How did I know this would happen? Now that this challenge is winding down to an end, I couldn't help to let me sister know that it looks like I will end up succeeding in the challenge. And so the argument began…
Although when this challenge began, my sister didn't believe that I would be able to buy enough food to live on and the food that I did buy would be “junk” food, it seems that her perceptions of what qualifies as succeeding have changed as the challenge has prgressed:
This is part of a month long challenge to eat well while spending an average of only $1 a day on food. You can find the beginning and the rules of this challenge here
Me: “It looks like I am going to win the challenge.”
Sister: “Oh, I wouldn't really call it a win…”
Me: “Oh, come one. I was able to get a lot more food than you ever imagined I could. I ate fruits and vegetables. I even ate 100% whole wheat bread the entire month. How did I not complete the challenge?”
Sister: “You are palate challenged.”
Me: “What does that mean?”
Sister: “It's like the people commenting say. Your meals are disgusting and you are the only one that would ever eat them. You don't know how to cook. If you can't make appetising meals with the food you buy, then you lose the challenge.”
Me: “Wait a second. We never said that my cooking had to be up to a certain standard.”
Sister: “Like I said. You are palate challenged. You don't know how to cook or make appetising meals so you failed at the challenge. Nobody likes peanut butter and bananas except you.”
Me: “You know I hate to cook.”
Sister: “That's just an excuse. If you wanted to, you could learn. You just know that you can't do it.”
As you can see, my sister knows all too well how to push my buttons. I now have to decide whether or not to continue this challenge to show her that I not only can get a decent amount of food on $1 a day, but I can also make meals that are appetising to others with the food that I buy. As stated many times and is probably quite obvious, I don't know how to cook and I can basically eat anything and be perfectly satisfied. This takes the challenge way beyond my comfort zone.
What do you think? Would those reading this be willing to help me make recipes with the food that I have to create appetising meals? While I would love to prove my sister wrong, I know that I don't have the skill level to accomplish the “appetising meal” requirement on my own…
I did go to the grocery store to pick up a bit of ground beef and some more sweet corn. The two set me back $2.25:
Breakfast
For breakfast I had a bowl of Corn Flakes with half a banana, a piece of whole wheat toast with an egg on top and a glass of white grape / peach juice (half juice, half water)
Lunch
Because of yesterday, I had to think through these last few days to make sure that everything lasts. I had peanut butter on toast with bananas on top, the rest of the pasta apple chicken salad, and an apple with cream cheese on top broiled in the oven. I also had another glass of white grape / peach juice (half juice, half water).
Dinner
I used part of the ground beef that I purchased mixing it into the garlic pasta sauce I had and placed that over the rest of the veggie spiral pasta which I cooked up:
I only plated half of it for this photo (the white blurs is steam rising off of it), but ended up eating all. I also ate the other half of the corn that I made last night as a snack later in the evening.
This is the current list of what I have purchased:
Money Spent $26.58
Money left to spend: 4.42 ($2 must be spent at CVS)
Retail Value of everything bought: $565.29
3 ears of corn
1 package of chicken breast deli style (1 lb)
5 packages hardwood smoked turkey franks
1 package of veggie spiral pasta
1 salt and pepper shaker combo
1 bag of salad
1 package of macaroni and cheese
3 sample packs of Maxwell House Vanilla Carmel Latte
4 sample packages of Wheat Thins Sundried Tomato & Basil
3 packages (small) Fig Newtons
1 jar Miracle Whip
1 potato
1 mystery purchase
1 lb ground beef
6 tomatoes
2 broccoli crowns
2 loaves of bread
2 jars of Classico pasta sauce
2 Safeway brand pasta (spaghetti and rotini)
1 celery stalk
2 bags tortilla chips
5 cans tuna
1 bottle Welch's grape & peach 100% juice
1 bottle V8 Fusion fruit / vegetable drink
1 bottle V8 spicy vegetable drink
2 boxes of Caprisun fruit drinks (10 packs)
1 jar of salsa
1 bag of black beans
3 half gallons of milk
36 boxes of cereal
3 dozen eggs
2 avocados
20 bananas
2 boxes of Quaker Instant oatmeal
55 packs of Philadelphia Cream Cheese Minis
1 package of Knudsen Light sour cream
20 apples
2 lbs of carrots
8 boxes (small) of Wheat Thins
2 jars of Skippy All Natural peanut butter
2 cans of pork and beans
