Paleo on $98 a month - last days (now where are the macadamias?)

The week ended with a bang.  I finally saved up enough cash for something really special.  I got a beef tongue.  Before this last day, things were just a bit boring while I finished up the last bit of everything.
I made bean soup this week, with a ham bone and corn on the cob from trader Ingrid.  Ham bones are pretty easy to get, the trick is to let your friends know over the holidays and have some room in the freezer.
My oranges are almost done, but the lemons are still arriving from various traders, and a new batch of the most delicious kumquats from trader Jerry.  They are so sweet that I think I am cheating when I eat them.
I harvested the last of my carrots for the season, and it will be featured in tonight's dinner.
Day 28 purchases:   none
Day 29 purchases:  none
Day 30 purchases:  mushrooms for  84 cents
Day 31 purchases:  beef tongue for $10.24  I have $2.18 left over.  Soooo, that brings me in to less than a hundred dollars a month, that is, if this evening's meal goes well.  I have lots of stuff left over:  over 1/3 of a jar of coconut oil, a dozen olives, almost an entire beef tongue and 1/3 can of salmon, and a whole bunch of stuff from my trading partners.

Paleo on $100 a month days 26-27 Going Nuts!!!

Two days, two sales!  I went nuts for the nut sale.  I bought a big bag of cashews and a bigger bag of almonds.  I came home, plopped myself on the couch and just started eating them right out of the bag.  As much as I want.  No counting.  I love sales!!!!!
Yesterday I finished the beef liver, then found a sale on chicken livers.  I have been enjoying them with ground beef and local veggies.  I was treated to a wonderful (but carby) spread by traders Tony and Humberto.  I ate fruit, some egg dish, a piece of chocolate with a bunch of really good coffee with real half and half.  I avoided the cookies, juice drinks, muffins, bundt cake and the rest of the chocolate.  I still haven't opened the salmon yet.
Purchases on the 26th:  chicken livers for $1.77, ground beef for $2.49
Purchases on the 27th:  cashews for $2.99, almonds for $2.99
98 cents left in the money jar.

Paleo on $100 a month days 24-25 Eating through my stash

I thought I would have plenty, but I seem to have eaten through my food stash on this very cold weekend.  Saturday night we went out to dinner, so that is put in the "entertainment" category.  I didn't really eat that much, just some seafood.  There was a ton of salt but no fat, so I woke up puffy and hungry.
Sunday's cold rainy weather made me want to hibernate and/or eat, so I plowed through all the nuts, all the beef I had just purchased, a whole grapefruit from trader Patty, all the mushrooms, two packages of nori snacks, and many of the olives.  I also made some bean soup with beans from trader Michael.  They were really old, so I had to pressure-cook them twice.
I still have the canned salmon, mostly because I didn't want to open it up in the house.  I usually eat it outside because it is to stinky for everyone except the cats, who follow me around when there is a hint or a promise of stinky seafood.
Saturday's purchases:  nori for 99 cents and cashews for 93 cents
Sunday's purchases:   nori for 99 cents.  There is $5.03 left in the money jar.

Paleo on $100 a Month days 22 and 23 Candy Splurge

For some reason, I feel rich this week, and the Australian licorice was on sale, so I got some.  It turned out to be 55 cents with the bag credit, and so not worth it.  I think I got six pieces, but of course, I wanted six more after that.

I am still working on the chicken I bought earlier this week.  It is pretty tasty with kumquats, mushrooms, garlic, hot peppers, and of course, all the greens.

I am enjoying green tea with lemon.  Even though I have been blessed with new sources of free caffeine, I still enjoy the green tea, and I miss it on the days I don't make it.  I am enjoying it right now with a slice of lemon from trader Patty.  At this time of the year, backyard gardeners are clearing out their orange and lemon trees to make way for the new crop, so there is plenty for everyone.

