COVID has changed everything so for a bit of routine, I'm back with Ate a Day

Today for breakfast yummy yogurt ($6.99 a jar ~ $1.00) that we picked up when we were house sitting in Woodbury CT with U-Pick strawberries (frozen) from Schlagel Farm in Waldorf, MD

Back on the be

This morning my sister gave me a slice of homemade Danish rye bread with good butter. Price free courtesy of sisterly love.

Yesterday,  I had some kim chee always a delicious and a bargain because I can only eat a little at a time.

The rest of lunch and dinner was leftover baked pasta. I made it with Rao's, the most amazing pasta sauce ever, $7 a bottle,  free pasta ( SafewY Monopoly game) and mozzarella $3. Each serving is $1.50.

Off the rails and back on

Today,  I made a breakfast casserole.  We have 11 chickens so eggs are abundant and breakfast casseroles make sense when you're eggs are over flowing. I'm saying the eggs are free but we did build them a fancy coop and feed them. Plus, potatoes, spinach, butter and some Sunny Paris spices from Penzy, another favorite. I think it will be six servings at about $1.00 a serving.

Full disclosure,  I fell off the rails... I had to go to Washington, DC to a speech by Michele Bachelet, UN High Commissioner for Human Rights, which meant I ate lunch in DC. So fast forward to yesterday,  Monday April 15, and I'm back on track for zero spending. So back to blogging today,  Tuesday.  This morning, I had a strata with our hens' eggs (free), goat cheese (.75) and roasted artichokes (3.50) and stale baguette (1.00) both from Trader Joe's plus Sunny Paris.  Two meals at $2.63 each and it tasted better than the casserole above. Cheers for goat cheese and artichokes!
For lunch more eggs ala egg salad on "free" hamburger roll from Safeway Monopoly game, spices and mayo = .05.
Dinner a TJ biryani meal $4. Total= $6.68
 Quick and easy because I taught riding tonight so didn't get home until nearly 8pm.😊 lesson pony Bella!

Wednesday- woot! Last night, my sister and I bit the bullet and bought tickets to Australia! I think we got a pretty good deal at $814 rt Washington DC to Sydney. Can't wait to see the Great Barrier Reef! Saving money for adventure makes me happy.

 For breakfast,  more yogurt, Fage on sale .80

Then lunch was half of a cheese tray from Wegman's, my favorite. $3.82. Dinner was repeat of yesterday $3.50. Yum!

New Daze

So It's been almost eight years since I posted about my month long experiment and I'm about to embark on a new experiment as of today. I'm going to see how long I can go without purchasing any food. I'll be eating out of my pantry, fridge, and freezer. I'll still estimate costs and any daily adventures. I'm going to see if I can make it to the end of the month when my sister and I have a camping trip to West Virginia planned.

Today's breakfast was strawberry Noosa yogurt. Noosa's been around for 11 years but it didn't come to Southern Maryland to  maybe 6 or 7 years ago. It is delicious and only a $1.75.

For lunch, a salad with olives, jalapenos, cottage cheese, poblanos, blue cheese dressing and a dolma from Mom's on the side. I get the lettuce at Aldi for .89 and it lasts 2-3 days. The olives are the costly thing on the salad at $6 a jar. My guess is this salad cost about $1.80, and it's pretty healthy. 

Finally,  for dinner,  I had tofu korma ($1.50 + $3/3 meals) with butternut squash coconut dal ($4/3) and Rancho Gordo heirloom beans ($8/8) on rice (.35). Total meal = $4.18 Frenchie stares from Tally at no cost.

To watch this amazing sunset,  I enjoyed a Ben and Jerry's ice cream bar ($1 on sale)

$7.87

Savannah's Day

Today was the day we celebrated Savannah's birthday and prepared to go to Atlanta for the Frenchie national. I started the day on high gear, trying to get a new driver's license because I couldn't find mine but the line was so long so I stopped at Wawa for breakfast. $3.50 This is a pretty clear path to unhealthiness but it is soooo tasty that every once and awhile I can't resist.

For lunch, my sister and I took Savannah for a birthday lunch at the decadent Cheesecake Factory. And they now have a skinny menu so we went with that to have "space" for dessert. We shared a roasted artichoke and then I had a pear, blue cheese, argula, pecan flatbread that was better than it should have been. I actually have to guess at the cost since we split Savannah's meal (blue cheese, bacon burger) and had teas. I'm guessing about $14.00 for mine (just my food). But I forgot I did "save" room to try the blackout cake, which has not increased in price since the early 90s so is now a bargain when it was once a blowout- so an additional $6.95. Good to the health, Cheesecake Factory! And good to the indulgence! (The light didn't help the food photos.)

For dinner, everyone had crabs but I didn't feel like getting down so I had a frozen Indian meal (and forgot to photo Error #?) $4.50

Error #3, 4, 5, 6, & 7

So Thursday and Friday- only 2 photos- oops. I feared it would come to this and am thinking of a rework so that I only take photos of non-home food. Here is the down and dirty recap...

Thursday
breakfast- TLC bar, smoothie $2.20
lunch- smoked turkey from Devon and Blakely (free, I won't even say again this is not the norm or if you pay $8.50)

dinner - PHOTO loco moco with sister (hamburger $.75, brown rice $.50, egg free, gravy $1.00) $2.25 and delicious






Friday

breakfast - TLC bar, smoothie with smoothie juice and TJ's frozen mango puree- yum $2.20 And PHOTO
lunch- SizzEx, Korean buffet- mix of noodles, veggies, chicken and brocolli, cucumber salad $5.20
dinner- chef's sushi special from Harris Teeter eaten in the car on the ride home- just too hungry and my phone was dead. $10.80

BUT big news, I am about to go on vacation and this should get good because no work and fun should equal better blogging- you be the judge!