The overall food choices continued to highlight peanuts, yams, potatoes, rice, chickpeas, and chocolate chips. Three kilograms of peanuts were purchased providing 17,000 potential calories. Peanuts were accounting for 25 percent of the calorie source. Two kilograms of chocolate chips provided a potential 9,333 calories but so far only one kilogram was consumed. You've got to wonder what is wrong with the average chocolate chip if it leaves a person wanting to dash out for something better. A big factor is probably the cocoa content and how the chocolate was made.
To avoid the problem of being stuck with a type of chocolate that is only half satisfying I would recommend taking fifteen dollars and spending it on at least three different types of chocolate. Try some Bernard Calibaut chocolate, milk chocolate, Lindt chocolate and find out which one shuts off that chocolate craving completely. It may eventually come to light that a really good quality chocolate will be sufficient in smaller quantities to satisfy the appetite over the course of a month. The same has come true for cheese. Rather than eating a lot of low quality cheese I find that just two hundred grams of a really good organic cheese is more than satisfying. Maybe that block of cheese only lasts for three days and the rest of the month is spent without cheese but something that good doesn't need to be a daily occurrence. Also when it comes to peanuts it's helpful to at least buy half salted and half unsalted just to have a small change to look forward to.
I try to avoid roasted peanuts because they almost always contain canola oil which is Roundup Ready however peanuts also have been genetically modified to be Roundup Ready. Is it time to look for another source of energy? I'm not exactly at an income level which allows me to eat 100% organic so my strategy is to avoid the top three genetically engineered crops: corn, canola and soy. For all I know the yams I eat are probably exposed to glyphosate but 6 kg of organic yams would cost me thirty dollars. Three kilograms of organic peanut butter would cost thirty dollars. The people who have the money would do well to invest in organic foods. Until then the Food Geeks of the world just have to do their best.
http://www.thehealthyhomeeconomist.com/pre-harvest-roundup-crops-not-just-wheat/
This Food Geek is just about ready to throw in the towel. Really? Pre-harvest spraying on crops that aren't even Roundup Ready? What is even the point. I guess it's probably safe to say anything I buy that's not organic has probably been sprayed with glyphosate. I guess the only difference is you know that Roundup Ready agricultural products will have a higher concentration of glyphosate and do greater damage to your body. Whether or not it's true some products that were only harvested with glyphosate did not test as having a residue. Stephanie Seneff, PhD mentions some interesting facts about the correlation of glyphosate and the health crisis.
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3945755/
https://www.youtube.com/watchinterview
The 6 kg yams, 2 kg potatoes, 3 kg chickpeas and 2 kg rice boosted up another 12,865 calories. Supporting the main staples were bananas, eggs, yogurt, cranberries, cheese, ghee, maple syrup, sauerkraut, onions and hot peppers. The daily cost fluctuated upwards to a maximum of $11 and downwards to a low of $1.80. The average so far was $6.00 of food consumed per day. The Food Geek consumed about $5 worth of EMP and $4 worth of vitamin C, vitamin D3, and caffeine pills. With everything included the Food Geek spent an average of $6.45 per day on food which means this month is up $1.15 per day from last month.
The marinated chickpeas are very easy to prepare. Just cook the chickpeas for forty five minutes and then add salsa, chopped hot pepper, extra chopped onion if you like, cumin and chia seeds if you want your "veggie nicorette." I find that it is working somewhat indefinitely to chop up the yam or potato and boil it for five minutes then fry it in ghee for ten minutes. It makes a great breakfast or diner. Add salt and spray with Bragg seasoning and enjoy. Some care must be taken with the yams to keep them from going bad. Take them out of the plastic bags and for best results keep them in the fridge. If you don't keep them in the fridge then at least keep an eye on them. If they start to grow mold on the ends cut the moldy bits off, wash them and put them in the fridge.
The batch of frozen pudding found some use despite its initial flavor failure in July. I had to make a tonne of it because I had four liters of organic milk that was going to expire in five days which was all that was left on the shelf. The brown organic flour was also all that was left on the shelf so I bought that and totally screwed up the flavor in the pudding. Into the freezer it went without much hope of acceptance into the daily diet. One day I was desperate for ice cream and I pulled the frozen pudding out of the freezer. I chopped a chunk off and poured some maple syrup over it and sprinkled some salt to achieve a "salted caramel" flavor. It was a hit as it turns out. Later it occurred to me to throw a chunk of it in some oatmeal to add some extra richness and cool the oats down faster. Now I'm down from six containers of rejected pudding to just one. No sweat.
With an average of 2,461 calories consumed per day there is a trend towards weight loss. A big factor was a flu which meant my body turned completely to internal sources of fuel for a few days. In general energy levels are good and sometimes I would even say my energy level is bordering on hyperactive. Walks outside of work are getting more and more plausible. There is almost no digestive upset at all and only occasional twinges of nausea. All systems regular and reliable. Check and check.
September Groceries
Amended version 5
Due to a tight month a few household items are going to have to be thrown in with the food budget as there are currently plans for the yearly fund. Oh boy it must be time to reboot the zero percent rates! It was decided that regular sugar on hand could be used on the oatmeal this month to save money.
Version 3: It was decided the easiest way to avoid glyphosate present in peanuts is to switch back to eating homemade pudding. 5 kg organic flour can beat out 3 kg of non organic peanuts and it's four dollars cheaper. Must be time to revisit the butter pizza. It's not perfect but it increases the amount of calories derived from a safe food source.
