The end of the challenge

Well, I made it through. Even if I didn't keep up with detailed day-by-day, meal-by-meal accounts of what I ate! On Saturday, one month after I started my challenge, I had to go to the store to get some heavy-duty garbage bags (three of which I have filled so far with clothes that don't fit, to be donated to a local thrift shop. How the heck did I get so many clothes to start with?) and while I was there, I told myself that, as a reward for making it through a month without buying food, I could get myself a treat. I considered chocolate, granola bars, ice cream, and other goodies around the store that normally would have been tempting impulse buys. But...I just couldn't see the point of getting any of them. They were a waste of money, and things I really didn't need.

However, today I went grocery shopping (used up the remainder of the $20 gift card and then some), and gave in to the lure of two kinds of cookies, some ice cream, and sour-cream-and-onion potato chips. Clearly, my impulse shopping has not been entirely curbed! But it's good to know that I can set a goal and stick to it. And of the masses of meat in my freezer, I'm down to one bag of chicken legs, three pork chops, and a bag of chicken thighs thawing in the fridge. I still have a lot of beans and pasta, too, but even if I don't use those up, they'll travel well. Next goal: getting rid of all the junk I've been toting from apartment to apartment and never using. But that's not kitchen related, so I won't be discussing it on this blog. (Okay, I've got a lot of kitchen stuff I've been toting from apartment to apartment, but I can't see myself getting rid of even the things I never use.) I'm not entirely abandoning this blog, though, I expect to still post things from time to time, such as recipes I've created or adapted, or other food-related challenges, etc. See you when I see you!

5/14/10--A trip to the grocery store

I finally used some of the $20 card. I went to the store today to buy milk and a little fresh produce. I've been wanting fruit, so I got myself a pineapple and some strawberries. With difficulty, I avoided buying a huge chocolate bar that was on sale for $1.25. I guess I do have some willpower, after all! I also bought a bag of popcorn kernels, but now I can't find my air popper. I really can't think of where it could be, and I can't imagine I would have gotten rid of it! Hmph. The grocery bill for this first excursion came to less than $8, leaving plenty for the rest of the month.

Anyway, I didn't eat breakfast today, so I've sliced some strawberries and sprinkled sugar on them. I'm letting them sit for a bit while I type this, and I'll probably eat some real lunch after the appetizer of strawberries. Oh, and I should take the other loaf of absurdly dense rye bread out of the freezer to thaw.

Clearly, I am not cut out for daily blogging! Well. Monday afternoon I had burritos with my homemade tortillas and refried beans. I also made some pecan caramel bar cookies, which were very good but perhaps not the wisest choice, seeing as how I finished them off by breakfast time yesterday. They were pretty much pure butter and brown sugar.

Tuesday, I ate too many cookies all day long, then thawed some curry and rice for dinner. On Wednesday, other than cookies, I had a couple of fried eggs for lunch, then went to my parents' house to work on my lathe and ended up having dinner there. And today, I made a half recipe of buttermilk biscuits for breakfast (and ate all 6, good grief), then finished off the lemon ice cream. Finally, for dinner, I made enchiladas with the tortillas and refried beans and some ground beef I'd frozen. I had a can of enchilada sauce in the cupboard.

I think I'd better give in and make my first run to the grocery store tomorrow or Saturday. I definitely need milk, and maybe some fruit. I'm almost half-way through the challenge now, so theoretically, I can use half the money on the $20 card.

Um...Saturday and Sunday

Sorry, due to internet connectivity issues, being busy, and being lazy, I'm a little behind. On Saturday, after the symposium, I finally made some tortillas. Since the ground beef was thawed, I made tacos for dinner. I don't usually use flour tortillas for tacos, so it was kind of weird. And then I forgot to put the rest of the tortillas in the fridge or even in a bag until 11 pm...I hope they'll still be usable!

Sunday morning I made a butterscotch peach pie to take along for Mother's day dinner. I also figured I'd better do something with the thawed chicken, so I made curry for breakfast. I made enough curry that I had to do two batches of rice in my rice cooker to go with it! The extra servings are safely stashed in the fridge and freezer. I also made refried beans. I used the black bean recipe I like, but with pinto beans. I think pintos have tougher skins than black beans; they seemed to take longer to cook. And the refried beans are more oniony than I expected. I guess I'm used to it with the black beans! Anyway, a different flavor and consistency than canned refried beans, but good. And I did all that before church.

