The Food Stamp Challenge Part 5: What's On The Menu?

 I'll be updating this post to keep track of the menu and work on the math.  Stay tuned.

So far this is pretty good eating, I'm not hungry, I met my calorie needs and I did not spend a lot for today.

The worst part of my day was three hours of National Career Readiness Certification testing at unemployment, which I had to do. It was ACT crap-locating information, applied mathematics and reading for information. They give you a rating and the rating you get on your certificate is not what you did well on, but what you did least well on. Quote: "The lowest level of your NCRC test assessment is the certificate level you have achieved." What if you're a dyslexic but you have a PhD, or in my case a Master's in Laws?

The rotten pricks.

5/12/15

B: Coffee-toast-one pink grapefruit (a bargain at 6 for $2.99)

L: Salad, dressed with olive oil and cider vinegar, ginger ale.

D: Two egg burritos with Herdez green chile salsa.

5/13/15

B. Coffee, toast, one pink grapefruit

L. Salad.

D. Lo mein (stir fried noodles) (veganesque with scalions, onion, ginger, garlic and jalapenos)

5/14/15

B: Coffee and a bagel

L. Skipped

D. Spaghetti with marinara and some chipotle puree I had in the fridge.

As a point of information for busy people, it makes sense to cook up a pound or so of pasta, rice, or similat carbos, rinse and drain it and stash it in the fridge. Then it's no work at all to use that as a foundation for some curry, lo mein, or fried rice. But someone mentioned more or less "How do you expect busy people to take the time to prepare food from scratch for the kids, if they gotta work and stuff, smartypants?"

The answer is, you don't have to. You can buy Banquet frozen entrees-the cheap stuff-and throw it in the microwave. Or Lean Cuisine. Or Healthy Choice. Or Stouffer's Or Marie Callenders' if you're blowing the budget.

But you won't eat well or even economically.

Cooking isn't that difficult. It's just something you have to do, and it isn't that hard.

When the kids are at school and the kids are telling how they got taken to Burger King or the Clown's your young folk can say with a measure of pride "My dad cooks for me. And I help. And we eat dinner as a family and talk about our day and how it went."