Wednesday, July 20, 2011

Living on a Food Stamp Budget Day 20

I begin my day with 7.31.


On this budget I feel as if I have a fortune. I don't know if I am adapting to less food or fighting something off. Today is the second day I've had no appetite.

I began with 1/2 a nectarine and coffee.
.50

Then I had half of the meat and rice mixture from last night (yes half of half) with a poached egg.
.52

I knew I'd not had enough to eat to effectively work out so I got creative with the leftover meat sauce. I made a crepe/lasagna noodle thing and rolled it with cheese and the leftover sauce.
Total cost 1.61, I ate half
.81

On the way home from the gym I stopped and bought half and half. I normally get raw cream, I prefer dairy to be unpasteurized, however for cost reasons I settled on no BST hormones non organic.
.99

I am taking the entire cost of the container out of today's budget because I want to add it to my coffee with impunity and without measuring.

Then I crashed. That total low blood sugar thing that made me feel as if I would pass out. M&M's came to my rescue (with peanuts)
1.00

Suddenly today had become expensive. I rode home on my sugar high and quickly re-heated some of the split pea from the beginning of the month that had been frozen.
I had one cup.
.23

And quickly my appetite returned, not in that 'I could eat' way but in that ravenous 'me need food' way.

I got out the yeast, sugar, vinegar, flour and proceeded to make a batch of quick pizza dough. I ran out for a small pepperoni, came back grated cheese made sauce from two tomatoes, pre-baked the crust slightly dressed the pizza, got it in the hottest oven possible and topped it with garden basil. I intended to eat half, it was not small.

I ate the entire pie. I loved the book French Women don't get fat. One of the things she says is that you rarely enjoy more than 3 bites of any food. The first one is the taste, the second one satisfies, the third one is the last and the last is always the best. She is right about this when it comes to many food, but dead wrong when it comes to pizza. Every single bite is the absolute best and the last one is just sad. I could have easily eaten a second one. It satisfied something very primal in me. Total cost. 2.75

It was a lot of my budget and I feel so much better for having done it.
Day total 6.80
Calories 2,409
I carry over .73



3 comments:

Anonymous said...

I am not sure what you are trying to prove by depriving yourself. Sure there are people who don't care to work hard that take government handouts, but I can't see any reason for you to do this voluntarily.

Anonymous said...

I feel the same way about pizza. Every bite is an awesome experience.

Elaine said...

Anonymous 1 - Karl isn't depriving himself. He's showing what he can do on a tight budget. He's doing it very well.

Yes, there are plenty of people who take handouts and don't work hard at anything. I've seen them and know them. I also know seniors who have worked hard and have suffered health setbacks are the most likely to get burned by the small amount they collect and the lack of buying power. Families with children do pretty well in terms of bucks on handouts and are the most likely to buy loads of PopTarts instead of carrots.