Version 4 resulted from the conclusion that there is a quarter of my monthly caloric requirements in the freezer. The organic cheese is too good to give up. A month without cheese was deemed intolerable. The yams were kicked off the list to make way for cheese, chocolate and cranberries. There is enough food in the freezer that I decided to only bring home one bag of flour instead of two.)
Version 5 - 400 grams of organic cheese was taken away and in its place was added 1 L of organic Kefir. I have never tried Kefir before but I think my gut flora is ready to make some friends. While cheese tastes incredibly good it's not beneficial to the gut and these days with so many things destroying natural gut bacteria the responsible person will make sure they consume yogurt made with bacteria. I would feel extremely guilty leaving a grocery store without yogurt because it also is known for soothing the intestinal lining which is good for people who are prone to an irritated bowel. Just about any product on a grocery store shelf will have been pasteurized so while the health benefits may be lower than raw kefir at least it's safe.
***1.6 kg Pure Desi Ghee ($30 provides 13,714 cal, micro nutrients, CLA, choline, as well as a balance of omega 3 and 6 and butyrate which helps heal the intestinal lining.)
*** There is now a Roundup Ready alfalfa grass so it may only be a matter of time before grass fed ghee is contaminated with glyphosate.
3.6 kg dry chickpeas ($11.56 provides 13,104 cal, fiber, protein, potassium, nutrients.)
Vitamin C ($10 provides 150 capsules each capsule 500 mg $0.06 per capsule.)
1.89 L salsa ($5.50 provides 576 cal marinade for chickpeas.)
1 onion ($0.67 provides 44 cal, pre-biotics.)
300 grams dried cranberries ($5 provides 924 cal, iodine, iron, fiber.)
200 grams organic cheese ($6 provides 800 cal, calcium, protein, vitamins and minerals)
1 L organic Kefir ($6 provides 440 cal and those all important friendly gut bacteria.)
2.5 kg organic white flour ($7 provides 9,100 cal, carbs, protein, fiber, nutrients.)
4 L organic milk ($8 provides 1,741 cal, nutrients, protein, and calcium.)
1 bunch banana ($1.70 provides 600 calories, potassium.)
3 dozen organic free run eggs ($21 provides 2,664 cal and a power house of nutrients.)
340 grams of really good chocolate ($5 provides 1,837 cal and a source of "Yay!")
200 page notebook ($3.77 provides writing space for Geeky stuff)
24 rolls toilet paper ( $3.78 provides disposable surface on which to wipe bum.)
dish liquid 709 ml ($1.88 provides soap to clean dishes.)
Total cost $126.86
Calories provided: 45,500 calories
Calories needed: 77,500 calories
*Keep $10 for monthly banana fund. ( adds 3,480 cal)
*Keep $10 for extra organic dairy ( adds 1,000 cal)
Total: 49,980 cal
short fall: 27,520 cal
Excess on hand:
1 kg chocolate chips: 4,666 cal
2 kg rice: 7,300 cal
1 kg oats: 3,890 cal
500 grams oats: 1,945 cal
6 potatoes: 978 cal
500 grams honey: 1,520 cal
200 grams chia: 972 cal
300 grams sunflower seeds: 1,752
700 grams sugar 2,709
Excess in cupboards: 25,732 cal
Excess in freezer: 19,103 cal
Total excess: 44,835 cal
For the month of September there will be a surplus of 17,315 calories between the planned shopping trip and the food in the cupboards and freezer. There will not be a want for cheese, chocolate, cranberries and so all is one big happy land. The best part is my gut bacteria will be making lots of new friends. At least every other item in my cart is glyphosate free and so that makes for a happy body. )
Average diet plan
breakfast
200 mg caffeine pill
500 mg vitamin C
1000 IU vitamin D3
1 banana 100 cal
1/3 cup dry oats 95 cal
1/4 tsp sugar 4 cal
lunch
1/3 cup dry rice 215 cal
1 tbsp ghee 135 cal
1 cup cooked chickpeas 269
1/4 cup salsa 25 cal
1 tbsp chia 46 cal
snack
1 cup pudding 315
1/3 cup chocolate chips 369
diner/breakfast
1 tbsp ghee 135 cal
2 organic eggs 148 cal
freezer item 300 cal
Total: 2,156 cal
Cost: $5.15
Cronometer's nutrition rating: 93% targets
Deficiencies: iron (29% short), calcium (39% short), folate (17% short), B3 (27% short), potassium (37% short), vitamin E (75% short), omega 6 (50% short).
The diet gets a lot stronger if you add a multi vitamin, three more bananas, 1/2 tsp salt, and 8 glasses of water. Add those things and you are at 97% of your targets. Adding just 28 grams of cheese erases the calcium deficiency. Adding a large potato knocks the potassium deficiency down by half and adding 4 tbsp of sunflower seeds erases the omega 6 deficiency. Even with the potassium 11% on the low side Cronometer would say "congratulations you are eating for 100% nutritional success!"
Watch the happiest dairy cows in the world saved from slaughter.
https://www.youtube.com/watchhappycows
To spray or not to spray.
https://www.youtube.com/watchspraypastureornot
The major question is that are the dairy cows taken out to the pasture or is the pasture brought to them? What kind of pasture grass are they eating? Wheat grass I would imagine? Alfalfa?
https://www.youtube.com/watchweedcontrolinpastures
It seems it's an ongoing issue for any farmer to decide if a weed is forage worthy or if they are going to mow it or spray it. Round Up is so cheap no wonder it's so popular. I guess a lot of us forget that if weeds are left unchecked their root system will overtake the area and prevent us from growing what we want to eat. Eventually it would become a question of kill the weeds or starve. We choose to live and as a result we're killing our futures.