Thursday's purchases:  Banana for 13 cents, red licorice for 55 cents, ground beef for 2.49
Friday's purchases:  Can of salmon for 2.99
I've spent $68.94 on food so far for the month, so it looks like I'll come in at well under a hundred in the next 8 days.  $1.85 left in the money jar.  My weekend company has cancelled, so I don't have to figure out how to feed them.  Actually, feeding guests is somewhat of a cinch, because most guests are so starved for good vegetables that I can feed them eggs and chard and they are thrilled.

Paleo on $100 a Month - Day's 19-21 - Say Cheese!

Coming into the home stretch I am blessed with enough bucks for some little luxuries and more flexibility.  Unfortunately, I think I squandered it by buying a block of cheese and then feasting on it.  Gone in about two days!!  Hopefully I'll be able to stretch the package of mushrooms for a few days.

I am harvesting several artichokes a day from the garden, and tons of broccoli, oranges and lemons from about a dozen different traders.  The peppers survived the winter months and are blooming and fruiting again, so I enjoyed several fresh hot peppers this week.

Trader Fernand made the day with some 100-calorie nut packets she didn't like.  This helps tide me over until I have time for a late lunch.

Here are some of the dishes I made so far this week:  Cod with leeks and lemon, cod with orange and kale, pork with hot pepper and cabbage, chard and mushroom frittata, taco salad with olives and greens.

Monday's purchases:  cheese for $2.83
Tuesday's purchases:  chicken for $4.82
Wednesday's purchases:  eggs at $1.44, cod at $1.04, mushrooms at $.99

Here's what's left:  Lots of pork, lots of chicken, a dozen eggs, 3/4 container mushrooms, 3/4 container olives, almost half a container of coconut oil, 4 ounces liver,  and $1.87 in the cash jar.

Paleo on 100 dollars a Month - Days 17-18 Green potlucks

Not much to report here, I am just buying simple meats, seafood and eggs, with an occasional can of sardines.  The garden continues with it's usual abundance of greens, artichokes and radishes.

We went out to eat for entertainment on Saturday night.  Sunday I went to a potluck and decided to splurge on a package of nori snacks for only 99 cents.  The rest of the potluck turned out to be rather carby, with lots of hummus, trail mix, fruit and an irresistible gluten-free granola.  There were only a few squares of nori eaten at the potluck, and nobody touched the mache either.

I didn't purchase anything new on Saturday, just finishing up leftovers.
Sunday purchases:
nori  .99
cod  1.59
$4.23 left in the food jar, with quite a bit of food left over. So far I have spent a total of $51.21 for the month and I still have three eggs, the cod, tons of pork roast, half a pound of liver, half a pound of ground beef, half a jar of olives, half a jar of coconut oil and a handful or two of almonds.  So, life is good.  I know where my next meal is coming from.

Paleo on 100 dollars a month - Days 13-16

I haven't been blogging because I was busy at paleo f(x).  No, not so lucky.  I wanted to track to make sure I got enough protein, and now that I am in cruise mode, I know I am getting enough and so ditched all the careful tracking in favor of just living.

This week I had plenty of extra funds to get the things I wanted, except of course for the pound of macadamia nuts and bar of good dark chocolate.  I enjoyed a huge selection of free teas from trader Chantel and a huge pile of broccoli from trader Dorian.  Chantel had said that the tea was 6 months beyond the expiration date, but when I opened it, I realized that it was over 6 years beyond the date.  It is still fine, and wakes me up just as well as tea freshly purchased.

I enjoyed one lone Girl Scout cookie from trader Erin, and gave the rest of the stack away immediately.  This did cause increased longing for sweets and treats later in the week.  I enjoyed free coffee from trader Tony, but passed on the huge plate of donuts and green cookies.  Tony had a choice of half and half, powdered creamers and other flavored creamers, plus coffee and hot chocolate, so I chose to add some hot chocolate.

I didn't add much chocolate so I took the rest of the package with me.  When I checked the label for the protein content, I was shocked that it had only one gram.  The ingredients list was a shocker.  There is no milk in it.  Products derived from milk, but mostly different kinds of hydrogenated fats, and even sucralose!  When did hot chocolate switch from cocoa, milk and sugar to chemicals, un-named milk derivatives, and into a strange food-like substance? (Unfortunately, it tasted pretty good!)

