Day 29 & 30

Day 29

Came home exhausted. Made pizza using the pizza sauce I made from earlier this week, slightly under ripe tomatoes from our garden, and leftover meat from Sunday's Korean BBQ for dinner:



Total Cost of Food: $0

Day 30
Went over to the parent's house for dinner. I don't think we have a picture but we indulged in green beans, veggies, fresh clams, fresh lobster, and two types of chicken along with soup. We were mighty full. Afterward, the brother-in-law treated me to two martinis when we all went out that night. That was a lovely treat.

Total Cost of Food:
$0

Day 28

Breakfast: oatmeal w. blueberries
Lunch: I had 3 Vietnamese style spring rolls (filled with lettuce and leftover soy sauce chicken) and an apple while the hubsters had brown rice, chicken, and stir-fried zucchini along with an apple.

Dinner was kick@ss. Our friends invited us to dinner at their place and they spoiled us with Korean bbq, salad, and stir-fried veggies. Dinner + good company + Glee = happy.



The only negative to yesterday is that our car started making grinding/grumbling sensations as we drove to their house and we noticed a strong gas odor. We stopped the car for a few minutes and restarted--it seemed fine--but a minute or two later, the sensation started again. We were almost to their house by then so we continued on our way. After dinner, Big J took our car for a quick spin and diagnosed a possible problem with the alternator. We then drove home only to have the car shake more and the smell of gas became so strong that we (meaning I) was afraid of a potential explosion so we parked in a supermarket and got Big J to drive us home.

So...today, we're going to take the car in to the body shop. We already spent $600 fixing the car last month...and now we will have to spend God knows how much to fix this problem. The car is only worth $1500ish right now. At some point, we really should just sell it instead of throwing more money at it. If we can fix it for <$300, we'll go ahead and do it. The car is on it's last leg anyway...if it can survive for another 2 years on $300, we'll keep it. In two years, we will be better equipped to figure out what kind of car we need next.

Anyway....we saved a lot this month but we'll probably need to spend a lot too. And that's the way the world goes around.

Day 27

For breakfast and lunch today, I had oatmeal with blueberries. Husband had oatmeal for breakfast and some leftover soy sauce chicken, rice, and green veggies.

We are low on fresh veggies so we stopped by Costco on the way home from work tonight. Again, it is not a good idea to shop when hungry but we didn't do too poorly. We got a a 6-pack of lettuce and some fresh mozzarella cheese. Hubster's wanted pizza for dinner but I balked at paying $10 for a mergherita pizza when we had all the requisite ingredients to make it ourselves at home. I got home, defrosted some pre-made pizza dough, opened a can of tomato sauce and made the pizza sauce. It took maybe an hour from start to finish. Maybe it wasn't one of my most efficient (or come to think of it, cost saving) experiments but I'm pretty happy with the results. We spent about $9.50 today at Costco...although the cheese cost $6.99, we still have 1.5 logs left...plenty for caprese salad, pizza, and other random goodies over the next few days. Hopefully it'll stay fresh in the fridge to last that long!




Although pizza is great for leftovers, husband finished 2/3s of it all by himself so there isn't any left haha.

Total Cost of food: $9.50
Estimated Cost of food: $3 (cheese) + $.50 (canned tomatoes for pizza sauce) = $3.50

Day 24, 25, 26

The weekend went by like a blur as usual.

Friday:
We had leftovers for lunch as usual but we came home and made chili together for dinner. We used homemade chicken stock, fresh tomatoes from my parents, and some grass-fed beef that I bought at the beginning of the month in anticipation for the experiment. It was enough for 5 large servings so husband ate that on Saturday as well.



Total Cost of Food: $11 (for the chicken)
*******

Saturday
My mom helped me buy a free range chicken from a Chinese market (the kind wit the head and feet still on) so on Saturday, I poached it, removed it from the broth, cut it up and soaked it in a soy sauce marinade. I put the bones back into the broth and let it simmer for a few more hours before cooling it and setting it aside. For lunch that Saturday, I ate an apple, chicken broth, and 2 pieces of chicken while hiubsters ate the leftover chili. Dinner was a potluck at my sister-in-law's house. I made chocolate chip brownies from previously purchased ingredients in my pantry. No pictures...but we ate very heartily.

Total Cost of food: $0
********

Sunday

My sister & her husband treated the family out to lunch on Sunday. No pictures. For some reason, neither of us had much of an appetite during lunch. For dinner, we treated my in-laws in celebration of hubster's promotion at work. They have a family tradition of treating the entire family out for dinner whenever someone gets a raise/promotion. We were really sick of Chinese food so we decided to treat them out to Korean BBQ. Yes, that dramatically raised our monthly food expenditure but it is a tradition so it must be done.




The food was fine but not nearly as good as it is in SoCal. The banchans here were a total disappointment and obviously geared for the American palate. The meat was good in flavor but some of the cuts were too thick. Thinner slices are better for grilling. For 7 people (6 adults +1 child), the meal came to $130 after 18% gratuity. We were all quite stuffed when we were done and there was still about 2lbs of cooked meat leftover. So really...we can still make another 4 meals per person out of that since there are 32 ounces in 2lbs and the recommended portion size of meat is 4 oz. It came to about $18.50/pp including tax but since we can get 8 more servings out of the leftovers, it comes out more to $9.00/per serving. Not bad but I have a feeling we shall be very sick of meat for a while.

