100 DOLLARS A WEEK - Day 4...

I've never been a good piecemealer, and I've always admired people who have the discipline to work on a thing, gradually, steadily, little by little. I was that gal who wrote term papers for three hours straight beginning at midnight, amped on coffee and adrenaline. Cleaning the house isn't a checklist of daily chores. It's a whirlwind of domestic activity once a week where I burn through the house like a Tasmanian Devil before I melt into a puddle of chowhound-ing or HuffPo-ing uselessness.

So these little projects I've undertaken, like killing observing caterpillars and making sundried raisins in a mostly overcast seaside town are all little attempts to teach myself the kind of regular and daily discipline that eluded me in my younger days.

I think I made 5 raisins in 12 days...

In keeping with this attempt at discipline, I've decided to start piecemealing my daily posts. So as I'm sitting here at the laundromat washing all the beddings in this monster 8-load machine, I figure now is as good a time as any to get breakfast out of the way.

Today, it was more of those cinnamon raisin bagels with a schmear, only this time for both of us - a whole one for the Man, a half for me. While the Man is gratefully not a picky eater in the least, he's not exactly keen on bagels, either. But limiting our purchases to what can be eaten within the week, while it's still fresh, forces us into a kind of gustatory stoicism that I think is good for us. Finishing that 6-pack of bagels this week will make that 4-pack of croissants or whatever it is we're going to get next week taste all the better.

One plate for the two of us makes life
a little easier...

BREAKFAST: $0.75 total. (The bagels were on sale for $1.29 this week...)

FYI, I have this Asian rounding disease whereby I round the money I spend UP and the money I save or have DOWN, so these estimates probably also include the cost of coffee too.

Lunch today was easy enough. For the Man, leftovers from last night's dinner and for me, the very last of that ribeye stew with some jasmine rice I made.

The Man's lunch. This is a pic I took last night. Truth
be told, it looked a little sadder than this sitting
in the Rubbermaid container, but you get
the gist...

My lunch.
Sometimes you gotta look at it this way:
 If leftovers don't taste as good on another day because
they're no longer freshly made, they taste pretty
damned good because you didn't have to
freshly make them.

LUNCH: $0.10 for my portion of jasmine rice. All else was leftovers...

I don't really get people who have aversions to eating leftovers - especially the ones who don't do the cooking. Actually, I'll come right out and say it: Barring some mental disorder that keeps them from being able to eat leftovers, I think I'm pretty sure I don't like people who think they're too good for them. They're probably the same people who throw away the last inch of shampoo in the bottle because flipping the bottle or diluting shampoo is what poor, quaint people do. It's not just about the money. It's about resources and energy spent to produce a thing, and the cumulative effect wanton waste has on our habitat. But I digress...

So anyways, last night before bed I soaked the last cup of dry black beans from the pantry so I could make the gift that keeps giving for dinner tonight, that gift being chili. On a one-off basis, it doesn't save much money to buy dry beans - $0.30 for a cup of dry beans which basically makes 2 cups of beans versus $0.99 or so for the canned kind - but saving money is done in an accumulation of ongoing big and little decisions. And this doesn't even consider the health benefits of less processing. Dry beans reconstituted in water are just that - beans and water. And it only takes you a few seconds to cover some beans with some water.

black bean, beef & chorizo chili...

By the way, a tablespoon of vinegar - distilled white or apple cider - added to just about any slow-cooked bean recipe is a great way to bring out the flavor of the beans and give it more depth, tie all the flavors of the dish together, and tenderize the beans a bit. You won't taste the vinegar - I promise. But you do have to remember to add it early in the process - when you add the beans.

So a cup of dry beans, about a pound of ground beef, 1/4 of the tube of chorizo, half an onion, half a green bell, 1 head of garlic, 3 tomatoes and some spices (cumin, chili powder, paprika, achiote, cayenne), a couple of servings of that steamed jasmine rice, and fresh avo, cilantro and green onion for the chili. I'm thinking probably a couple scoops of that vanilla ice cream, too.

I like it all mixed up. Also a Korean thang, I think...

DINNER: $6.00 total, $1.00/serving (this recipe makes about 6 servings - I told ya chili's the gift that keeps giving...) for the chili PLUS $1.00 (rounded up) for the ice cream

All tolled, about $7.00 for the day with leftovers that will carry over on another day.

Saturday:  $24.00
Sunday:  $13.00
Monday:  $11.00
Tuesday:  $7.00

$56.00 spent so far, and three days left to go.

I just looked at my Earthgrown receipt and realized I have some Shiitake (SHEEtahkeh) mushrooms in my produce drawer. Now *THAT* is exciting stuff!

Hasta manana,

shinae

P.S. This is a great way to store your fresh herbs. They keep fresher longer.

Give them a rinse then put them in a glass with some water. Cover with a produce bag and try to find a spot in your fridge where it won't get knocked over by one of those people. You know, those people who grab indiscriminately for shit in the fridge and knock crap over and spill things and generally make messes that usually other people end up having to clean...