(Click here for an explanation of the project.)
Here’s what we ate for $4.57 yesterday, January 9, 2011.
BREAKFAST
whole grapefruit $0.50
multi-grain bagel $0.47
3 tablespoons green onion cream cheese $0.24
6 ounces stove top espresso with 1/3 cup frothed soy milk $0.07 (still using free coffee beans)
LUNCH
chocolate blueberry smoothie with hemp protein $0.83
DINNER
baked yam $0.53
honey baked lentils $0.32
honey roasted organic carrots $0.19
1-1/2 tablespoons sour cream $0.09
SNACKS
bottle of beer $1.33 (Levi is at his dad’s today, so sadly he didn’t get one)
total $4.57
Perhaps we’re getting a little cocky, having a beer on $5 a day. We were running around shopping for four days worth of food as we head into the work week and didn’t have time for any snacks. We did have a brief field trip to our friend’s house for some free eggs and a visit to the ladies who laid them.
See the ladies in action, complete with a soundtrack thanks to Jess.
We got 3 dozen eggs since our friend is fostering some homeless hens and has an abundance. Hooray! We’ll probably still count the co-op price for eggs since they’re so cheap and to keep our totals relevant to people who don’t have the hook-up. It’s sure nice to have some local food in the mix.
And if you’re wondering whether we are really hemp protein kind of gals, we’re not. We don’t really buy powdered food, and it’s not really a bargain food. We have a stock pile of free samples from festivals and things we go to, and decided to throw it into our smoothie. We couldn’t taste it at all, so I guess it was pretty good.
Man, have I missed smoothies with all this cold weather. Here’s the recipe, which benefits in price from the local, organic blueberries we painstakingly picked at a you-pick farm this summer for $2.25 a pound:
CHOCOLATE BLUEBERRY SMOOTHIE
1 banana $0.25
1/2 cup frozen organic blueberries $0.28
1 tablespoon cocoa $0.08
1 cup plain soy milk $0.22
1/2 a free hemp protein packet (optional)
Instructions: blend thoroughly. You can increase the cocoa a bit for a little more chocolate. The banana and blueberries provide plenty of sweet.
And the lentil recipe was recommended by our friend Lisa. We decided to serve it over a baked yam, which didn’t make for the prettiest dinner, but it sure was good. Here’s the cost breakdown:
HONEY BAKED LENTILS
1 cup lentils $1.23
2 cups water
2 cloves minced garlic $0.02
2 teaspoons ground or fresh ginger (we used leftover fresh, unknown cost)
2 tablespoons olive oil $0.26
2 tablespoons tamari or soy sauce $0.06
2 tablespoons honey $0.12
1 small onion, chopped $0.20
salt and pepper to taste
$1.89 total
6 servings = $0.32 per serving
You just combine the ingredients and bake at 350 degrees for an hour. Lentils definitely win in terms of easy and cheap food. They were really cheap despite the fact that we were somehow charged more than the bulk bin was marked. I’m not too concerned, though, because as we finished up our shopping we turned to each other wide-eyed at how much less we are spending on four days worth of food.
I can’t wait to cook some of the new recipes we’re going to try this week!