Gardening: Growing Your Own Food

The most obvious way to save money on groceries is to buy the cheapest stuff available. Around here, that means potatoes and flour for carbohydrates, cabbage for greens, carrots and turnips for roots, chicken scraps for meat, and milk for dairy. But who wants to eat that every day? Coupons and deals help, but you're at the mercy of the supermarket for those.

A cheap and easy way to get the fresh vegetables you want is to grow your own -

You can get a young tomato plant for $3, stick it in a hole in your yard, and get up to 20 pounds of vine-ripened tomatoes (currently going for $2.49 a pound at Wegmans) in a year... as long as you don't let it die.

Don't worry, gardening isn't as hard as it sounds. While it's a lot of work to maximize yield, it doesn't take too much to get productive plants. One easy way to get started is to grow plants in containers or bags. The cheapest way to get started this way is to buy a bag of topsoil and plant directly in the bag. All you have to do is lay the bag on its side in a place where it can get lots of sun outside, then cut holes or slits in the top side to plant your seedlings or seeds in (make sure you follow the instructions that came with your plants!), then poke holes along the bottom to let water drain. After that, just check your bag every day to make sure that the soil is damp without being muddy, and add water as needed. Don't worry about pesticides or fertilizer to start with - blemishes on vegetables and holes in your greens won't hurt you, and your bag of topsoil will have enough nutrients for one year. I don't use any chemicals in my garden, so I'm getting homegrown organic produce for bargain prices! Yum!

Do beware of larger pests like rabbits, groundhogs, and deer. While insects won't eat everything (unless it's a swarm of locusts), these evil mammals can eat entire plants in one go. If these guys show up, you can either move the container to a sunny porch (and hope that they aren't so daring as to come right up to your front door!) or you can put in a fence. Throwing rocks work if you catch them in the act too.

So what should you grow? Whatever you want to eat, of course! Some vegetables are harder to grow than others, but you can figure it out just by reading the instructions that come with the plants. Common garden vegetables that are recommended for beginners with containers are tomatoes, peppers, eggplants, squash, bush beans, and peas. Other plants like leaf lettuce and radishes are also good growers, but I don't recommend them because they're already so cheap from the market anyway. Google is your friend for ideas here.

Recipe: Meat and Vegetable Stew

Here's the recipe for the chicken and vegetable stew that I mentioned back in January (chicken 'cause it's cheap!).

Meat and Vegetable Stew (serves a lot - this batch lasted me 3 days)

Ingredients: small variations in amounts are acceptable - this isn't rocket science!
- 1.25 lbs potatoes or other starchy vegetable (I've used winter squash before)
- 1.5 lbs vegetables (I used 8 oz carrots and 16 oz canned string beans in this photo, but I've also used bags of mixed frozen veggies)
- 1.25 lbs chicken or other meat (Be cheap - chicken thighs and drumsticks are great in stew)
- Salt to taste (I never use any for myself, but my wife likes salt in her food)

Tools:
- 1 slow cooker that can hold everything. If this recipe doesn't fit yours, reduce the amounts until it does!

Preparation:
1 - Wash the potatoes or any fresh veggies.
2 - Chop up all the vegetables until they're all in bite-sized chunks or smaller. Set aside.
3 - Wash your meat and set it aside.

Cooking:
1 - Put your heavy starched veggies in the bottom of the slow cooker.
2 - Put your meat in the middle.
3 - Put the rest of your veggies on top. Add salt and other seasonings now if you want any!
4 - Fill the pot with water.
5 - Set the slow cooker on "Low" and wait 8 hours.

6 - Turn off the slow cooker, ladle out the food, and serve!

Change In Plans

Has it been almost 3 months? Ouch.

I've been thinking on what to do with this blog. In January, it became obvious that eating "healthy and cheap" was actually very easy - buy the cheapest groceries in each category, measure everything out, cook it, and eat.

The problem is that it isn't very fun.

Surprisingly, it's not the food itself that is depressing - it actually tastes pretty good. The annoying thing of it all is having to precisely measure and record how much you're putting in to everything, especially when the recipe itself is flexible (like for stews and soups). I was spending more time measuring and recording everything than I was actually preparing the food.

