Eat All The Food: Week Five

Has it really been five weeks already?  I really am making progress, but I'm still shocked how much food I still have left.  As I mentioned before, I still have 16 veggie burgers left.  I also have several more bags of frozen vegetables and frozen pasta/veg things.  I have five cans of tomato paste (suggestions welcome-- I think I bought it because sometimes I make chili, but that's not really good enough).

This was an interesting week in that I found/acquired a lot of free food.  That's pretty much the best thing ever even if it doesn't help me clean out the pantry.

Monday:
Nice big salad along with some Birdseye wild rice and Trader Joe's soycuttash.  Yes, I felt a little weird eating a salad with a side of vegetables, but it was still tasty!

Tuesday:
The rest of the soycuttash and with rice and another veggie burger.

Wednesday:
Ramen noodles with an egg on them.  I had an off-campus meeting in the late afternoon and scored a whole bunch of free leftovers as well as going out to dinner (with a groupon) and scoring some more mediocre leftovers there.  I don't know if I'll actually eat those.... we'll see.

Thursday:
Half a leftover sandwich from last night with leftover salad from my meeting.  They were both pretty soggy but still good.  The sandwich, I should mention, was a deep fried grilled cheese.  It was the only vegetarian sandwich on the menu at the restaurant we went to, and it was... odd.  I think they deep fried it to justify it costing $8?  Either way, it was really too much sandwich for me, and I'm glad it's gone (avoid deep fried sandwiches in the future, self).  Went to a play with a friend after work, so dinner was half a popcorn and then cheese and crackers leftover from Wednesday's meeting.  Gouda!  So good!

Friday:
Pizza Friday with BF--a semi-regular tradition.

Saturday:
Had to work at job #3, so lunch was the standard soup and half sandwich. There was some kind of event going on early in the day and I managed to score a free apple cider donut and some fruit--not too shabby.  Dinner was salad and a veggie burger.

Sunday:
English muffin for breakfast; out for lunch, and dinner was snacks provided by book club friends (I hosted).  Now I had leftover chips and salsa!

Purchases: 1 Cucumber

Used up: Soycuttash that I've had for at least a year, two veggie burgers.

Free Fit Fun

A while back, I bought BF at fitbit flex.  Fitbit flex is a pedometer type device that you wear on your wrist. I got it for him because I had read a bunch of reviews saying that it was waterproof.  He used to swim and always wondered how effective a workout it was, and so I thought this little gadget would help.  Turns out, it's actually water resistant, not water proof, so he ended up wearing it for a while and then giving it to me.

It's kind of ugly, but I also kind of like it.  It records all my steps for the day, alerts me when I've hit my daily goal (10,000), and I can enter in everything I eat. It's kind of funny though that the calorie tracker only seems to have data for fast and junk foods.  When I try to add fresh produce, it takes forever, but that's a minor complaint.

Since starting my now job, thanks to the fitbit, I have become incredibly aware of how my activity level has gone down.  When I was working at the public library, I was up and down stairs and getting up frequently to help people locate books, etc.  Even though it wasn't a large building, I still always got to 10,000 steps easily before the end of the work day.  Now, I'm lucky if I get 2,000, and that's really only if I park kind of far away.

Pair that with the fact that I've been worn out from the stress of starting a new job and the fact that I'm still adjusting to my new works schedule, and I am losing fitness at a rapid pace.

So, I made a resolution to do more exploring.

Usually, on my lunch break, I sit and read.  Usually, at the end of an hour of doing that, I am starting to nod off.  Plus, as I said before, the staff room at my new job is just awful.  So, I've been going for walks and I totally love it!  I always feel a little self-conscious walking by myself, but I'm starting to get used to that.

When I worked a shift at job #2 a couple weeks ago, I discovered that there is a gorgeous new bike path right behind the library.  And there is a scenic pond.  And the foliage was kick ass.  I came back from my break feeling rejuvenated, relaxed and slightly sunburned.  Considering the fact that I've worked at that library for nearly five years and had no idea there was a pond behind it, I felt like a bit of a failure as someone who likes to be called curious.