Purchases through the week:
eggs  1.49
shrimp 2.69
beef  3.00 (a poor choice, from a regular supermarket and tasted too conventional)
pork roast  5.05
slivered almonds .67
olives  2.29
beef 2.49
sardines 1.29
almonds .79

Only 67 cents left in the food jar.

Paleo on 100 a month - day 12 - Burgers again

Since I have been blowing my budget on sale shrimp, I have lots of cheaper hamburger with it.   Yesterday I spent too much time in the kitchen.  It is always this way at this time of the year, when the types of vegetables ready in the garden require extra preparation, often serially.  I have only one pressure cooker, and I had to use it for the artichoke, then the beets, and then the squash.  While a babysat the pressure cooker, I cleaned and peeled a giant bowl of sunchokes.  Then I had to cook my meal, a meal for my family, and then finish cooking the sunchokes.  I didn't escape the kitchen until 8 pm.

I have settled into a routine for the day's meals.  Shrimp and eggs for breakfast, beef and leftover chicken for lunch and also for dinner, rounded out with mostly my own vegetables and a bit of citrus from my trading partners.

In the morning, I was offered a huge plate of sugary treats, plus gobs of fresh coffee.  They offered even more coffee before throwing it down the drain.  Next week, I'll take a glass container for the leftovers, when the meeting is over.  I successfully avoided all the sweets, but it was hard.  Little cakes, fried cake and yeast donuts all decorated with icing, powdered sugar and colorful sprinkles, brownie bites.  I tried to avoid them, but everyone else was walking back and forth with platefuls.  Who doesn't like free food?

A new friend might be giving me some tea.  She was convinced by a tea snob to throw it away because it is 6 months beyond the expiration date.  I encouraged her to try it anyway, but if she doesn't think it is any good, it hopefully will add to my variety.

Purchases today:  Ground beef $2.49, leaving me with $8.16 in the money jar.  The surplus will be short-lived.  I am running out of extras and eying a pork roast.

Diet details here.

Paleo on 100 a Month - days 10 and 11 High Seas

The shrimpfest was fun, so I went for another day of it.  This time the shrimp was still frozen and I told the meat guy I wanted the pieces that didn't have ice stuck on them.
"No problem, I'll just take off some for the amount of ice," and he took about 20 cents off my order.  Now, why didn't I know to ask for that yesterday? 
For breakfast I enjoyed eggs and liver with the usual.
For lunch, I enjoyed the shrimp cooked the same as the day before and the usual store freebies.
For dinner, I enjoyed a huge plate of ground beef with veggies.  Still hungry, I opened up a can of sardines.  I ate the whole can, but they are making them smaller than before.

Day 11 I settled into the same routine, with eggs and the last of the beef for breakfast, haddock for lunch, and even more of the leftover chicken for dinner, both served up with a nice portion of pea pods from trader Andrea.  (Note that I used up all the hurricane names for 1012 and have moved onto next year.)

My food is unrewarding and monotonous, but I don't mind all that much.  If I am losing any weight at all, I am sure it is due to the lowered protein amounts, not food reward.  One new arrival to the garden this weekend:  mache.  It has a brief season and is much appreciated.

And now, a word or two on seasonality.  I have gradually converted my garden from the typical showcase to just encouraging the things that want to grow on their own.  Of course it is still showy, but the mache comes up on its own, without any fertilizer or much water.  I just let it go to seed and it does it all over again every year.  The same goes for all the other shoots and roots I am eating right now except for the garlic and leeks.  They also grow themselves, but I do tend to transplant them.  I did plant beets and carrots on purpose this spring, and will follow up with the summer vegetables.  The tomatoes and peppers come up on their own, too, and I just have to transplant them.

Purchases:  Shrimp for $1.90
sardines for $1.00
Haddock for $1.23
Left over:  half the shrimp, 3 eggs, some almonds, half a pound of beef liver, more chicken, 2/3 of a container of coconut oil
Amount in the cash jar:  $7.58

Paleo on 100 a Month - day 9 The shrimp boat sails in!

