Day 26: pulling out the stops

I've been limiting myself in this experiment so far with a hard constraint of only shopping in a convenience store and a soft constraint of generally sticking to a budget of around $8/day.

I'm writing this on Day 27 because yesterday (Day 26) I decided to throw the second constraint - the dollar amount - out the window. I invited myself over to the house of my friends Lisa and Mike to cook us dinner. My goal: the nicest dinner I could make in the Food Desert.

So Day 26 started out like many other days in the Desert - PB&B with coffee:

Breakfast	Quantity	Cost	Calories
banana	1.00	$0.19	90
bread	2.00	$0.26	133
peanut butter	1.00	$0.27	180
coffee	3.00	$0.28	7
		$1.00	410

I made a quick lunch of grilled cheese and coffee:

Lunch	Quantity	Cost	Calories
bread, wheat	4.00	$0.52	266
cheddar cheese	2.00	$0.80	220
I can't believe	10.00	$0.13	40
coffee	3.00	$0.28	7
		$1.73	533

I didn't tell Lisa and Mike what I had in mind - only that it would come from the Desert.

I acquired my ingredients over the course of several days of scouting and buying. Something here, something there.

The big prep at home was to make gnocchi - a pasta made from potato and wheat flour. I made the gnocchi using potato flakes. I've done this before - I call it "cheating gnocchi".

1.5 C flour
1 C potato flakes
1 egg
1 C warm water

mix together. add flour if the dough is sticky. roll out to about 3/8 inch thickness. slice into finger tip size pillows. roll the pillows off the end of a fork to give shape. that's it.



 



I also baked brownies from a package, and completely forgot to photograph them. But everyone knows what brownies look like.








On the way over to Lisa and Mike's I stopped to pick up the lobster - yes, lobster! at the Citgo station on Rte 1 going in to Portsmouth. I know - you don't see live lobster in every gas station convenience store, and you don't see them much around here - but there they were.

First course was a salad I picked up atthe Dover Citgo, enhanced with some additional cucumber and green pepper from Tedeschi. And Italian dressing I bought for the occasion.





Second course was the gnocchi with white wine cream sauce. No problems finding white wine in convenience stores. 






 
Then the main course - lobster with melted butter.

 

Desert was brownie sundays - brownies with Haagan Dazs vanilla ice cream and hot fudge.

I had a couple of beers while we were cooking, and a couple of glasses of wine with dinner. After dinner we drank coffee.

Dinner	Quantity	Cost	Calories
garden salad	1.00	$1.82	15
Italian dressing	1.00	$0.35	100
Gnocchi	1/3	$0.40	278
White wine cream sauce	1/3	$2.65	462
lobster	1.00	$12.71	175
butter	1.00	$0.18	102
brownie	1/8	$0.65	428
Haagan-Daas Vanilla Ice Cream	1.00	$1.66	333
hot fudge sauce	1.00	$0.48	65
beer	2.00	$2.66	300
white wine	2.00	$8.50	300
coffee	3.00	$0.28	7
		$32.34	2,566

Oh, and I had a bag of honey roasted peanuts ($0.50; 230 cal) for a snack.

So that was the day. No exercise, but I still managed to burn some calories because of all the cooking.

I pulled out all the stops for one meal. It's easy to blow through a lot of money. But it was back to business on Day 27.

The point of pulling out all the stops was to have a bit of fun after a long spell of dullness, but also to show what I could have been doing if I chose not to be both money and health conscious, and not break down and eat just the junk food. There is a surprising variety of things available in the Food Desert if one looks. But it takes effort. This meal would have been a snap to put together if I had had access to a regular grocery store, but it took visits to multiple stores and planning over days to make it happen. A real cost of living in a Food Desert.

Day totals:

Cost: $35.57
Calories: 3,739
Exercise: 173 from 9,582 steps - not bad for not actively exercising
Weight: 165.8

Day 25: another day in the desert

I'm a little behind blogging because I've been busy with work and house hunting. Day 25 was not a particulalry interesting day in the Food Desert.

