this even cheaper (grinding my own grain comes to mind) but I have to work with what I've got. And what I've got is not a lot of money, a crock pot, and a landlord that I doubt is going to let me put a garden in his nice muddy back yard. If he does, veggie swaps with people who can grow stuff I can't for stuff they can't will be sure to show up.

Again, I'm doing this for my budget, not to save the world. If I open my door and the money fairy hands me a huge pile of (legal, not stolen) money, this ends and I eat chocolate and take away forever. Until then, I might as well have fun being broke, right?