Total Cost of Food: $130.00

Day 23

We're running low on various household supplies but I'd been waiting for Costco coupons before I go replenishing the store of goods. Thankfully, the flyer came last week just as we were down to 2 rolls of toilet paper in the entire house. I did not intend to spend much but it is nearly impossible to leave Costco with what you just went in to get. Today, I left $75 poorer. How on Earth??! It's too bad that I put everything away before I thought to take a picture of it but the following is what I purchased:

1. Kirkland brand toilet paper. Hubster's prefers Charmin' but it's just TP folks. Got it $14.99 after coupon.
2. Grapeseed Oil. Not a necessity but it is much healthier to cook with than olive or canola oil. Plus, it has a very high smoking point making it great for hot woks and frying. Apparently heating olive oil at too high of a temperature causes the compounds to react in a way that produces carcinogens. No good. $6.89
3. Cascade dishwasher liquid- the "tablets" were on sale for $12 after coupon but I realized the tablets only did 90 washings while the giant non-sale bottle of regular liquid probably does 2x that at a mere $8.99. Sometimes, coupons don't equal good value.
4. Always 2pk $9.50 on sale.
5. 50 pack of black velvet hangers. We need to organize our walk-in and I like the uniform look of the same hangers. I originally wanted wooden IKEA ones but I think this is a better deal.
6. Ginger Gold Apples $4.99
7. Covergirl Lashblast mascara 3-pk $11.00

Grand total: $76.88

Total on Food: $4.99 + 6.89 = $11.88

Day 22

Dinner with the parents! Last night was Autumn Moon Festival so we went home for dinner. Even though I told my mom the night before that we were coming over, she didn't know for sure if we really would make it because I didn't answer my phone. (My batter died). In any case, she whipped up this deliciousness in one shake of a lamb's tail for us. I love parents.






Mother also hooked us up with fresh green beans and tomatoes from her garden. A few weeks ago, I asked my mom if the chickens from Asian markets were free range/antibotic free etc...although we suspect that they are due to their lean size, we aren't positive. A search online for the farm and packaging plant mysteriously yielded no results. I even looked up the USDA regs to decipher what various letters and numbers meant but to no avail. The chicken is a "product of USA" but I do not know if it was raised in the US or simply "processed" here. I do know, based on my understanding of the law, that even imported chickens must adhere to "the same" inspection guidelines as domestically raised chickens but I still don't know where that chicken came from. And I'm not sure that I want to eat "mystery" meat. I like knowing where my food comes from and that the animals are treated well.

So...after this chicken, I am going to go in with my sister-in-law to buy locally raised chickens from the farm. They are more expensive...about $16.50/ea, but it is well worth the peace of mind.

Anyway...total cost of food today: $0
Est. cost: $0

Day 21

We're going strong! We had random leftovers for lunch. Hubster's had leftovers from dinner while I came home early and made a sandwich of freshly baked bread with rou song. I also ate the last of our apples so I must venture forth to buy more fruit. Late last week, I bought an organic chicken and finally got around to cutting it up yesterday. I processed it into 8 pieces and took as much meat off the bones that I could before using the rest to make chicken stock. I always add a spoonful of apple cider vinegar into my broth because the acid is supposed to help leach out more minerals from the bones. I let the entire thing simmer for about 8 hours until it was reduced by half. After that, I skimmed off all the fat using a mini sieve specifically designed for that purpose.

Since I felt bad that the hubster's only got leftovers for lunch, I wanted to make sure his dinner was extra nutritious. For dinner, I made him shui jia mian using homemade dumplings (courtesy of Mama-in-law), pure chicken stock, and some leafy greens. I love making chicken stock. I prefer making chicken stock to any other kind of stock. I love it how it turns unappetizing bones and vegetable cast-offs into a golden amber liquid. Oh all that lovely quivering collagen makes me so happy! Anyway...le dinner.



Afterward, we went to sister-in-law's house for a Glee party. She made us fresh apple cake, hot out of the oven. It was so good!

Total spent on food: $0
Est. Cost of Food: $0

Day 20

Last night I made some whole wheat blueberry muffins so we'd have a fast breakfast ready for us this morning. Lunch was leftovers. Hubsters got the last of last week's leftovers and some duck from Saturday's wedding banquet. I also had leftovers but it was much more varied and random. I had a pear, some peanut butter, 2 little muffins, and some yogurt haha. I eat healthy stuff but I don't really eat normal stuff. If I ate as hubster's did, I think I'd be in better shape.

Anyway...for dinner, I made some Cantonese style egg & tomato (the ultimate comfort food), some stir-fried clams, and the last of the leftover duck. Actually, correction, we didn't touch the duck during dinner but it was there and available. I guess I shall pack it in a bento for tomorrow's lunch.







Total Spent today: $0
Estimated cost of food: $.33 (1 certified humane egg) + $3.51 (about 1lb of clams) = $3.84. The tomatoes came from our garden. Cost of rice at this point is too difficult to ascertain.

Deal of the Day

The joys of home ownership has its ebbs and flows...it is fun decorating and playing house but it is not so fun managing it on a budget. Currently, I am in love with crimsons, rubies, and scarlets. I very much want to make/buy/source some new pillows to warm up our space for the winter. There is also plenty of room for decorations on the walls and I'd like to find or create some artwork for the walls. There are two expanses of wall that could use some attention. The main one is our upstairs book. It is wide enough to accommodate my childhood upright piano, one large table, bookshelves, or a "time out area" some day if our kiddies are naughty. Since I only intend to birth perfectly well-behaved children, the latter obviously will not necessary. (That and because I foresee the naughty monkeys climbing out and creating mayhem and injuries.)

So anyway...we have this lovely deep-set nook that is currently uninhabited. It looks odd left vacant but I don't want to just fill it up with randomness. The converted one of our bedrooms into the office so we don't really need another desk in the hallway. The piano is a perfect fit but hauling it up and down stairs is a big hassle. Plus, I don't know if it is normal to have a piano upstairs. I think it'd be a better fit downstairs in our dining room.

That leaves a bookcase. It'll be more decorative than functional. Will it even be a good use of space? We'd probably get the set of 2 in the first picture because it is a wee more economical and the size fits more symmetrically in the nook.


