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!