Thursday, May 10, 2018

How cheap can a man eat?

Not tasty but very cheap.
If you had to eat the same three meals every day, what would you eat? What if you were also trying to see how little money you could spend on food for six weeks? Then what meals would you choose?

I’m asking you these questions today because (as of yesterday) I am embarking on a six week dietary experiment. My goal is to eat the same food every day for six weeks, and to spend as little money as possible in the process. I’d love to stay under $100, but not sure if I have the willpower to pull that off.

I have two primary motivators for this experiment. First, I want to see how much money I can divert to helping feed hungry people by eating simpler. Second, I want to learn to “eat to live” instead of “living to eat” so that I can give more energy to bigger issues and break my comfort dependency. I’ll unpack both of those reasons in the next couple of blogs… but for now, here’s the menu!

Breakfast: Oatmeal w/honey and a few walnuts or just salt
Snack: Protein shake
Lunch: Eggs and Toast
Snack: Banana or Apple
Dinner: Rice and Beans or Lentils, plus cheap veggies or potato
Snack: Toast, Apple or Banana

I am going to allow myself to juggle these meals, or to double up on rice and beans if I can’t stomach any more oatmeal at one point. (I’m not a huge fan of oatmeal… cutting out cereal for oatmeal is a tough one.) Yesterday was the first day of the experiment, and while I did stay full I certainly had moments of significant temptation for popcorn or something sweet. As a disclaimer, I do realize that the protein shake is expensive, but I do a fair amount of working out and if I don’t get protein and calories I will be very hangry, and that will not be good for family or ministry or anything. Also, while I don’t plan on keeping this diet forever I do want it to be somewhat sustainable (more on that to come…) and losing too much weight would derail the plan.

So, I will keep you guys posted on how this is going, and in the meantime if you have suggestions on ways to go cheaper and get nutrition please fire away!

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