When I picked up a shift at job #3, I did the same thing.  I've heard that there are cross country trails somewhere, so I consulted a map.  I am not very good with maps, so I decided that I would try to head in the general direction of the trails, but also not be so focused as to not see the other potentially interesting things around me.  And you know what?  I realized that I've worked at that job for nearly four years and have rarely left the library except to go to two other buildings.  I found out where all the dorms are!

I found this dumpster full of old mattresses!

I found this quiet, tree-lined lane!


I also found that I was wandering pretty close to where the cross country trails are, so when I have another shift at that library in two weeks, I'll actually find them right away.

Free adventures + exercise = good stuff.

Eat All The Food: Week Four

Monday:
Monday was Columbus Day, but since I work at an academic library, we were open and I agreed to work 2-10pm (brownie points for the new girl!).  For lunch I had a veggie burger (down to just four boxes now--16 patties), and sweet potato fries that I forgot I had.  They were at the bottom of the freezer, but were surprisingly not freezer burned.  And they were delicious.  Dinner was sandwich and yogurt.

Tuesday:
I'm a little proud of Tuesday's dinner.  I had a pack of Trader Joes lentils in the fridge that had been there for a very long time, and I was determined to eat them.  I took a piece of the lavosh I bought last week, cut it in half, warmed up the lentils and made a lentil lavosh burrito with the blue cheese crumbles and a fried egg on top.  It was freaking delicious and loaded with protein.  Plus, the lentils weren't even expired yet!  They must have a long use-by date.

Wednesday:
Late night at work so I had a veggie burger for lunch and the last of the sweet potato fries.

Thursday:
Oven roasted tomatoes with pasta T'was delicious!  You know how sometimes tomatoes just aren't good?  Well, oven roasting them (like with any vegetable) makes them awesome.  I had a couple boxes of pasta chilling out in my cupboard from forever ago, so I added the tomatoes to that with some parmesan.

Friday:
Out to dinner for more fish and chips.  I just can't help it.

Saturday:
Tuna melt for lunch and toad in a hole with baked beans for dinner.

Sunday:
Out for brunch, and another toad in a hole for dinner.  Crockpotted a soup to bring to work for the week.



Purchases:
I made a slightly larger grocery trip this week.  Yogurt was on sale, so I stocked up (I eat it every day at work).  I also got salad. cucumber, tomatoes, butternut squash, eggs, half and half and some ramen noodles.  I realize that ramen noodles are not fresh produce, but I can add some of the frozen veg to them!  I also want to have a couple convenience foods around because I'm trying to increase my exercise.  If I work out and then go to yoga, I'm going to come home starving--it's just nice to have a carby backup.  Plus, not really breaking the bank buying ramen.

Used up: Sweet Potato fries, lentils, blue cheese crumbles, 1 can baked beans, 1 can (of 3) of tomatoes.

Eat All the Food: Week Three

Onward!

Monday:
Had a bit of leftover pizza and then went out for a free Yelp elite event which included stuffed mushrooms, calamari, pizza and drinks.  No complaints.

Tuesday:
Had the last of the leftover pizza with a side salad.  I am currently working on paring down the number of salad dressings I have starting with my least favorite: Wishbone guacamole ranch.  It is not good, don't buy it.  Thankfully, it's not terrible, so I can make myself eat it rather than just throwing it away.

Wednesday:
Late night at work so lunch consisted of a giant salad (I just only want to eat salad these days).  I used up the last of the tempeh and more of that lame guacamole ranch.

Thursday:
Made a run to Trader Joes--but I only spent $30!  I don't think I've ever spent that little in that store before.  I also discovered that Trader Joes now carries lavosh, aka Armenian flatbread.  I bought a package and went home to make flatbread pizzas! Made a home made pizza with fresh sliced tomatoes, blue cheese crumbles and some leafy greens.  There's a pizza that this nearby restaurant/movie theatre makes that has those toppings, and I think about it frequently.  Since it's more economical to make that at home while watching Netflix than it is to go there and pay money for the pizza, movie and tip, I decided to see if I could replicate it, and it was delicious.

Friday:
Made another flatbread pizza using up the last of my pizza cheese and the fresh tomatoes, which were starting to get a bit soft (I like them super ripe though).

Saturday:
Had a shift at job #2, so brought my usual sandwich and yogurt for lunch. Dinner was mall food at the food court before going to see Gravity in 3-D.  Man, that was intense.  My shoulders are a bit sore from clenching.  At one point my heart was pounding and I was sweating a bit.  Highly recommend!!