Breakfast	Quantity	Cost	Calories
eggs hard boiled	2.00	$0.59	155
chobani yogurt	1.00	$1.79	140
coffee	3.00	$0.28	7
		$2.66	302

Lunch	Quantity	Cost	Calories
bread, wheat	4.00	$0.52	266
peanut butter	1.00	$0.27	180
jelly	1.00	$0.18	56
carrots	5.00	$0.62	63
coffee	3	$0.28	7
		$1.87	572

I did use the rest of the frozen peas to make my pasta primavera. Also added some green pepper. It was a nice dish.

Dinner	Quantity	Cost	Calories
macaroni	3.00	$0.47	310
olive oil	0.66	$0.35	80
onion	3.00	$0.23	16
peas	1.00	$0.90	105
green pepper	0.25	$0.32	7
		$2.27	518

Ate a banana and a the other half of a bag of peanuts (I had used the first half to make the baked pear). The banana was free because it came with the yogurt from Circle K.

Snack	Quantity	Cost	Calories
banana	1.00	$0.00	90
peanuts	0.50	$0.25	130
		$0.49	220

Day Totals:

Cost: $7.05
Calories: 1,612
Exercise: 42 - my foot is acting up. I rested it. I don't know if I'll ever be able to run again.
Weight: 167.1

Day 24: acclimatized

Humans are remarkably adaptable. For example, I've been in New Hampshire for about six weeks now and this morning when I went out to the car, I was thinking how it was pretty warm - I didn't even bother to button my overcoat. It was 10 degrees F. Six weeks earlier in Texas had I walked out into 10 degrees F, I would have been shivering, sniveling, and whining.

My diet experiments tend to go through a similar arc. in the beginning they are quite trying. Eventually I get into a groove. And by the end, they are quite natural - even boring. Perhaps that's why no one has been reading these posts. But that's ok. Someday when I win the Nobel Prize for Economics, everyone will read them. Small children will be required to memorize what I ate on each day. Etc.

Day 24 started out with the return of the PB&B with some raisins and the ubiquitous coffee.

Breakfast	Quantity	Cost	Calories
banana	1.00	$0.19	90
bread	2.00	$0.26	133
peanut butter	1.00	$0.27	180
raisins	1.00	$0.43	120
coffee	3.00	$0.28	7
		$1.43	530

Lunch was the leftover baked pasta. And coffee.

Lunch	Quantity	Cost	Calories
macaroni	3.00	$0.47	310
sauce	1.00	$0.34	60
olive oil	0.33	$0.35	40
mozzarella	1.70	$0.89	118
onion	3.00	$0.23	16
coffee	3	$0.28	7
		$2.56	551

Dinner required a run to Tedeschi for more bread and cheese so I could make grilled ham and cheese sandwiches for dinner. When I walked in I saw they had pears and that got me thinking about making a special desert.

Dinner	Quantity	Cost	Calories
bread, wheat	4.00	$0.52	220
cheese, cheddar	2.00	$0.80	266
ham	62.00	$1.30	90
I can't believe	10.00	$0.13	40
		$2.75	616

I had picked up the Oscar Meyer ham the other day and been waiting for an opportunity to use it. I bought it on a whim, but once I got it home I realized how expensive it actually was. According to the package it has 2.5 servings. I used two slices, and based on weight, that was right about 1 serving (62g/162g package). But I'll confess it was a nice change of pace in flavor.




My special desert was baked pears with peanuts and honey.

Snack	Quantity	Cost	Calories
pear	1.00	$0.99	103
honey	1.00	$0.37	64
peanuts	0.50	$0.25	130
		$1.61	297

The recipe this is based on is here: http://www.skinnytaste.com/2014/10/baked-pears-with-walnuts-and-honey.html

I didn't have walnuts, so I substituted peanuts. And I forgot the cinnamon, which I did have. But it was still a nice, if somewhat pricey, treat.

My foot was bothering me today - I guess I've pushed it too hard trying to get back in to running, so I took the day off from exercise.

