Guerilla Chef - Breakfast Edition

I "borrowed" two eggs from my roommate and made a pepper, cheese and sun dried tomato omelet (cooked in a little sambal olek and olive oil), served with toast and jam.

Yesterday, I paid homage to the spirit of British grandmothers past and had beans on toast for dinner - seriously underrated UK comfort food. I had allowed myself a reprieve and bought lunch after bringing lunch most of the week. And, someone made muffins and left them in the coffee room for breakfast.

To Summarize Grocery Ban: I ate out twice (dinner, lunch), and otherwise relied on what I had to great success, probably making more interesting things than I otherwise would have. I gave in and bought some soy milk and bread, and borrowed a couple eggs. Despite this, a lot of random food remains. Vegetarian curries and veggie dogs with saurkraut are on the horizon next week. I'm going to stop updating what exactly I'm making from what's left - I've figured out enough to know that I need to stop collecting food until I use what I have.

I'm lifting the grocery ban for some fresh produce on Monday. I'm considering unofficially joining Krystal's February Food Challenge to replace the grocery ban. The wrinkle four days I'm spending with old friends at a wedding - with a USD exchange rate. This February, for those who like precision and symmetry, is a perfect calendar month. I'd like to think I could do $25 per week plus $25 per day for the trip - a total of $200, but I'm not completely sure this is possible and I won't resort to any kind of deprivation exercise to make the point. As you will notice, if you've read any of the grocery ban entries, I like interesting food with decent ingredients... however, being able to cut my expenses down significantly over the next four months is not only padding my bank account but good prep for living on no income when I'm away. I'll definitely be checking out who's taken the challenge on (with low limits).

Guerilla Chef - The One Where I Realize I Don't Eat Much Food

Yesterday, I ended up having some cold cereal for breakfast and the Mexican casserole for lunch. For dinner, I had an event to attend and some Ethiopian food to warm my varietal heart.

Today, I revisited the cold cereal breakfast - convenience is king. For lunch, I had... the rest of the Mexican dish. For dinner, I had the last of the tuna salad in the guise of a tuna melt and then followed it up with a kind of pizza toast: tomato sauce, cheese, pepperoni and a little red pepper.

Basically, it occurred to me that part of the reason I have trouble using up groceries is because I just don't eat that much food. This means that I should buy smaller quantities and versatile ingredients to make sure turnover keeps up.

Tomorrow I already know I'm craving thai. I almost caved tonight but the tuna melt and a lack of restaurant reading material lured me home. My weapons of choice include green curry, pad thai, and any kind of roll - fried or fresh, but the truth is I will eat absolutely any thai food served to me with gusto. I've convinced myself I will be able to make a decent green curry if I pick up a chicken breast and some green peas, but my favorite restaurant is calling my name.

After work I got my monthly insured massage. I currently feel like a puddle...

Guerilla Chef - The Tuesday Tuna Special

(I ended up getting soy milk and bread)

Today I made a tuna melt [remainder of the red onion, cheese, tuna, mayo, grainy bread]. I served it with a side of sliced raw red peppers dipped in yesterday's yogurt. The chili/honey/ginger yogurt combo was delicious.

I ate it after doing some number crunching. After a very long time being cashless I'm going to run February paid-in-cash, completely, and see how it affects things. My rewards only amount to about $3 per month. I will take a pre-determined amount when paid Friday and see what happens until the 27th.

Guerilla Chef - Waste Not, Want Not Edition

The pressure of writing what I'll prepare encouraged me to avoid eating the bag of popcorn and calling it a day. HOWEVER, investigations reveal the cheese about to go off so the next few days may focus on dairy triage.

(1) Not so hungry, as today was a birthday lunch at work. Solution: Crystal Rice Rolls. Contents: red pepper slices, rice noodles, 1/2 tsp oyster sauce, cilantro, rice paper wraps, dipped in spicy mango chutney.

(2) Work tomorrow: mexican cassarole! (Ole? Exclamations seem appropriate) Ingredients: rice, red onion, cumin, refried beans, tomato sauce, red peppers, cheese. Layered and baked. To be garnished with: salsa, yogurt, cilantro.

Also: special breakfast edition: an experiment - spicy ginger-honey yogurt cup (plus cereal)

Arranging Money - Obsession or Efficiency?

Normally, my strategy with every pay cheque is the following:

Pay all bills
Pay off credit cards
Leave Enough for Auto-Withdrawals
Dump remainder on Student Loan

I generally keep very little in my bank account, maybe $20 leeway. I have excellent (free) overdraft protection to $500 that covers anything unexpected requiring cash on hand.

Now, I have five pay periods left until I'm done work and I'm tempted to leave the funds in the account and stop the "leftovers applied to loans policy," operating more on a cash basis.

I've vastly simplified my personal finances this year, they now consist of:

-a single normal credit card (low limit) plus emergency card (high limit), paid off in full each month
-prepaid cell, no land line (using the credit card)
-rent and utilities as a single payment, fixed rate
-two minimum loan payments, auto-withdrawn

I plan to clear one of the loans before I go. The cell will lapse and I have no lease to get out of. While away, I will have to remember to pay my card periodically (and monitor my account for fraud), but nothing else.

However, given that my primary loan is still open (at a low interest rate), I'm not sure if this shift will help freshen up my finances or just result in $5 more interest per month? I'm hoping it allows me to stockpile about five months of earnings (plus tax refund, plus pension cash out) in a tangible way to get a better picture of what I have to work with. But will the temptation of having a large sum of cold cash languishing in my savings account be too much?

*

MOST INTERESTING DEVELOPMENT OF THE WEEK: I am attempting, largely unsuccessfully, to empty my cupboards. I haven't had a major grocery shopping trip in two months. Although most of this is a result of being away over the holidays, this is my fourth week home in January.

This has made me realize how much I had unintentionally hoarded. The funny thing is, it's hardly a stocked pantry (condiments and beverages excluded) and this has been the same for so long I can do it from memory:

Pancake mix
Box cold cereal
Bag hot cereal
One can chic peas
One can tomatoes
One can beans
One can coconut milk
One bag microwave popcorn
A few sun dried tomatoes
Small bag of sticky rice
Package of sushi nori
Can of tuna
Can of sardines
Small bag whole wheat cous cous
Assorted noodles/pasta (house pool)
Frozen naan
Jar of saurkraut
Half a can of refried beans
Package of pepperoni
Package of veggie dogs
250 g marble cheese
3 red peppers
One small red cabbage
Half a red onion
200 g plain yogurt
500 g natural peanut butter

*Bold = january purchase

I'm so amazed at how long this stuff has been able to hang around in the cupboard I'm declaring war and continuing the grocery ban. For morbid interest I will document what I end up eating as a result. The exceptions include: bread or buns and some fresh produce... but only whenever I manage to get through the existing produce to a measurable degree. After exhausting protien sources, additions will be allowed on a piecemeal basis.

MOST ANNOYING FINANCIAL PREDICAMENT: the time has come to renegotiate my bank fees. Instead of notifying me the no-fee period as they understood it was about to end, they just started billing. I don't really like my bank at all but it's the best of many evils, somewhat like cell phones...