$192 (free shipping + 3% cashback)


$259 (free shipping + 3% cashback)

It is rather useless though. Other than displaying a few of my more favorite books and random pictures/plants, there isn't much use for the thing. I would love to get a sewing machine and turn it into a crafting corner. Would that be a good use of space? I could move my current desk out there and do a few simple and inexpensive additions to make it more craft & study friendly. The upside to this is that the hubster's will have more room in the office. The extra space in the office can be used to accommodate additional guests if we ever need the 4th bedroom.





Obviously, I won't make it quite as kitschy and cutesy. It'll definitely double as a respectably stylish and useful space. What do you think? Leaning bookshelves or decorated craft/study space?

2/3 Recap

As of today, we are 2/3 done with our experiment. How have we fared thus far? Though we did not intend to do grocery shopping or "impulse buy", we succumbed to both this week.

As of 09/19/10, we have spent a total of $133.85. However, that includes groceries that we purchased and have not yet used so the more accurate figure is $81.91. This total came from estimating the actual cost of the food we used. $81.91 for 20 days = about $2.04 per person per day. $2.04 for all three meals. Our average is actually getting smaller with each passing day despite our new batch of groceries. Not bad!

Days 17, 18th, & 19th

This weekend was certainly a sign of the times for us. Over the past three days, we've been to a birthday, a wedding, and a baby shower. I didn't get many pictures so I will just summarize each day briefly:

Friday:
Breakfast & lunch were leftovers. I spent $2.95 on a small coffee during work because I was so tired. For dinner, one of my HS friends invited us to dinner at a Chinese buffet restaurant for her birthday. The food was very similar to what my family used to serve when we had a restaurant so it was kind of a strange but rather nice jolt of nostalgia for me.
Total spent on food: $22.95 (for coffee and dinner buffet for 2)
Estimated Cost: same

Saturday:
We had guests come over and stay with us on Friday night. They were also attending the wedding. We did not get much sleep because they had to wake up early to be in the bridal party. For breakfast, they had oatmeal. We went back to sleep after they left and did not wake up until noon. By then, it was too late for lunch so the hubby ate some veggie snacks and we were on our way. At the wedding, I ate a coconut macaroon while the husband ate a big peanut butter cookie. The dinner banquet wouldn't start for three more hours so we went to a local sports bar nearby to catch the big game while we waited. None of us were actually football fans so we sat around drinking beer in an awkward setting for an hour until we all decided it wasn't really our thang. We then left to go to a cheese bar, much more fitting for epicureans such as ourselves. While there, we shared a cheese plate while I had a cup of black coffee.



Dinner was a full blown 10 course Chinese banquet. The bride & groom hired one of the most extravagant wedding planners in the city and completely glammed up the place. It was very nice and most definitely worth it. It changed your typical run-of-the-mill Chinese restaurant into a romantic and cozy space filled with lush red roses and candelabras dripping with crystals. Our pictures are not uploaded yet. Just to give you an idea of what it looked like, here are a few pictures from the wedding.





Total spent on food: $3.00 (share of cheese plate) + $1.50 (coffee) + $4.50 (beer) = $9.00.
Estimated cost: same (wedding gift obviously not included)

Sunday:
We didn't get home until 11pm and didn't go to bed until after 2am. Our friends stayed up chatting with us---it was nice and fun. Because we were all so tired, we didn't get up until really late today. For lunch, they treated us out at a Vietnamese restaurant to thank us for hosting them this weekend. That was very nice and totally unexpected. Shortly thereafter, I left to go to a baby shower. Husband's parents invited us out to dinner but I was feeling very tired so I stayed home instead. We've been eating out so much that my system didn't really feel up to another meal at a Chinese restaurant. Instead, I had an apple, oatmeal, and peanut butter. Hubby was super sweet---while I was at the baby shower, he took his friends to the Japanese market to stock up on some supplies. Apparently the hubster missed me so he bought me a little pack of rose flavored milk tea to warm me up during the cold mornings. He also bought a pound of clams for dinner.

Total spent on food: $0
Estimated Cost: $1 (apple) + $.10 (oatmeal) + $.63 (1 ounce peanut butter) + $3.99 (clams) +$4.19 (milk tea) = $9.91

Day 16

We started our vegetable garden in late May and after 4 long months, we FINALLY reaped the rewards of our toil today! Behold! Our happy little garden!



There is something uniquely satisfying from eating the fruits of one's labor. The vegetable just tastes sweeter and more tender. I don't know what to do with our two precious tomatoes yet but perhaps I shall make some simple bruschetta tomorrow. Tonight's dinner was a chicken chow men with zuchini, carrots, and garlic. So simple and quick to make yet so satisfying.



Total Spent on food today: $43 (from groceries that weren't used today)
Estimated cost of food: leftovers for lunch and breakfast. Dinner: $1 chicken, $.10 for corn, and $.10 for carrots. Everything else came from our garden or papa-in-law's noodle factory. $1.20

Food Wish List

Day 15 is now behind me and I cannot help my habit of looking at new grocery ads each week to see what is on sale. This week, my favorite market happens to have plenty of items that I like on sale. If I were going to go grocery shopping as normal, I would buy the following:

Vegetables
1. Japanese white yams @ $1.29/lb. This is a slightly more expensive and luxurious treat but I'd probably get 4 yams. I like to throw them in the rice cooker to steam. It is so yummy and nutritious that I don't mind spending money on it.
2. Organic apples @ $.99lb. Probably 5lbs. We go through apples quickly and organic apples are rarely <$1lb.
Estimated Cost: $5+$5 = $10

Meat
1. Fresh manila clams @ $3.99/lb. One pound has about 20 clams so we could easily make a meal of $3.99.
2. Locally raised, drug-free, vegetarian-fed chicken wings @ $1.29/lb. Generally, it comes in a 2lb pack. I like to stock up on this because my guests tend to like chicken wings. Probably 3 pack around $3.50/ea.
Estimated Cost: $3.99+$10= $14.00

Treats
1. Duck @ $1.99lb. One duck probably weighs 4lbs so this baby would cost at least $8. It's a pain to roast duck yet I can't help but loving it! It reminds me of happy childhood days watching my Dad go through the laborious process of making roast duck.
2. Jiajiang sauce for the hubby. $2.99/jar
Estimated Cost: $9+2.99= $12.00

This little shopping excursion would cost us about $36.00. I don't need any of it except for the apples. The yams would be a very nice to have. The meat, especially the duck, I can do without. The chicken wings are always on sale every other week for $1.29lb so if I miss it this week, I will have other opportunities. The clams are very enticing though...I haven't had clams in months and making them at home is so much healthier and cheaper than ordering it at a restaurant. Clams are also very nutritious and packed with iron and protein. I think I will go ahead and splurge for a pound.

