$3AADP: Day 2

So after I pre-made all this oatmeal it turns out that Husband doesn't like oatmeal the way I prepare it and he'd rather have instant oatmeal than the steel cut (harumph) so I bought him 2 boxes of Mom's Best Oatmeal at the 99 cent store so he can make it himself. It's staggering that it's only 99 cents there because I see the exact same box at Sprouts for $3.99.

Then onto the topic of the fact that Husband forgot that he spends $10 a month on a coffee club at work, which blows my mind because you would think a huge corporation like Boeing would GIVE their employees coffee. Anyway, that takes $0.33 away from Josh's daily total. I contemplated calling this negligible but he is paying for it regardless of whether or not he drinks it. He does drink it, if you are wondering, about 2 cups a day, and personally I don't want to see him off caffeine. I'm sure you don't want me to either, Dear Readers.

I'm actually quite satiated eating on $3 a day which is really surprising. Of course, it is only the second day so I should probably wait to make my real opinion. The difficult part right now is all the planning and tedious money and calorie counting. I take that back, it's also the self control. The urge to just buy something to snack on or to snack at all becomes slightly overwhelming between meals. I keep eyeing various junk food realizing that a candy bar would account for almost a 1/3 of my daily food budget without any real benefit.

Lucky for me I have prepared enough food to last us the rest of the week. Sure, it'll get horrendously repetitive after a while but I have 6 servings of soup left, about 6 servings of black beans (which will turn out some Huevos Rancheros and tostadas), 2 servings of chicken and cajun rice, 5 servings of oatmeal that are apparently all for me from here on out, and makings for a week's worth of salads.

I have a confession to make. I'm one of those people who likes their oatmeal savory. It reminds me of rice porridge that mom would make when anyone of us was sick. So this morning I had oatmeal with and egg on top. It was delicious even though it doesn't really look delicious.

Breakfast: Oatmeal ($0.15), 1 egg ($0.17), a sprig of basil ($0.01) for Leah totaling 220 calories. Oatmeal ($0.17 - 160 calorie) and 2 cups coffee ($0.33 and 10 calories) for Josh.

Lunch: 2 slices of pizza for Leah ($0.56 - 276 calories), 3 slices of pizza for Josh ($0.84 - 414 calories).

Snack: Apple ($0.25 - 80 calories) for Josh. Pear ($0.33 - 81 calories) and one macadamia nut for Leah.

Dinner: Salad w/ dressing ($0.24 - 130 calories), Chicken and Cajun Rice ($1.20 a serving - 529 calories)

Josh: $3.03 (1323 Calories) total.

Leah: $2.66 (1236 calories) total.

$3ADDP: The Repeaters

So as part of my research phase, I was thinking about the easy peasy repeats. I know I'll probably get a little creative with lunch and dinner but breakfast and certain sides will be pretty commonly repeated.

My husband has agreed to do this $3 a Day Diet Project with me, that loving man. I hope at the end he doesn't think that our cat is eating better than him. He's reading this blog for insights into what he will be eating over the next 30 days so I thought this would be a good teaser for him to keep his eyes on the prize.

Breakfast:
Oatmeal - about half a cup dry, comes in at 150 calories and costs a mere $0.15 a serving.
Hard Boiled Egg - 1 hard boiled egg is about 70 calories and is about $0.17 an egg.
Milk - an 8 ounce glass of 1% is about 100 calories and $0.31 a glass.
Whole Wheat English Muffins - homemade? It think it has to be.
Toast - Right now, I think it's about $0.20 a slice give or take depending on whether it's homemade or store bought.
Pancakes - This will make hubby happy once we get past the maple syrup argument. He's a douser, not a dipper.

Meals:
Pizza - I hear this is REALLY cheap. Like, under $o.40 a slice. Take that Pizza Hut!
Fried Rice - Hubbs will love this idea. He's a bit of a rice whore.
Grilled Chicken - Easy, relatively cheap, goes well in sandwiches and stir fries. I don't even like Chicken.

Sides:
Mashed Potatoes- About $0.50 cents per serving depending on what the final recipe is.
Brown Rice - about $0.12 a serving.
Baked Potatoes - About $0.45 when including a pat of butter.
Polenta- I assume this is a lot like oatmeal which will work out well.
Beans - At $0.99 a lb for how filling beans are will be a must repeat.
Salad - About $0.24 a serving if you use half a romaine head and a serving of dressing.
Soup - I can only assume this is by far the biggest bang for the buck and the easiest way to get in vegetables.

So there we are, things I will have to calculate the actual recipes for so that I can see how much it'll cost us.

