Tuesday, January 27, 2009

Free BBQ and the husband's pototoes

Okay, so I've sort of done the dollar a day thing for a week now, except that I went over by thirty-four cents on Sunday when I bought cookies for the annual meeting.

I would have started the week before except that a.) during the practice week I was eating a lot of leftover turkey from the freezer (which I didn't know how much it should cost), b.) I knew that I was going out with my friends that Saturday and that I would probably spend at least ten dollars, and c.) while I could have started the dollar a day thing on Sunday or Monday I blew it by eating ice cream with my husband and that put me over by at least twenty-five cents.

Okay, so I almost did it for a week, took a break on Saturday and started doing it again on Tuesday and didn't quite make it Sunday because of the meeting. But on other days it was under a dollar, so it balances out.

The other thing about Sunday was that the dollar I put in for cookies resulted in my getting back not only leftover cookies that I brought, but also leftover BBQ. So now I have free BBQ for the week if I ration it out.

While I tend to make black bean soup when I need to save money, my husband's favorite thing seems to be fried potatoes. Usually this involves a lot of Crisco, possibly eggs, and possibly sausage. And I usually eat the fried potatoes because a.) my husband was nice enough to do the cooking himself, and b.) this is the main thing he does to try to save money. Saving money just isn't his thing. (Going out to eat even if it means getting into debt is his thing.) So I eat the potatoes, and I'm glad to eat the potatoes, until after I have eaten the potatoes and see the Crisco on the counter.

While it tastes just fine, there is something about seeing fat that stays solid at room temperature that bothers me.

So he bought this whole bag of potatoes, and then we didn't do much with it, mostly because the last time he offered to fry potatoes I said that I didn't want any. And I guess he got tired of going to that effort just for himself.

Yesterday he tried something different, which required the potatoes to be baked instead of fried, and he used olive oil instead of Crisco. Olive oil is still a fat, but it isn't a fat that stays solid at room temperature, so it somehow doesn't look as bad.

So yesterday we had potatoes, which at forty cents a pound is more than I want to spend on the dollar a day thing, but it doesn't seem bad at all when served with leftover free brisket.

Also, I have now eaten the last of that horrible soup I made with the tomatoes, and I am glad to see the end of it.

Yesterday I ate:
.20 yogurt
.18 black bean soup
.05 half cup cola
.05 popcorn
.14 soup
.26 potatoes with olive oil
free brisket
free cookie
.05 half cup cola
.05 spoonful of peanut butter
.02 Christmas candy
______________________________
1.00 daily total for Monday

1 comment:

dmarks said...

I am guessing that the fried potatoes are chunks like 1/2 inch squares fried up in a pan. I've never liked those.

Olive oil is supposed to be pretty good for you, so it is all probably better with olive oil than Crisco (taste and health-wise).