There are four days until September and a shopping trip with the version 5 food list was executed successfully without any distractions. The driving force to get to the store was to get some probiotics into my system. The kefir was out of the bag before I even left the store. Kefir is a drink I would not have guessed I would take to. In fact I love buttermilk and it tastes a lot like buttermilk. My body's first response to tasting kefir was "now that wasn't so hard was it? What took you so long to try this you moron?" Half a liter of kefir has vanished and a bag of very expensive chocolate remains untouched. That says it all! Good thing there is a dairy fund!
I was thinking a little bit about how most chocolate contains soy lecithin. The best plan might be to try the cacao nibs which are a hundred percent natural. I have tried cacao powder mixed with maple syrup which was delicious and usually mixed in with walnuts and hemp hearts for a sinful treat. That kind of treat would not agree with a tight budget but the cacao nibs are said to be very bitter. They might be just the thing to get the benefits of chocolate without going overboard. 100 grams of cacao nibs contain 35% of your daily need for iron so that helps to fix any problems with low iron. 227 grams can be bought for $11. It might be an interesting experiment to see how long they last compared to a kilo of chocolate chips.
There were a few triumphant days where I cycled fearlessly through the streets timing myself on the route to work and back. Everything was perfect with a lane for cyclists all marked off and the weather being relatively cool in the mornings and evenings. The time it took was a mere thirty minutes there and thirty minutes back. There was only one thing I forgot, I was going to have to breath the air when I got to work, then I was going to have to bike home again after having been exposed to the latest strain of viruses and their counter parts, the super bugs. It was a good idea at the time. What is it about being all charged up with exercise that seems to make me the ideal target for infection? "Look that one looks really healthy. Lets get her." Eight glorious hours later I was the picture of perfect health puking my guts out in every room of the house.
Perhaps my goal this year would be only to get in the habit of cycling more often but not actually cycle to work just yet. If I am currently spending $250 a month on gas and insurance then if I stopped driving that money could go to an immunity support effort. I could sure buy a lot of cold fx with $250 not to mention Emergen-C and echinacea. I could spend the rest of the year researching and implementing some effective ways to boost my immune system. While I was at it I could find out how many power bars I could stuff in my rain jacket so I'd never be hungry again. If the car breaks down I know the first thing I would do is raid the cold and flu remedies at the pharmacy.
I read some interesting tips on how to ease into the cycling. Some days leave the bike at work and take public transit home. Drive to work some days with the bike and cycle home. Cycle back, drive home. That way it keeps things interesting and there is more focus on variety rather than on the monotony of the situation. If there's no showers at work use baby wipes to clean up. A great idea would be to cycle to work on Mondays when I'm all rested up and fresh after the weekend.
https://www.alexfergus.com/blog/how-to-protect-yourself-from-glyphosate
It has come to the Food Geek's attention that chickpeas are among the legumes that are sprayed with glyphosate prior to harvest as a means of drying out the crop to make it easier to harvest. Lentils are also sprayed with glyphosate prior to harvest. At a rating of 555 ppb in terms of glyphosate content chickpeas are only one step under the glyphosate content in soy. I was under the false presumption that only crops genetically engineered to resist Roundup were sprayed with Roundup. I was wrong. It's becoming common practice to kill off the crops with a herbicide prior to harvest to make it easier to pick up the harvest with the machines.
In fact in Europe there is pressure to increase allowed levels of glyphosate in food by one hundred times to compensate for the new practice of desiccation. EPA safety standards are going out the window. What it means is that for the month of October I will have to figure out how I am going to afford to buy organic chickpeas. If I shop at a local store I will pay $46 for 3.6 kilograms of organic chickpeas. That's four times what I was paying for regular chickpeas. If I go online I can buy three times as much for only fourteen dollars more. I am pretty satisfied that if I buy online I can purchase enough organic chickpeas to deliver enough calories that would make it worth the money. With the cost of shipping added I still save $53 on 11 kg worth of organic chickpeas.
https://www.omfoods.com/legumes/organic-garbanzo-beans-chick-peas/
Alright! There's currently 11 kg of organic chickpeas headed straight at this Food Geek! As it turns out I saved $62 over store bought organic chickpeas even with the choice to ship by ground. Nice job. Continuing on, what this means is that next month my food budget will decrease to a grand $74.
Forecast for October Groceries
11 kg organic chickpeas $76 supplies 40,040 cal
1.89 L salsa $5.50 supplies 576 cal
4 L organic milk $8 supplies 1,741 cal and lots of nutrients
3 organic egg cartons $21 supplies 2,664 cal and plenty of nutrients
900 grams organic sugar $5 supplies 3,483 cal
2 L organic kefir $9 supplies 1,040 cal and plenty of probiotics
1 onion $0.67 supplies 44 cal and some pre-biotics.
1 bunch organic bananas $2 provides 700 cal
227 grams cacao nibs $11 supplies 518 cal as well as iron and other nutrients
$10 banana fund adds 7,000 cal
Total cost: $148.17
calories provided: 57,806
needed calories: 77,500
shortfall: 19,694
The month of August predicted the month of September would end with a 17,315 surplus of food in the cupboards and freezer. Because of that food supply will not be much of an issue in October. It's November that will be tough. If I was smart I'd spend October's food budget on even more staples and forget the kefir, chocolate, eggs, and well everything else. If it's possible to spend $150 and end up with "too much" food that is definitely a worthwhile goal. According to Tony Mitra's latest transciption of CFIA testing results rice, millet, soy and kamut are showing as having the lowest levels of glyphosate.That could indicate that it's okay to eat regular rice.