Another problem was the repetition. When you buy the cheapest groceries all the time, you end up working with the same ingredients every day, and you end up just making the same dishes over and over...

...oh, that's why my mom always served the same Chinese dishes every week! (blogger has a Duh! moment)

Anyway, making the same stuff over and over does not make for an interesting blogging experience, both for the writer and the readers.

So I've been thinking on how to change things up. I'm going to start by relaxing the restrictions on food amounts and quantities - as long as I get the MINIMUMS, I'm not going to worry too much about the maximums. I'm also not going to worry about exact weights and quantities anymore either.

Also, instead of posting entire meals, I'm going to focus on individual dishes and recipes. I also plan on doing the "Theme Weeks" that I had mentioned in the sidebar.

Feedback will be GREATLY appreciated!

Meal Planning Exercise

I'm recovering from a bout of stomach flu, so I couldn't eat anything other than rice porridge all week.

In lieu of posting what I bought this week for groceries, I am posting what I plan to eat this week, how much it will cost, and how I plan on cooking everything for the week.

Here is the allotment for a male adult:

From this, I plan on the following (prices from Wegmans):
Total: 40.0 lbs = $29.98
   Grains: 4.9 lbs = $6.79
      Whole Grain: Brown Rice - 2.4 lbs @ $1.20 per lb = $2.88
      Whole Grain Cereal: Honey and Nut Toasted Oats - 0.9 lbs @ $2.59 per lb = $2.33
      Non-Whole Grain: White Rice - 1.6 lbs @ $0.99 per lb = $1.58
   Vegetables: 9.0 lbs = $7.36
      Potatoes: Whole White Potatoes - 2.5 lbs @ $0.40 per lb = $1.00
      Dark-Green Vegetables: Bulk Spinach - 1.25 lbs @ $1.69 per lb = $2.11
      Orange Vegetables: Baby Cut Carrots - 1 lbs @ $0.99 per lb = $0.99
      Canned Beans: Cut Green Beans - (2) 14.5 oz can (1.8 lbs) @ $0.39 per can = $0.78
      Other Vegetables: Turnips - 2.5 lbs @ $0.99 per lb = $2.48
   Fruits: 8.75 lbs = $5.43
      Whole Fruits: Oranges - 7 lbs @ $0.62 per lb = $4.34
      Fruit Juices: Orange Juice - 1.75 lbs @ $0.62 per lb = $1.09
   Milk Products: 11.4 lbs = $2.51
      Low Fat Milk: 1% Lowfat Milk - 11.4 lbs @ $0.22 per lb = $2.51
   Meat and Beans: 4.0 lbs = $4.39
      Pork: Boneless Center Cut Pork Chops - 0.5 lbs @ $2.69 per lb = $1.35
      Chicken: Chicken Quarters - 2.5 lbs @ $0.49 per lb = $1.23
      Fish: Frozen Whiting Fillets - 0.25 lbs @ $2.50 per lb = $0.63
      Nuts: Honey Roasted Peanuts - 0.25 lbs @ $2.99 per lb = $0.75
      Eggs: Large Eggs - 0.5 lbs @ $0.86 per lb = $0.43
   Other: up to 2 lbs = up to $3.50
      Table Oils: Wegmans Vegetable Oil - up to 1 lbs @ $0.80 per lb = up to $0.80
      Sauces: Kikkoman Soy Sauce - up to 1 lbs @ $2.70 per lb = up to $2.70
      Seasonings: Sugar, Salt, etc sparingly

Weekly Meal Plan:
   Bowl of Cereal w/ Milk (x7)
   Sunny-Side-Up Egg (x5)
   Chicken and Vegetables (2 batches)
   Greens and Stir-Fried Pork (1 batch)
   Pan-Fried Whiting Fillet (1 batch)
   Turnip Soup (1 pot)
   Mugs of Milk as required
   Oranges as required
   Cups of Orange Juice as required
   Nuts as required

I will post recipes throughout the week. Look forward to them!

