Thursday, January 10, 2013

Day 10 Food stamp diabetic project

I begin with 5.40 and a reckless attitude towards my first meal.

I am so tired of being hungry I had a breakfast without considering costs or carbs.

Let's see how I did.

Coffee with cream .24
Pomegranate 1/2 cup .50
10 turkey meatballs .70
2 ounces of pasta .13
Canned Cheese .10
2 tomatoes .50
Garlic .03
Total 2.20
69 grams of carbohydrate. I just went over the safe zone for my blood sugar.

It happens, the next meal I just try to get it under control again.

I get it. I understand why so many people who end up in emergency rooms in crisis could not take it any more. If you try to eat right on this budget you are going to be hungry. If you go over budget you have no food at the end of the month. If you go over carbs you impact your health.

Food stamps are NOT the solution to hunger in America at their present levels.

And a very busy day ensued. I had not planned on skipping lunch, I intended to eat something, but did not get home 'til 5.

On the way I shopped at a very clever fish store. You cannot sell prepared food with the EBT card. This store sells, unprepared food, you pick out your fish to take home or have cooked in store, you can add vegetables, lemon, etc. Once it is paid for they cook it for free, steaming, frying etc. This allows busy folks to get inexpensive prepared food via EBT.

I got my fish raw, my two tiny filets set me back 1.95.

However I did luck out with a bag of oranges where they come to .25 each and from an unlicensed street vendor I purchased a pound of green beans for .85. They were marked at one dollar a pound but I had .85 left, I asked for half a pound and he said he would take the .85. It was a generous pound. How can you not love Harlem and the people who live here.

I also bought a zucchini at the grocery that came to 1.11.

I had a sudden craving for zucchini frita.

The thin sliced zucchini is dipped in egg, fried in a pan 'kissed by oil' which means hardly any and then you sandwich an anchovy in the veg.

I ate two of my slices right out of the oil and used the remaining for for my antipasti.

Egg .21
Zucchini 1.11
Anchovies .20
Total 1.52
10 grams of carb

I don't see any way not to go over budget today, and if I do tomorrow will be bleak. I am going to see how long I can hold out without making anything for dinner.

I held out til 7 and ate the fish. Broiled whiting is a revelation. Harlem eats whiting fried, and I have had it fried numerous times. Tonight I brushed with a tiny bit of  mustard and oil and broiled til the skin was crisp, gave it just a touch of hot sauce and my gosh...I don't recall having such good fish.

It is 7:58 and I need to keep my wits about me and avoid eating anything else before bed.

The whiting had less than 1 gram of carb.

Whiting 1.95

My total was 5.67 putting me .27 into tomorrow's debt. That means tomorrow I have 3.98.

With all of this opulent eating I still only managed 962 calories.

3 comments:

Sandra Lee fan said...

The penny by penny breakdown is giving me a real education.

All day long at Lincoln I tell people to eat seafood and vegetables. We area always questioning why they eat the boxed macaroni and cheese, the frozen meals, the garbage from the dollar menu.

The answer is staring us in the face, they eat the crap, because crap is affordable.

I hope you can keep going for two months.

Anonymous said...

Did you see the article yesterday about food waste? It's shocking that we throw out half the world's food while so many aren't getting enough to eat.

Karl said...

I saw the article on the Huffington Post about the food waste. I commented on it.

I got someone incredibly nasty responding to me, calling me names, and claiming that this diet was easy.