Sunday:
Giant salad for lunch and then dinner was provided for me in the form of hot dogs and beer at the annual Grog and Dog Jog.  What that is, is a relay race where you run 1.25 miles and then have to eat a hot dog and chug a beer before the next person on your team can run.  Then if you hang around after the race is over, you can eat more hotdogs and drink more beer.  It's a grand time.

Purchases:
Lavosh flatbread from Trader Joes, 2 chocolate bars, apple cider, pizza sauce, pesto, pizza dough--I think that's it.  So far this month I've spent ~$40 on groceries and the month is half over.  That's pretty good.

Tossed:
The last of the guacamole ranch.  It was down to a few ounces, and I just couldn't bring myself to eat it.  I feel very good about this decision.

Eat All The Food: Week Two

We're onto week two of me eating from the pantry!  So far, it's coming along nicely, but I am having to start getting creative.

Monday:  
My first foray into weird eating. I had leftover re-fried beans from last week, but no more tortillas.  So, what to do?  Well, I microwaved the beans in a bowl, added shredded cheese and black olives and had myself a burrito bowl.  It felt a little weird to eat a bowl of re-fried beans, but you know what?  Re-fried beans are really delicious.  I also ate another half bag of some frozen veg--this time Birdseye asparagus, corn and baby carrots, which I have at least two more bags of lurking around the freezer.  Yummy!

Tuesday:
Ate up the rest of the asparagus corn and baby carrots from yesterday along with a Trader Joe's veggie burger and some oven roasted butternut squash.  I roasted half the squash, and made the other half into soup to bring to work.

Wednesday:
Late night at work so lunch at home consisted of a box of Annie's Shells and White Cheddar and a can of French cut green beans that I've probably had for a year.  It just passed it's best by date at the end of September!  Guess what, tasted just fine.

Thursday:
Met a friend out after work.

Friday:
Big ole salad with tempeh and a hard boiled egg.  Pro tip!  Adding protein to your salad makes it eat like a meal.  Bet you've never heard that one before. I have a tendency to buy a lot of tempeh at a time and then lose interest in it, so tonight I used up the last packet (it's kind of a packet, I guess) in my fridge!  Victory!  Also had two dinner rolls cause I love bread.  Since I had neither the patience nor the talent to bake bread, I buy the Pepperidge farm frozen rolls.  Ten minutes in the toaster over--yum.

Speaking of fridge, it's starting to look pretty bare:

But the real issue is the fridge door:

The fridge door is always jam packed, and I am doing my best to whittle it down.  So far, I'm down one jar of jam and one container of mayo--now I'm working on the Pumpkin and Fig Butter I bought at Trader Joes last fall.  I may just throw out the fig butter, but who knows.

Saturday:
Breakfast/Lunch English Muffin with Trader Joe's Pumpkin butter and cream cheese that is over a month past its use by date, but has no visible mold.  I believe in mold more than arbitrary dates, and it tasted fine. 
Crockpotted a Black bean soup with the last of the frozen, diced butternut squash to bring to work this week for lunches.
Out for fish and chips dinner, which is necessary when the weather turns to fall.

Sunday:
English Muffin with cream cheese and pumpkin butter for breakfast.  Out of cream cheese! Was too lazy to do any cooking, so BF and I ordered pizza--no regrets.

Purchases: Two tomatoes,  one cucumber, Blue cheese crumbles.

Budgeting For Broke

Today's post is a guest post by my good buddy Joel.  He and his wife have spent nearly their entire relationship struggling with un-and-under employment.  They are now both employed full-time and trying to crawl out of the financial hole created by lack of work.  They just started a blog called Bacon & Ice Cream, which I highly recommend.

So Becky and I are now finally crawling out of the pit of unemployment and survival-mode finances. Over the past couple years, I’ve learned one thing – that making a budget does not work if you don’t make enough to cover your basic bills. No amount of money saving tips making your own household cleaners, canning your own food, or getting clothes at consignment stores will help if just the rent and student loans are more than one of you makes in a month.

When I was first unemployed, I called a place that wife had worked with once to get out of credit card debt. It worked well for her and I was hoping for some good advice.