My sister and I made meatloaf and baked potatoes for dinner over at our parents' place. And I had leftover curry and rice for breakfast today. Okay, I'm all caught up now, right?

5/7/10 Breakfast, lunch, and later

Um, it's past my bedtime, but I figured I'd better check in in case anyone was worried that I didn't eat today. This morning I made biscuits. Because I haven't gotten milk yet (trying to put off using the $20 gift card as long as possible), I used some buttermilk powder I had in the fridge. I was planning to make a 1/4 recipe of regular biscuits (usually I make drop biscuits), but due to errors and inattentiveness, I ended up making a half recipe of buttermilk drop biscuits. I ate three for breakfast. (480 cal, 27 g fat)

Right before running off to the afternoon sections of the woodturning symposium, I threw together a sandwich. A couple of slices of the absurdly dense rye bread, light mayonnaise, some monterey jack cheese, a little salt and pepper, and some lettuce. It really does make a good combination! (377 cal, 14 g fat)

I put the last three biscuits in a plastic bag and put it in the bag I was carrying with me at the symposium. I snacked on them through the afternoon. I never exactly had dinner, but I had the biscuits and I got a cup of hot chocolate from the free drinks concession at the symposium. And on my way home tonight, I ate some more of my crackers. I really need to make more crackers, but I'm not sure when I'll have time. Speaking of time, it is now time for me to go to bed!

5/6/10--Dinner

For the rest of the week, I'm attending a major woodturning symposium located at one of the universities in town. This, as you might expect, is going to mess up my eating schedule. For example, this morning I was running late and still didn't have milk, so I just slapped some peanut butter and strawberry freezer jam on a graham cracker and chomped it down while I hunted around for socks and my keys. Then, when I got to the symposium, I found that a table of breakfasty-type foods was provided. I ate an orange roll and a few grapes, and stashed an almond-poppy muffin in my bag, since I hadn't had time to pack a lunch. I don't eat very well a lot of the time, do I....

Anyway, since I skipped the swap meet, I was able to come home to fix some dinner. The same time constraints I mentioned yesterday still eliminated tortillas from today's menu. But this time, I had a plan. As soon as I got home, I started some rice in the rice cooker. When the rice was done, I sauteed some raw peanuts in peanut oil, added whatever seasonings and herbs seemed reasonable, then dumped in the rice and an egg. I think I could have used more flavorings, but it wasn't bad. 662 cal, 42 g fat. I finished off with the last of my single-serving-size cups of lemon ice cream. It's gonna get trickier to just eat one serving once I'm scooping it out of a bigger container! But this stuff has got to last me, seeing as how it's one of the few sweet treats I've got around, so I'll try to be careful. And now it's almost time to head back for the evening session of the symposium. I'm going to go to the area where the people who are teaching the various sections will all be competing to make cool stuff! I know I won't be able to afford any of the items, which are being put into an auction, but it should be fun to watch people who really really really know what they're doing.

5/5/10 Breakfast and dinner

So, I spent too much of the day sitting out in the sun. If I had realized I'd be outside all day, I would have put on sunblock. Alas. I am quite sunburned. I was volunteering at the local woodturning store for their big sale today so that I could get free admission to a rather excellent woodturning symposium going on for the rest of the week. So I had to be up and out much earlier than usual.

I ate more rice and monterey jack for breakfast, and packed a sandwich and crackers and Jello for lunch. But it turned out that I got a free lunch at the sale (including the hugest hot dog I have ever seen in my life), but as I didn't cook it or pay for it, that's all you need to hear about my lunch!

Well. When I got home, I wasn't exceptionally hungry, and the only things I could think of to cook required either too much time, meat that was still frozen, or milk. I can't tell whether milk is still safe to use by smell, so I tend to give up on it as soon as I think that maybe it might be bad. I'm going to try to make it through the rest of the week before I go get more. For dinner, I finally decided on frying two eggs. Quick, easy, and fairly filling. (180 cal, 14 g fat). I may have some ice cream or Jello for dessert.

Today I did buy what is technically a grocery item, but since I'm using it for skin care rather than food, it's an acceptable purchase. I acquired a fairly impressive sunburn today while I was being a cashier at the clearance sale, so I picked up a gallon of vinegar to use for a home remedy. This will only be my second time using this method, so I haven't decided yet if it really works!