1 bag of long grain brown rice
2 packages of Mission 100% whole wheat tortillas (10 count each)
Donated Food / other items to Food Bank that was purchased with my $1 a day
4 packages hardwood smoked turkey franks
2 Gillette body wash
3 sample packs of Maxwell House Vanilla Carmel Latte
1 Stayfree pantiliner package
1 Kotex U tampon package
5 Bayer children's aspirin
2 sticks of deodorant
4 bottles Windex multi-surface cleaner
1 can of Pork & Beans
32 boxes of cereal
50 packs of Philadelphia Cream Cheese Minis
4 boxes (small) of Wheat Thins
2 Scrubbing Bubbles Extend-A-Clean bathroom cleaner
2 Scrubbing Bubbles Extend-A-Clean bathroom cleaner refill
The Beginning ::: Day 30: Discount Find
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Hmm… I like peanut butter and banana together, and probably could eat it a lot. In fact, I do. Except that I put my peanut butter in my oatmeal (along with a dab of butter, Tbsp. of brown sugar and some raisins) and then cut up the banana on top.
I’m actually a lot like you. Most people think my food combinations are strange. Although I do like to cook, and do know how – just don’t do it often. π
I think if you want to continue the challenge, you should first come up with simple recipes, and then practice making them. Do that for a month … then try the challenge again.
Long cooking oatmeal is much more nutritious and rib sticking than the packets. A big bag of dried pinto beans and a big bag of rice when cooked ahead and frozen in serving sizes would give you lots of punch for few dollars. I personally would set ten dollars aside for “staples and spices (i.e. salt, oatmeal, beans, rice)” and then use the remaining 21 for couponing.
Stay the course! Your sister is just trying to talk her way into winning. I would eat anything you posted (except the bananas, I loathe bananas), and what you’ve posted is a darn sight better than what many people eat on a regular basis. You’re not palate challenged, you and your sister just have different tastes.
I would definitely like to help you with recipe ideas. I love this challenge and I hope you continue.
Your eating habits remind me a lot of my sister and my daughter. Both of them can eat the same thing day after day. My sister once ate Total cereal every morning for breakfast for six straight months. My daughter’s pasta dishes look like yours. I don’t like pasta, but its one of my daughter’s favorite foods, so your style of eating is very familiar to me.
I would totally eat everything you cooked the past month. Much of the world lives on less variety than that and I think you did a good job of creating variety for yourself.
I grew up on Cheerios or Rice Crispies pretty much every morning of the week for my whole youth. If it is good for you and you like it then there’s nothing wrong with eating it all the time.
Keep up the challenge for sure! Maybe next month you could splurge and eat on $2 a day? You’d feel like a king! That would still be pretty darn economical.
What’s really challenging about your sister’s challenge is that you’ll be unlikely to be able to afford all of the ingredients in different recipes. However, you’re not an experienced enough cook to know what you can use to substitute, or what you could omit without ruining the recipe. This is considerably tougher. I’d at least insist on increasing it to $1.25/day…
Pfffft – I say you win – and were very creative about it.
I’d eat everything you listed – no biggie. Beats what people probably imagined you would be eating, and what the average American eats anyway (as someone else said?).
P.S. My son LOVES PB & bananas – he’d eat it every day.
Your sister is being kind of a jerk, honestly. She’s quite right that, as I live right now, I wouldn’t make many of the things you do. But part of the point of this challenge was to demonstrate that someone who has the access to coupons you two agreed on, $1/day and NO pantry staples whatsoever could not only survive on those resources, but eat more healthfully than “Toaster Strudel” and “Kraft Mac & Cheese”. You are, in fact, making exactly what some people would be FORCED to make if those were their only resources. Frankly, that includes even many people who can cook better than you can, but not super well.
I suggest you tell your sister to consider that no one who has an option to do more lives on just $1/day + coupons, and those who must do so would likely be well-served to follow some of the leads you give in this challenge. MANY people who need these tips CAN’T cook any better than you can, either by skill set or because they don’t have the resources (some people who would be in your supposed position don’t even have stoves, for example, just hot plates).