What he said was “yeah, you don’t make enough for us to help you. Stop paying your credit card bills, quit paying the mortgage on the house you don’t live in, put your student loans on hold, and get used to lots of phone calls.”

I thank Jebus that we live in an age of caller ID, or at the very least area code ID, so I could determine which calls were creditors and which were potential employers during the job search. (BTW, this was with the cheapest cell phone available, no fancy smart phones.) By the end of my job search, I was ignoring about 18 calls a day.

But now we are both bringing in some steady and predictable paychecks.

And now that we can actually pay bills on time, and start paying off past debts, we need a system.

One reason I hate typical monthly budgets is they don’t work for paycheck to paycheck and week to week survivors like us. It’s fine and dandy to know that you have so much income and so much in expenses in a month, but not knowing how they actually flow in and out is a problem. We might have enough for the month, but not at the right time when it is needed before a bill is overdue. It’s so easy to forget to leave aside enough for the phone bill or internet or whatnot.

To combat this I printed out some calendars and started filling the Fridays with our income and putting bills on the days they are due then keeping a running tally of how much we will have in our checking on each day if we stick to the budget. The benefit is I know that we have 140 bucks between now and next Friday for anything that is not a bill or outside the $200 we budget for gas and food per week. That’s helpful.

The problem was if there was any change to a bill or something comes up that needs attention (like out of contact cleaner or something) I had to go in and erase and re-add everything on the calendar. Math. Ugh.

I couldn’t be the only one with a need like this. And under that assumption, I figured someone must have created a template. I did not find an answer from Microsoft templates. I did not find one at the credit fixing agency I work with. But I did some searching and found this site: https://calendarbudget.com

There’s a demo video on the site about how it works, and so far it’s working just as advertised. I can even update it from my phone, like last night when I got a blizzard at DQ – I updated the calendar while waiting for my order. Boom. Done.

I can put in one time bills, recurring expenses, and categorize them appropriately so I can say to Becky what we have extra for the week, and look ahead to see where we will be at in a few months on regular checks and all of the sudden we can breathe again.  And we can check it from any computer so I don’t have to say “We’ll see when we get home and look at the calendar.”

Quick anecdote to show the power of this handy tool.

My car’s brakes started dying, and it’s not worth fixing at this point. We are making due with one car between us. When we went to see about getting a used car for $5,000, we were told we couldn’t get a loan for that because of our horrible credit history during unemployment, but they would be happy to set us up with a $20,000 car loan to pay off over several years. This boggles the mind, but I took the problem back to the budget calendar, and it turns out we can sock away $5,000 by April for a car to own free and clear, and we’ll still have some left over for savings.

Anyway, I just wanted to write this as a possible tip for trying to navigate the craziness of bills and income while living on a tight week-by-week budget. It isn’t a panacea – I don’t see it working well if your income is unreliable or variable. But it is a helpful tool in many cases.

Eat All The Food: Week One

Top half of pantry

So far, so good.  I am eating down the stores of food I have in my apartment and trying to save a bit of cash on groceries.  We're early enough in this experiment that I haven't had to eat anything super weird, but I'm sure that's coming soon.  Note: I'm only including the food I eat at home since my work lunch consists usually of a combination of soup, sandwich and yogurt.

Monday:
Pan-fried polenta topped with oven-roasted cherry tomatoes and fresh mozzarella.  Accompanied by a side salad topped with Trader Joes Pear Champagne Vinagrette, and the last of the Almond Accents.

Tuesday:
The last of the polenta, pan-fried, diced and served with Trader Joes Country Potatoes with Haricot Verts and Wild Mushrooms, and a big ole arugula salad.

Bottom of pantry

Wednesday:
Wednesdays I work 2-10pm, so I had lunch at home. I ate the last of some Trader Joes Falafel along with the rest of Tuesday's Country Potatoes.  I also planned to oven roast a couple bags of brussels sprouts I found at the bottom of the freezer, but when I opened the bags, they were weirdly slimy, so I threw them out.  Instead, I oven roasted a bag of broccoli florets I also found down there.  I swear, the chest freezer is a black hole.