So there you have it...my normal weekly shopping excursion would probably cost me about $36.00 but by being more conscientious, I think I will probably be good with $9. Possibly $13 if I get some yams.

*edit* I went to the grocery store today and bout $43 worth of groceries:

1. 1 "good" chicken. Instead of calling it free range/ant0biotic-free/vegetarian blah blah, I'm just going to refer to it as "good" from now on. If it is "good", it is all of the above. In the case of the above, it is also corn-free and wild foraging. $2.49lb @ 4lbs = $9.96.

2. Organic Honeycrisp apples. These are double the price of the other ones but they supposedly taste better. I got 5 apples just to try. $1.99/lb = $5.50.

3. Organic Bartlett pears. $.99/lb. I got 4 pears at about $4.

4. Organic peanut butter--normal price is $6/jar on sale for $3.99. 4 jars = $16.

5. Organic yogurt-huge tub = $2.99

6. Coconut Water Kefir. Normally, we get milk kefir but this was on sale and I've always been curious about the coconut variety. $3.99.

Total spent on food: $43

Yes, it is considerably more than what I anticipated haha. The peanut butter really threw us over the top but I love peanut butter and good peanut butter is rarely on sale. Hopefully it will last us a while. What is the take home lesson from this Kids?

Don't go shopping when you're hungry.

Day 15

I was able to come home between classes today and was a lot more productive because of it. For dinner, I braised lettuce that was a little too limp for salad and stir-fried some chicken with mushrooms.




Dessert was a red bean jongzi, which we shared. The other will go into hubster's lunch tomorrow, along with tonight's leftovers.


Total Cost of food: $0
Est. Cost of food: $1 (chicken) + $.50 (lettuce) + $.50 (mushrooms) + $1 (rice)= $3 max. I have to estimate the cost of mushrooms and rice because it came in bulk and I only used a teeny portion of it. It might actually be less than my estimation but I'll just guess conservatively. The best part is that I have enough to make 1.5 lunches from the leftovers. Le score!

Day 14

We had a few tricks up our sleeves before we started this experiment in the form of gift cards! We have 2 or 3 gift cards that we never got around to using. Most of the time, we don't go to these restaurants but we just happened to past by one of those restaurants today and we decided to burn it up. We kind of regretted it after we ate it because the food itself was kind of gross and we had to add $5 on top of the card to pay for tip. I ordered a chicken marsala thinking it would be healthy but I can tell that everything (veggies and all) was just dropped into the deep fryer and topped with an oily and salty sauce. I also started to feel uneasy about where they get their meat. I'm pretty sure it isn't locally raised and vegetarian-fed. It is no wonder that 99% of the patrons there were overweight. Now I remember why we don't go to these restaurants!

In hindsight, $5 would have been much better spent if I had just spent the money to purchase groceries. On the other hand, we did get 3 meals out of it so that saves me time and energy. We had a very early dinner so we even had time to clean house and go for a brisk 2 mile walk up a steep hill near our house to burn off some of the calories.






Total spent on food today: $5
Estimated cost of food: $30 (including tip)

Day 13

*updated 09/16/10*

Well what do you know! After berating myself over it for 3 days and suffering various ulcers and anxiety over it...I got a call back from the club manager today telling me that they were able to reactivate me! Yes! I am so happy! He gave me a month-long pass to use until he was able to clear this up with his manager but based on what he told me, there was a slim to non chance. This is such a welcome surprise!

*end update*

When life gives you lemons, you make lemonade.

There is no use crying over spilt milk.

All sorts of clichés that are designed to make one feel better when one screws up doesn't usually actually make one feel one whit better about the screw-up. I guess what separates happy/contented people and unhappy/depressed people is how a person actual deals with said screw up.

I screwed up big and I *felt* like it was the end of the world but really, it's not that bad. It'll just cost me. Several years ago, my employer gave me a pre-paid 3 year membership to the gym with an annual renewal of $24. Great deal! I was set for the rest of my life! Fast forward to last year--I moved and forgot to change my address. I was sick of all the gym's spammy emails so I unsubscribed from the emails without realizing that they wouldn't send me account information either. In the past, when my renewal date was due, they would let me know. Somehow, this location was different. I went at least two times after my renewal was supposedly expired and they let me in. Basically, I was never informed that my renewal was due and I didn't find out that I was passed due until Saturday.

So what is the lesson here? Obviously, my error was in not updating my address--an error the club people liked to repeat "it is YOUR job to update blah blah" and they did not like it when I replied, "and it is YOUR job to not let people with overdue accounts in and it is YOUR job to collect payment due. Had YOU denied me entry the first 2 times after my membership expired, I would had been put on notice that it was due and I would have made your "reactivation period". Long story (somewhat shortened), despite my best efforts, my ability to re-activate hangs on a very thin-to-nonexistent thread and my life-membership has ended due to my screw up.

At first--I had a mini panic attack because I don't want to re-buy the membership. Then I had a small anxiety attack because they don't even do the 3 year membership + lifetime renewals anymore even if I could scrape together the hundreds to pay for it up front. All I can say is...this totally sucks but I have done all that I can do short of contacting the Regional VP (which I plan on doing if the club manager denies my activation). What is the point in letting this add additional stress into my already stressed out life? What good can come from the pit of acid stirring in my stomach from utter injustice of this? How can I benefit from berating myself since I am already suffering?