Also, I’m dying to know, what’s the mystery purchase?
I say finish the challenge! I think your sister is jealous that you are actually living up to your end of the deal. I am new to couponing but am seeing how a whole new way of meal planning as well as saving money. I think because you feel you don’t know how to cook you stayed within in your comfort zone. I would eat peanut butter and bananas (Elvis did!) and a lot of the other things you came up with. You were actually very creative. Keep up the good work, I love your site.
I have been really inspired by your challenge and amazed that you have done so well. It has inspired me to think more creatively when I go shopping. For example, instead of buying a name brand pasta that was on sale for $1.43 on Saturday, I bought a different package of pasta that was on markdown to $0.99. It necessitated I change what I planned on cooking a little bit, but I still made good, healthy, food. That’s the important part. However, that being said, please don’t feel that you have to measure up to anyone’s standards but your own. You did this challenge for you. If you want to learn how to cook, find a friend who can help you or take a class. It’s not difficult, and in no time at all, you will not only be able to do your own cooking, but find that often you can make your own food more cheaply than you can buy premade stuff like spaghetti sauce. I personally look forward to another month of blogs about this subject.
You and your sister are obviously competitive and like to rib each other, lol. I like PB and bananas also. Yes, I can cook and others say I am a good cook. And, I’ve never been accused of being palate challenged. I think it amazing how well you did and you have inspired me to start my own challenge. Good Job! π
It seems to me that your sister thought that she would win hands down, and now seeing that you have not only kept to the contest, but have basically been pretty satisfied with your meals also isn’t at all what she expected.
I think you kept to the rules of the contest-no question. Now, if you wanted to amend the rules for the last few days to also make “better” recipies then you could do that. However, as far as the contest before today, you did everything you agreed to do, and then some.
I think the fact that many on here are saying that they would eat most (if not all) of the things you cooked is really saying something! Truthfully, there were a few things that you made that I would not eat, but I am pretty picky too.
I say GOOD JOB! You should definitely continue, but like I said-add a new rule for the last few days of the contest if you want to.
You Win.
Your sister is just being a sore loser.
I like peanut butter and bananas together and I also like to cook! π
I’ve REALLY enjoyed reading your blog. I’ve especially enjoyed your $1.00 a day challenge. Even though we eat differently than you do I’m still encouraged to see all you’re able to purchase with $1.00 a day. I’m new to couponing so I have a lot to learn. When you purchase ‘free’ products from the drugstores do you have to make another purchase with them? Or is that only when you are using RR’s?
Thanks,
Georgene
You have my cooking expertise if you choose to continue. This could be fun!
Sounds like she is the OLDER sister. Tell her to go fly a kite. My hubby would have probably eaten everything you made although he would have missed his morning coffee. I’m fussier but a good cook also and know how to cook cheap already. One of my current joys in life is that I don’t have to follow a strict grocery budget like I used to.
I think you proved that it certainly is doable but a person needs to really be on the ball. I once remember seeing an article about a woman who got foodstamps and how she couldn’t get through the whole month with what she bought. The article showed all the ‘food’ including cartons of pop that she went through in a month. It was more than my family had in a month but since she was also feeding a boyfriend I guess she needed more. But seeing all that expensive pop in the picture and hearing her whine about not having enough told me this woman needed lessons on living on a grocery budget. You are showing the world (at least the US) how. Unfortunately many people won’t eat like you do, too many fruits and vegetables! No junk food!
For what it’s worth we LOVE peanut butter and banana in our house!!!
Our current favorite way to eat it is “banana dogs” We spread pb on a hotdog bun and toss the banana in where the hotdog would be. π
We LOVE peanut butter and bananas. Especially in a smoothie!
I now I’m late to the game but I just found your site and read the entire blog in one sitting. In my opinion, you win, easily.
I must add that you eat way more than I do in a day and you’ve eaten more fruit and whole grain than I normally do.
Your meals are better and more diverse than the ones I ate in college. When I was a poor college student, I would survive on ramen noodles, mac and cheese, and popcorn.
Good job!!! I enjoyed your experiment.
