30°f/-1°C, clear all day but only warmed to 54°.
Another night of troublesome sleep so here I am in the wee hours writing my blog. I might as well make use of being awake!
Today was a town day for us. Larry had a load of junk metal to take to the scrap yard (and got a whopping $9.25 for it!), and I wanted to get our first load of mulch, so we took the truck. I was surprised to see a long, deep scratch down its side, and a new dent in the front bumper. Larry says he has no idea how either happened, but I cannot imagine he didn't hear that scratch being made. Poor old truck.
Anyway, I straightened up our Ripley booth while he got rid of his load of junk. Last weekend was the Spring open house at this mall, so I knew it would be untidy. Then it was lunch with friends, Walmart for mulch, feed store, and grocery store.
At the grocery store I got to thinking about a question someone asked in a cooking group on Facebook: if you had only $5 to spend for all your food for a day, what would you buy? Five dollars doesn't buy much these days, does it? Here's what I came up with, if I shopped at Kroger :
- A box of 8 packets of instant, sweetened and flavored oatmeal: $1.67
- A half dozen eggs: $1.15
- A bag of frozen chopped broccoli: $1.29
- One Roma tomato: $.25
- 2 bananas: .60
- Total: $4.94
So, oats for breakfast and snacks, mix a packet with a couple eggs and a mashed banana to make pancakes for lunch (no syrup but the sweetened oats would add enough sugar), and omelet with the rest of the eggs, tomatoes and broccoli for dinner.
My goal was a fairly healthy menu, so could I do the same at Dollar Tree?
If I shopped at Dollar Tree, I could buy:
- A bag of brown rice: $1.25
- A bag of black beans $1.25
- A bag of frozen veggies $1.25
- A box of instant oatmeal packets $1.25
- Total: $5.00 (there is no tax on food in WV)
This would allow oats for breakfast and snacks, and beans and rice with the veggies for lunch and dinner. Nothing fresh but not too bad.
Public domain photo
Both of my options assumed that the only other food items I had on hand were water, salt and pepper. The Dollar Tree menu would provide more food, since the beans and rice would make quite a lot.
Of course, most of us have lots of flexibility when cooking, using food, spices, etc that we already had on hand. There are many days that I doubt what I cook actually costs even $5, because I may use only a part of something.
If you had to do this, what would you buy? The exercise made me feel grateful that I do not have to buy all my food, and that if I did, I could afford more choices.
That was an interesting post. I am glad I, despite at the moment am on hold, workwise, can still buy what I want - just I cannot eat much atm, I think it´s work-worries - will they really take me back and when? Yes, with gas being so expensive food prices will rise - trucks that deliver need gas and we get such stupid things as milk from South Germany, as if we in the North had no cows, we do.
ReplyDeleteMaybe all this leads to re-thinking where we get our food from... (we also can buy local apples etc, but some items are utterly dumb).
Good thoughts, Iris. We get apples from Washington state, 3000 miles away, when the Eastern side of our state is a major apple producer! It makes no sense. Locally, many little farm stands ars popping up, selling eggs, breads and other baked goods, jams and jellies, honey, and in season various veggies. Their prices are high though, and out of range for people on tight budgets. $10 for a loaf of bread is too steep for me! But as the oil mess continues, who know where prices at the stores will end up?
DeleteThat's an interesting question and you spent the $5 wisely. I don't know if I would have thought to make pancakes with the oats. Not sure what I would buy, my brain isn't awake enough yet to think about that.
ReplyDeleteIt did make me think! Jim's Ramen noodles suggestion is a good one. Add a can of tuna and some vegetables and it would nake several meals.
DeleteWhat an interesting exercise, I don't know else I would buy, but I know my list would include ramen noodles!
ReplyDeleteVery good suggestion, and easily supplemented with cheap protein like beans or tuna!
DeleteGolly. This one makes you stop and think. And really give a tip of the hat to those who have to live with that budget every day. I suppose if you figured $5/day for a week, you might (I stress MIGHT) be able to do more, given a larger size bag of rice, for example. Protein is so expensive.
ReplyDeleteYes, it does make you think. And appreciate whatbyou have.
DeleteI would just buy eggs...
ReplyDeleteI hear you! Eggs are my favorite food.
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