No...I must think positively and think of the best. I made a big mistake according to my life and situation but in the grand scheme of things, it is such a minute little insignificant thing. No, this is not something that I can someday look back and laugh at but if it does not get resolved the way I wish it would, there is no use dwelling on it. I will cease to think of it and if I must think of it, I will just consider myself lucky for having even gotten a supremely great free gym membership for the past 6 years.

Total Spent on Food today: $.85
Est. Cost of food: leftovers, so $0

Day 12

I just spent probably the last vestiges of summer indoors pounding out a memo and policy revision for work. Now I have to get started on school work. Since the last week in May, I have not had a single day off from either work or school or both. This is the craziest and busiest year but thankfully, it is my last year.

Anyway...we woke up too late for breakfast but we got free coffee drinks at church today. That was nice and unexpected but church tends to be pretty nice and unexpected anyway :) I very much wanted a Vietnamese baguette for lunch today but I balked at blowing $6 on one meal so we went home instead. I went deep into the hidden depths of the freezer and pulled out two varietals of frozen homemade dumplings. We went to town on that I and I cleared precious freezer space in the process...just in time for dinner.

Ahhh...dinner. Have I mentioned how much I love Sunday dinners? We get fed so well!



Mama-in-law made chive pockets and loaded us up with a gallon zip-lock bag of leftovers.



We might never clear up enough freezer space to buy 1/16th of a locally raised grass finished cow but I'm totally fine with that if we continue getting yummy homemade food from our parents! Yay for having parents close by!

Total spent on food today: $0
Est. Cost of Food: $0

Day 11

Just as a recap...we are now 1/3 of the way through with our social experiment. How do I feel so far? Pretty good! Our fridge is at a manageable capacity right now. We are eating our produce before it goes bad. It is also making me more creative in using up leftovers and it has helped us reduce the amount of meat and eggs we eat. What we should have done was get blood tests to check our beginning weight/blood sugar/cholesterol and all that stuff so we can compare 30 days later. Anyway...day 10 and our pantry and freezer is still going strong. The vegetable and fruit situation is not something we're going to sacrifice or skimp on--remember--the goal is healthy--so we will buy more as we run out. No biggie.

The " total spent on food" is how much we actually spent this month to buy food or groceries.

The "estimated cost of food" is a more accurate measure of how much we spend each month because we were basically just eating through our previously purchased supplies. Once we run out, we'd have to replenish it. I divided the "estimated cost of food" into servings and multiplied it by the two of us when we had guests over for dinner. We often invite people over but that number is variable. I wanted to specifically measure how much the two of us spend.

The total "estimated cost of food" is the total cost of food including ourselves and our guests.

Here is a brief recap of our 10 day expenses:

Total Spent on Food/Groceries: $15.06 or $.75/day per person. This number is a little off because I bought $32.58 worth of groceries on August 31st, so really, the total I spent so far is: $47.64 or 2.38/pp. I didn't add the August 31st grocery cost to the "Estimated Costs" because I accounted for each item individually so I only included what I actually used. That is different from this total because here, I included the cost of all the groceries, including items that I have not yet used.

Estimated Cost of Food (based on 2 people): $47.68 or $2.39/day per person.
Estimated Cost of Food (including our guests): $70.12 or $2.34/day per person.

Today, we just ate leftovers for lunch and went to a friend's house for a BBQ dinner. It was a potluck and I brought a seafood quinoa dish. I had this frozen mussel broth leftover from when my friend's visited me last month and it was a rich, yummy, wine-y concentrated broth that was perfect for cooking the rather tasteless grains of quinoa. Add in some fresh sliced corn (thanks 10 for $1!) and a small handful of frozen seafood mix, I was all ready to go. It looked and tasted luxurious but it probably cost $3 to $5 total in ingredients. I'll just say $5 to be on the conservative side. I wish I had taken a picture but we were in a hurry. It was gobbled up pretty quickly but I'll just ask you to take my word for it that it was a good potluck dish.

Total spent on food today: $0
Est. Cost of Food: $5

Day 10 & Recap

Today was a bust-I haven't been feeling well lately so I called in sick today. I ended up sleeping until 2:30PM!! Wow. I pretty much let my body sleep until it was time to wake-up and I guess I needed all that sleep. Maybe I overindulged a little too much because I now have the "too much sleep" headache. Needless to say, I did not have breakfast nor did I have lunch. I ate 2 or 3 mini buns throughout the day and a string cheese. I do not really feel like eating since I haven't actually been active today. Tonight I tried to burn up excess energy by going on a massive cleaning spree. We are usually pretty good about keeping the house tidy but there are still bits here and there to clean up. I ended up thoroughly cleaning the downstairs bathroom, vacuumed, deep cleaned the kitchen (includes scrubbing down stove, mopping floor etc), and emptied our recycle bin. I feel a little better with some physical assertion and the house is gleaming again!

Hubby fared much better today. It was his annual review and his supervisor treated him out to lunch. Along with a fatty burger, hubby got a side of awesome! Normally, we'd go out to celebrate but tonight, he has to pick up some friends from the airport. We are going to celebrate by doing something nice for our parents. Probably a nice dinner with his family and the equivalent of a nice dinner with mine since Papa prefers cooking over going out. That will blow our experiment right out of the water but one must celebrate good news with loved ones!

Total spent on food today: $0
Est. cost of food: $.50 (homemade buns) = .50

Dream Haven

Hubby and I became homeowners last year just as the housing market sank in a free-for-all. Due to the current housing situation, we probably cannot move out for a couple of years unless we do a lateral move. I love our house, our neighbors, and the things/amenities in our area so I'm happy with where we are. The only downside is that we live about 30 minutes away from the city center. It is a trade-off though--the closer in to the city we live, the less we can afford in terms of a house and neighborhood. Our future will change drastically in another year--so we'll reassess our 5 year plan at that point.