Day totals:

Cost: $8.36
Calories: 1,994
Weight: 167.5

Day 23: Guest Appearance by Colbert

Only seven days left after today. Whew. I am ready to be done. It's not been terrible, but I just don't like the restrictions, and frankly I don't like the blandness.

Today I combined a couple of Food Desert staples: PB&B, and PB&J.

Breakfast	Quantity	Cost	Calories
banana	1.00	$0.19	90
bread	2.00	$0.26	133
peanut butter	1.00	$0.27	180
coffee	3.00	$0.28	7
		$1.00	410

Lunch was the PB&J with carrots tradition:

Lunch	Quantity	Cost	Calories
bread, wheat	4	$0.52	266
peanut butter	1	$0.27	180
jelly	1	$0.18	56
carrots	5	$0.62	63
coffee	3.00	$0.28	5
		$1.87	570

I grabbed a bag of peanuts ($0.50; 260 cal) for snack before my afternoon class.



That's a shot of the building I teach in on Tuesday afternoons. That's really not much ice compared to some other places, I just happened to have my phone out when I was walking by.



Dinner was baked ziti - except it was actually elbows, not ziti. I caramelized some onions in olive oil, then added the Hunt's sauce to the onions as well as a bunch of garlic powder and "Italian seasoning" (whatever that is - mostly oregano and basil, I think). I cooked the macaroni, then mixed the sauce and macaroni along with an ounce or so of mozzarella, then added the rest of the mozzarella on top and baked it until the mozzarella was just starting to crisp.

It came out nice. And the price was reasonable.

Dinner	Quantity	Cost	Calories
macaroni	3.00	$0.47	310
sauce	1.00	$0.34	60
olive oil	0.33	$0.35	40
mozzarella	1.70	$0.89	118
onion	3.00	$0.23	16
		$2.28	544

I ran 10 minutes and walked 55 minutes on the treadmill while I watched Seth Godin videos on YouTube.  I recommend this one:



After exercise I was a bit hungry, so I broke into the frozen peas ($0.90; 105 cal) I found at the other Tedeschi the other day. I put a little I Can't Believe ($0.07; 20 cal) on them for flavor.

Speaking of I Can't Believe, did you guys hear about the butter crisis in Norway? My colleague used this video in class to talk about supply and demand yesterday afternoon.

The Colbert Report
Colbert Report Episode Guide,  More Colbert Report Videos,  Comedy Central Full Episodes

A busy but pretty good day.

Day Totals:

Cost: $6.62
Calories: 1,909
Exercise: 412 from 13,728 steps
Net calories: 1,488
Weight: 167.4

Day 22: getting the fruit and vegetables

One of the challenges of the food desert is getting enough fresh fruit and vegetables. Or, fruit and vegetables of any sort for that matter. Fresh anything is relatively expensive, except for bananas. It appears bananas are optimized for convenience stores - they last a relatively long time, and don't require refrigeration. Typically if a convenience store has fruit, it has bananas.

So this morning started with the Circle K special - Chobani yogurt ($1.79; 140 cal) with a free banana ($0.00; 90 cal) and coffee brewed in the office ($0.28; 6 cal).

Lunch was PB&Js and carrots again - I have a new found fondness of PB&J. I think it's the lack of sugar in most of the other things I am eating - it makes the jelly just that much more special. Since I was eating in the office, I didn't bring along any dressing. I just ate the carrots naked.

Lunch	Quantity	Cost	Calories
bread, wheat	4	$0.52	266
peanut butter	1	$0.27	180
jelly	1	$0.18	55
carrots	5.00	$0.62	63
coffee	3.00	$0.28	5
		$1.87	569

It was kind of a long day. I went out at lunch time with my realtor to look at houses and didn't find anything I wanted to live in. I grabbed some peanuts ($0.50; 260) and some raisins ($0.30; 90 cal) in the afternoon for a snack.

Dinner was a little sad. I wound up eating the left over pizza rustica ($1.73; 753 calories). 

After my evening work out - running 12 minutes, walking another 18 because my foot started to bother me again - I ate an orange ($0.99; 63 cal).