Geek-Out: DIY Hoverman TV Antenna

I now have HDTV at my house. I made an antenna for $5 worth of parts and 1 hour of work, and it gets all 17 local stations on the air, even though my TV and antenna are buried in my basement. This has to be the best $5 I've spent so far this year.

Here it is:

This design is called the Hoverman antenna, as detailed in US Patent #2918672. All I did was sketch out the pattern on a piece of posterboard, tape down the two lengths of wire down on the board in the right pattern, then hook up the 4:1 balun to the feedpoints in the center with two bolts and plug it into my TV. The posterboard stands up by itself, so I just put it on the ground next to my TV, pointed it in the right direction, turned on the TV, and voila! HDTV goodness.

So how did I get here?

The January 2011 of Popular Mechanics has a DIY "Digital TV Antenna" project on Page 84. I read the article, but the antenna design left out some key information: the PM article does not specify the distance between the dipoles, which is an important parameter for the antenna.

*GEEKSPEAK START*
The PM antenna design works by stacking (4) broadband "bow-tie" dipoles on top of each other, with each dipole in-phase with each other in order to "flatten out" the antenna's radiation pattern top to bottom, increasing the antenna's gain in all other directions, with the best gain being in the "broadsides" directions.

The flattening effect is best when the dipoles are about one-half wavelength from each other, since this cancels out the most radiation top and bottom.
*GEEKSPEAK END*

Finally, the PM design requires (10) separate lengths of wire, with (8) connections between those wires, as well as (2) connections for the feedline. That's a lot of connections that can break, get loose, or otherwise messed up.

Since I wasn't happy with the PM antenna, I looked around the Internet for other DIY designs. I eventually found a website that had a link to the Hoverman patent. After finding its gain characteristics, studying it, and realizing that it has better gain than the PM antenna, even with the corrected feed lines, I decided to build one. The Hoverman antenna also only has (2) separate lengths of wire, with only the (2) connections for the feedline. That makes it a lot easier to make.

So I built it, hooked it up to my TV, and the rest is history.

Addendum: Some enthusiasts have continued to develop and refine the Hoverman antenna, resulting in some impressive designs. Of course, the more powerful the design, the more precise the engineering and manufacturing needs to be. The original Hoverman is very tolerant of deviations to its design measurements, but the new ones require much greater precision in order to realize the higher gains promised by their designs. While I was interested in these designs, I decided to make the original Hoverman because it was so much easier to put together and have it work well, and I did not need the extra gain of the improved designs.

Off-Kilter: Heaping Hot Pot Potluck

Today isn't a TFP day. We (the missus and I) had a going-away party for one of our coworkers, and the meal of choice was Chinese hot pot potluck at our house. Needless to say, everyone gorged themselves on strips of meat, fish tofu, blanched bok choy, and other foodstuffs that only get eaten when it's hot pot time. I'm not even sure how many pounds of anything I ate today.

Since this was potluck, everyone brought something, and everyone brought too much. All the leftovers are now in my fridge. I'm pretty sure that the food consumed that we contributed is worth less than all the leftovers that everyone else left at our house, so we came out fiscally ahead. Awesome!

Regular blogging will resume after we finish eating our hot pot potluck spoils.

Coca-Cola Chicken Catastrophe

I TRIED to make Coca-Cola Chicken today. The problem was that what I had in mind wasn't what my wife was thinking of when she wrote the recipe; when I asked my wife for some advice, she took one look at my pending culinary catastrophe and took her kitchen back before I could do any more damage.

I also nuked something called "delicata squash" in the microwave (it came with microwave instructions on a sticker), scooped it all out of its skin, threw it into the pan with 3 cans of beans and peas, and just stirred it around until it was hot. I'm not sure what to call it, and my wife's opinion was "if you can't say anything polite, then don't say anything at all - so I'm not saying anything". I thought it was decent - the squash was naturally sweet, and everything was naturally soft after being nuked and/or swimming in a can.

Unit cost notes: I ran out of milk, so I bought another jug from Tops. Tops milk is more expensive than Wegmans ($2.19 vs $1.79 per gallon), so my unit cost for milk went up.