Once in a while, I check our house value online even though it is completely pointless. Sometimes, just as a dream, I look up houses in our ideal neighborhood. May I just say that the property taxes in the city are REDONKULOUS? Yet another good reason to live in the 'burbs. We can actually afford to retire there!

Still...one can dream. Although not pictured, there is also a separate office/building too!





Might I just add how much I adore this side patio! Imagine the parties we could have out there! So elegant. So dreamy. Le sigh.

The house is actually not expensive for what it is but the property taxes are killer. Property taxes are nearly $15,000 a year and it is an expense that will likely increase in the future. Still, I adore older homes. This one was built in 1928. It looks like it must have had a lot of fun during its times. If walls could talk, I wonder what stories it has to tell.

Day 9

So exhausted today...I had to be out the door early today so we didn't have time for a real breakfast. It's fine...we're both kind of sick of oatmeal by now. Wednesdays are my longest days (13 full hours) so I didn't have time to cook dinner nor did I have energy to care about the next day's lunch when I returned home at 10:30pm. Good thing we still had some leftovers so lunch was taken care of today but dinner was another story.

We got off early today to pick up the car from the shop and got back home before 6pm. I had some defrosted chicken from earlier in the week but wasn't quite sure what to do with it. We have been craving fried chicken ever since we watched "Man vs. Food" on the Travel Channel so I decided to make some yian xu ji (Taiwanese snack food of crispy fried chicken bits tossed with spices and basil). To make our meal healthier, I tiredly started cutting fresh corn kernels to make some seafood & corn chowder. It has been damp lately and we are both fighting off colds so I wanted to make warm or hot foods. I got out some greens and rehydrated some shitake mushrooms intending to braise it Chinese style but about five minutes of listless preparation, I decided to screw it. I turned to an equally tired hubby and said, "Howzabout some ramyun?" to which he replied, "I was craving that on the way home today!"

Happily energized now, I made Hubsters in charge of making the ramyun while I finished frying the chicken. I love cooking in my Le Creuset because it retains heat so well. I was able to fry the chicken in less than 10 minutes when it normally takes me double that time in a wok. Hmmmm...yian xu ji. What is it about crispy, salty, sweet, spicy fried snacks that makes it so darn satisfying?



Do I feel a wee guilty for eating stove top ramen and fried chicken for dinner with nary a vegetable in sight? Only for 2 seconds haha. It was darn good and satisfied our tired and cold bodies and souls.

Cost spent on food today: $0
Est. Cost of food: $4 (chicken) + $3.40 (2 packs of ramen) + $.80 (2 certified humane eggs) = $8.20.

Day 8

Today was both a bad day and a good day. The bad was totally preventable, which makes me all sorts of upset but the good was very much a product of my own doing so it makes me all sorts of happy. In my profession, one must pass several tests in order to practice and pass I did! On the first one at least. I have more to come but climbing over this hill helps reaffirm my decision to quit a decent career in order to pursue this new one (which will leave me riddled with debt upon graduation).

Ahh finances. This relates back to my earlier bad. The bad is that my car headlights got bashed in last night. I do not want to go into the gory details of it but at least nothing worse happened. It could have been stolen, smashed some more, gutted, etc etc. Nevertheless, this will cost us an estimated $190 to replace. Le sigh. We received the car as gift but along with it came lots of overdue maintenance work. After comparing quotes, the estimated cost will be anywhere from $600-$900. But fix it we must because it was pretty much a ticking time bomb of a death trap. Brakes? gone. Transmission? Within an inch of it's life. Axles? Both to be replaced. This doesn't include the requisite fluid flushes etc etc. All in all...we are looking at probably $1000 in immediate repairs.

At that point, part of me wondered if it wasn't smarter to just sell the thing and get a new one. The current bluebook value of the car (based on mileage) is worth anywhere from $1800-$4000. No...not worth it right now. It is still better to stick it through and literally drive it to the ground for another 2-3 years before getting a new car.

Oh right...back to the experiment.

My meals today:
Breakfast: made oatmeal but proceeded to lose my appetite immediately upon receiving that dreaded phone call informing us of the headlight bashage so I didn't eat it.
Lunch: Still no appetite
Dinner: one bun and an apple and coffee.
*edit* I ended up buying a cup of split pea soup today (both the cheapest and the healthiest) for dinner because I obviously did not pack enough today to last me for 13 hours. I felt horribly guilty because I had SPENT MONEY BUYING FOOD but it is not good to starve. At least that was a good reminder that even when things come crashing down (or in our case, getting bashed), we should still remember to take care of one's basic needs. *end edit*

Husband's meals:
Breakfast: probably oatmeal
Lunch: leftovers
Dinner: leftovers

Total Food Expenses today: $2.95 (split pea soup)
Est. Cost of Food today: $.50 (apple) + soup = $3.45. Buns & leftovers previously accounted for.

Total expended on sheer stupidity: $190

Day 7

For breakfast...oatmeal again but I should mention that we soak our oatmeal overnight. One small rice cup of oatmeal is just the right amount for the two of us in the morning. Soaking it makes the oats creamier and easier to eat.

Lunch: Hubby got leftovers from dinner. I had an apple and a bun from yesterday. That obviously wasn't enough for me because I was starving by the time I got home and ate 3 more buns over the course of the evening. Ditto for hubby. Whoops. On the bright side, the buns were still decently soft.

Dinner: I felt inspired to make comfort food because of this crazy weather today so I made some hot, soothing Corn Chicken. I don't know what else to call it haha. It is fresh corn, zuchinni, onion, diced chicken (two thighs--from the fancy chicken I butchered earlier this week) and stir-fried it with some broth to make a creamy Chinese style casserole dish. As a side, I also stir-fried some jade beans and carrots. Doesn't look fancy--in fact, it looks down right cafeteria disgusting in this picture but imagine it all nice and colorful, like it was in real life. It was also hot and soothing with lots of sauce--perfect for a dark and stormy night.