So, although the day had it's ups and downs, as far as eating goes I think it was relatively successful. I managed to get 3 servings of fruit and a serving of vegetables (not counting the Regan era calculus of tomato sauce as a vegetable). 

Day totals:

Cost: $7.46

Calories: 1,946

Exercise: 203 - from 12,058 steps

Net calories: 1,762

Weight: 167.2

week 3 summary stats

Video version of the report.

We are now three weeks into the Food Desert simulation. Above you see a bar chart of my total food expenditures by day. 

Average food expenditure was $7.89, with a median of $7.58 and a standard deviation of $2.11. As you can see, there are several outliers. During week 3 specifically average food expendutre was $6.96.

Average calories consumed was 1,766; average calories burned through exercise (as tracked by fitbit) was 368, for an average net caloric intake of 1,413. Looking at week 3 alone, average consumption was slightly higher at 1,831, and average calories burned was slightly lower at 300, for a net caloric intake of 1,531.

As you can see, a program of reaonable caloric restriction combined with avoiding the worst foods available in convenience stores has resulted in a predictable weight loss, with an ending weight of 166.7.

Day 21: Power oatmeal - it's a thing

So didn't go to any food deserts today. But I did get about 2 hours of exercise by snow shoeing at Odiorne State Park in Rye, NH. This is an absolutely beautiful place, and if you don't see it in winter, I think you are missing out. We had a balmy day (temps above freezing), so Sally and I went for a romp along the coast. Great way to get some exercise. So I burned lots of calories today.

The day starte with Power Oatmeal. I think I may make that an official trademark of the Food Desert Diet. So whenever I write it, I will have to add the little "TM" next to it. I guess I'll go ahead and trademark Food Desert Diet while I'm at it. I weighed in this morning at 166.7 - 9.1 pounds lighter than when I started the experiment. Not bad in three weeks - seems like we might be on to something here, Circle K, Discount Beverage, Tedeschi, and me.

So power oatmeal breakfast with coffee:

Snack	Quantity	Cost	Calories
oatmeal	1.00	$0.33	153
peanut butter	1.00	$0.27	180
milk	1.00	$0.31	83
banana	1.00	$0.24	90
coffee	2.00	$0.19	5
		$1.43	514

Lunch was left over beans from the night before, but over macaroni instead of rice:

Lunch	Quantity	Cost	Calories
pink beans	1.00	$0.50	120
olive oil	0.50	$0.35	60
onion	2.00	$0.16	15
green pepper	0.13	$0.16	4
spaghetti sauce	0.25	$0.08	15
macaroni	2.00	$0.16	210
coffee	3.00	$0.28	8
		$1.40	432

Dinner was a special effort - something I had been planning to try for a while. It went kind of badly. I don't have the video yet, but I will later. I made pizza rustica. Pizza rustica is like a regular pizza, except you pour a layer of scrambled eggs over the sauce layer, then put the cheese on top of that. Or you mix the cheese into the egg, which is what I often do. I also often use different cheeses, like ricotta and mozzarella. It's a little different, but delicious when done well.




This one came out ok, though I had some issues, mostly cook-error related.

I didn't build up the crust around the edges enough so when I brought out the crust after the initial baking, there was not enough of a dam around the sides to hold in the egg. As a result it started flowing over the side. A big "doh!" for that one. In the end we were able to salvage the egg layer, but lost probably the equivalent of one egg due to spillage (1/4).

It's very high calorie because of the biscuit dough. I had three pieces for a cost of $1.73 and 753 calories.

Pizza rustica	Cost	Calories
2 C flour	$0.56	910
3 eggs	$0.62	231
sauce	$0.34	60
cheese	$2.36	179
shortening	$0.31	565
milk	$0.21	54.78
baking powder	$0.20	15
	$4.60	2014.78

When I came back from snow shoeing I had the bag of ranch flavored peanuts I had purchased yesterday ($0.50; 220 cal).

Overall it was a great day, despite the mishap with the eggs. 