No pictures today. I'm too ashamed...

Breakfast:

Cereal in milk: 2 oz cereal, 13 oz milk (cost - $0.49)

Lunch:

Crab fried rice: 2.4 oz brown rice, 1.6 oz white rice, 1.4 oz carrots, 0.8 oz Bok Choy, 0.8 oz spinach, 2.2 oz crab, 1.1 oz egg, 0.6 oz oil (cost - $1.45)

Roasted vegetables: 4.4 oz squash, 2.9 oz potatoes, 1.5 oz onions, 0.2 oz olive oil (cost - $0.43)

Dinner:

Rice: 2.4 oz brown rice, 1.6 oz white rice (cost - $0.28)

Coca-Cola chicken: 4 oz chicken (cost - $0.18) (I deboned 6 oz of chicken leg quarters to get 4 oz of meat), trace amounts of Cola-Cola, soy sauce, and oil.

Mixed veggie mash: 2.5 oz squash, 4.9 oz beans, 2.5 oz peas (cost - $0.47)

Fruits:

Apples: 15 oz (cost - $1.87)

Orange juice: 4 oz (cost - $0.12)

Milk: 13 oz (cost - $0.21)

Summary:

Total cost of food: $5.50

Total eaten / Total daily allowance:  84.8 oz / 91.1 oz

Grains eaten / Grains daily allowance: 10 oz / 10.4 oz

Vegetables eaten / Vegetable daily allowance: 21.7 oz / 21.2 oz

Fruits eaten / Fruits daily allowance: 19 oz / 19.2 oz

Milk Products eaten / Milk Products daily allowance: 26 oz / 26 oz

Meat and Beans eaten / Meat and Beans daily allowance: 7.3 oz / 9.1 oz

Other eaten / Other daily allowance: 0.8 oz / 5.2 oz

Lessons learned:

- Re-read the recipe BEFORE you try to make it.
- Nuked squash is surprisingly tasty.
- Location matters when you buy groceries.

Recipe: Crab Fried Rice

Here's the recipe for the crab fried rice that I made today.

Crab Fried Rice (serves 4)

Ingredients: small variations in amounts are acceptable - this isn't rocket science!
- 15 oz rice (I used 9 oz brown rice and 6 oz white rice in order to keep the TFP whole/non-whole grain ratio, but it is not required)
- 5 oz carrots
- 6 oz dark greens (I used half Bok Choy and half spinach, but any will do)
- 8 oz crab (real crab meat in shreds (sometimes labeled "special") - don't use imitation (see post here for why)
- 4 oz eggs (should be 2 large eggs)
- 2 oz cooking oil
- soy sauce to taste

Tools:
- 1 rice cooker (or a pot, if you're going to make rice on the stovetop)
- 1 wok (or a frying pan)
- 1 small bowl (for the eggs)
- 1 large bowl

Preparation:
1 - Cook the rice in the rice cooker or pot (follow the instructions on the rice bag if you don't know how).
2 - Chop up all the vegetables into bite-sized pieces.
3 - Crack the eggs into a small bowl. Do NOT beat the eggs!
4 - Portion out the crab meat and set it aside.

5 - Once the rice is done, use a rice paddle or spatula to break up the rice so it is loose and not sticking to the  pot.

Cooking:
1 - Put 1 oz of oil into the wok and put it on high heat.
2 - When the oil is hot, dump in the carrots and stir-fry for 5 minutes (less if you want crunchy carrots).
3 - Dump in the rest of the veggies, the crab, and the soy sauce (if any) and keep stir-frying for another 5 minutes.

4 - Dump everything in the wok into the large bowl and set it aside.
5 - Put 1 oz of oil into the wok and put it on high heat again.
6 - When the oil is hot, dump in the eggs.
7 - When the egg whites are done but while the yolks are still runny, dump in all of the rice and stir-fry until the yolks are no longer runny (they should be coating the rice grains and turning them yellow if you got the timing right).

8 - Dump everything in the large bowl back into the wok and mix thoroughly.
9 - Turn off the stovetop and serve!