Finally, the conjunction of a great sale and enough money.  I bought a small package of shrimp for today, and it was a surprisingly large amount compared to what I would get on a shrimp salad at a fine dining establishment, or even an entree.  Thirteen nicely sized shrimp, plus a bit of another one.

I wish I could afford a camera, because lunch was gorgeous and you would love looking at it.  Shrimp, spinach and carrot from trader Helene, kumquats from partner Chris, all cooked in coconut oil and garlic.  Delicious!

Unfortunately, I was hungry a few hours later.  Today I will try to load up on more fat.

Breakfast was the usual ground beef with greens, sauerkraut and a bit of orange.

On the run, I had coffee, half and half, some cheese and a small pc. of turkey meatloaf with broccoli.

Dinner was chicken and chard, with some fruit juice (plums from trader Sandy and orange from trader Chris), with sunchokes, winter squash and almonds.  I was so hungry afterwards that I made a couple of eggs with extra fat, and ate a few more spoonfuls of coconut oil. 

I spent $1.02 on the shrimp, leaving me with $4.57 in the money jar.  Is grass-fed beef in my future?  Probably not.  Even if I had the 6 to 8 dollars, non of the stores I currently troll have grass-fed beef right now, not even in the frozen section.  I will get by on the Trader Joe's ground beef.  The label says it comes from several countries, and some of them I am pretty sure do mostly pasture methods.  A recently-eaten package really tasted grass-fed, but the last one didn't.  Oh well, at least I am trying.  I am not convinced that the amount of grass really changes the omega 3 content much at all.  I think avoiding super fatty pork and chicken is probably a better contribution to a good O6/O3 ratio.  And there is probably some canned salmon in my future.

Paleo on 100 a Month day 8 - I'm starving!

I am sure lots of CW people wanted to hear that!  Actually, it was due to poor planning on my part, not a lack of funds.

I enjoyed a wonderful breakfast of leftover chicken, my last pastured egg from trader Beryl, and some orange from trader Patty.

I was treated to lunch by trader William.  Due to my busy schedule, I didn't stop by all the usual stores for my morning snacks and coffee.  I had a wonderful lunch, but unfortunately it was almost entirely devoid of protein.  I did help myself to a couple of extra helpings of wonderful homemade salad dressing.  We had a salad, TJ's rice crackers and papaya and yogurt for desert, and some wonderful TJ's flavored tea.

After racing around, I never got the time to head to the store that had the sale shrimp.  I had to get home to listen to all the live call-in shows (Sorry Jimmy and Matt, I just caught the tail end this time and hate asking questions when I haven't heard everything before.)  I whipped up a batch of conventional eggs with chard, and ate more leftover chicken.  Then I sat down for the shows featuring Matt and Dr. K.  I'm soooo glad I also had a container of coconut oil.

Today's purchases:  eggs at $1.49, leaving me with $2.54 in the cash jar.

Details are here.

Paleo on $100 a month - day 7 - I'm bored

I want to go out and buy that big block of 99% chocolate that Dr. Kruse recommends, throw a couple of grass-fed ribeye's airlifted from the Midwest on the grill for an afternoon snack (wait!  I don't even have a grill!) and eat ten pounds of shrimp and crab from a trash bag in the living room and let the dog clean up the shells (wait!  I don't even have a dog!)

Then again, maybe I am just sick of chicken.  I bought it again, for $1.98, with an avocado for 50 cents and a tiny tiny bag of slivered almonds for 65 cents.  I really wanted to get some chicken before the sale was over, but I am totally ready to move on from chicken and over to the sale shrimp this week.  Hopefully it won't kill me or make me sick this time.

A favorite store has a huge sale on frozen foods and I am sort of bummed that I can't walk out with a whole bag of frozen bison, elk, venison, etc. for 20 percent off.  I might be able to get a package by the end of the week if I am careful.  But, I don't want to be that careful.  I saw the sale shrimp and I want it!  If I can't find a way to swing it by the end of the week, I am going to buy a bunch for the house and enjoy it on April 1.  Not because I am a fool, necessarily, but because it will be the end of the challenge.

