Food Stamp Challenge: Day 2

Change of plans. The 12th South Farmers Market was cancelled today due to the weather. This throws me off because I bought a bunch of brown food yesterday and was looking forward to adding green to my diet today. Plus, I was excited to include the farmers market as part of my assignment and see how far I could stretch my dollar on fresh, local items.

But I am craving vegetables to the point of I don't care where they come from so I get over my slump and I head back to Kroger.

And I feel like I scored big time. On today's shopping list:

• 1 bag stir-fry vegetables
• 1 bag broccoli and cauliflower
• 2 slicing tomatoes
• 1 lemon
• 1 lime
• 1 can baked beans
• 1 can diced tomatoes
• Half a dozen eggs
• and 1 small block of sharp cheddar (!!) 

Total spent: $9.56

So with yesterday's shopping trip I've spent $24.02 in all which gives me $6.98 left.

So the veggies aren't as fresh as I was hoping for, as evidenced by the frozen spinach and broccoli on "Manager's Special". But I was so happy to have eggs and cheese. There was a moment of sheer panic however when my bag of groceries tipped over in the car and I heard the egg carton hit the door. They were fine, but it made me realize how devastating it would have been to lose any of my 6 precious eggs when I have so little money left to buy more.

For the record here's what I ate today and the cost breakdown:
Breakfast - dry toast again because I couldn't get out of bed in time to make something more substantial. Cost: about .5 cents
Lunch - leftover taco soup from yesterday. It was good but it didn't sustain me for long. Cost: Free (I made the whole batch yesterday for $1.93. I still have about 2 servings left)
Snack after work - handful of baked beans on toast with cheese. Cost: .46 cents

I am out the door to a meeting (as you can tell by my thrown together after-work snack) so I stick a baked potato in the oven for dinner.

Dinner - Baked potato with cheese & a serving of raw broccoli and cauliflower. Cost: .85 cents*
Man, that potato was satisfying (though it needed sour cream). This is the first time I've felt full today.

I am worn out. And I'm a little frustrated that I haven't been able to experiment with more elaborate meals yet. After posting this I either need to a) prep what I'm eating for breakfast and taking to work for lunch tomorrow or b) go straight to bed so I can do it in the morning. I feel a little ridiculous complaining, because I feel like normal people do these sorts of things everyday. But I am so tired. Maybe it's the weather.

*By the way, I am calculating the costs of my meals by taking the amount of servings in the product and dividing it by the total cost of the product. For instance, there were 11 potatoes in the bag and the bag cost $3.09. So $3.09 / 11 + $0.24 (1 serving of cheese) = $0.52