Seafood Sunday (and Eggs, lots of them)

Today is the first day that I actually cooked something while trying to follow the Thrifty Food Plan (TFP). It was interesting to try and cook like I normally would, while also trying to keep in mind the weekly limits for the different categories. For example, I have already pretty much used up my weekly limit for eggs (4) today.

Breakfast:

Cereal in milk: 2 oz cereal, 13 oz milk (cost - $0.49)

Eggs over easy (2): 3 oz (cost - $0.23)

Lunch:

Crab fried rice: 3 oz brown rice, 2 oz white rice, 1.7 oz carrots, 1 oz Bok Choy, 1 oz spinach, 2.7 oz crab, 1.4 oz egg, 0.7 oz oil (cost - $1.79)

Dinner:

Roasted Vegetables and Stir-Fry (for the whole family, not just what I ate!)

Rice: 2 oz brown rice, 1 oz white rice (cost - $0.21)

Roasted vegetables: 8.5 oz squash, 5.7 oz potatoes, 2.8 oz onions, 0.4 oz olive oil (cost - $0.84)

Stir-fry imitation crab and greens: 1.2 oz Bok Choy, 1.2 oz spinach, 1.6 oz imitation crab (cost - $0.81)

Fruits:

Clementines: 15 oz (cost - $1.13)

Orange juice: 4 oz (cost - $0.12)

Milk: 13 oz (cost - $0.17)

Tea: 4 oz (cost - you don't want to know)

Summary:

Total cost of food: $5.79 ignoring tea

Total eaten / Total daily allowance:  91.9 oz / 91.1 oz

Grains eaten / Grains daily allowance: 10 oz / 10.4 oz

Vegetables eaten / Vegetable daily allowance: 23.1 oz / 21.2 oz

Fruits eaten / Fruits daily allowance: 19 oz / 19.2 oz

Milk Products eaten / Milk Products daily allowance: 26 oz / 26 oz

Meat and Beans eaten / Meat and Beans daily allowance: 8.7 oz / 9.1 oz

Other eaten / Other daily allowance: 5.1 oz / 5.2 oz

Lessons learned:

- Planning meals is HARD! I had no idea what to make today - my wife "suggested" that I make what I made today.

- Not everyone likes eggs over easy with runny yolks.

- Remember to turn on the ventilation hood when frying at high heat, or suffer the wrath of your wife (rumor is that Chinese, Japanese, and Korean housewives are particularly wrathful).

- Splash guards are your friend when frying at high heat (see above).

- Crab fried rice is good.

- Carrots need to go into the pot (or pan) first, since they take longer to cook.

- No one cares if carrots are a little undercooked, because crunchy carrots are awesome, while mushy ones are not.

- "Basting oil" = olive oil.

- Onions don't do well in the oven when everything else is in chunks, because onions peel off into smaller layers and burn up before the other chunks are done.

- Imitation crab meat (which comes in a lump) does not stir-fry well, while real crab meat (which comes in shreds) does.

- Winter squash (which are like pumpkins) has high wastage by weight, since you can't eat the skin.

Grocery Shopping and Unit Prices

Now that I FINALLY finished the leftovers, I did the grocery shopping for the week. I tried to buy the cheapest items in each Thrifty Food Plan (TFP) category:

Here's the receipt:

The unit prices for the groceries today:
Eggs: $1.20 per pound
Cereal: $2.59 per pound
Canned green beans: $0.43 per pound
Canned sweet peas: $0.52 per pound
Pork shoulder: $1.29 per pound
Chicken quarters (wings and thighs): $0.49 per pound
Imitation crab meat: $3.49 per pound
Squash: $0.99 per pound
Carrots: $0.99 per pound

I also bought 20 pounds of rice (5 pounds brown rice, 15 pounds white rice):

The unit prices for the rice was:
Brown rice: $1.20 per pound
White rice: $0.99 per pound

I bought more than usual today because my wife is in town for the week, so I'm buying for two people. The TFP calls for 73.37 pounds for the two of us this week. I didn't buy any dark green vegetables, potatoes, fruit, juice, or milk because I still have some in the fridge.