For breakfast I had the pork with greens and sauerkraut and some orange juice from traders Patty and William.

For lunch I had cheese and coffee from traders Debby and Gordon, a package of really awful protein powder from trader Debby and garden bits and pieces.  One strawberry.  Two pea pods from trader Joyce.  One radish.  Two nasturtium flowers.  That is how real hunter-gathering goes.  As usual, I could have eaten about 30 snails, but I chose not to at this time.  I ate most of the avocado.

For dinner I enjoyed a large amount of ground beef with extra tallow, some trail mix from trader Valerie, a kumquat from trader Chris, pea pods from trader Joyce and my own vegetables in coconut oil.

94 cents left in the cash jar, and I am going in the wrong direction if I want to get some real meat.

Paleo on $100 a month - Upping my protein

Since giving blood, I have been craving food, water and especially protein, so Tuesday's meals reflected that.

Breakfast started out with a pastured egg from trader Beryl, cooked with greens and leftover ground beef.  I also finished off the chicken and had a piece of orange from trader William.

I trolled some stores for freebie snacks and specials, and hit the liver motherlode.  A whole package of beef liver for $1.71.  That should be enough for the rest of the month, and a great addition to my diet.  I had a sample of beef pot roast and the usual creamer with a dab of coffee.

I also got more sale pork and wolfed most of it down along with lots of cabbage from trader Rafael and my own squash.  I finished the meal with a shake made with kale, oranges from trader William, lemon from trader Patty, and protein powder from trader Nadine.

Tomorrow I need to get up early and get into the garden.  I'll be meeting up with some trading partners later in the day and they are begging for more chard.

Purchases today:  beef liver for 1.71, pork for 2.40, leaving me with only a dollar in the cash jar.

Details here.

Paleo on 100 Dollars a Month Day 5 - Carbing up

Today was more an exercise in how to avoid FREE, carby and junky foods that were placed before me at every turn.  I managed to avoid all the fake stuff, all the grains, refined sugars, cookies, hydrogenated oils, and anything dipped or dribbled with fudge.

It helped that I had the leftover pouch tuna for breakfast, along with a "pastured" egg from trader Beryl, oranges from trader William, a tangerine from trader Debby and my own sauerkraut, sunchokes and kale.

I was wide awake all day, courtesy of coffee from traders Gordon, Debby and Tony.  Trader Patty dropped off a huge boatload of lemons today, so lemon juice went into everything.

For lunch I snacked from the garden, and enjoyed ground beef.  I harvested my first blueberry today, with a strawberry, a radish, some nasturtiums and snow peas.

By late afternoon, I was at the blood donation center, a pint lighter and looking at a whole table of treats laid before my eyes.  Nutter butters, Cheese-its, Chips-a-holic -hoy, cranberry "cocktail", all in stacks and rows, with a nice lady saying, "Have another".  I took the 100% juice and some trail mix.  (OK, LOTS of trail mix.)  As I munched on the trail mix, I pondered my iron levels, which were in the higher range for my gender.  When I was a vegetarian, I got turned down all the time when I tried to give blood.

For dinner I enjoyed leftover chicken with pea pods from trader Joyce, baby turnips from trader Helene, beets and an orange from trader William.

Today's purchases:  beef at $2.49 a pound.  It is not labeled as grass-fed, but it usually tastes like it is from mostly-grass.  $2.04 left in the cash jar.

Paleo on $100 a month - day 4 - Have I become a Vegetarian?

I looked over my food log and my goodness, it looks like when I was a vegetarian.  Green drinks, soy protein, cheese, protein-free meals.  What's up with that?  The diet is showing up on my face.

Soon my coconut oil will be paid off and I'll be able to get more meat and rely less on freebies from my local grocery stores.  I didn't exactly troll the stores today, but I did have to stop by the usual places.  I attended a potluck and took cooked chard and fruit punch.  Unfortunately the other attendees brought just drinks and carby stuff, and I was so hungry that I had to break into the free protein powder pouch I had picked up when I returned the curry powder.