Day totals:

Cost: $5.06

Calories: 1,922

Exercise: 683 - from 17,464 steps. 2 hours of snowshoeing, about 45 minutes on the treadmill with 12 minutes of running included.

Net calories: 1,239

Weight: 166.7

Day 20: A trip to an actual food desert

(in case the embed fails: http://youtu.be/xz8clpZ8FCM )

So yesterday (day 20) I finally made a trip up to the Barrington/Rochester area, which according to the USDA is in a food desert.

(click on the image to see larger size)

This is a screen shot of the USDA's interactive map for food deserts. If you want to see where the closest food desert is to you, you can enter your location. I currently live east/southeast of here. UNH is southeast. 

So my trip up into a real food desert as indicated by the USDA's map was uneventful. The convenience stores were essentially identical to what I had already seen pretty much everywhere else. There were differences in quality of the physical store, but pretty much all the stores carried the same stuff - beer, chips, and a few other edibles, almost no fresh food, very little frozen food other than pizza. 

I confess, my hypothesis had been that I might actually find a little more real food, but frankly I think the USDA map is wrong. There is a Market Basket (a full grocery store) south on 125 about four miles from the Circle K. So why would the Circle K go through the trouble of stocking real groceries if they know that people can drive just a few miles down the road and get a much better selection at prices Circle K couldn't afford?

Anyway, day 20 started out with a nice omelet. I decided to splurge and use both onion and green pepper. 

Breakfast	Quantity	Cost	Calories
eggs	2.00	$0.59	155
onion	4.00	$0.31	30
green peper	0.25	$0.32	7
I can't believe	5.00	$0.07	20
cheddar	1.00	$0.40	110
coffee	3.00	$0.28	8
		$1.97	330

Day 20 was a busy day working in my office, before I decided I would go try to find the food desert. I paused to make a quick lunch of PB&Js and carrots:

Lunch	Quantity	Cost	Calories
bread	4.00	$0.52	266
peanut butter	1.00	$0.27	180
jelly	2.00	$0.35	112
carrots	4.00	$0.50	51
ranch dressing	0.50	$0.24	70
coffee	2.00	$0.19	5
		$2.07	684

I was very excited to finally find a few missing ingredients - canned beans, and frozen peas!


I set those aside and decided to cook up my beans. One of the frustrating things about the Food Desert is how bland my cooking is. I am not charging myself for the spices because they are too hard to measure, and they cost is minimal from meal to meal, but I am only using spices I have bought in convenience stores, which is pretty limited, and does not include chili powder, cumin, garam masala, curry, etc. - all spices I regularly cook with.

I did decided to splurge again and use not only onions and peppers, but olive oil on day 20's dinner:


It came out nicely.

Dinner	Quantity	Cost	Calories
pink beans	1.00	$0.50	120
olive oil	0.50	$0.35	60
onion	2.00	$0.16	15
green pepper	0.13	$0.16	4
spaghetti sauce	0.25	$0.08	15
rice	1.00	$0.39	175
		$1.63	389

I did eat the bag of jalapeno flavored peanuts ($0.50; 220 cal) as a snack on the road. It was nice to have some spice. 

As an evening snack I made oatmeal again, but just put banana in the oatmeal, left out the peanut butter.

Snack	Quantity	Cost	Calories
peanuts, jalapeno flavor	1.00	$0.50	220
oatmeal	1.00	$0.33	153
milk	1.00	$0.31	83
banana	1.00	$0.24	90
cinamon	-	$ -	-
		$1.38	546

For exercise, I just walked on the treadmill, no running, for 1 hour. 

Day totals:

Cost: $7.05

Calories: 1,949

Exercise: 188 cal - 10,418 steps

Net calories: 1,761

Weight: 167.1

day 19: Boston and back

I drove down to Boston with my boss for a presentation at Children's Hospital put on by UNH HMP alumni for current students. What a great program this is that there are so many dedicated and passionate alumns.

I had to leave wicked early in the morning because the event started at 0830, so I poured a cup of coffee in my travel mug and packed a few PB&Js to take along for the ride.