The current unit prices for these items (thank you, wegmans.com!) are:
Dark green vegetables:
- Baby bok choy: $2.99 per pound
- Spinach $3.20 per pound
Potatoes: $0.40 per pound
Onions: $1.00 per pound
Fruit:
- Apples: $1.99 per pound
- Clementines: $1.20 per pound
Milk: $1.79 per gallon (about $0.21 per pound)
Orange Juice: $3.98 per gallon (about $0.47 per pound)
Apple Juice: $3.98 per gallon (about $0.47 per pound)

There's also a 1-lb container of crab meat ($4.99 per pound) in the fridge.

Some things I noticed today:
- Some items cost a lot less when frozen or canned instead of fresh. Fresh green beans were selling at $2.99 per pound, while the canned ones were only $0.43 per pound.
- Some items cost a lot less FRESH. Fresh milk is $1.79 per gallon, but a box of powdered milk (not baby formula!) that makes 2 gallons is $6.99, or $3.50 a gallon.
- Cereal (even the store brands) is a rip-off. Just get oatmeal ($1.48 per pound) or make rice porridge (yum!)

Some other thoughts:
- It's a waste of money to buy something that you don't like and will never eat. Flour sells for $0.20 per pound ($0.66 per pound for whole grain flour), but I don't bake (yet!), so it doesn't make sense for me to buy flour when I won't eat it. Rice is more expensive, but I love the stuff, so I'm willing to spend a little more for it. The same goes for the imitation crab meat (which is made out of fish); I could get canned tuna for less, but I don't like the stuff, so why buy it when I won't eat it?
-- On the other hand, if it's all you can afford, then I guess you don't have a choice... but that will be for another blog post.

I start cooking tomorrow, so stay tuned!

Cleaning Out The Larder: Day 3

Mabo Tofu Massacre!

Cereal in Milk:

Weight: 15 oz (2 oz cereal, 13 oz milk).

Ham and Radish Soup:

Weight: 4 oz (3 oz radish, 1 oz ham) + 12 oz of water in soup.

Mabo Tofu Rice Bowl #1:

Weight: 14 oz (3 oz mixed veggies, 4 oz tofu, 3 oz ground beef, 4 oz brown rice) + 4 oz water in rice.

Mabo Tofu Rice Bowl #2:

Weight: 18 oz (5 oz mixed veggies, 5 oz tofu, 5 oz ground beef, 3 oz brown rice) + 3 oz water in rice.

Clementines: 10 oz

Apple Juice: 9 oz

Milk: 13 oz

Summary:

Total eaten / Total daily allowance: 83 oz / 91.1 oz

Grains eaten / Grains daily allowance: 9 oz / 10.4 oz

Vegetables eaten / Vegetable daily allowance: 20 oz / 21.2 oz

Fruits eaten / Fruits daily allowance: 19 oz / 19.2 oz

Milk Products eaten / Milk Products daily allowance: 26 oz / 26 oz

Meat and Beans eaten / Meat and Beans daily allowance: 9 oz / 9.1 oz

Other eaten / Other daily allowance: 0 oz / 5.2 oz

Some thoughts:

Not very hungry today. I'm glad that I finally finished off the Mabo Tofu and the leftover rice.

According to this calorie calculator, I should be eating anywhere from 2100 to 3400 kcal per day, depending on activity level. I haven't been doing too much lately, so I guess I shouldn't be eating so much anyway.

Cleaning Out The Larder: Day 2

Still cleaning out the leftovers, but there are a few new items today.

Breakfast: Cereal in Milk:

Weight: 17 oz (2 oz cereal, 15 oz milk).

Lunch: Mabo Tofu (with some rice underneath):

Weight: 15 oz (3 oz mixed veggies, 4 oz tofu, 3 oz ground beef, 5 oz brown rice) + 5 oz water in rice.

Dinner:

Ham and Radish Soup:

Weight: 4 oz (3 oz radish, 1 oz ham) + 12 oz of water in soup.

More Mabo Tofu (with some rice underneath):

Weight: 13 oz (3 oz mixed veggies, 4 oz tofu, 3 oz ground beef, 3 oz brown rice) + 3 oz water in rice.

