I Can Only Spend What?? Part Deux

Many moons ago, I was challenged to create a fake budget for myself, and I had to incorporate 90 balanced meals. I promised to post my menu when I was done, and I never got around to it. I’m sure you’re all used to that by now.

I want to pat myself on the back and say that I had $5 left over on my fake budget. I would probably use the $5 to buy something other than lentils. Believe it or not, you can buy a lot of food products at the dollar store, and a lot of them aren’t too bad. The country ham is great, and you can often find feta cheese. I don’t know if I’d want to eat this menu all the time, but I could still live happily on it.

In case you were wondering, my food bill for the month was $93.15, and that included tax. I remember when I could easily live on that for a month, but those days are long gone. I also want to mention that many of my classmates went the Lean Cuisine route. I made a personal pledge that I would neither do that nor live on sandwiches. I was successful on both counts!

Click on the above menu to see it larger

I Can Only Spend What??

As many of you know, I have once again become a college student.  Third time's the charm!  I'm in classes full-time for the next two years, and my current term began in May.  I'm in one online psychology class, which is just plain weird.  But I'm also taking a sociology class in an honest-to-goodness classroom.  I love this class!  Most of the other students don't, but that's their problem.  How is this relevant, you may ask?  Well, I'll tell you how it's relevant.  Our last assignment is one for which we have to create a budget.  Sounds easy, right?  Not exactly.  We're allotted a monthly income of $674, with $17 in food stamps. 

With our $674, we have to pay rent and utilities, plus buy a bus pass and $9 worth of medication each month.  (I wish my medication bill were so low!)  We also have to do laundry, buy toilet paper, and eat 90 balanced meals.  We also must buy one "other" item.  I'm taking Orson with me to my crappy imaginary apartment, so my "other" item is dog food.  One guy in the class asked if he could buy weed with his.  I suppose we all have our priorities.  I haven't finished my budget to find out how much I'm allowed to spend on food, but I know it can't be much.  The instructor stipulated that we have to eat balanced meals to ensure that most of the 19-year old guys in my class (including the pot-smoker mentioned above) don't just live on ramen.  I think I may have a slight advantage.

Yesterday LA and I scoped out the local Dollar Tree.  I love me some Dollar Tree.  I know what will become my primary grocery source on my imaginary budget.  I found eggs, flour, country ham, frozen vegetables, crackers, baguettes, and popsicles, all for $1 each!  Yesterday I bought mustard, pickles, tater tots, and John Wayne toilet paper.  I'm sure you are all familiar with John Wayne toilet paper.  It's rough, it's tough, and it doesn't take shit off anyone!  But it's four rolls for $1, so it went in the basket. 

After the Dollar Tree, we headed over to the farmer's market.  I promised to make LA fried green tomatoes for the 4th.  I picked up two green tomatoes, a head of romaine lettuce, and an onion for $3.14.  I would've liked to also pick up the number of the guy who rang it all up, but that wasn't happening.  The farmer's market will be involved in the produce aspect of my fake menu/budget.

So far, my menu is sounding pretty tasty.  Roast chicken with mashed sweet potatoes and peas.  Roasted garlic and potato soup with chicken salad on a baguette.  Lentil salad with tomatoes and hard-boiled egg.  Country ham, potato, and green pea Spanish tortilla with a Caesar salad.  Who knew that being on a budget could taste so good? 

Once I figure out the actual budget, a few things may change, but I have a feeling I'll still be eating better than most of the class.  Maybe I should tell the instructor that I have a slight advantage and not to judge me too harshly for my menu.  I can just imagine him asking how I managed to eat so well on so little money.  I may have to incorporate this menu into my current budget!  It sounds better than how I'm eating now.

Once I finish the entire menu and budget, I plan on posting it for all to see.  Wish me luck and keep your fingers crossed that I get an A!

Life in the Low-Sodium Lane

Four weeks ago, I began my new journey with cardiomyopathy (a weak heart) and congestive heart failure (CHF). This journey brought with it the need for a low-sodium diet. This was reasonably easy to accomplish in the hospital, as the catering group knew that I was on a special diet. Of course, that didn’t stop them from occasionally bringing me something not on my diet. Sometimes I sent it back, sometimes I didn’t. The three weeks spent eating hospital food prepared me for my return home. Basically, I came home with the knowledge that I could make food that tasted so much better than what I was served during my hospital stay. Tastier, and more interesting.

Along with the aforementioned burger, crustless quiche, and breakfast burrito, I also made a Southwest chicken lasagna from a recipe I’d printed out in 1998. The recipe came from a “healthy living” website, but only the fat and calorie content could be considered low. I didn’t calculate the sodium content, but I knew it couldn’t be good. I did my best to lower this by using all low-sodium products and adding more veggies than called for. I’m sure it still exceeded my limit of 600mg of sodium per meal. LA loved the lasagna and gave me the greatest compliment on it: This doesn’t taste healthy. Since we both enjoyed it so well, I plan on making it again, but there will be additional adjustments to make it healthier and lower in sodium. Once I have created a great version, I will be posting a recipe. Until then, you’ll just have to wait.

The home health care group sent out a cardiac nurse to check on me today. She asked if anyone had told me about the diet I was to follow. Only 6 different people, providing me with pages and pages of dietary information. All of which I read, partially out of boredom. So, to answer her question, yes, I am aware of the diet. I ordered two low-salt cookbooks, which arrived yesterday. LA and I both read the labels on everything at the grocery store (if you want to extend your grocery-shopping experience, take the time to read the labels of every item you buy. You’ll be there for hours!). I keep a food log in which I write down everything I eat and drink. Sadly, or maybe not, I actually kept a food log even before I went into the hospital. The nurse looked over my food log and challenged me on a couple of items. “Can you explain how chips and salsa are low sodium?” Yes, I can. The chips only had 30mg of sodium per serving. I may have gone over a serving, but that is beside the point. She did recommend that I start listing the amount of sodium that I am consuming with each item, to ensure that I am staying under 2000mg per day. After doing that for only half a day, I am convinced I’ve been going waaaay over my limit. A serving of Triscuits (135mg) is only 6 crackers. I did know that one, so I’d been pretty good about it. Some of the others were a little more challenging. The garlic melba crackers I love only have 130mg in them, but a serving is 4 crackers. Who only eats 4 crackers? 6 crackers is borderline ridiculous!

With the two new low-sodium cookbooks I got, I now have recipes for everything from low-sodium soy sauce to condensed cream of mushroom soup to fried chicken. I’m looking forward to trying those books to see how things turn out. Both were highly reviewed on Amazon, but I’ll save my reviews until I’ve cooked from both. Tonight’s dinner, sadly, won’t be coming from the new books, but is a recipe from Deborah Madison’s Vegetarian Cooking for Everyone. The dish is essentially only lentils, black pepper, and brown rice. She also calls for an onion carmelized in an unholy amount of oil, but I am omitting that for the sake of my already weakened heart. LA enjoys the dish with a bit of feta cheese in the onion’s place.

Low-sodium cooking is harder than it may seem, but also easier than I expected. The hardest part is getting used to the taste of normal foods without salt. If you don’t know what I mean, go to McDonald’s and order unsalted fries. LA said it best with, “They taste like potatoes!” The salt does allow the natural flavor of food to come through, and I’m sure the natural flavor is something few of us have tasted in quite some time. As I continue cooking and experimenting, I will be posting more recipes, including the Southwest chicken lasagna. Even salt-eaters are going to like these!