$3ADDP: Day 1

I stayed up a little later than usual last night to prep some food for the coming week, also known as the first week of the project. Hubby goes between being really excited about it because he wants to scale back our portions and being really wary of the project. We'll see how long he lasts. He'll have the ability to post on this blog as a contributor during this project if the feeling of hunger starts to pervade his life. Lol.

Yesterday, I threw together a soup from navy beans, some veggies, and 1/5 of a roasted chicken I had left over. I considered whether or not this would be considered "cheating" by my dear readers because I was starting with leftovers already in my fridge and then I remembered, this series is supposed to to show that anyone, regardless of whether they're living of food stamps or living high on the hog, can happily live on $3. And let's be honest, haven't most of us had a leftover chicken in their fridge?

I also prepared in the slow cooker 8 servings of steel cut oatmeal so that we'll have premade oatmeal for breakfast and black beans for whenever in the week. I'll post those recipes after I actually consume them in case there's a need to adjust seasonings.

I had a pop a few midol today but it didn't really help so I felt kind of queasy all day so I didn't eat as much as I should have. I skipped my salad, which would have definitely fit in my budget, and had under 1K calories. Hopefully I'll feel better tomorrow.

Here's what we ate today:

Breakfast: Oatmeal 1 serving each ($0.15 - 150 calories). Banana ($0.09 - 53 cals), Maple Syrup ($0.04 - 52 cals), cinnamon ($0.02 - 0 cals), Honey ($0.05 - 15 cals) Josh Only.

Lunch: Chicken and Navy Bean Soup ($0.48 - 308 calories). Salad w/ dressing ($0.24 - 130 calories) Josh Only.

Dinner: Pizza w/ Meat Sauce and cheese ($1.12 - 552 calories) for 4 slices Josh. 2 slices for Leah ($0.56 - 276 cals)

Drink: Vodka (2 oz.) and energy drink (4 oz.) ($0.78 - 184 calories)

Josh Total: $2.97 - 1444 calories

Leah Total: $1.97 - 918 calories.

$3ADDP: Empanadas

Here I am looking through my Google Reader that's full of delicious recipes and I come across this amazing picture of empanadas. I've decided to come up with an inexpensive empanada recipe that I'll be able to use during this $3 a Day Diet Project.

What's a delicious low cost filling? Well ground beef of course, but still to expensive to meet at $3 a day limit. To stretch the beef, I'll use beans or potatoes to stretch the filling. But what of the vegetable requirement? I'm figuring some tomatoes in the mix with side salad to accompany the empanadas. And the whole wheat aspect? 50% whole wheat in the empanada dough. Healthy, cheap and delicious!

You know what else is awesome? It's easy to pre-prep, freeze and bake up for future meals. A coup in my opinion.

Here is the recipe for the empanada dough edited from a recipe on epicurious.com:

• 1 cups unbleached all-purpose flour ($0.18)
  
• 1 1/4 cups whole wheat flour ($.27)
  
• 1 1/2 teaspoons salt ($0.02)
  
• 1 stick (1/2 cup) cold unsalted butter, cut into 1/2-inch cubes ($1.12)
  
• 1 large egg ($0.17)
  
• 1/3 cup ice water ($0.00)
  
• 1 tablespoon distilled white vinegar ($0.05)
  

Sift flours with salt into a large bowl and blend in butter with your fingertips or a pastry blender until mixture resembles coarse meal with some (roughly pea-size) butter lumps.

Beat together egg, water, and vinegar in a small bowl with a fork. Add to flour mixture, stirring with fork until just incorporated. (Mixture will look shaggy.)

Turn out mixture onto a lightly floured surface and gather together, then knead gently with heel of your hand once or twice, just enough to bring dough together. Form dough into a flat rectangle and chill, wrapped in plastic wrap, at least 1 hour. Makes 12 servings at $0.15 each.

I thought about exactly how much filling I would need to meet less than 4 oz of meat for the day. Hubby will probably want meat with every meal which means the 4 oz. of meat protein per day will need to be spread into 2 oz. per meal. Assuming 2 empanadas for dinner, less than 1 oz per empanada is about right.

Empanada filling:

• 8 oz. ground beef ($2.25)
  
• 8 oz. refried beans ($0.66)
  
• 1/2 head of onion ($0.08)
  
• 1/4 head of garlic ($0.06)
  
• 1 diced tomato ($0.16)
  
• 1 1/2 teaspoon salt ($0.02)
  
• 1 teaspoon pepper ($0.04)
  
• 1 teaspoon cumin($0.04)
• 1 teaspoon chili powder ($0.04)
• 2 oz oil ($0.06)

Put 2 oz of oil in a skillet. Brown onions and garlic. Add ground beef and cook until browned. Add diced tomato, the can of refried beans, salt, pepper, cumin, and chili powder. Mix until well incorporated and heat the mixture all the way through. Put into a bowl and allow to cool. Makes enough filling for 12 empanadas for $0.28 a piece).