Tomorrow's lunch shall be leftovers for the Hubby and for me as well except mine is served over shirataki noodles. Since I deboned the chicken thighs, I took that opportunity to make a quick chicken broth out of it by simmering it with some leftover onion tops, carrot peelings, bean ends, and corn cobs. The corn cobs made it distinctly sweet and corny but I can make great use out of it another time.

Total amount spent today: $0
Estimated cost of Dinner: $.25 (2.5 ears of corn) + $2 (2 chicken thighs @ $8/chicken that I cut into 8 pieces) + $.50 (est. cost for 2 cups rice) + $5.00 (2 packs of shirataki noodles) = $7.75.

This is enough for dinner and lunch AND a heaping serving of dinner for my brother (with his own pack of noodles). So really...if I hadn't delivered take-out to my brother tonight, that would have given us 2 extra servings making it a grand total of $1.29 per serving. We were in the 'hood so we thought he'd like a healthy and nutritious meal from his big sister.

I did not account for breakfast (just oatmeal), lunch (leftovers--already accounted for), or random extras from dinner because some were leftovers or fresh (and free!) from my momma's garden.

Day 6

Breakfast: same ole
Lunch: Last of the spaghetti (thank GOODNESS)
Snack: half a macaron & a quarter of a lemon tart from Bouchon in Napa Valley (courtesy of a most beloved sis-in-law).

Dinner: I was craving Jiajangmian but we didn't have the bean sauce at home. Not to be deterred, I made my own version of it with onion, zucchini, Chinese black beans, and tofu. The noodles were from hubby's parent's company--lovely spinach noodles!



I got inspired by one of my friend's pictures of Asian pastries from Vegas and really wanted to try my hand at making some of them. Originally, I just wanted to make Asian style bread--bread that is pillowy, soft, with a fine crumb. You know, the kind used to make brick toast at tea houses. Well...as luck would have it, I stumbled upon gold...I figured out how to make Asian pastries! Yayzers!!

Behold--this is supposed to be "catepillar" buns but we don't have any hotdogs at home so I subb'd it with Spam. Not the healthiest but I plan to give most of these away.



See! Soft and fluffy! It is supposed to stay soft and fluffy overnight too. We'll see if that is the case tomorrow. If it does, then I think I have a winner on my hands.



Here is another variation--I got a little bored so I added some fresh corn and tried out a circular design.



Estimated Cost of Buns: $3 for 10

Day 5

Our meal schedule got completely turned around today. The first night the kidlets were here, they did not sleep well so the following night, they snoozed for nearly 11 hours. We ate an early "brunch" of oatmeal today. The kids ran around a lot so every hour or so, they came running to me claiming near death by starvation. Between brunch and dinner, I fed the kiddies apples, bread with peanut butter, one blueberry muffin, and string cheese. For dinner, the kids and hubby ate their weight in spaghetti with bolognese sauce while I had some shirataki noodles with broth.

Total spent today: $0
Estimated Cost of Food: Too exhausted to count.

Day 4

Sorry! Not a single picture to share today. For breakfast, I made the girls blueberry pancakes. Hubster and I had our requisite oatmeal porridge with blueberries. Hubby had a lunchtime outing and I think he had a margherita pizza while I made spaghetti bolognese over organic whole wheat pasta for the children. The bolognese was a slow process involving organic tomatoes, onions, carrots, zucchini, garlic, seasoned beef, and my secret ingredient: a bit of duck liver pate. I simmered the sauce until the veggies were tender and then I blended it with an immersion blender to make the sauce smooth. The meat was added back to the sauce after the blending.

Then....dinner came. I had a vague notion that Hubby's friends were stopping by en route to the airport today but soon after they arrived, I realized that we should all have grab dinner together. Time was a wee tight so I suggested that we stay in and I'd make dinner. Good thing I made a giant vat of sauce--it was simple to make another package of pasta, some warm bread, and some of that sweet corn we picked up yesterday. I was afraid we didn't have enough food so I asked Hubsters to pick up some lettuce for a salad. I asked for 1-2 heads...he came back with 4.

Total spent on food today: $4 for 4 heads of lettuce.
Estimated cost of food for 7 hungry people: $2 (2 heads lettuce) + $1.25 (avocado) + $.50 (1 onion) + 5 corn ($.50) + $1 (homemade sourdough bread) + $2 (pasta) + $10 (bolognese sauce) = $17.25/7 = $2.46/PP.

I might be off by a few dollars but even so...I think it is safe to say that dinner cost less than $3 a person for today. Not bad for grass fed beef & organic tomatoes!

Day 3 & The End

This morning, we ate savory oatmeal for breakfast. Apparently, savory oatmeal is de rigeuer and I thought it might be a nice way to spice up the morning gruel. We (meaning hubby-I was too busy sleeping) cooked the oatmeal with a sprinkle of salt, several grinds of fresh black pepper, a shaving of parmesan cheese, and a drizzle of flaxseed oil. Upon tasting it, we both quickly agreed that sweetened oatmeal is more enjoyable when breaking one's fast. Would I try it again though? Sure, but as a side dish for dinner.



Our lunches were quick and easy...I had one pork and mushroom jongzi and two tangerines while Eric had one pork & mushroom one and one red bean one. He also got two tangerines and string cheese. I packed him some soup too but he was too full to eat it.

On our way home (as in home to my parent's house), Husband found out that a local grocery store was selling 10 ears of corn for $1! 10 for $1??!? Unheard of since perhaps 1998! I was all for holding firm but husband was so right..10 for $1 is mighty economical and it is YUMMY. We'd be fools to pass up fresh produce at such great prices! So...sadly...after just 3 days...(yes three because we actually started on August 31st), we have given up and purchased food. Since other produce was cheap, we ended up leaving with twenty ears of corn, ten apples, and three onions for $8.11. In case you are curious, this is what we ate on August 31s: Salad with green goddess dressing, avocado, leftover roast chicken, and leftover oxtail soup (courtesy of Mama-in-law.)



