a peek inside the fishbowl

Yay! More donations! Thank you Ginger, and Mary and Gary, and Kev Needham for your support! If you’d like to make a donation – even the cost of your coffee today – it would be very appreciated. My page is right here. :)

I wasn’t kidding the other day when I said I licked my plate clean.

This challenge has had me thinking about a lot of things, including food waste. When your food options are limited and the cupboard is bare, you can hardly afford spillage. It hasn’t happened, but I’m actually afraid it will. Imagine finding your only potato has a rotten core? Or that you burn your pot of rice? It almost happened to me today.

Each grain is so valuable when you have so few.

Have you ever heard of the term “food insecurity?” According to the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations, food insecurity exists “when people lack access to sufficient amounts of safe and nutritious food, and therefore are not consuming enough for an active and healthy life. This may be due to the unavailability of food, inadequate purchasing power, or inappropriate utilization at household level.”

Bolding is my own, because I never really knew that “inappropriate utilization” was an issue of food security, but I guess it makes sense. I think to think more about what it means. But my head hurts.

–

I had a mild headache yesterday afternoon. A power nap helped. Again, I did not go to be with any feelings of gnawing hunger like I expected.

I missed my morning coffee today, but it’s more than just the caffiene. It’s the routine, and the comfort that comes with sitting down with a hot mug. My tea is hot, and it’s also in a mug, but it’s just not the same thing.

This was my breakfast again today:

Total cost: 18 cents (including a cup of tea, which I had when I got home from walking the dog).

This was my lunch. I had a big glass of water beforehand, and immediately brushed my teeth afterwards.

It’s an omelette – sort of – and it’s made out of:

one egg
1/4 cup of diced onion
1/4 potato, microwaved and then thrown on a pan (I have no cooking oil, sadly)
1 tablespoon of my canned diced tomatoes
and a light sprinkling of crumbled vegetable bouillon cube on top

Total cost: 38 cents

I had to take the car in for servicing and spent most of two hours waiting in their cafeteria while nearly everyone crunched and sipped around me. After that I did some groceries. By this time my stomach was complaining, loudly, but I had to fight the gnawing pit in my gut and just get it done. The smell emanating from the bakery was particularly, er, tempting. BUT I DID IT.

I had another cup of tea when I got home, using the tea bag from this morning.

Dinner was a moderate success taste-wise, and I was actually able to pull off dessert. (!)

It was:

one egg
1/4 cup diced canned tomatoes
sprinkle of parsley
light sprinkle of crushed veggie cube

1/3 cup of rice (measured uncooked)
1 tablespoon of brown sugar
1/2 sliced banana

Total cost: 30 cents

Holy cow. Is my math right?? I can’t possibly have eaten three meals for under a dollar.

This post was written for the Live Below the Line challenge, in which I am trying to feed myself on $1.75 per day, for five days. You can support me by making a small donation right here. Even donating the amount you’d spend on your coffee today would make a big difference. Thank you!