The only one who likes peanut butter and banana?! That’s nuts (no pun intended). I love peanut butter and banana and I know many others who do too…your sister needs to change her definition of ‘palate challenged,’ I think. =P
I am enjoying reading your craziness. I think that you’re meeting your challenge, because despite the food being strange and sometimes a little unappetizing, you’re doing the best with what you’ve got and eating decently healthy.
Just discovered this site through Lifehacker, and have been reading through the archives… nice one! The complaints from your sister seem like sour grapes here — the challenge was to eat healthy on $1 a day, which you have certainly accomplished, no matter how “palette-challenged” you have been (and really, who isn’t “palette-challenged” from time to time; for example, that week after Thanksgiving, so filled with turkey…). And just because she doesn’t like the things you’ve been making, doesn’t mean that “nobody” would as she put it — I, for one, love peanut butter and bananas. In fact, if you want a nice, decadent, and easy treat, try this: make a peanut butter and banana sandwich, cut the crusts off, quarter it, and fry it in butter. After frying, dust it with powdered sugar and serve warm.
Seriously? I think the meals you make look quite good, except for the stuff with tuna and meat. (I’m a vegetarian, that’s only why.)
I think your sister is nuts.
DH & I eat oatmeal for breakfast every single morning. It’s whole rolled oats, not instant, with milk, not water and juice, but it’s oats. Usually we add 1/2 cup (1 serving) of fruit: strawberries, bananas (a little pnut butter is good on that!), blueberries, apples (cook them in the milk/water before adding the oats – yum!)
I’ve done tuna with pasta before lots of times. You do what you have to do when you are completely broke.
The thing on this challenge that would have killed me was no coffee with french vanilla creamer in the morning.
Pardon my french, but does you sister always sound like a B@&!#? I used to eat this way too, I would spend about $30 a month on food, and I took from the donations at the local food drive. When you are a poor college student, you don’t have the novelty of spices and extravagant meats. Like everyone else has said, your sister is a sore loser.
I appreciate I’m really late to this series but I just wanted to add a comment. A few years ago I challenged a group of friends to produce a 3-course meal for 5 people for Β£5, plus anything you can grow yourself. It should be a good meal as we all eat extremely well usually. We all managed it easily, I think we all provided four courses in the end, and it really taught us how expensive some things really are, and how cheap others are. We all massively overcatered as well, worried that we wouldn’t have enough food to go around. Interesting experiment and I have loved reading about yours. Maybe you should challenge yourself to cook something new everyday for a month, or maybe ask your sister to teach you π
What? I grew up eating peanut butter and banana sandwiches. They’re delicious! Your sister is being terribly immature. Of course you won. Only sore losers try to change the rules at the last minute. You’ve been eating like lots of single guys on a budget eat. In fact, my teenage son who is very interested in living frugally thought that most of your meals sounded great.
I know this is way late, but… Seriously? Has she never heard of peanut butter and banana together? That’s why they made Reeses cups with banana for a while. The only people I’ve come across that don’t love the idea of those two together are people who don’t like one of the two on its own.
Sounds like she’s just being a sore loser, as has been said. I’ve been very inspired by this challenge, and you’ve actually given me ideas for new foods I could try. Unfortunately, it’s also led me to have an insatiable craving for eggs, and I don’t have access to a stove for a long while.
I think your sister is wrong; the things you make are simple, healthy, and appealing to all sorts of tastes. You don’t need to be able to cook fancily to make a good meal. And staying on a budget and eating healthily are what this challenge are about, not about cooking gourmet or appealing to those with picky tastes. I agree with other commenters that you should stay the course. π You’re doing an awesome job. I give you props for cooking at all – for how much you say you don’t know how to cook and how much you don’t like to cook, you’ve improved quite a bit over this challenge, and I think, if anything, your sister should commend you on that alone. You stepped outside of your comfort zone and showed everyone that you can eat healthily within a very tight budget without needing to sacrifice everything. Keep on rockin. π
Hey…I didn’t know your sister was Martha Stewart!!!
Seriously, unless she is, she is SOL. You won hands down. Maybe she is jealous of your success. Or does she have to do something embarrassing if you win…like run down Main Street nekkid?