October Shop Smart Version
11 kg organic chickpeas $76 including shipping provides 40,040 cal
48 kg rice $50.82 provides 178,560 calories. That is enough calories for two months!!!
5 kg potatoes $7 provides 5,390 cal (need to get a glyphosate reading on them)
4 L organic milk $8 provides 1,741 cal
900 grams organic sugar $5 provides 3,843 cal
Total: $146.82
Calories: 229,574
Calories needed: 77,500.
Excess: 152,074 calories
Yahoooooo!!!!!! That is so dumb I can't even believe it! Are we being practical here? No there is nothing practical about throwing more than 2 kg of rice into any one month of the year. It's just going to sit there whether or not it has the potential to relieve hunger. The Food Geek needs to take another stab at this. Okay! Lets try this again! I think I might have freaked out there over the month of November but there really wasn't any need to freak out about it. I'm probably only going to eat three kilograms of the chickpeas so in that respect the chickpeas will really only provide 10,920 cal. I will probably only eat 2 kg of rice so the rice will really only provide 7,480 cal. These purchases will really provide more like 30,538 calories which means I'm not even halfway there. That's something to think about. There must be a way to pull off the last two months of the year without ending up hating rice and chickpeas. I could just diet because I'm not down to my minimal weight yet. Hopefully by 2018 I'll have this figured out. :)
October Shop Version 3
11 kg organic chickpeas $76 including shipping provides 40,040 cal
8 kg rice $8.47 provides 29,760 cal
1 kg organic oats $5 provides 3,890 cal
4 L organic milk $8 provides 1,741 cal
900 grams organic $5 sugar provides 3,843 cal
3 dozen organic eggs $21 provides 2,664 cal
25 ml vitamin D3 $5 (lasts three months)
Total cost: $128
Calories provided: 81,938
Organic banana fund $20 provides 7,000 calories
Calories including banana fund: 88,938
calories needed: 77,500
Excess: 11,438
For the month of September the Food Geek has enjoyed some very long walks in the woods and has endeavored to entertain people far and wide with organic chocolate chip cookies. The Food Geek has pledged to continue to eat food and to try not to die as a result. There has been much celebration as a young family member has recently added two more successful climbs to their mountain climbing list. As a side benefit to the athletic feats occurring in the family the Food Geek has been inspired to try and become more elevated. If all goes well there will definitely be an increase in this geek's elevation by the end of the week and some cheerful screaming to claim the mountain's mid section or at least its foot.
The Food Geek has been really spoiled with all kinds of magnificent food stuffs. There was a brief passing vegetable celebration where squashes and spuds were consumed with reckless abandon. The Food Sneak, a mysterious yet well known personality, has had some tremendous success with a low carb high fat diet. The Food Sneak is all smoothed out and has gone totally zen. Out of respect for the Food Sneak there was some very auspicious purchases made involving coffee, butter, cheese, eggs and whip cream. All in all it was all so very good. In the aftermath of all the really magnificent food stuffs the oatmeal cookies have come in handy to take the edge off of the bacon, butter and cheese withdrawal symptoms. A special thanks to the Food Sneak and their sidekick for making it possible to get completely squash faced.
There may have to be some considerations for the last three shopping trips of the year that take into account the benefits of a high fat diet. It may be the time of year to think about turning more towards fatty foods that reassure the body that there is more than enough to eat. With some chilly days setting in now might be a good time to consider the nutritional aspects of melding the cookie diet and the butter and cheese diet. So far it looks like a person could eat about fifteen homemade chocolate chip cookies per day and hit seventy seven percent of their nutritional targets. Throw in cheese, bananas, chickpeas, potatoes and some C, D and E vitamins and the cookie diet doesn't look so bad on cronometer. The B12 reading is 46% too low.
To make a very long story somewhat shorter there will be some food eaten and it will probably be enjoyed a lot more if there is some cheese, butter and whip cream added into the picture. There will be organic purchases made whenever possible and periodic nutritional checks on cronometer. There will be ongoing monitoring of food costs and a little celebration as the Food Geek celebrates two years of geeking around. Last year in December the Food Geek was struggling with a KD dependency but this year that will be an easy fix with some homemade organic cheese soup. Thanks for tuning in. I hope you feel a little smarter next time you eat a snack. Put some organic butter on it and your metabolism will thank you.
The Food Geek is having such a strange month full of wonderful surprises. $367 was spent on groceries in one month which is double what I usually plan on however half of that expense was neutralized by family members who wanted to put food on my table. Thanks to everyone who helped out I really appreciate it. The daily food prospects ranged from $0.17 worth of rice all the way to a grand $45 pizza cookie pancake egg ham and cheese mountain climbing special. The actual daily food bill was an average of $7.70 and an average of 2,338 calories was consumed.
