$15 a week

We did it!

2009-08-03T08:26:00.000-07:00

Here's how it all went down...

Friday morning I had the leftover twice-baked potato. Maybe it was the late night the night before or just a product of it sitting in the fridge for 2 days, but it was even better than when I had it for dinner! Mmmmmm, a perfect ending.

Lunch was provided at my meeting...and so ends the journey. Here's what I had left:

$0
4 cups of cooked black beans (how is this possible?)
a serving of brown rice
about 6 cups of weird green stock
2 cups of cooked shredded chicken

I didn't add back my leftovers into the budget since I came out roughly at $15, and if I had made my own lunches, I would have finished those leftovers.

As our celebratory dinner, we had a delicious BBQ - burgers, sausage, salad (with tomatoes!) and baked beans. It was so good to have eating freedom back. The rest of the weekend followed suit with lots and lots of fresh food in a rainbow of colors. Everyone did note, however, that the clams and oysters that we caught with our feet would have been a perfect $0 addition to our week!

So there you have it...I'm glad I did it and even more glad that it's over. I'm not sure I would want to do it again, but it was a good learning experience. If for nothing else, maybe I'll start paying attention to creative ways of cooking cheap meals. And next time, I'll use the buddy system and partner up with Ricky. I'll just pay him for his services the next week...

It's not cheating

2009-07-30T22:03:00.001-07:00

"Concert Cake" from Jo.

Totally free and legal.

PS - sorry about the feet. it was a picnic!

Blonde moment

2009-07-30T15:25:00.000-07:00

Today was super easy, I didn't even think about tomatoes or burgers! I had 1/2 cup of oatmeal for breakfast. This was from my personal collection and I figure 1 scoop costs about 30 cents. In terms of remaining budget, that leaves me with a little over a dollar! Wow! And, someone bought me a venti iced coffee for the ride up to CT. Bonus!

Lunch was provided by the client - wraps and salad.

I finally had to think about the challenge on the way home. We're going to see Burning Spear in Prospect Park and it starts at 7:30. Normally, I would pick something up to eat in the park. But I can't do that this week, and I was so excited to have tomatoes, so I whipped up an early dinner of linguine and sauce. The pasta, another staple from my personal collection, is probably about 30 cents as well, so I'm just under a buck left...

OMG...

Just as I typed that, I realized that I bought a Diet Coke for 75 cents for the ride home and enjoyed every sip without even THINKING about what I did. I'm down to nothing. 2 more meals. I think I can do it.

Food porn and stealing

2009-07-29T17:26:00.001-07:00

I went to Gourmet Garage after work to look at all the pretty food.

I also helped myself to 2 free samples of corn chowder and 8 cheese cubes (gouda and...gruyere I think...). The soup went in my belly and the cheese went in my J. Crew shopping bag. It was really slick, I'm pretty sure no one saw!

So I asked for suggestions on what I could make with my remaining ingredients. Ricky suggested a twice baked potato, so I gave it a shot. I got home at like 7:45 and I didn't want to wait an hour+ to eat, so I microwaved the potato for 10 minutes. Then cut it in half and smooshed together the insides with some black beans. I used 2 of my canned tomatoes and some chicken, chopped it up and added it to the mix with some Frank's hot sauce and the stolen cheese. I topped it with about 5 cents of grated parm and baked it for 15 minutes.

Here's what I got:

It was good! Doesn't it look like a burger? I am a little sick of beans. A LOT sick of beans, actually.

I'm out of eggs...what's for breakfast???

Craving

2009-07-29T14:29:00.000-07:00

Tomatoes and a Corner Bistro Burger. Mmmmmmmmmmmmm...it's obviously worse because I can't have them!

So, that's what I'm thinking we should have on Friday night, right? Burgers, hot dogs, big fat juicy tomatoes, corn on the cob, oven fries with lots of ketchup, salad...and key lime pie!

Creativity FAIL

2009-07-29T08:03:00.000-07:00

Sooooo....another poorly hardboiled egg for breakfast and I'm still hungry. But I think I can make it until 12:30 to have my lunch. Want to know what it is? I'm not even going to say it. At least it will be in yet another different bowl.

I went to a friends art show last night and was treated to spanakopita and some meatball-falafel things. So, there was a little variety in my meals for the week, but I want to be creative. I realize that I sort of messed up the shopping, and I just don't think of things like Ricky does (what is he going to do with the ends of the bread?) or have a garden like mom (did you really have a tomato for dinner?).

HELP!

Here's what I have:

1 serving of Brown Rice
Tons of Black Beans
Cooked chicken
Mediocre Chicken Stock (that is inexplicably green)
A baking potato
A can of whole tomatoes
A little under $2 left in my budget (some of which can be used to shop in my cabinet for pasta maybe?)

What are my options?

Also, question, can I pay Ricky the rest of my money and share his dinner one night?

Variety is the Spice of Life

2009-07-28T17:16:00.000-07:00

I had 2 eggs in my fridge that I hardboiled last night so that I would have some sort of a proper breakfast.

I grabbed it out of the fridge on my way to the car and peeled it over a sewer grate. All the white stuck to the shell and I ended up losing about 20% of the egg. 25 cents out of my $2.24 remaining discretionary fund....kinda wasted. I was starving.

Again, a client lunch of salad and half a cup of soup during our 8 hour meeting.*

Now for dinner....

Wait for it...

Wait for it...

It's my leftovers from last night...

IN A DIFFERENT BOWL!

Tomorrow is a FULL day on the regimen. What do you think I'll have?

My shopping list

2009-07-27T19:07:00.000-07:00

Ummmmm....I forgot about breakfast.

But look how cheap the chicken was!

The extra $2.49 will come out of my cabinet - probably in the form of rice and pasta that I already own. Maybe an egg or 2. Yikes!

Day one as the asterisk

2009-07-27T18:43:00.000-07:00

As I posted on Ricky's blog, I'm Sarah *. I'm doping on business meals this week.

We left for CT early, so there were bagels and coffee, followed by a stop at Subway for the ride home. I pre-cleared these meals with the team. I know this may make me dq'd in some of your minds. Sorry.

But I ate about $1.50 of my budget for dinner. A bag of beans made a TON of cooked beans. It took me two days to make it, not kidding. I was trying to make them as good as Christmas this past year, but I don't remember how. So I winged it. I just kept adding cups of water. And then once I forgot and they all stuck to the bottom. They were still not cooked through and I was tired, so I took them off the stove. So as to not heat up the fridge (the #1 fear of all Gordons), I put them on the butcher block for the night. Transferred into the fridge when I got up in the AM, then hit the stove 1 last time when I got back from work. They came out great! Over brown rice (25 cent value) with some of the chicken from the crockpot.

4 meals down, 11 to go.

Interesting Start

2009-07-27T18:33:00.000-07:00

I cleared all my concerns with my teammates - I have a few meetings this week where there will be food served, is that ok? how do we handle olive oil and salt? how do we handle alcohol and coffee?. Never once did I ask - what happens if Eva comes early???

Of course she did...and my plan was almost derailed. Luckily, I staved off hunger with a margarita (legal and $0!) at Vamos in between hospital visits. Before leaving for the hospital, I set up my crockpot to simmer the soup ingredients and soaked the black beans. When I got home (and was kinda hungry), I snacked on the cooked chicken as I transferred, strained, picked over, and stored the soup. My entire apt building smelled like soup. I felt like Katrina DeVort. I had to strain it through my dish towel (shut up, it was clean).

Am I cut out for this?