Second day

The remains of Paul's 3 lb loaf. Good crust and crumb for cheap all purpose flour.


Paul worked from home today, so he didn't have to make coffee arrangements or eat a big breakfast, as he usually does before biking to work. He did miss feeding his muse the endless cups of coffee which inspire him when he is doing serious writing. This evening was our tap dancing lesson, so we eat when we get home, about 8. We are hot and full of water after dancing, so we never feel very hungry. Breakfast was toast and peanut butter, lunch was bread and cheese for me, a peanut butter and jelly sandwich for Paul. Dinner was bean soup, bread and butter, and cinnamon cookies.

Recipe for bean soup (The pound of beans I soaked and cooked yesterday ended up being 6 cups)
3 Cups beans and their liquid, about 4 Cups. Add water if necessary.
1/3 pound smoked sausage, sliced thin
2 onions, chopped
2 carrots, chopped
1 bay leaf
1/2 teaspoon celery seed
Save out 1/2 cup of the beans. Put everything else in a covered pot and simmer for about an hour. Fish out the sausage and puree the soup with an immersible blender. Add the reserved beans and the sausage, remove the bay leaf, and serve with plenty of black pepper. Add salt to your own portion, to keep the beans from getting hard. We had enough soup left over for Paul to take for lunch later this week.

Things I learned today: Processed food is really sweet. Bean soup is way nicer with a potato in it. I miss unlmited milk drinking.
Marilyn

When checking out food stamp allocations today I foundout that it varies wildly state to state. If we did the Ohio amount, Marilyn and I would have had nearly $71 for the week as opposed to $42. That would have made a significant difference but one would still have to be thoughtful about purchases and menu planning.

I also saw the Oregon Governor's shopping list ... he scored 10lb of potatoes for $.99 Wow. But he had no coffee.

Paul

First day

Paul and I went for a 30-mile bike ride today over country roads that were way too hilly for me. I had a cup of tea, and Paul had nothing, so we biked for several hours with no fuel. Pancakes were on the menu for breakfast, and we were really hungry when we finally ate our first meal about 1 o'clock. Paul baked a big loaf of bread, and we ate some very fresh, about 4. Dinner was at 7:45, but we weren't perishing with hunger. We had plenty to eat, and I even made some cookies for dessert.
Breakfast: Pancakes with butter and orange marmalade, coffee and milk
Lunch: Bread with butter and cheese, tea
Dinner: Chicken thighs with carrots, onion and red pepper, steamed rice, beets, tea and vanilla cookies
Recipes
Pancakes: 1 egg, 1/4 cup oil, 2T sugar, 1/2 teaspoon salt, 2 teaspoons baking powder, 2 cups flour, 1/2 cup milk and enough water to make a batter the thickness of heavy cream.

Coq au vinaigre: 5 small chicken thighs dredged in flour,salt, pepper and 1 teaspoon Italian herbs. 2 carrots, sliced , 2 onions, chopped, 1/4 of the red pepper, chopped. Over high heat, cook the chicken in 2 Tablespoons oil until it is browned on both sides. Remove from the heat, lower to medium, add the vegetables and saute for about 5 minutes. Add 1 Tablespoon of vinegar and 2 Tablespoons of water, put the chicken over top and bake in a 325 oven for an hour, turning the chicken a few times.

Cookies: 1/2 Cup butter, 1/2 Cup sugar, 1 egg, 1/4 teaspoon salt, 1/4 teaspoon baking soda, 1 1/2 Cups flour. Combine all the ingredients, mix well. Divide dough into 3 parts, mix 1/2 teaspoon vanilla into one, 1 teaspoon of cinnamon into the second, and 2 Tablespoons peanut butter into the third. Roll each batch into a log about five inches long and chill several hours. Each roll makes about a dozen cookies. Slice thin, place on an ungreased cookie sheet and bake at 400 degrees for about 7 minutes.

What I learned today: We are eating way more butter than we usually do. I hope a pound lasts the week. A pound of carrots has only 8 skinny carrots in it. Canned beets are not as bad as I thought they would be. We had enough chicken left over for Paul to take chicken & rice as a lunch later this week.

I really need a cup of tea. Marilyn

My sourdough loaf was fairly good with cheap flour. It might have been even better with a longer rise time but we needed it quickly. Marilyn likes it but really wants a loaf-pan loaf so she can make standard toast (to go with her tea). I missed my before dinner drink!

Marilyn is very clever ... Paul

Food Stamp Challenge

By now everyone has heard about Oregon Democratic Gov. Ted Kulongoski and his wife, attorney Mary Oberst who are going to try to live on the standard food stamp allocation of $3 per person per day . Marilyn and I had been thinking about third world diets for quite a while and thought that this might be a good opportunity to try the American equivalent for a week and at the same time see how difficult this really is. We think this will be challenging eventhough we are good, inventive cooks and totally omnivorous.

It is Saturday April 28, 2007 and we will start the diet tomorrow. We went shopping today. We gave ourselves $41 dollars to spend. We used the other dollar as a contribution to the pantry. The pantry deserves a short explanation. We assume that, over a longer period and for two people, one could spend a dollar a week and keep ones basic spices, salt, pepper, vinegar, baking powder and soda in supply. Here is how we spent our money:

milk gallon $ 2.59
coffee 12 oz $ 4.99
peanut butter 18 oz $ 1.49
jelly 18 oz $ 1.19
flour 5 lb $ 1. 09
oil 48 oz $ 1.59
eggs dozen $ 1.00
beans (dried) 1 lb $ .59
rice 1 lb $ .89
onions 3 lb $ 2.79
carrots 1 lb $ .99
chicken (thighs) 3.46 lb $ 4.12
cheese 1 lb $ 3.00
smoked sausage .93 lb $ 1.99
sugar 2 lb $ 1.12
can beets 14 oz $ .49
can stewed tomatos 14 oz $ .49
can mixed greens 27 oz $ 1.49
butter 1 lb $ 1.99
cabbage 1.41 lb $ .69
breaded fish 8 pcs 19 oz $ 1.99
tea 40 bags $1.99
corn muffin mix small box $ .25
red pepper .5 lb $ .79

Total $39.60

A few caveats:

We have chickens and we are using our own eggs. We used the best price for a dozen from the store.

We bake our own bread and desserts ... thus the large amount of flour.

We are not eating from our garden this week ... things will keep.

I work but Marilyn is at home. Preparation times are irrelevant.

We did our shopping at three different stores, not too far apart but not realistic if you did not have access to a car. The cost and variety would have shifted if we were limited to one market. Protein sources were much cheaper at the extreme value chain (Save-a-Lot) but staples were cheaper using the value brand at the standard chain (Giant Eagle).

Marilyn bets we will need the remaining $1.40 for milk since she drinks copious amounts of tea and would rather die than not have milk for her tea.

Today's jobs: soak the beans and get the starter ramped up for the bread.

Paul