Working the kefir into the diet was more than a process. To go from never having had kefir to drinking a liter of it was somewhat of a hazardous act unless of course someone out there has a specific goal to gas themselves to death with farts. Initially I doubted I would be able to keep the kefir down and every time I drank a glass I wondered if it was a bad idea. My metabolism was not exactly behaving favorably. I made a rule to never drink kefir before bed and to use it by the tablespoon in soups. It takes what would otherwise be a thin soup and gives it a very rich elegant flavor. Another favorite lately has been quinoa with a quarter cup of kefir over top. Even more of a gut tonic seems to be a cup of sauerkraut with half a cup kefir and some vegetables thrown in. As long as it is always mixed with something it is received very well. If you are new to kefir you may want to learn from my mistake and always combine it. If you drink it straight it's a hazard but if you add a little bit to a food that is otherwise bland it elevates the flavor to a wonderful level. Having kefir available definitely made it easy to go through some of the food in the freezer.
The Food Sneak drifted in for a martial arts festival and brought their sidekick who likes to pounce on mountains to pass the time throughout the year. The Food Sneak and their sidekick the Mountain Pouncer snuck about 23,268 calories into the Food Geek's cupboards. It was about as enjoyable as food can get when rich foods like bacon, cheese, butter and whip cream come into the picture. I got to practice killing myself with whip cream and then we were faced with an even bigger challenge, Death by Vegetables. The family gardener donated a plethora of potatoes, plums, zucchini, squashes and tomatoes. These were not just any vegetables from any gardener. This gardener heaves sidewalk slabs in a single bound and rips trees out of the ground with her bare teeth. If only it wasn't for the dentist and chiropractic bills she would make her own landscaping crew. She couldn't make it because she had more tree stumps to rip out of the ground with her bare hands.
The Food Sneak and the Mountain Pouncer started a curtain foundation for the Food Geek upon noticing how difficult it was to fight through the improvised layers of fabric that were covering the windows. Unfortunately the curtain foundation somehow became a pizza foundation which kicked in to replace the Cookie Breakfast Day. The pizza was made with the butter pizza crust found in a previous entry. The rest was made Hawaiian pizza style with organic cheese and all natural bacon. That means the pig was all natural with only one head and three legs instead of five. The pizza was an absolute success in fact it must have been the best pizza ever tasted. It's going to be hard to justify overspending the food budget by $176 if the pizza breakfast day becomes regular but at least if my discipline gets away on me it will have somewhere healthy and delicious to go. Quite possibly the next pizza breakfast day will be nothing more than a crust if I know what's good for my budget.
The Food Geek immensely enjoyed the relief from the hum drum of rice and organic chickpeas. Putting whip cream in the coffee was not just something the ladies were doing for fun, in fact it was part of the discipline associated with the low carbohydrate high fat diet. Eating cheese and bacon was an equally disciplined task. With so much food available all of a sudden I felt like the least I could do was go out and climb a mountain. I climbed to 850 meters and then gave up because I thought I was only a third of the way to the top. A nice old man came by and informed me I only had 100 meters left to reach the first summit. Together we tip toed our way carefully up the rest of the way although it was against my better judgement of what I could handle. We went in search of the highest peak but alas it looked like the only trail leading to it was through thin air. I impressed him with the standard issue mountain top profanity until we were both suitably impressed that I had lost my mind. While he settled down to use his ham radio and test for extra terrestrials I decided I had better get off the mountain while I still had plenty of day light.
I made my way down and realized very quickly the down portion was not going to be a piece of cake. I was making up my endurance as I went along and as the hours wore on it was getting harder and harder to buy my own story that I was going to be able to pull the whole thing off. I switched over to pure survival mode and took step after step just because I knew my only other choice was to be stuck on the mountain in the dark. As a true food oriented survivor I focused completely on the one thing I wanted most, a cup of coffee. I would have given just about anything at that point for some flat ground and a cup of coffee. Two hours before I hit the flat trail I went into a type of shock where I was now a walking mess. I could have sworn I had gone past muscle failure but I kept walking. It was a mix of desperation and adrenaline that kept me from sitting down more than ten seconds. The adrenaline rush must have gone on for too long and by the time a father and his daughter came up the trail to ask how far to the end of the trail I must have looked like I just woke up from a nightmare. I gave him a grim look which wasn't very hard and told him "this morning someone informed me I could get to the top in four hours. I hiked it in five." I think the look on my face must have been enough to convince them it wasn't worth it and about ten minutes later they both turned around and followed me.
I thought for sure I was going to collapse when I hit the flat trail but I just kept on walking. The last half hour to the car was the last segment of what was starting to seem like a very cruel joke. When I got to the car I thought for sure I was going to collapse in the back but I got in and drove home. I kept my eyes open singing "I'm wide awake!" I opened the door at home and I thought for sure I was going to collapse on the floor but instead I went for the fridge. The Food Geek was no longer a geek but a ham scarfing monster. Once the ham was gone the bananas slowly began to disappear as I literally threw together the ingredients for pancakes with as much desperation as if it had been a decade since I last ate a meal. In less than an hour I made a twenty six hundred calorie breakfast disappear as if it was nothing more than a snack. I had anticipated that it would have been enough reinforcement to eat 2300 calories worth of pizza and and 1000 calories worth of cookies but I was dead wrong there. I would have done immeasurably better to have brought another two thousand calories up to the top of that mountain. Having plenty of extra food on hand would have grounded me and may have relieved stress and regulated the adrenaline rush to a more manageable level. What did the Food Geek learn? When climbing mountains bring a cheesecake or at least an extra pizza. Climbing a mountain does not mean losing weight it means eating six thousand calories if you're smart.