I also think your sister is being a sore loser. Your breakfast, lunch and snacks did seem to get pretty monotonous, but your dinners were creative. I would have loved your rice and black bean burritos and your pasta salads. It looks like you are continuing your project, so I’d like to challenge you to find more dark green vegetables, and other colorful veggies and fruits. Most of your meals were beige.
Wow, I knew there were going to be a lot of comments as soon as I started reading this post!
Peanut butter and bananas are delicious, and even better with a little honey drizzled on top!
I can cook, and I thought most of your meals were appealing. I think you found creative ways to use what you had to add flavor like using the spicy V8 to cook your rice! There were a few meals with ingredients I wouldn’t like, but that’s just a personal preference.
I still have to read the rest of the posts in the challenge, and I can’t wait to find out what the mystery item is! I just wanted to take a minute to say well done!
Richie said what I was thinking: “When you are a poor college student, you donβt have the novelty of spices and extravagant meats.” I lived on mac and cheese and Ramen noodles my first couple years of college because I couldn’t figure out how to cook things differently. You seem to be doing a great job of changing the meals to make them a little different. I slowly started to change my eating habits by adding hamburger to mac and cheese or tossing veggies into Ramen noodles.
Everyone has to start somewhere, and your meals are better than most of the meals I received as a kid. We had fast food at least four times a week. I know that’s a sad comment on my childhood, but we couldn’t afford to stock the pantry, or at least we didn’t know how.
Tell your sister that I like peanut butter and banana. π
If you want to go another round and try cooking more diverse, substantial meals, add me to the crowd who will help you out with instructions and recipes.
Seriously, though, wait 2 or 3 weeks before you start again and make an effort to gain some additional cooking skills first.
BTW, you know when I learned how to cook on the stove as a child? The summer I ate Chef Boy R Dee raviola for lunch almost everyday. My mother claimed she couldn’t stand to look at it or smell it again after a few weeks and taught me how to cook on the stove.
Also, I think you should expand your challenge restrictions to include garden produce, anything you can barter for, and such. That’s more a real life scenario.
I love that you stuck to it, with humor, through illness, graciously letting the world in AND donated – generously, your time and food to a food pantry.
I LOVE that everyone here has been so supportive! π
and I love that someone said to tell your sister to ‘go fly a kite’. LOVI IT! and… IMMD!
Good going and thanks for sharing π all of you!!
~paula
Yet another vote here that you did good with the challenge. And she needs to get out more if she thinks PB & Banana is not a common combination (especially since she has a kid!). It was Elvis’ favorite sandwich. And if ‘The King’ likes it, you can bet it was probably popular.
I love PB and bananas together. However, I don’t think I could eat it every day without getting sick of it! I couldn’t eat a lot of the stuff you did (I’m the pickiest eater I know) but I’d still say you won the challenge.
Everybody that I know likes peanut butter and bananas!
My wife and I are just getting into couponing and your site has inspired me to really get more involved and aware to cut our budget and increase our savings. Right now our food budget is $400 a month for the two of us and our 9 month old boy. You’ve inspired to me try to cut that in half and save an extra couple hundred a month towards our kid’s education savings account.
But the main reason I decided to comment was to say that I work at a peanut and peanut butter plant. We make many flavored peanut butters and our MOST POPULAR and BIGGEST SELLER is our banana peanut butter: http://www.sunlandinc.com/zcom/product/Category.do?compid=788&catid=2080
I just found your blog last night and read through day 28 in one sitting. I am back this morning to continue.
First…your sister IS being a sore loser…you won, hands down. While a couple of times I looked at the photo and thought yuck or why didn’t you ___? ? But most of the time it was stuff I would eat, no problem. And the rules did not state the meals had to be some imaginary gourmet level of her choosing at the end of the month.
Second, I LOVE PB & banana sandwiches. Make them for my breakfast often!! Your sister is NUTS if she thinks nobody calls that a meal!
I’d certainly say that you won the challenge! Not only did you stick to a very small budget but you totally took advantage of cupouns and savers and rocked it out!
Yes, some of your meals are a little odd (like putting miracle whip in a salad) but most of your meals are just basic things that any single person would probably throw together and eat on a normal day.
