Below the Line: Day 2
The lesson of today was that cooking "Below the Line" is time consuming! I have realized that not only do I take for granted being able to pick up any number of foods without having to worry about how much they cost, but I've really been taking for granted the convenience that these foods had given me.
I got up an extra half hour early to try my hand at some poached eggs. I'd never made poached eggs before and looking back I probably should have given myself a bit more time. Thankfully, I googled how to use silicone egg poachers last night so I knew to put the lid on my boiling pot, which I definitely wouldn't have done otherwise.
These turned out pretty good! I like soft yolk but I probably could have left these in for one more minute and they would have been perfect.
- 2 eggs = $0.42
- Salt = $0.01
- 1/2 pita = $0.09
- BREAKFAST = $0.52
I decided that since I'm eating the same thing every day for lunch I'd try to switch the presentation up somehow. Let's just call this my "deconstructed" carrot & crab pita.
- 1 pita = $0.17
- 1/5 pack of imitation crab = $0.20
- 1/2 carrot = $0.08
- one squirt of a quarter of a lemon = $0.02.
- LUNCH = $0.47
Again I brought my other half carrot back to work for the afternoon.
- 1/2 carrot = $0.08
- SNACK = $0.08
Here's where I didn't plan very well. I worked til 5, had a play rehearsal tonight and my ride was set to pick me up at 5:50. I really underestimated how long preparing my food would be. Washing, peeling, cooking, shredding... these things take time. On a quick night like this I'd usually reach for some preprepared food or hit a drive-thru.
I microwaved up 3 small potatoes and as they cooked I used a vegetable peeler to make a sort of carrot salad, which I added lemon and pepper to (the salad was really good by the way!). I was running low on time and the peeling was taking longer than I anticipated so I chucked half of the carrot into my purse to munch on during rehearsal.
- 3 small potatoes= $0.18
- salt = $0.01
- 1 carrot = $0.15
- squirt of lemon = $0.04
- pepper = $0.01
- DINNER = $0.39
- 1/10 lemon = $0.04
- water = $0.00
- DRINK = $0.04
I gave the chip another try tonight and I have to say, they were a success! Yesterday I used a mandolin and cut them much too thick so tonight I cut them thinner by hand and they turned out crispy and brown and great. They did take a LONG TIME to cut up though. I'm not the fastest with a knife to begin with but when trying to slice something so thin and even it was really, really slow going. Definitely worth it though, these were delicious. Tomorrow I'll see if there are settings to adjust the mandolin to slice thinner.
- 1 small potato = $0.06
- pinch of garlic salt = $0.01
- SNACK = $0.07
Another treat I had today was TEA. I decided to save up my 3 tea bags for nights I have rehearsals so I had a nice big travel mug of tea and popped the leftover bag into a jug to attempt to make some sort of unsweetened iced tea.
- tea bag = $0.08
- hot water = $0.00
- DRINK = $0.08
Which brings my grand total for the day to:
$1.65
Although I cannot accept donations of food, I am raising money for SPREAD THE NET which is all about getting mosquito nets where they are most needed in order help end preventable malaria deaths. View my sponsorship page HERE.