3:00 a.m. I woke up so hungry I could not go back to sleep.
My food yesterday was not enough. My stomach literally hurt.
I went to the kitchen and opened the cupboard and spied the 99 cent store pretzels I had purchased on day 1. Even at this hour I knew not to eat a white flour product without a protein so I grabbed my cheap Zabar's cheese.
Counting pretzels as I went and reverse weighing the cheese. Hungry and sleepy I did not forget my commitment to counting costs.
I finished with a shot of Mamajauna before brushing my teeth and heading back to bed. I made the Mamajuana in the Dominican and have carted it round since my return kept in case of a liquor emergency or an occasion to share.
I knew it would keep me asleep for several hours so I went for it. Damn it was good.
Cheese .30
Pretzels .15
Rum .priceless
Total .45
Carbs 29
With only 3.98 available I need to track every penny today.
I woke up hungry, not starving so I started with a free apple that came from the hospital. It was from some sort of event. I paired it with peanut butter and my coffee. About an hour later I had the rest of the soup with the tortellini and turkey meatballs. I am sick of ground turkey but I waste nothing these days.
Coffee/cream .24
Apple Free
Peanut butter .18
Soup 1.09
Total 1.51
54 grams of carb, here I am pushing the limit again.
Lunch is going to have to be seriously sparse. With my 3 a.m. snack and my .10 overage on breakfast if I am going to balance my budget out, there is not much I can eat today.
Sparse lunch
Chicken Quesadilla .43
Small orange .25
Iced tea .03
Total .71
Carbs 30 grams
After my one zucchini at 1.11 yesterday I decided a trip to Chinatown was needed. I was never going to get enough cheap vegetables to make me happy in Harlem.
What do we trade for the savings...time. It was three hours round trip with shopping time.
However I lucked out.
A head of broccoli .89
1 small red potato .20
Ginger root .19
Red Bell Pepper .40
2 huge plum tomatoes 1.00
Well over one pound of Gai Lan 1.34 (Chinese Green, thick stalk with curly leaves)
Slightly over one pound of pork spare rib 1.64
These are the finely diced rib pieces on the bone. I am marinating them now in ginger, Asian 5 spice, soy, and garlic.
First the gym, then dinner.
However I could not take the empty stomach when I got home so I quickly fried the potato while I put the groceries away.
Potato snack .20
Carbs 27 grams
My vegetable dinner was a version of heaven. I am always telling people to put a lot of different colors on the plate. My Chinatown trip allowed me to do it.
I combined a little bit of a lot of vegetables and with the help of my wok, made a crisp meal to remember.
Pork rib bits .82
A handful of the green beans .14
1 onion .10
1 carrot .12
Ginger .09
Half a bell Pepper .20
5 stalks of the Gai Lan .34
Total 1.81
Carbs 23 grams
Day Total 4.68
I am now down by .70
It may not sound like much. But think about it, if you are on food assistance and your card runs out because you ate a few decent meals one month. What do you eat at the end of the month? What if you don't have .70 or you need that .70 to dry the wet laundry and you already raided the change jar to make the co-payment on your medication?
These are real life decisions for a lot of people.
I can make the .70 up, but it is my intention to cut food until I do.
The extra money was nutritious and gave me close to enough fiber for the day.1,976 calories.
My food yesterday was not enough. My stomach literally hurt.
I went to the kitchen and opened the cupboard and spied the 99 cent store pretzels I had purchased on day 1. Even at this hour I knew not to eat a white flour product without a protein so I grabbed my cheap Zabar's cheese.
Counting pretzels as I went and reverse weighing the cheese. Hungry and sleepy I did not forget my commitment to counting costs.
I finished with a shot of Mamajauna before brushing my teeth and heading back to bed. I made the Mamajuana in the Dominican and have carted it round since my return kept in case of a liquor emergency or an occasion to share.
I knew it would keep me asleep for several hours so I went for it. Damn it was good.
Cheese .30
Pretzels .15
Rum .priceless
Total .45
Carbs 29
With only 3.98 available I need to track every penny today.
I woke up hungry, not starving so I started with a free apple that came from the hospital. It was from some sort of event. I paired it with peanut butter and my coffee. About an hour later I had the rest of the soup with the tortellini and turkey meatballs. I am sick of ground turkey but I waste nothing these days.
Coffee/cream .24
Apple Free
Peanut butter .18
Soup 1.09
Total 1.51
54 grams of carb, here I am pushing the limit again.
Lunch is going to have to be seriously sparse. With my 3 a.m. snack and my .10 overage on breakfast if I am going to balance my budget out, there is not much I can eat today.
Sparse lunch
Chicken Quesadilla .43
Small orange .25
Iced tea .03
Total .71
Carbs 30 grams
What do we trade for the savings...time. It was three hours round trip with shopping time.
However I lucked out.
A head of broccoli .89
1 small red potato .20
Ginger root .19
Red Bell Pepper .40
2 huge plum tomatoes 1.00
Well over one pound of Gai Lan 1.34 (Chinese Green, thick stalk with curly leaves)
Slightly over one pound of pork spare rib 1.64
These are the finely diced rib pieces on the bone. I am marinating them now in ginger, Asian 5 spice, soy, and garlic.
First the gym, then dinner.
However I could not take the empty stomach when I got home so I quickly fried the potato while I put the groceries away.
Potato snack .20
Carbs 27 grams
My vegetable dinner was a version of heaven. I am always telling people to put a lot of different colors on the plate. My Chinatown trip allowed me to do it.
Pork rib bits .82
A handful of the green beans .14
1 onion .10
1 carrot .12
Ginger .09
Half a bell Pepper .20
5 stalks of the Gai Lan .34
Total 1.81
Carbs 23 grams
Day Total 4.68
I am now down by .70
It may not sound like much. But think about it, if you are on food assistance and your card runs out because you ate a few decent meals one month. What do you eat at the end of the month? What if you don't have .70 or you need that .70 to dry the wet laundry and you already raided the change jar to make the co-payment on your medication?
These are real life decisions for a lot of people.
I can make the .70 up, but it is my intention to cut food until I do.
The extra money was nutritious and gave me close to enough fiber for the day.1,976 calories.
2 comments:
What you are doing here is a remarkable thing. You're proving how generally stingy food stamps (Or as it's known now, SNAP) is with benefits.
It needs to move from being a supplement to a full food benefit. I wrote my congress critters and proposed increasing RI's monthly from $200 and increasing it to $360. That would yield $12 per day in a 30 day month.
I urge all your readers to contact their congress critters.
Since this is the second time you have done this and you really have become a food insecurity expert does anyone have an idea how we can get you to testify in front of congress?
I hear about people doing this, but how does it happen.
TruthSpew do you know?
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