Day Two

Well, my first day yesterday ended over my daily budget at $3.15.  I ended up going with an egg burrito for dinner, with sautéed spinach on the side.  That spinach was what did my budget in!  It amounted to a tiny little portion with garlic and olive oil that cost me 69 cents.  I have heard it before, but now I am really starting to get it that fresh fruits and vegetables are expensive.  In hindsight, I could have had three more eggs (and been more full after dinner) instead of eating the healthy spinach.

Today has gone well so far.  I’m realizing that I have to keep my breakfast and lunch costs as low as possible if I want anything decent for dinner.  For lunch, I had Ramen noodles and half a tuna sandwich.  I felt like I couldn't have an apple to balance the meal more because of the cost.  I had gone for a long run this morning (in training for a race), and I felt like I needed the carbs more than the fruit - so I had to choose.  I'm at $1.90 for the day so far, but that includes the whole can of tuna, and I have saved some to eat for lunch tomorrow.  

It has been hard to not eat anything that I already had in the fridge or pantry.  It makes me realize just how MUCH food I keep in this house on a regular basis.  Yes, there are four of us, but do I really need to keep five cans of tomatoes in the cupboard?  (I'm sure they were on sale a few weeks ago.)  And the freezer!  It is jammed with frozen fruit and frozen bread (sales!) and half-empty boxes of veggie burgers.  Now that I really take a look at all of it, I realize we could eat out of our house for weeks without going to the store. 

I'm certain that many families in America have an empty refrigerator and freezer on a weekly basis.  I recall my mom telling me about one of her friends who makes a point to keep a "lean pantry" as part of an effort at solidarity with the poor - no mass stock-piling of food because even if some things are on sale one week - who really has the means to stock up except the well-off?  I have come to the same conclusion about food from Sam's or Costco.  I had planned to include some things from these stores in my meals this week, but the more I thought about it -- could families on food stamps ever get ahead enough to afford a $50 membership fee just to shop at these places?  Then could they have enough saved to make purchases in bulk?  Even if it amounts to better deals per pound, per ounce, per diaper, you have to have bigger chunks of money up front to get these deals.  So I'm trying not to use any of our "stockpiled" Costco food.  

I find I'm being so much more deliberate about eating (going more slowly) and so much more aware of every little penny (since I'm counting them three times a day).  I recall on Sunday being at the park with my kids, and there were a handful of pennies on a park bench that someone had left.  We left them, too, because at the time, I thought, "They're just pennies."  But now, if I saw those pennies again, and thought I could add them to my food budget, I would scoop them up and know it's worth a slice of bread.