As I sit hunkered over a giant bowl of Annie's macaroni and cheese I must admit that I've noticed a lot of differences in the month of October. A bird's eye view of my spending reveals that I took home $813 worth of food although I only went through $350 worth so far. This month turned up a little tiny pot of gold and the gold is quite obviously headed straight down the hatch. Perhaps the colder weather has brought with it a feeling of uneasiness that can be remedied with some extra snacks. A few snacks led to a few more and before long I was wondering if I climbed a couple mountains and just didn't notice.
There were some pretty long hikes in the month of October. What happened is that I kept returning to the same trail expecting it to branch off into a nice easy hike. The signs kept pointing me up the mountain so I just gave in eventually and went up. It was far nicer than the previous assault-by-mountain-trail last month although it was still equally hard to use my legs in the days following the little mountain adventure. A week later I returned to the same place and I was going to find the flat trail this time. I chased the flat trail up a mountain and realized it definitely wasn't a flat trail. I had just about had it trying to find this flat trail but at the end of the day with darkness closing in I finally found the trail head I was looking for.
The next day I went out exploring on the long anticipated easy trail and felt more tired after a few hours of easy hiking than I had three hours up a mountain. Maybe it's the monotony of the flat ground that makes you so relaxed you just want to have a nap and forget about doing anything adventurous. That was about all the adventure I had before the rain started. The rain was really more like a monsoon but it was quite welcome. It seems that the only thing to do on the rainy days is enjoy a variety of foods and dream of hibernating in a very cozy place.
On a daily basis I have noted that my food costs have doubled from $8 per day in September all the way up to $16 per day in October. That number is with all regards to budgeting thrown to the wind, or to the rain for that matter. Every purchase was organic and there was a preference given to high fat dairy such as cheese, sour cream, cottage cheese, whip cream and butter. This month I have been trying organic dairy products that I have never tried before and my first impression was that organic sour cream tasted better than ice cream. I think organic cottage cheese tastes much fresher than regular cottage cheese and really any type of organic dairy has a lot more flavor and fullness to it.
The meal theme was swinging towards comfort foods and so I gave full allowance for Annie's macaroni and cheese and homemade pudding. Spending $6 on a bit of organic chocolate milk is heavenly yet organic chocolate pudding can be made at home for a very affordable cost. The butter pizza continues to prove itself as a very practical food creation to have on hand. It can be made into pizza or if your budget is too tight you can always make it into a peanut butter sandwich. If you want a nice treat you can do up the butter pizza crust into a ham and pineapple pizza for around $18. That is using bacon from pigs that are free of hormones or antibiotics and fed a mixture of vegetables and grains. It may be expensive but chances are you will feel so much healthier for having avoided animals raised on chemically farmed corn.
In theory all this organic food could be consumed within a $6 per day budget however that is with an eye towards always buying the organic food on sale. Throw in a half a cup of organic sour cream into your daily regimen and it will cost you $1.20. Throw in a box of Annie's mac n cheese and it will cost you $2 if you can buy it on sale. Luckily almost every store I've been to this week has had organic macaroni and cheese on sale. Throw in a cup of homemade organic pudding and it will cost you $0.90 per cup. A tablespoon of organic butter costs thirty cents but serves up 105 calories. The real problem is that a food that satisfies on all levels is likely to be costly like one of those homemade organic pizzas which can easily cost $22 worth of groceries. It's hard to imagine going back to trying to finish up left overs from the freezer once you start getting used to eating top notch ingredients. Maybe the key is to cut back gradually, or just have a big pizza party until the cold weather is over.
You can imagine it was with some surprise when this old Food Geek went to draw up the budget for the month of November and noticed with a slight air of disbelief that the month was starting with a deficit. There was such an unexpected loot last month that it made everything seem so rosy. The money came in easily and went out really easily. I had so many plans running through my head. I'll use it to stock up for next year's supplements. I will put it in my savings account. Just a little bit of expensive food isn't going to hurt. I became more and more optimistic until I was convinced I was financially invincible. While I didn't actually ever think I could use this money to fly I imagined that I could eat like I was in paradise for a hundred days while really a week was stretching it. The money was going to keep growing back and it was going to last forever. I became so over confident that what started as a giant buffer for the month of October ended up buffing just a little too much off the month of November. Poor November. Without further delay here is the all exciting "oops what have I done" diet. It's constructed almost completely from food that is sitting in the cupboards. Here's what to do with that precious $237 worth of food sitting in the cupboards.
The Oops Diet
2 c organic granola (894 calories costing $1.42)
1 c organic pudding (300 calories costing $1.15)
1 regular potato (250 calories costing $0.20)
2 organic eggs (148 calories costing $1.20)
3 organic peanut butter cookies (276 calories costing $0.60)
1/3 c regular dry rice (215 calories costing $0.17)
1 cup cooked organic chickpeas (269 calories costing $1.65)
1 tbsp organic olive oil (119 calories costing $0.25)
Total calories provided: 2471
Total cost: $6.64
When investigated on Cronometer the usual suspects appear. Without bananas there is a deficiency of potassium, without cheese or sesame seeds there is a deficiency of calcium, without any dark leafy greens or chia seed there is a deficiency of vitamin K, and C and D are low unless you supplement those. Luckily I dumped all kinds of chia seeds into my granola but whether the nutrition survived the baking is another story. Because I take C and D then my Cronomoter rating is 96 % targets hit. I love the fact that adding a chocolate bar with 85 % cocoa solids kicks the iron deficiency. To make the Ooops Diet more nutritionally sound you would add four bananas, and 50 grams of cheese.
I'm finding already that the peanut butter cookies are the best way to stave off hunger and so the daily intake for those would be more like six small cookies. We are talking bite sized cookies here.
