A Fool’s Dream

My 30 days would be more miserable without my boyfriend’s support who fed me free food from time to time, so I’d like to give a big shout out to him here — Thanks QT!

I have written some thoughts on this challenge here and there, and would like to share some of my final thoughts: I am very, very glad that I had the chance to experience how it is like to live with a dollar a day (almost). From this experience, I got a deeper appreciation towards people who actually live on a dollar a day for not just 30 days, but months or even years.  I am very concerned about the rising food costs recently, because it is making the lives of everyone, especially this group of people, more difficult than ever.  I sincerely hope that this food crisis will be solved by the collaboration among countries and people – having basic food and clean water should be the natural right of every Earth citizen.

It was also during the course of this 30 days, that I realized that I could use this plan to help people in need/environment and to raise other people’s awareness to these global issues if more people are joining in.  I’ll definitely try this in a more or less similar format later.  If you are interested in doing this, or would like organize a small group of friends/families/coworkers to fund raise for any issue of concern, I’d be more than happy to share tips on doing this.

Thanks for reading!

Breakfast: 2 slices of organic oats bread, toasted $0.2

Lunch: Previous frozen stir-fried onions and minced beef (the dish was made in the first week of the plan), plus a few slices of tofu from last night $0.5

Dinner: My boyfriend treated me to a local Cajun food joint.  We enjoyed the half-off Happy Hour oysters, and shared a very delicious fried chicken dinner.  The breading on the chicken was very amazing – I’ve not tasted something like that before.

Breakfast: Skipped $0

Lunch: Leftover Indian Vegetable sauce and rice $0

Dinner: Fried Tofu and rice $1

Trader Joe’s Organic Tofu is at a great price and very silky & soft.  I wanted to make seared tofu but it wouldn’t quite work on soft tofu, so it ended up look like stir-fry tofu.  I added a little sesame seeds and garlic salt to go with the dish.

Brunch: 2 sunny-side up eggs with 2 toasts $0.3

Dinner: 1/2 pack of Trader Joe’s Indian vegetable sauce with brown rice $1

I bought a dozen eggs in the beginning of this plan, and I am not a big egg eater.  In order to finish up as much food as I can before I go, I’m probably going to try and use up as many eggs as I can – such as the brunch I made.  I put some butter in the pan, cracked 2 eggs, cover the pan with a lid.  When the eggs are ready, I put the toasts on the pan to soak up the rest of the butter.  Probably isn’t the healthiest breakfast, but  I rarely do this so I think it’s OK.

I was given a Indian sauce sample at Trader Joe’s when I went there to return some vitamins, and boy, it was delicious so I bought a pack.  It is very easy, just boil the water and put the poach in to heat it up when the rice is cooking away.  I still got another half for tomorrow’s lunch, yum!

Breakfast:  Scrambled Eggs with Soup (thank to my boyfriend’s roommate) $0

Lunch:  Japanese Fishcakes in a broth with Udon (thanks honey!) $0

Dinner: Chicken Dumplings $0

Breakfast: 1/2 donut provided by co-worker $0

Lunch: Rotisserie Chicken sandwich
$0

Dinner: Stir-fried Broccoli and chicken with rice, and salad on the side $1.25

I had dinner with my boyfriend and his new roommate, so we decided to put something together quickly.  I got the frozen Broccoli from a grocery store, and threw in the last bit of the Rotisserie Chicken with some ginger + soy sauce.  It turned out quite good.

Breakfast: Skipped $0

Lunch: Stir-fried tofu and beans, given to me by my boyfriend (thanks!) $0

Dinner:  Rotisserie Chicken sandwich, chicken leftover given to me by my boyfriend (thanks again!)  $0

Rotisserie Chicken is perhaps a good dollar a day meal even if I have to buy one myself.  I usually can get 3 meals out of it: I like the dark meat, so I’ll eat the legs and wings first.  Then I will tear the rest of the meat out, make a sandwich or two out of it (with Japanese Mayo, shown above), or stir fry with it.  The bones and meat that didn’t quite come out can be boiled in water, making a broth base for creative soups.

Breakfast: Skipped $0

Lunch: Macaroni and cheese made the night before $0

Dinner: Blue Horizon Organic Parmesan sauce Shrimp Penne Pasta $0

I bought this frozen Penne pasta a while back when it was on sale in Whole Foods maybe for $5.  It is pretty easy, open the bag and heat it on the stove for 10 minutes or so.  I think there is a bit too much oil in the sauce, but I think it’s always hard to get the creamy sauce right when re-heating or in this case, from frozen.  The taste was pretty good, not big enough to fill two people, but for the price I think it is reasonable to save the hassle of making the same dish from scratch.

Breakfast: Skipped $0

Lunch: more Murshroom Risotto! $0

Dinner: Stir-fried veggies, 2 sunny side up eggs and brown rice $0.30

It was a beautiful display with all different kinds of colors, but I could not find where my camera is so I have to just post without the picture.  Veggies were given to me by my boyfriend’s grandma, perfectly for someone like me as I don’t get enough veggies.  I also made some Annie’s Homegrown Organic Peace Pasta with Parmesan out of a box for tomorrow’s lunch that I bought a while back when it was on sale.