Do I feel guilty? A little...because we really didn't "need" to buy it but come October or November when produce is scarce and expensive...we would have kicked ourselves for not enjoying summer's bounty when it was fresh and cheap. We're still going to continue with our experiment except we shall harken back to the early goal of just trying to account for everything we spend and spend frugally (without sacrificing on nutrition) rather than going a month without buying any food.

Oh, and by the way, my Mama totally hooked us up with a fresh zucchini, fresh green onions, and a handful of fresh cilantro today. Dinner was pretty kick@$$ as well.



The fish were $2.49/lb. I'm not sure how many pounds of fish were in that dish but I'd hazard a guess of 2lbs for a total of $5. The live shrimp were SO good! Dad got about 1.5lbs @ $11/lbs for a total of $16.50. The zucchini came from the garden and the tofu puffs probably cost about $2.50. Not including the clear bone broth my Dad made today, the four of us ate about $25 worth of the most excellent seafood. We polished off the shrimp but there was enough squash and fish leftover for them to enjoy another hearty meal.

Although we did not have to pay for dinner with my parents, I thought I would add that into consideration as if we had purchased it ourselves.

Total spent on food: $8.11(produce) +$12.50 (our share of dinner not including leftovers) = $21.61

Tomorrow, actually, tonight, I am babysitting two sweet little girls with appetites on par with lumberjacks. I shall be making them blueberry pancakes for breakfast and spaghetti with Bolognese sauce for lunch and most likely dinner too. Let's see how that fares manana!

Day 2

For breakfast this morning, hubby made us oatmeal with blueberries, a spoonful of brown sugar, a sprinkle of cinnamon, and a drizzle of flaxseed oil. I really cannot recall exactly how much everything costs nor do I really know how many servings I get out of each item so for now, let us call it much cheaper than $4.99 for a bowl of oatmeal that the local cafe charges for a similar item. Sans the organic cold-pressed flaxseed oil. No picture, but we plan on eating it every day now so I'll catch up with a photo on another day :)

For lunch, hubs ate yesterday's leftover soup while I had my little sushi. I made it a wee too large so I had trouble popping it into my mouth. Ok, so I stuffed it in but it was neither a delicate nor discreet manner of eating with my chipmunk cheeks out in plain sight.



Dinner was our "meat-free" meal of the day. Although we don't know what our cholesterol levels are, it doesn't hurt to prevent it before it gets to a point where action is necessary. It doesn't look all that special but it was so good!



We used up the last of our salad but we still have two more avocados. Arrgh...I absolutely adore this salad dressing--it's a homemade Green Goddess dressing (made lighter with just plain yogurt and no oil or mayo) and already we are thinking about caving in to buy more salad. For protein, we have some garbanzo beans marinated in a little bit of balsamic vinegar, parsley, and onions. We had a pomegranate that was starting to go bad so I sprinkled some of it on top of the salad. To round out the corners, we indulged in copious amounts of watermelon and the last of my homemade bread. But no worries! I have another batch of dough sitting pretty on my counter for tomorrow's baking.

I do not feel inspired to cook lunch for tomorrow so we're going to eat some leftover zhongzi. We are struggling a little bit with the salad situation...salad is affordable, healthy, and even more importantly, so darn delicious! Wow...day 2...we are already in trouble. What should I do? Spend the $4.79 on 6 heads of organically raised lettuce that will last us about 10 hearty meals? Wouldn't it be MORE wrong to prevent those two beautifully ripe avocados from reaching their full potential?

Decisions...decisions :)

Day 1

I suppose I should share how much we spent in August as a reference point. August was a little skewed because I had friends stay with us for 5 days and we did a lot of driving and eating out. Nevertheless...it might be helpful to see what an atypically expensive month looks like for us.

August Expenses

Groceries: $289.00
Dining out: $300.00
Total on Food: $589.00

This breaks down to about $9.50/day per person out of 31 days. I wonder how much the average person spends on food each day.

In fact, if you read this, please leave a comment and let me know how much you spend on food on average each day!! If you don't know for sure, just tell me how much you spent on food today.

$9.50 doesn't seem too shabby for all meals, snacks, drinks, and tips in a day but I know we could easily trim this down some more. Part of it is not having enough time to cook--the other part is...once you get used to dining out, you kind of just want to continue dining out because it is more fun and generally yummier. The downside, of course, is the health and cleanliness of the food and the cost. Eating one's own cooking is most definitely a better choice all around.

For breakfast today, we had homemade granola bars. Snack involved tangerines and string cheese for both of us.

This is what I packed for hubby's lunch today:


Cucumber Salad with fish sauce


Leftover Indian-style Curry, chicken, and brown rice


As for me, something a little lighter. Leftover chicken, lettuce, and cucumber made its way into Vietnamese-style salad rolls.


For dinner today, I ate random stuff such as bread & cucumber with rou song. It is so good! I was too hungry to wait for dinner to cook so I ate it first. Husband got the good stuff: Korean-style seafood tofu soup (made with yesterday's chicken stock). Coincidentally, this will also be his lunch tomorrow, along with the requisite tangerines and string cheese.



My lunch tomorrow is Japanese-style sushi with cucumber, avocado, rou song, and a bit of rice. Hehe, I like how everything I make is a bastardized version of an ethnic cuisine. I have to make do with what I have, right? Plus, it is a great way of eating the same ingredients without getting tired of it. I'm not sure what we will do for dinner tomorrow, but we haven't had dinner with my parents for a few weeks now. I am going to give them a call tomorrow to see if we can come over--if not, we'll get creative tomorrow!

Total on Food for today: $0
Total of Anything Outside the Realm of necessities: $0

*Necessities include: all school related expenses (books/insurance/tuition), all utilities/mortgage