Oven-Baked Mixed Veggies with Beef Roast:

Weight: 10 oz (7 oz mixed veggies, 3 oz beef)

Other:

Apples:

Weight: 10 oz 

Orange Juice: 9 oz

Milk: 11 oz

Summary:

Total eaten / Total daily allowance: 89 oz / 91.1 oz

Grains eaten / Grains daily allowance: 10 oz / 10.4 oz

Vegetables eaten / Vegetable daily allowance: 24 oz / 21.2 oz

Fruits eaten / Fruits daily allowance: 19 oz / 19.2 oz

Milk Products eaten / Milk Products daily allowance: 26 oz / 26 oz

Meat and Beans eaten / Meat and Beans daily allowance: 10 oz / 9.1 oz

Other eaten / Other daily allowance: 0 oz / 5.2 oz

Some thoughts:

Made up the veggie deficit today, but ate a bit too much meat. Oh well.

Breakfast helped a lot with the milk requirement. It's a lot easier on my stomach to take milk in smaller doses, as one lactase pill sometimes doesn't cut it when you drink too much at once, and you never realize it until it's too late to correct the problem.

I feel a lot more full than I usually do after dinner. I should pack more for lunch so I'm not trying to get all my allowances in at dinner.

Not sure what I should do about the "Other" category. It already feels like I'm eating too much.

I also wonder how many calories are in all of this food... I should also look up how many calories is appropriate for my height, weight, and activity level. My wife mentioned that she only needs about 1200 kcal a day because she's only about 5'2" and slim, but the MyPyramid breakdown for females in her age group in the Thrifty Food Plan recommends almost 2000 kcal a day, so if she ate what was recommended then she would gain around 0.2 pounds a day (assuming all excess calories are metabolized, then saved as fat).

Would I actually gain weight under the Thrifty Food Plan? I'll look that up later.

Cleaning Out The Larder: Day 1 Dinner

Hi all!

My wife made dinner using stuff that was left in the fridge. Yum!

Ham and Radish Soup:

Weight: 3 oz (2 oz radish, 1 oz ham). 15 oz of water in the soup don't count!

Mabo Tofu (with some rice underneath):

Weight: 12 oz (3 oz mixed veggies, 4 oz tofu, 3 oz ground beef, ONLY 2 oz brown rice *cries*)

Keeping in mind that I still need to eat fruit today, some clementines for dessert:

Weight: 10 oz.

I also drank 2 full mugs of lowfat milk (26 oz) to get my milk allowance for the day.

So far today I have eaten:

Total eaten / Total daily allowance: 88 oz / 91.1 oz

Grains eaten / Grains daily allowance: 10 oz / 10.4 oz

Vegetables eaten / Vegetable daily allowance: 18 oz / 21.2 oz

Fruits eaten / Fruits daily allowance: 19 oz / 19.2 oz

Milk Products eaten / Milk Products daily allowance: 26 oz / 26 oz

Meat and Beans eaten / Meat and Beans daily allowance: 9 oz / 9.1 oz

Other eaten / Other daily allowance: 6 oz / 5.2 oz

Some thoughts:

I'm surprised how close I came to meeting the requirements "naturally". I guess I have to thank my parents and my wife for instilling good eating habits. The only things I had to consciously do was:

- Eat less rice. Boo.

- Eat more fruit.

- Drink more milk.

I'm 3 oz short on veggies. I just looked in the fridge, and the only things I found were bok choy and onions... nothing that can really be eaten raw. I guess I'll have to make up the difference tomorrow.

I'll have to remember to eat breakfast tomorrow - cereal in milk will take care of that pesky milk requirement.

I blew the "Other" limit with my cup of hot tea this morning. I'll have to ration it properly next time...

I just realized that I have been not measuring the amount of rice that I have been eating correctly. Rice absorbs about its own volume in water when it is cooked, so my rice weights so far probably are too high. I will have to remember to measure the rice weight before it is cooked.

...the fact that this allows me to eat more rice is pure coincidence, I assure you...