I actually linked up with my boss on the way and we drove together, and he needed a cup of coffee for the road, so I, having finished my first cup, bought a second one.

Breakfast	Quantity	Cost	Calories
bread, wheat	4	$0.52	266
peanut butter	1	$0.27	180
jelly	1	$0.18	55
coffee	1	$0.09	5
coffe, store	1	$1.99	5
		$3.05	511

An expensive breakfast, but 2/3 of the cost came from the single cup of coffee.

I had a bag of peanuts in my pocket the whole time we were in Boston, but I didn't get around to eating them. I didn't get lunch until about 1500. By then I was pretty hungry, so I made a big bowl of pasta with onions mixed in with the crappy store-bought sauce.

Lunch	Quantity	Cost	Calories
macaroni	3.00	$0.47	315
onion	6.00	$0.47	32
I can't believe	5.00	$0.07	20
spaghetti sauce	1.00	$0.34	60
coffee	3.00	$0.28	5
		$1.62	432

Since I hadn't eaten much protein, I decided to make myself a cheese omelet sandwich for dinner.

Dinner	Quantity	Cost	Calories
eggs	2.00	$0.59	155
cheddar	1.00	$0.40	110
I can't believe	5.00	$0.07	20
bread, wheat	2.00	$0.26	133
		$1.32	418

After dinner I was still pretty hungry since I had only eaten about 1400 calories at that point, so I decided to make some power oatmeal: oatmeal with banana, peanut butter, and milk.

A couple of hours later I had an orange as a final snack.

Snack	Quantity	Cost	Calories
oatmeal	1.00	$0.33	153
peanut butter	1.00	$0.27	180
milk	1.00	$0.31	83
banana	1.00	$0.24	90
orange	1.00	$0.99	63
coffee	2.00	$0.19	5
		$2.33	574

As you can see, there's not much variety in the desert. I really wasn't up for a can of vegetables today. Bananas are one of my favorite fruits - I eat them regularly even when I'm not doing this kind of experiment. I only occasionally eat oranges, but since they are available and so many other things are not, I've eaten more during the course of this experiment than I normally do.

Day totals:

Cost: $8.32
Calories: 1,951
Exercise: 360 calories from 12,270 steps. I ran for 10 minutes and walked for 35 on the treadmill. Still babying my foot.
Net calories: 1,591
Weight: 167.1

day 18: overdoing it

After trying to run yesterday, I woke up this morning with my formerly injured foot somewhat swollen. This was incredibly disappointing. I thought after having done all this walking for the last month that it would be ready, but apparently it was not ready for 20 minutes of running. So today I did not run or do any treadmill work. I just did my normal business.

Which started with breakfast of yogurt, a banana, and some coffee.

Breakfast	Quantity	Cost	Calories
banana	1.00	$-	90
Yogurt, chobani	1.00	$1.79	132
coffee	3.00	$0.28	5
		$2.07	227

It was a day in the office, so I packed a couple of PB&Js and an orange.

Lunch	Quantity	Cost	Calories
bread, wheat	4	$0.52	266
peanut butter	1	$0.27	180
jelly	1	$0.18	55
orange	1	$0.99	63
coffee	3.00	$0.28	5
		$2.24	569

I ate a pack of hot peanuts ($0.50; 290 cal) in the afternoon before class.

Dinner was pasta with peas and caramelized onions with olive oil.

Dinner	Quantity	Cost	Calories
macaroni	2.00	$0.31	210
peas, canned	1.00	$0.99	245
oil, olive	2/3	$0.23	80
onion	3.00	$0.23	21
milk	1/8	$0.04	10
coffee	2.00	$0.19	5
		$2.00	571

Later in the evening I had an ounce of roasted/salted almonds ($0.66; 187 cal).

This was a day of frustration with the seeming ongoing nature of my injury. I'm tired of having my activity limited.

Day totals:
Cost: $7.47
Calories: 1,844
Exercise: 27 calories from 7,361 steps
weight: 167.1