Dreams Come True

While writing has always been my actual passion it doesn't make enough for me to live off of it. At least not yet. However, something has changed. I got a promotion at work.

Why post that here?

Because it means that I will be a lot more stable. I'll also be getting 40 hours a week and that means I will have to bring myself food on a daily basis.

That means, more cooking!

It will be like back in the old days when I would post recipes all the time, and pics and actually be active and helpful and I can't wait to get back into doing that again.

Is 'bad' food better than no food?

In our current health conscious world it seems like eating a non-organic banana is a death sentence. First off, I won't go into my rant about organic, at least not today. Second, is eating 'bad' food really that bad?

If I can afford only $10 worth or groceries wouldn't it be better to buy 6 non-organic bananas instead of just 3 organic? In personally think so. More doesn't always mean better, but while you are making more healthy choices, realize that it could be worse.

Some people might argue here that said organic banana has more nutrients so you wouldn't have to eat six in a week. While that might be true or not (I'll be sure to do some more research on this at a later time!) when it comes down to it eating every day matters. Having six bananas for a week's worth of breakfast is by far better than only eating every other day.

While improving your health yes, the better the food, the better it is for you, sometimes you just have to do what's within your budget.

Don't feel bad that you can't buy organic.

Don't feel bad that you shop for whatever is in season.

Don't feel bad for buying whatever is on sale.

Don't ever feel bad about making sure that you eat. Even if it's not the best, you could be doing worse.

My First Grocery Haul

     The poverty line comes to something like only being able to spend $1.50 on food per person, per day. That’s not a lot at all. So I want to share with you all what I buy, how long it should last me, and how to make that work the best we can.

So first some simple math. $1.50 a person, for a week. Now for me, I personally work away from home for days at a time. Normally 3 days a week I don’t even see my house. So I’m going to plan for a week, even though I might not take things up with me. Some food travels better than others.

1.50x7=$10.50 per week for food.

I personally am aiming to stay right around there, give or take a bit depending on what I already have at home. I also highly recommend shopping at Aldi if you don’t already. Their selection is amazing and their prices are really hard to beat. Another tip, one I will go into more detail in future posts, is to buy what’s in season.

Here is what I got:

Blueberries .99

Navel Oranges 1.99
Blueberry Bagels 1.89

PB Crackers .89

Turkey lunch meat 4 at .49 each

Sliced Swiss Cheese 1.79

Cereal Bar 1.49

Cream Cheese .79

Total spent $11.79. So not to far off from poverty line. Let’s look at how many meals I can get out of that.

Breakfast. I already had eggs, so between those and the bagels I can have breakfast for more than 7 days. Six bagels with cream cheese and some eggs to finish up the week.

Lunch. I have enough meat for four sandwiches. I can also make grilled swiss cheese sandwiches as well for between those days. So there’s at least 7 days worth.

Snack. There is at least 7 oranges in the package I bought. I could also swap out some blueberries or some of the peanut butter crackers. The cereal bars are also great for between meals.

Dinner. Now yes, you have noticed that I have used up everything I bought already. That’s because I am lucky enough to have rice on hand, a few eggs left over, and some frozen veggies that I can easily make a weeks worth of dinners out of.

This first run wasn’t bad, I’m fairly proud of myself that I at least have breakfast and lunch now for the next week. Those are the meals I normally skip most often.  

My Diet

     I don’t believe in diets, I believe in lifestyles. Diets are temporary. I’ve learned all too well that if you want to loose weight, and keep it off, you will have to change how you live. Now this can be easy or it can be hard. I personally, have always found it hard. Not this time. I plan to watch what I eat and work on meal prepping as well as other small things that might help me stay on track this time.

Things I am wanting from my own personal diet. Some people prefer to be vegan, others not so much. I just am looking for something that works for me. I want to feel better. I don’t like to feel heavy or laggy after eating. I want to boost my energy and get myself feeling the best that I can.

I will be posting some vegan recipes, as well as vegetarian, and normal everyday recipes.  

Introduction

Kitty here, I’m going to give you some of my background today to give you an idea about where I am coming from, and how I’m starting this whole process.

I live by myself. That means the rent and bills, they all fall on me and only me. While yes I do have a girlfriend, and what a massive help she has been through all this, my bills are still at the end of the day, my problem. I currently only pay three bills. Rent. We all need a roof over our heads. Electric. That’s a need as well. And Phone. While sometimes you can get away without one, I personally use mine to pick up shifts at work and to have access to internet to check my schedule. My work only posts that online. So that’s it. I don’t have unlimited data on my phone, I have just what I need. No internet or cable at my house. Limited living. I do have access to the world wide web at my local library and at my girlfriends house. It’s might not be the best life, but it’s what I have to work with.

I currently work only one job. It is a part time job, but I am currently between moving up in the company. I am submitting applications and getting interviews for a full time position but just am not quite there yet. Instead of splitting my attention and effort between two jobs, I have personally chose to stick with the one, so I can focus right now on moving up. I’m also using that spare time to catch up on prior projects that were started with an ex who, due to medical issues, had to step away from the venture. I also love writing so in my personal time (See how I split myself already in so many ways) I work on my fiction novels. My goal is to one day be able to just write full time and have a day job ‘just for fun’.

I want to share in this blog my personal story. How I live below that poverty line, because to be honest, I’m barely making it work as it is.