Have I become one of THOSE people, the people you never want to wait behind at the grocery store?  I used my new curry powder in the chard, and it was pretty weird.  I thought it might just be old, so I took it back.  The store says 100% guaranteed.  They want me to try things.  Usually I would just throw bad stuff away, but I paid a whole 22 cents for it, so it went back.  I kept the 10 cents of accumulated bag credits from the whole multi-day ordeal.

Folks at the potluck said the curry powder was a little weird.  It smelled more like an Indian head shop than real culinary curry powder.

I am in the black today, with 1.46 left in the money jar.  Tomorrow will be better.  I'm eating beef.  The thrill of having extra money will be short-lived.  I gazed at the deep hole I carved into my container of coconut oil and realized I'll need another container before the challenge is over.

Paleo on 100 dollars a month - Day 3 Emergency Surgery

I had to schedule an emergency sauerkraut-making session after trader Rafael gifted a couple of purple cabbages.

If after hearing "emergency surgery" you imagine the cabbages quickly wheeled in while docs with paddles yell "CLEAR" and then they stick in a bunch of IV's, well that is close to what happened.  "Rafael" was discarding the cabbages because they were infested with aphids and one looked like the top was eaten off by animals.  But I know that aphids are pretty easy to wash off and that the cabbage lobotomy was probably due to splitting after starting to bolt.

Modern cabbages are sort of like those turkeys bred for excess breast meat who can no longer walk or mate.  If the cabbage is almost ready and it gets hot, it will split across the top instead of unfolding naturally like a plant should when it is going to seed.  The result is a cavern right across the crown.  If you catch it soon after it happens, most of the cabbage is perfectly fine.

After the helicopter landed in the backyard, I wheeled the almost-brain-dead cabbage into the kitchen, carefully took off every leaf and cut off the jagged edges.  I might have to spring for more salt if I keep doing this.  Who says only Dr. Kruse can do brain surgery without a scalpel?

Mostly leftovers eaten today, plus some plum paste made from trader Sandy's bounty.  I mix it with water and it makes a really nice punch with no extra sweetener needed.  I didn't buy anything today, so I am only $1.83 in the hole.  Dinner out tonight, and I am not tracking at all.

Paleo on 100 dollars a month - day 2

I am already bored.  It was sous vide tuna for breakfast.  Well, not really, it was just a pouch of albacore tuna from trader Michael.  I don't usually have tuna like this, how do people eat this?  Seriously, it needed half a gallon of mayo.  I put most of it back into a storage container for later.  Respect the pouch?  No way.

I had more fun watching the cats try to get into the empty pouch for the last bit of juice.   What a great way to enjoy my morning mug of green tea courtesy of trader Oscar.

Lunch was a bit more interesting.  After trolling several markets for food (and getting used to that half a cup of half and half a day), I thought I found something nice.  Baby shrimp was priced at a very low 2.99 a pound so I snapped up a couple of packages, one for myself and one for my family.  I have found that I have to make two meals or else my stuff is in danger of getting eaten by someone other than me.  And that is a pain, because I weigh and measure everything out.

I cooked the family meal first, and then followed up with my package of shrimp.  As I continued to cook, I noticed it was getting slimy.  Uh oh, a bad batch.  I threw it away. (..along with my veggies and the coconut oil for cooking and not happy at all since I used a carrot from trader Helene and they are hard to come by.)

I carefully sniffed the remaining shrimp from the family package and it seemed OK, and since the first batch was already eaten, I was really hoping it was OK.  I decided that I would "buy" the remaining shrimp from the house since I was hungry and I couldn't keep it around much longer even though it had a March 5th date.

I sat down to eat my meal and before I realized it, the new batch had become slimy and I had eaten one really bad shrimp.  After that, I sniffed each shrimp carefully.  I picked through it until I lost my appetite.

One thing that really concerned me about the shrimp is that they seemed very salty.  Since I added no seasonings except pepper from Trader Michael, I knew it was salt from the shrimp itself.  I don't usually buy this type of shrimp, and this will be my last time.  I did a little digging and found out what probably made the shrimp both salty and slimy:  sodium triphosphate.  Yuk!!