For the cookies I used a hundred percent organic ingredients and the recipe yielded 48 small cookies, each one ringing in at 92 calories and twenty cents each. The main highlight last time I was trying to go through food in the freezer was soup. I'd take down a package of frozen cooked peas, then add chopped potato and crack in a few eggs. A Martial Arts Muffin gave it some extra gritty grains. That trend from August came back and has been going steady as a ritual. I start with a half a pot of water, add some salt, a bay leaf, a cut potato. Into it might go a quarter teaspoon of cumin, oregano, and maybe a tiny bit of garam masala. Once it's boiling I crack a couple of eggs into the water as if I was going to poach the eggs but the eggs stay in and become part of the soup. I don't whisk them I crack them right in. It's like having a wonton in the soup except it's an egg. I have no idea why I've become so intrigued by eating soup with eggs cracked in but I guess it goes hand in hand with an ever increasing enjoyment of organic eggs. The whole pot cooks for about ten minutes and then it's ready to enjoy. A cup of green cabbage is a nice addition or in really rich times throw in a cubed grass fed burger. Man those are expensive. They cost about three dollars per burger but they are so filling it would be almost impossible to eat one and still feel unsatisfied.
The frequency of cooking would be as follows:
Once a week make granola, pudding and peanut butter cookies.
Every day make soup and rice.
It seems I had barely resolved myself to the Oops Diet when the whole picture changed again with a donation from the Tree Fetcher. No doubt it will help to pave the way for a very smooth visit with the Food Sneak who might not have to sneak any food into my cupboards this time. There will be all kinds of festivities to be had like coffee sipping and cider swigging. If there is one thing that makes it even nicer to visit with family I'd have to say it is the ability to share really rich food. We'll see what the Mountain Pouncer has to say about all this, and if they might bring The Chocolate Pouncer. We will definitely have to make a point of pouncing on all kinds of chocolate. We might pounce on some chocolate pudding, chocolate brownies and a few chocolate bars to boot. Throw in a chocolate boot and every is happy.
The month of November has already had some rather mysterious food activity afoot. I'm not about to call in a supernatural detective but this stock pot seems to have spawned the birth of the holiday that comes before Festivus. It has been dubbed Noodlicus. You need a large stock pot filled with about eight pool noodles which can then be decorated with lights. For this holiday it is important to go shopping both hungry and tired and buy a ridiculous amount of organic food at the expense of a close family member. That family member will then stay home and cry incessantly while everyone else gets together and eats non stop for two days. Breakfast will last for eight hours, followed by eight hours of lunch and diner will also last for a period of eight hours. The food choices will have nothing to do with noodles until the last possible moment when somebody decides to make Ramen. There will be so much chocolate present that even chocolate fanatics are likely to be put off and then get sent to their rooms for not finishing their brownies, pudding and chocolate bars. To further overwhelm the chocoholics it's best to buy cacao nibs and sprinkle the nibs all over everything including the breakfast cereal. Someone will need to learn sword form and demonstrate it with a pool noodle or if the holiday has offended someone they can always come by and chop the centerpiece to shreds with a real sword. This holiday will be so much fun that it will be all you can do not to shit your pants.
https://www.youtube.com/watchendofnoodle
https://www.youtube.com/watchfestivus
For a spur of the moment idea in the kitchen this Ramen met with no complaints at all. It's the first time I ever made Ramen and while I know the really good soup takes years to learn everyone has to start somewhere. It's amazing how fast the soup disappeared even though the main thought running through my head was that there must be a way to make all the ingredients fit together more harmoniously. Two bowls and I was as good as passed out for ten hours. There must be something in the soup that helps stimulate a deep sleep. Usually my first thought walking into a grocery store is not "oh wow I think I will buy a handful of crustaceans for five dollars" so the prawns in the soup were a definite treat. I calculated that a bowl of homemade Ramen costs about five dollars which would be great except that's my whole daily food budget. Great for special occasions. On the bright side I suppose there is nothing stopping me from working on the Ramen broth for the rest of my life as that may be somewhat affordable. I'll know I have succeeded when I can serve the broth with only one noodle in it and someone will find themselves truly satisfied with the experience and then pass out for ten hours.
https://damndelicious.net/2014/10/13/easy-homemade-ramen/
Food Geek Reports on the Oops Diet
The Oops Diet has continued as the daily diet through the month of November. Alcohol has been weaving its way in and out of the picture although each time I'm reminded that I just can't handle it anymore. Between the headaches and the bloating it all comes back to the reminder that it's just not worth it considering how much it costs. Coffee has been weaving its way in and out of the picture because there's something about coffee that can reward in a way that other foods cannot. Some days at work need a light at the end of the tunnel and coffee is that light of supreme satisfaction. I can't explain how such a bitter bean makes me so crazy but it's hard to say no to comfort foods during stressful times.
The major finding from the festive Noolicus holiday was that cacao nibs are far better than expected. I always avoided them because I was told they were much too bitter compared to the cacao powder but with the holiday funds pouring in I decided to give them a try. I sprinkled a tablespoon on my homemade organic chocolate pudding and it was heaven at first bite. They were so amazing on the pudding that I decided to branch out and try them in the granola and it definitely took that granola way out of the dull range and boosted it way up to the exciting range. I would definitely include cacao nibs from now on!
