Sunday, July 3, 2011

Living on a Food Stamp budget day 3


Now that some of the shopping for month long staples and cost per serving has been calculated my task seemed somewhat easier.

Then a lovely change of plans knocked on my door. My upstairs neighbor was going to be out all day and had purchased some shrimp that would spoil if not eaten. So before breakfast 5 ounces of shrimp was gifted to me.

I know that she tends to keep food long after I would throw it out so I quickly rinsed them and smelled and tasted. Not spoiled. They were the very tiny pre-cooked ones but a very large amount. 5 ounces.

Pasta for breakfast became the plan. This is not an unusual menu item for my breakfast. I had planned a version of a Carbonara as my Sunday brunch so instead I grabbed a portion of last night's Puttanesca and warmed it with the shrimp. 2 ounces of pasta and I was set.

2 figs .48
Pasta (2 ounces) .16
5 ounces of shrimp 0.0
Sauce .65
Iced Tea .03

Breakfast total 1.32; Clearly I am taking advantage of yesterday's savings. Even with that I could not do coffee with this breakfast. Tea sufficed yet I missed my coffee.

I have a nice protein bump and a lot of Vitamin D in my system. I feel pretty good and quite full.

I went to the beach, yes it was actually that warm in San Francisco. When I got back I had a late lunch of two cups of split pea soup.  .46
One iced tea. .03
And one Fig .24

Total .73

Earlier today I began slow cooking one pound of the beef along with onion, garlic, celery, a few tomatoes from the garden and a bottle of two buck chuck. (It works in a stew.)

I pureed the spent vegetables to thicken the gravy and added swiss chard and arugula also from the garden.

It made 6 generous portions (some of which I will likely freeze for later in the month)

1 serving beef stew  1.08
Rice .10
Fig .24

Total 1.42 an expensive dinner.

My day total 3.47

My calorie total 1,439.00

I got twice the protein I needed and scored fairly well across the chart for my nutrition needs and I feel satisfied. Plus I have .50 to carry into tomorrow.

I am being super cautious about costs right now as I have been warned that the end of the month is the hardest. Since I get bored eating the same thing I plan on freezing some items (like some of tonight's stew) to have at the end of the month.





2 comments:

Anonymous said...

I like that you break down ever meal and it's cost.

The few writers I have read who took the challenge were buying for a family and listed the week's purchases and all bragged about how brilliant they were in finding an organic whatever for cheap.

To look at this daily with the calories and nutrition provides a clearer picture of how hard it is. Also you see how little food it takes to reach your maximum.

scientious said...

Dried split peas are a good price but you are still cheating by not counting the garden produce. Even the cheapest iceberg lettuce will cost 10 cents a serving. Your taste in lettuce will double or triple that.