I went right back to the store with the shrimp label, and since they were out of the sale duck confit, I picked up some sale pork instead, with a small bag of bulk curry powder and an additional bag credit.  I enjoyed a huge plate of pork, seasoned with sauerkraut and served with my own beets, squash and a squeeze of orange juice from trader Patty.  My purchases today added up to $2.63, putting me $4.90 in the hole for the month so far.  Check out the food log here.http://www.sparkpeople.com/mypage.asp?id=RAGTHIEF

Tip of the day:  If you are going to go into debt, do it with coconut oil.

Paleo on 100 dollars a Month - Interrupting this regular broadcast

What I had planned went out the window when the season's first artichoke appeared.  It was the star for dinner.  I sure did miss drowning it in butter.  The star for dessert was one lone strawberry from my garden, not the first of the season, but the first that was actually sweet and edible enough for most people's standards.  As a low-carber, I found it almost sickeningly sweet.

I stopped by a store for a tiny nut snack and got 5 cents knocked off for bringing my own bag.  That comes out to an additional 10 percent discount.  The wonderful cashews will last for two snacks if I continue to eat them in homeopathic quantities. I enjoyed orange slices from trader Isaac throughout the day.

Shopping was fun, as I dashed into a few places (all nearby, so no extra energy used here) to check sales and fill up on free coffee.  I went a little hog wild on the half and half, and now realize how much protein that stuff has.

Lunch consisted of a couple of samplings of free protein powder from traders Debby and Nadine, and snow peas from traders Joyce, Florence and Ernesto.  I have learned not to trust anything labelled "vegn".  Is it really vegan, or is it just fake vegan?  Either way, the protein powder didn't taste as bad as I thought it would, but it seemed to produce an almost immediate allergic reaction.  When I ran the tracker, I noticed that I was above the RDA for plant lectins for the day.  Oh well.

I made chicken for dinner.  I don't usually "do" boneless skinless chicken breasts but they were on sale.  They were dry, but the bland taste was improved with fennel, garlic celery and za'atar from trader Leslie.  My own home-grown winter squash was topped with cinnamon from trader Kirk.  This time of the year is kind of a pain to cook, since so much of what I get out of the garden needs the pressure cooker.  I felt I was babysitting the pressure cooker all afternoon.

I started another small batch of sauerkraut with extra salt.  When I calculated the amount of money I got each day to spend on food, I was left with 18 cents, which I applied to my salt stash.  No way can I eat that much salt in a month.  It is just for canning and preserving.

Purchases:  cashews for 43 cents
one pound chicken for 1.99 (sure had to search through the packages for the exact weight)
- 5.34 left in the cash jar.
(diet details are here.  Click on the "shared food and fitness tracker" button.  The macronutrient ratios are on the brief blogpost.)

Paleo on 100 Dollars a Month - Day 1

I woke up late and NOT hungry.  (Could it have been the late-nite pork and avocado snack?)

For today's breakfast, I had planned to try some protein powder, but switched to plan B.  I enjoyed real green tea from trading partner Alberto, a "pastured" egg from partner Beryl, kumquats from partner Chris and garden vegetables like kale and kohlrabi.

I continued cleaning out the fridge while monitoring the pressure cooker full of beans.  FULL OF BEANS?  How paleo is that?  I am cooking them in meat broth.  Is this a cheat?  Usually I save cooking broth in the fridge and then throw it away a week later.  Or, if I am really organized, I carefully freeze it and then throw it out a couple of years later.  The freezer is already mostly full, and I'll need that last inch or so of space for the kumquats.  There isn't enough room for a jar of anything, so into my mouth it goes.  Throughout the challenge, I will be making use of meat fats that are usually thrown away.  I think there are still a couple of ham bones in the freezer, but I can't remember who gave me what.

I get $3.07 a day actual cash (that's $3.22 a day minus the cost of the garden) and I will be in "a deficit situation" for a few days before paying off the coconut oil.  Ahh, I feel thinner already, and the freezer does too.

Details re: what I am actually eating are posted here.