I, for example, don’t live with a strict food budget, and I too eat things like eggs over beans and rice. And I love peanut butter and banana.
You totally won the challenge.
I know you are living in California, but you writes as if you are from the UK. It is unusual for people from the US to use such proper grammar. Are you originally from the UK? I am from the US myself, BTW. I love this challenge!
You can always go to The Food Network website and type in the ingredients you have on you into the search box and it will list a number of recipes. Or you can do the same on Google. It’s fairly easy to find recipies online. But I think most people are used to MEAL-meals… a main entree with a number of different components, a couple of side dishes and maybe something sweet at the end. But that’s also why a majority of the people on the Earth are overweight. Also, have you thought about going to a local farmer’s market or a farmer’s market store for your vegetables? I KNOW there are no coupons for these types of places, but I go to one in Orange County where you can get four artichokes for a buck, or five pounds of regular potatoes for a dollar. Just something to consider if you ever find yourself considering another tampon purchase for a free food item.
Oh, and as far as peanut butter in your oatmeal goes, crunchy is much better than creamy in there. Or just adding whole or halved nuts with some raisins is also really tastey. Or almond butter.
I think you did a great job for an inexperienced cook. If you were more familiar with flavorings and presentation – you could have knocked the socks off of most people. Because you don’t cook much, you did not prioritize flavor essentials – salt, cooking fats, spice- there are some frugal options here. You can buy miniscule amounts of spice in bulk stores – even sea salt. Also chili peppers are cheap – I’ve often bought just one- so light that the cashier couldn’t even charge me since the scale didn’t register. Also you tended to rely on bread products and crackers for alot of your calories- you could have certainly opted for more beans, split peas, etc – usually under $1 per bag. In fact you never made soup – which would have added variety and be a great way to use up ingredients. If you want to redo this project with a gourmet twist -I’d love to contribute.
I smiled when I read that your sister thought noone would like bananas and peanut butter but you. I want to eat it after reading your blog challenge! I’ve just read through to this point and been inspired to regularly buy more of a variety of food from the grocery store – including dairy, fruit, vegies. My husband and I don’t eat the same things and I am an uninspired cook. I don’t like leaving the house in the midwest cold for the disheartening task of finding a bargain on good food. Far too many of my meals are breakfast cereal – ugh! So I would say your meals are far more healthy and apetizing than what I bother to eat and they’re actually simple enough for me to attempt. hehe Wahoo for simple yummy healthy food! … Oh and saving money.
No offense to you, but your sister’s an idiot. Nobody likes bananas and peanut butter? Has she heard of Elvis Presley!? O_o I love them together and so do many, many other people.
Your meals are fantastic for the money you have. Of course you’re not going to be eating steak and lobster! Jeez.
I realize that this comment is very late in the game, but the other day I was looking through some Sept 2010 women’s magazines. One of the things they highlighted was sandwichs including a banana and peanut butter one. Your sis is defintely wrong on this one.
I just found your site the other day and have been reading through from the begining. I have always been a coupon clipper and shopped by the sales, but have never done quite as well as you (but I’m also feeding 5 and some are pretty picky). I think you’ve done an amazing job.
I would also be interested to see you do a challenge with the amount of money you get per month when on goverment assistance, it is more than $1 a day! Maybe your sister should try to do that challenge for what a family gets on assistance.
And finally, my current favorite snack when I am craving sweets is a banana topped with a scoop of peanut butter and drizzled with Hershey’s syrup!
Even though I wouldn’t eat everything you made, I would eat a lot of it and you definately won!
No offense, your sister is being stupid about stating that other people wouldn’t eat what you were eating.
I’d eat, and do eat, most of what you did. And, if I didn’t have more than $31 to my name each month for a food budget, you can bet I’d change my eating patterns anyways to match what I could afford to buy. I’m just thankful that I do have the money to purchase what I like; and thanks to couponing and stockpiling, I now have extra cash in my bank account.
i agree with your sister. i think there were about 1 or 2 of your lunch/dinner meals that i’d actually eat if offered it. i’d rather forgo eating a meal or two than eating most of what you had–unless i was doing a challenge (like yourself).
i suspect that much of your issues are because you initially lacked common staples though. i don’t think that’s really fair.