Thursday:
I realized that instead of eating a sandwich for lunch, I could make myself a wrap!  People do that all the time, and I had a bag of tortillas languishing in the freezer from god knows when, so I wrapped up my sandwich in one of them.  Brilliant!  For dinner, I had a quesedilla, using up two more of the tortillas, the re-fried beans that have been hanging out in the cupboard forever, the last of a jar of salsa, some shredded cheese from an already opened bag and half a can of black olives.  It was delicious, and I was pretty proud of myself.

Friday:
Another wrap for lunch, and I am out of tortillas!  Butternut squash soup along with roasted broccoli and couscous for dinner.

Sat/Sun:
Out of town.


Purchases: butternut squash, salad, 1 cucumber.

Eat/Use it Up

Inspired by Elizabeth over at Adventures in Life, Love and Librarianship's quest to Eat All the Food!

I am embarking on a similar quest.  Before I moved into my apartment, back in June, I managed to do a pretty good job eating up as much of the food I already had before moving.  Sure, I wound up with some weird meals and ate English muffins every day for about two weeks, but I also had to move a lot less stuff.

Trouble is, I still have a lot of food and I've been doing pretty well with eating it up, but I could be doing better.  Since I get paid monthly at my new job, I still haven't gotten a full paycheck, and somehow I've managed to spend a lot on groceries this month.

Added to the fact that I have a lot of food hordes is the fact that I have a lot of stuff hordes.  I still just have a lot of items stockpiled from way back when--mostly bathroom stuff. I realized the other day that I have about six hotel soaps, four bottles of lotion and more stuff under the sink than I think I can deal with right now.  I made a trip to Target the other day with the intention of buying body wash, but then realized that I could actually just use up that damn hotel soap instead.  Yes, I realize soap is soap, but I always think of bar soap just for hands--no longer!

Presently, in my kitchen, I have a bunch of snacks in my snack drawer that I like, but don't love.  I brought them to work instead.  Since I sometimes get snacky midday, I'm much more inclined to reach for something I've already paid for rather than going to the cafe down the hall.  So I now have a stash of Bevita Breakfast Biscuits (I bought them with a coupon, and they're good, but I just never want to eat them); 100 calorie packs of microwave popcorn (I always burn them in my microwave at home, or want more popcorn than that); and Larabars (again, totally tasty, but more of an on-the-go snack than a couch snack).  I also have a bunch of split peas and various grains and soup mixes that are perfect for this time of year.  I have a glut of frozen vegetables, and a pile of veggie burgers.  Honestly, I have enough food and variety of food that not only will I be healthy, but I shouldn't get bored.

The plan is to eat up what I already have, and only go to the grocery store for fresh veg.  This should save me some cash, and clean out my cupboard.

In the bathroom, I plan to use up all the hotel soaps before going back to body wash; go through my bags of stuff and see what's actually in there (I keep small items in cosmetics bags and have a tendency to lose things at the bottom), use up all the shampoo and conditioner I have before buying more (I don't really like the stuff I currently have, but it still works fine); and use up all of my travel size items.  I have refillable bottles for body wash, shampoo and conditioner, I don't know why I hang onto all these travel size samples I've acquired.

Last night's dinner was most of a log of polenta (I'll use up the rest tonight) with oven roasted cherry tomatoes and fresh mozzarella plus a side salad.

Tonight, finish off the polenta with some kind of frozen vegetable and eat up the butternut squash bisque I bought a while back that's getting close to expired.

I can do this!!

Creeping Lifestyle Inflation

I'm settling into my new job and starting to figure out what the hell I actually do in my day-to-day, but I am starting to notice a bit of the old lifestyle inflation creeping in and I need to nip it in the bud!  So far, I'm doing ok with recognizing it, but there are also some circumstances beyond my control that I hadn't considered. I did get a pay raise with this new job, but I am by no means a fancy person now!  I still have student loan debt, after all.

Circumstance One: In which I taste a bit of my own medicine
I have always bee a pack-your-lunch-for-work type of gal.  I like to eat pretty much the same thing every day, I don't like to waste time while I'm on break finding food and I like knowing what's waiting for me (and controlling the calories in it).  I've always brought soup or sandwich and holed up in the break room for my lunch while reading a book.  It's never been a problem--until now.

