Wednesday, April 3, 2013

Paleo on $100 a month Day 2: Whew! That was close!

It turns out that the meat left on the ham bone was more than I expected.  I HAD expected a bit of fat along with the bone, but it looked like the person who carved the ham wasn't an expert at it.  Apparently, I have a ham log with a bone running through it.

Soooooo.....breakfast was a little bit better than I had planned.  I had ham and ham fat cooked with spring onion, fennel and kale.  I also made a shake with a packet of hemp protein courtesy of trader Jerry.  I tried jazzing the hemp protein with some tart cherries from trader Lorenzo, but it was a waste of cherries, since NOTHING can make the taste of the vile hemp protein taste even faintly edible.  Un-ree-WAR-ding!!!!!

I grazed through the day with coffee (and half and half!) from traders Gabrielle, Ingrid and Jerry, enjoyed a turkey meatball courtesy of trader Ingrid, and a glass of water with Meyer lemon.

Another visit to the garden turned up several huge strawberries, the first of the season.  Most people would have considered them inedible, since they were "pretested" by snails, but I just ate the good parts.  I also snacked on cilantro and arugala as I captured and sent even more snails off to the sweet hereafter.

I visited a few stores and picked up a dozen eggs for a dollar.  I stumbled upon a sale on beef ribs and sorted through the packages to find a smaller rib that would fit my budget and still save room for butter.  I mentally calculated and re-calculated my purchases, and I came in under the limit.

Here's what I got today:  beef ribs at a scandalous price of $1.24 a pound for a total of $2.88, butter for $2.50 and eggs for a dollar, totaling $6.38.  That leaves me with 4 cents.  I might regret buying the butter, since it leaves me with much less flexibility for day 3.  If things get really bad, I can pull a Jimmy Moore by keeping my protein low and just eating a stick of butter.

Dinner this evening was beef ribs marinated in Meyer lemon, cayenne pepper and za'atar, with balsamic vinegar and salt from trader Felix and fresh-cracked peppercorns from trader Karin.  I made baked, buttered Butternut squash with roasted beets and a salad of mache, lettuces and parsley.  Dessert is a sugar-free strawberry-flavored Jello cup with a fresh tangerine I got from trader Humberto.

In the evening, I made some bean soup, with beans from trader Karin and broth from the ham bone.  Of course, I tried some, so I did not end the day in keto.  I ended the evening with a mug of lemon balm tea with a touch of sugar from trader Felix.

5 comments:

  1. i've never tried harvesting my own snails, but my first reaction was that you're overlooking a resource! do you like escargot?

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  2. Butchers normally discard fat that they cut from the carcasses. I was getting for free a grass-fed beef fat from a local natural food store for couple of years, now they sell it for $1 a lb. So, ask around your local stores what they discard.
    I guess, I would be eating a lot of eggs if I decided to live on $100/month.

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  3. Tess is right. Snails are paleo and in your case free for the taking.

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  4. I am still a bit squeamish about eating the snails. I do "recycle" them for garden fertilizer.

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