What New Diet?

 The New Food Stamp Diet

 

Based on $451in the account today, we started out ahead, the food stamps need to last us through February, when we go to $298, taking us down to $67.29 per week or $4.81 per person per day…hmmm, I can’t wait to see what we can eat! This is the first entry, which will also give an idea what this blog is about…

 

Fortunately, I have some stock in the house, soup bases in the freezer, and a few staples already in the pantry, like rice, spices, etc, and even had milk in the fridge. I’m already depressed. I spent about $65 and brought home the usual fatty meats and high sodium products, Mac & cheese, trying to s-t-r-e-t-c-h it some. Well, the bay leaves and paprika will last a while, so I won’t complain about those. Otherwise, for meat, I brought home breakfast sausage on sale, hamburger, marked down pork chops, marked down polish sausage, ham and turkey lunch meat on sale. I guess if it isn’t on sale, or marked down, I won’t be buying anything of quality when it comes to meat. So much for chickens and turkeys and fish, unless it is really ripe I guess, huh?

 

Vegetables? Broccoli and green beans and a bag of salad, 5 pounds of potatoes, celery and mushrooms. No, I cannot bring myself to buy canned vegetables unless they are mixed with something, like making spoon bread or something like that. I have bought frozen, but prefer to use whatever I can find fresh, which, in this small town local grocery store, doesn’t amount to much. Eggs and cheese in the dairy aisle. If I would have used brown paper bags, I may have filled one. It used to be about $30 to fill a brown paper bag. Not any more.

 

For dinner tonight, we ate mac & cheese, some leftover for another meal, I cooked all the hamburger, giving us some leftovers there too, and used half the bag of salad. Good thing I have a Zantac product in the house. I am already overweight due to health problems, being more than 45 pounds over the fit and trim weight I was 2 years ago. Because I cannot yet exercise, I have to wonder what this diet will do to me physically and emotionally. It has already begun.

 

Who were the congress people who tried to live on $7 a day per person, and said it was impossible? It may be impossible to keep track, BUT…I will try to keep an eye on what I spend and what we are eating for the next month, just to see if living this way is something anyone else can relate to in their life.

 

Until the next meal…bon appetite!