Cooking Is By Far The Biggest Challenge – Day 64: Eating Well On $1 A Day

When I began this challenge, most people assumed that the hardest part was going to be having enough to eat and finding food beyond Top Ramen and Mac & Cheese to eat. Even though I was fairly confident that I would be able to overcome these hurdles, there were a number of things that I never anticipated would be as difficult as they have been.

By far the biggest has been cooking. The amount of time I have had to spend on thinking about it and preparing food (and I go for the laziest option available) has been the real test of survival for this challenge. I am continuing to do it because I hope that when it all ends I will come out with a skill that I am adequate at.

It reminds me a lot of how I felt when I first wen to Japan. I ended up in the Japanese countryside not knowing a word of Japanese with nobody around me who could speak English. It was six months of living with a constant headache as I had to concentrate so hard and use so much energy just to be able to make myself somewhat understood. While I knew it was good for me and that in the end it would be beneficial, I asked myself at least once a day, “What the hell have you gotten yourself into?” That is exactly how I feel about the cooking portion of this challenge.

Kashi Cheerios Cereal

This has been an easy, convenient and tasty way to fill my stomach in the morning (I didn't even eat breakfast most days before starting this challenge).

I am running low on all my cereal except for the Trix which I have no desire to eat (that will get donated to the food bank) which means that I'm hoping for a good cereal sale this coming week so I can stock up again. Kashi has been a great buy even though it was more expensive than the other cereals because I have been able to use it in a lot of other ways as well as a “snack” which is relatively healthy. I will definitely need to figure out how to get more of that.

Spinach Quiche & Blueberry Juice

I think that the quiche is something that has been great because it makes for quick and easy leftover meals which are a huge benefit when I am on the run as I have been the last couple of weeks (and look like I will continue to be for the foreseeable future). Drinking the fruit juice half and half with water (I can't drink straight juice anymore) makes it last a lot longer – I can't believe that i just finished the first of the three bottles that I purchased.

I also made myself a peanut butter sandwich and had some plums as snacks throughout the afternoon. This has become a pretty regular snack lately. I continue to get comments that people don't think that I am eating enough and I think that is because I haven't done a good job of documenting my snacking throughout the day. I grab a handful of this and another handful of that on a pretty regular basis and I have never been hungry during the challenge except in the instances I have detailed where I have been.

Roasted Vegetable Hash & Eggs

I made quite a bit of extra of the roasted veggies and so needed to start working on eating those leftovers. DeeAnn was kind enough to send a recipe using the leftovers for another meal:

Stuff You'll Need:

* A cutting board & knife
* A fry pan & stirrer
* Cooking oil
* A serving of leftover Roast Veggies
* A hot dog (check the expiry date before using; you've had those fellas a while)
* 1-2 eggs
* A cover for the fry pan

1. Spread the Roast Veggies on the cutting board, and run your knife over them to make the pieces as small as you want them to be. Cut the hot dog into pieces about the same size as the vegetable chunks.

2. Drizzle a little oil in the fry pan, and add the veggie-hot dog mix.

3. Turn the stove onto medium heat (or Med-High, if you're in a hurry and willing to watch the pan more), and cook the veggies and hot dogs, turning about as often as you turn hash browns.

4. When the veggies and hot dogs are hot–and have as many brown bits as you like–shake the pan to distribute the veggies evenly, and reduce the stove heat to Med-Low.

5. Crack the eggs on top of the veggies, salt & pepper the eggs, and sprinkle a little water (about a teaspoon) around the pan.

6. Cover the pan, wait 3 minutes, and then check the eggs (shaking the pan is usually a good way to do this.) If the whites and yolks aren't done the way you like them, put the lid back on and keep checking every minute or so until the eggs are done way you like them.

7. Dump everything onto a plate and enjoy. (I generally use my spatula to get out the eggy veggies first, then just tip the rest out of the pan.)

I did take the advice and check the expiry date and all was good. I have come to the conclusion that I am not a real big fan of hot dogs in general and do not see me purchasing them again for myself. I followed the directions and this was the result:

I need to learn to make bigger portions so that I can use the leftovers for meals like this. My fear is that on the first time around, I will make some type of mistake which will render the meal inedible and I will have to throw everything out. I guess as I try making more meals and get more confidence that I won't ruin them, I can begin making enough for leftovers as well.

This is the current list of food I still have
This is the current list of what I have purchased:

Goal: 100 days eating on $1 a day
Current Money Spent: $39.89
Money Left to Spend: $60.11 ($5.54 must be spent at CVS)
Retail Value of Everything Purchased: $1194.18