The current list I have planned for the month of December delivers 65,558 calories for $170.90. The sugar is a bit of a deceptive presence in the calorie pool but it will no doubt find its way into a batch of cookies or a batch of pudding and help me keep the hunger beast at bay. The groceries I planned to buy only provide 2,059 calories per day but as usual I will just shrug that off because there's plenty of rice and chickpeas to fill in the shortfall. Now that the initial shock has worn off from the falling temperatures my metabolism seems to have relaxed. October saw a record 92,889 calories destroyed in one month putting the daily average at 2996 calories! I also destroyed 160 hours of hard work and investigated a lot of hiking trails and climbed a mountain so somehow that balances out. November is looking a lot tamer with a dainty average of 2,464 calories consumed per day.
When it comes to egg drop soup I think I have partaken in quite enough of that. This is the last one on the stove I swear. Out of rebellion I made it taste even better than ever so I might just keep making it anyway. My menu item of interest has all but shifted over to German potato noodles. These were time consuming in the past because a dough had to be rolled out and cut into sections but now I make a soft mixture on purpose, throw it in a Ziploc bag, cut a half inch hole in one side and then just squeeze the mixture out in lines in the frying pan. It saves a person from having to clean the counter afterwards. German potato noodles are a lot like big french fries when they are done. They taste really good and they don't require a reserve of deep frying oil which is the best part.
German Potato Noodles
Submitted to More With Less Cookbook by Adele S Mowere, Phoenixville, Pa
Combine in a bowl:
2 cups mashed potatoes
1 egg beaten
3/4 cups organic flour
1 t salt
Mix to form a dough. On lightly floured board roll out pieces into long strips 1/4" thick and cut into strips 1" wide. In a skillet heat fat 1/2" deep and fry until brown. Serve hot.
To save time make a softer mixture, throw it in a Ziploc bag and pipe it out into the fry pan with just a tbsp of coconut oil melted in the pan between batches.
Makes roughly 13 noodles one inch wide. The whole recipe costs $3.65 and provides 1400 calories.
Each noodles provides 107 calories and costs about thirty cents.
I'm not sure if there's something in these noodles that birds just can't resist but if I go out smelling like German Potato Noodles really strange things happen. Just last week I was accosted by a crow. It was so determined to get into my van that I almost doubted if the metal roof was thick enough. No bird has ever taken that much interest in me so I figured it must be the smell of the potato noodles that was driving it crazy. Good thing there weren't actually any noodles in the van with me or that crow would have demolished the whole van. If you have children I hope they don't develop these crow like habits after they know how good the noodles taste.
Submitted to More With Less Cookbook by Rosemary Moyer and Marlin Dick.
Recipe tweaked by Gina Lipford.
How did I tweak it? I took out the sesame seeds, wheat germ, buckwheat and grape nuts and added a bunch of other things instead.
Preheat oven to 300 degrees
Combine in a large bowl:
1 cup flour
1 cup dry milk powder
6 cups rolled oats
1 cup chopped almonds
Combine separately:
1 cup melted butter
1/2 cup honey
2 T molasses
1 tsp vanilla
Mix it all together. Roast in giant pan like a turkey roasting pan for 45-60 minutes stirring every 15 minutes at first and then more frequently until particles are golden brown but not dark (not burned.)
After mixture has cooled add:
1 cup raisins
1 cup cacao nibs
1 cup hemp hearts
3/4 cup chia seeds
1 cup shelled sunflower seeds
Recipe makes around FOURTEEN one cup servings of cereal. (I started a fresh recipe the other day and measured more carefully. I realized I needed to update the cost after adding the almonds and sunflower seeds to get the right vitamins.)
Each serving provides 660 calories for $2.24
Double Oops Diet
13 German Potato Noodles (Provides 1400 cal for $3.65)
1 cup homemade granola (provides 660 cal for $2.24)
2 glasses milk (provides 248 cal for $1.00)
2 banana (provides 200 cal for $0.60)
Total calories provided: 2508 cal for $7.50
Ooops. Looks like that cost is a little high.
Cronometer rates this diet as hitting 99% nutritional targets.
On the low side: Vitamin A.
Note: There's sweet potatoes on the shopping list so if you use those in the German potato noodles every other day you will get your vitamin A. If you make sure to add almonds or sunflower seeds to your granola that will take care of the vitamin E. If you drink your two glasses of milk you will only be short 10% of your DV for vitamin D in which case you might only need to take a dose of D drops once a week.
Grocery List for December 2017
8 L organic milk 2% (provides 2096 cal for $8)
2.5 kg organic sugar (provides 9662 cal for $15)
300 g organic chia seeds (provides 1,458 cal and vitamin K for $7.48)
227 grams hemp hearts (provides 1155 cal and a plethora of nutrients for $5.88)
227 g organic cacao nibs (provides 500 cal, iron, magnesium, potassium, antioxidants, zinc for $10)
10 pounds potatoes (provides 3,493 cal for $7)
2.5 kg sweet potatoes (provides 2,150 cal for $5.35)
5 dozen organic eggs (provides 8880 cal for $35)
5 kg organic flour (provides 18,200 cal for $14)
500 g organic butter (provides 3585 cal for $10)
2 kg organic oats (provides 1360 cal for $10)
1 organic whip cream (provides 163 cal for $3.18)
500 g honey (provides 1520 cal for $6)
1 kg almonds (provides 5,760 for $14)
$10 banana fund (provides 3,480 cal)
$10 dairy fund (provides 2096 cal)
Total calories provided: 65,558
Daily provided: 2,114
Total cost: $170.89
https://www.youtube.com/watcholdiestouptownfunk
