100 DOLLARS A WEEK - Day 14 (What We Ate)...

I remember a friend of a friend deciding to move back to France after having lived in the States for a number of years because she'd just gotten divorced. And as a single mother with full custody of her child who needed to support herself and that child, she decided that life in France was much more conducive to her being able to do that while retaining her sanity.

Two months of vacation a year, free childcare, free college, a somewhat socialized healthcare system. And the best thing of all, the food. That fooooood. 

Fucking French.

Why that even occurred to me today is that the Man took a day off work to do what? Errands.

Don't get me wrong. This isn't an America-bashing post. I've had the good fortune to travel to a handful of countries other than this one, and it has always been nice to come back home. Gawd knows I'd rather live here than South Korea where I was born because, underachiever that I am, I probably would never have passed the exams for university and been stuck serving coffee in a nohrae bahng or something like that.

But having the Man or the kids around gives me a certain energy I don't have when I'm alone, and that's always nice. Because on days like today, it gives me a jump on things.

BREAKFAST

I woke up thinking cereal, but then I thought that would be a rather inauspicious meal for the Man's rare day off, so I made some tomato, spinach and mozzarella omelettes.

   5 eggs @ $0.75
+ 3 slices of mozzarella cheese @ $0.75
+ 1/4 of a bunch of spinach $0.30
+ 1 Roma tomato @ $0.20
+ a little milk, sat and pepper @ $0.10
+ 2 cups of coffee @ $0.40

= BREAKFAST: $2.50 total, $1.25/serving

LUNCH

The Man was out running errands and so grabbed a slice of pizza for lunch. That omelette kept me sated for a while, so just now, I ate a little bit of rice with some of the braising liquid from last night's piggy digits dinner with a baby dollop of sriracha. Braising liquid from fatty meats over some rice is unexpectedly satisfying. I think it's because the flavor is so rich, unctuous and layered.

It's now 3:30, and dinner is pretty much around the corner, so I think this'll do me for the next hour and half.

   the Man's pizza @ $3.00
+ a dollop of sriracha @ $0.02

= LUNCH: $3.02 total

DINNER

I got a head start on dinner today, so it's actually made and ready to go as of this writing. The rest of last week's chuck roast and some vegetables fashioned into a pot roast type deal. And the rest of that bunch of spinach as well as the white corn I bought on last week's shopping trip made into a creamed spinach and corn with just a touch of the nutmeg I bought today.

   just over 1 pound of the last shopping trip's chuck roast $3.00
+ 2 Roma tomatoes @ $0.40
+ half an onion, half a carrot, a stalk of celery (I finally have about 1 stalk left!!!) @ $0.25
+ half a head of garlic $0.05
+ a couple of bay leaves, some Worcestershire, Balsamic vinegar, S&P @ $0.25
+ the rest of the bunch of spinach @ $1.00
+ 4 ears of white corn @ $1.00
+ some butter, milk, flour, S&P, nutmeg @ $0.40

= DINNER: $6.35 total, $2.15/serving (there are at least 3 servings)

$12.00 spent today.

Saturday:  $15.00
Sunday:  $23.00
Monday:  $8.00
Tuesday:  $10.00
Wednesday:  $11.00
Thursday:  $9.00
Friday:  $12.00

$88.00 worth of food used up this week. At the end of this monthlong project, we'll probably hold off shopping for a couple of days and have a few, shall we say, *interesting*, fridge cleanout meals just to make sure we use up all the perishables before we stock up some more.

I feel like I haven't stopped doing since I left to buy groceries this morning.

I like those kinds of days.

shinae