Previously, while working at the public library, I always had something to read.  Here, at my new academic library, there is no leisure reading, and I kept forgetting to bring a book!  That's not a huge problem, just a minor annoyance.  The bigger problem is that the staff room is just awful.  It's tiny and shared by a ton of people.  There is nowhere to hide, no way to relax, and you're basically tripping over all the other people in there.  So I've started taking my lunch on the balcony of the building next door.  I have no idea what I'm going to do when it gets cold out, but I shouldn't have to worry about that for a little while. So far, at the new job though, I've bought lunch more times than I care to admit, but today, I have my trusty sandwich and yogurt along with my Nook.

So I've always been like "why doesn't EVERYONE just bring their lunch to work!?!  I don't get it!"  Now, I get it.

Circumstance Two: In which starting a new job is stressful/ exhausting
I've been drinking a lot of coffee lately.  Usually I drink a large cup of coffee at home, and then just have tea for the rest of the day.  These days, I'm a bit sleepy and have been availing myself of the on-campus Dunkin Donuts and the new Starbucks (which is so close to my office it's dangerous).  I know that a few extra dollars a week isn't a huge deal, but we all know that that adds up!  Sometimes though, it's just good to have an excuse to go for a walk.  I brought my tea into work and bought an electric teakettle for the staff room (can't believe we didn't have one), so I'm all set.

Circumstance Three: In which I now have an office and never need to move around
I didn't realize how much hopping I did at the public library until I started working here and realized that the most moving around I do is walking to the bathroom.  So I bought a membership to the college gym.  It sucks that I have to pay for it, but it's still about half what the YMCA (the next cheapest option) is, and since I'm here already, I will make myself use it (especially in the winter).  I also may buy an under-desk pedal machine, but I really don't know if it would be worth it.  Any one have one to recommend to me?

I also am going to upgrade my home wi-fi, and go shopping for more business casual clothes--the dress code here is slightly dressier than my last job.  Other than that, I'm keeping it in check!  I made a larger than usual payment on my student loans, and I plan to get back on track with putting money in savings and max out my Roth IRA contributions for the year.  I also almost bought a smart phone, but then stopped myself at the last minute.  Good job, self, now you can have another coffee for being so strong!

Reducing Food Waste: One Thing at a Time

One of the biggest challenges with reducing food waste is to find a way to not waste things you want to have around, but don't use that much.  In my case, I have been having a hell of a time with milk.

I'm not a milk drinker--I never sit down and have a glass, but I do need to have it around in small amounts for tea, some recipes, etc.  Unfortunately, by the time I realize that I need my milk, it is often decidedly stinky.  I throw it out, buy more, use a tiny bit, and then the rest goes bad.

When BF and I lived together, we could usually make it through a carton without throwing it away, though there were plenty of mornings when I needed it for whatever reason and had to trot down to the corner store in wrinkled clothes with bedhead.  Now that we're in separate places, we're both struggling with this.

I started buying smaller and smaller containers, but since those containers are plastic, I felt bad, and the smaller options are more expensive ounce per ounce.  So I came up with a better solution--freezing it.

I bought a case of small mason jars:

And now when I buy milk, I fill up the jars and freeze all but one.  You obviously need to leave a bit of room for the milk to expand as it freezes, but this way, I always have milk on hand, and I don't throw nearly as much away.  I can also buy a larger size container and reduce the amount of packaging I consume while saving money by buying the largest size.

The biggest enemy in terms of milk spoilage is air.  You'll notice that if a jug has been opened, but only a little taken out, the milk stays good for a much longer time.  Pour out half the milk, and the rest goes bad much faster.  That's why this system works to reduce spoliage in two ways.  I freeze what I'm not using and effectively stop the clock on it going bad, and I reduce the amount of air in the milk that's thawed and ready to use.  Plus those blue mason jars are so cute!

Another tip for keeping milk fresher longer is to store it in the back of the fridge so the temperature doesn't fluctuate as much.  We used to have a fridge that was wearing out and had cold spots and warm spots instead of even temperature throughout.  We noticed when we stored the milk in the back in a cold spot, it lasted much longer.  Now I store my milk in the back of the fridge near my Britta cooler so that it doesn't get hit with hot air when I open the door.  It really does make a difference.

Have you ever tried this?  Any other tips for reducing food waste?