Empanada Recipe:

Cut the empanada dough into 12 equal parts. Work with each ball one at a time and leave the rest of the dough refrigerated. Roll into a ball and flatten into discs large enough to place 1/12 of the filling into. Make sure that the dough is thick enough so that it can hold the filling but as thin as possible. Fold over and close the edges with a fork. Place on a baking sheet and continue with the rest of the pieces of dough in the same manner. Bake at 375 for 15-20 minutes until browned. Makes 12 empanadas at $0.43 a piece.

These figures might change when I actually complete the recipe. Right now, it's completely theoretical.

$3ADDP: The Social Aspect

I'm going to take a break from the research to talk about some of the conversations I've been having about this project. My friends and I were all intrigued by the $1 a Day Diet Project and I have a lot of respect for what they've done. They brought to light what the reality of living below the poverty line really means to a high speed internet audience. Do any of us, while we're clacking away at our keyboards checking out our favorite forums and news feeds, even worry about what we're going to eat unless we're on a diet?

I got to thinking though, that there is a large middle class, actually the bulk of the population who could benefit from eating less and saving more, myself included. Think of what we as a nation could save in health care costs that could be put towards better use if only the majority of the nation wasn't obese? How much of our tax money is spent on preventable health issues through Medicare and Medicaid? I'm not saying we shouldn't be spending on these things, especially in light of the health care crisis in the US, but shouldn't we also be focused on preventative care?

The capitalist in me knows that part of the reason that we Americans will stay overweight is because big food corporations pay marketers a ton of money to make eating look good. Have you seen the recent Sara Lee Soft and Smooth Whole Grain Bread being advertised with High School Musical? And the weight loss industry isn't any better; they've made it seem like to lose weight you have to spend money. Since when did being thin signal wealth? Since plastic surgery and celebrity personal trainers.

Why not create a place where being healthy is not only affordable but also accessible and delicious?

$3ADDP: Whole Wheat Rolls

When I think of bread a million different ideas pop into my mind. Sara Lee Delightful sandwich bread? 45 calories per slice isn't too shabby and at $4 a loaf with 20 slices that's about $0.20 a slice or $0.40 a sandwich. I think of Whole Grain Baguettes from Trader Joe's that inevitably only last a few days in our household. So I'm going to try a few kinds of bread recipes over the course of this project. The first of which being the No Knead Whole Wheat Bread recipe.

Why is this first? Well, isn't there something so delectable about eating your sandwich on a roll? The crusty crispiness of the bread, the cute look of a little dome atop your fillings? Sure, this isn't going to work for PB&J, for that we'll use a loaf pan based recipe, but rolls, these will mix it up a bit.

Here is a recipe from Cooks.com:

1/2 c. sugar ($0.17)
1 1/2 c. hot water ($0.00)
2 eggs, beaten ($0.33)
2 tsp. salt ($0.02)
3 tbsp. butter ($0.42)
2 pkg. yeast ($0.66)
1/2 c. warm water ($0.00)
3 c. sifted whole wheat flour ($0.65)
4 c. sifted white flour ($0.74)

Put sugar, butter and 1 1/2 cups hot water in large bowl and set aside to cool. Place yeast in 1/2 cup warm water. As soon as first mixture has cooled to lukewarm, add beaten eggs. Add yeast mixture then stir in 1/2 flour and salt. Mix until smooth. Then add rest of flour and knead well. Let raise until double. Punch down and cut into rolls. Let raise again. Bake at 350 degrees until brown.

Makes 12 servings at $0.25 a roll and 337 calories.

I'll upload a picture when I actually make them. They seem like a good accompaniment to both Lunch or Dinner.

$3ADDP: Grains, the Long and Short of It All

Carbs definitely get a bad wrap these days. Partaking in low carb diets had me convinced that Carbs really do make you fat. Whole grain carbs in moderation, however, do no such thing. If you're going to burn it all off, it doesn't really matter.

In this case of this project, grains are going to be vital to getting the most bang for the buck.

In reading the $1 a Day Diet Project, I noticed that most of their meals consisted of at least one of the following grain products: homemade bread, polenta, rice, tortillas, oatmeal and the vegetable starch that I consider part of this grainy group, potatoes.

Here is my shopping list for grains, luckily, they keep in the pantry:

1. Whole Wheat Flour.
2. Rapid Rise Yeast.
3. Bread Flour.
4. Honey.
5. Whole Grain Polenta.
6. Brown Rice.
7. Bulgar Wheat.
8. Whole Wheat Couscous.
9. Vegetable Oil.
10. Oatmeal.
11. Salt.
12. Baking Soda.

Next up I'll post the recipes related to the whole grain bread, polenta and whole grain tortillas.