Thoughts on Rice; Revised Sample Menu

Yesterday I had to pick up some dinner items to prepare a meal with the family, so I stopped in at a Foodarama on the way home. While there, I was able to check a few prices. With a name like Foodarama, one might think it would be a deep discount store, but they didn't have anything on Fiesta, nor H.E.B. Then today I was making my usual monthly run to Sam's Club for some family needs, and was curious if they might be able to help me refine my list. There were a few things that beat my per-ounce or per-pound prices-to-beat (pinto beans at $0.58/lb. for example), but the quantities were just too huge. So, at this point I can say with confidence that my list is as good as it's going to get. 

A correction on my previous post. I had erroneously stated that brown rice is $4.26 for 4 lbs. when in fact it is $4.26 for 6 lbs. The best deal I've been able to find on white rice is about $0.51/lb. whereas brown rice is $0.71/lb. So I would save $1.20 by going with white rice, assuming I can get it the right quantity bag. However the health benefits of brown rice are strong enough to make me want to forgo the savings at this point. Although $1.20 is 4% of my budget, so I'm still mulling it over.

Interesting to note. 6 lbs. of rice is only 12 cups, which produces only 24 cups of cooked rice. So I will only be able to have a 3/4 cup of rice each day. But I think that will work out alright for my rice & beans tacos. 

With the savings outlined in my previous post, I think I will post a new sample menu for what I anticipate to be a typical day. 

Breakfast

• 1 fried egg in a corn tortilla (you could call it a "lite" breakfast taco), seasoned with Season All
  
• 1 small (9 oz.) bowl of oatmeal with 3/4 oz. raisins, sprinkle of sunflower seeds, 1 tablespoon of vegetable spread
  
• plenty of tap water

Lunch

• something I'm calling Ramen Noodle Stew: consisting of 3/4 pack of ramen (since I'll only have 20 packs) with 2.6 oz. potatoes, 1 oz. carrot, and 1.5 oz. cabbage (not sure yet how I'm going to divide up the 20 packs into 30 portions, but I'll figure something out)
• 1 lightly toasted dry corn tortilla 
• tap water with a very thin slice of lemon

Dinner

• brown rice & beans taco: small serving of brown rice and pinto beans in a corn tortilla, seasoned with a dash or two of Season All
  
• 1/4 to 1/2 cup side of pasta with 2 teaspoons plain tomato sauce
  
• alternate: brown rice & lentils taco
  
• tap water
  

Although it's not the most appealing menu, especially due to the lack of variety, I hope you're starting to see that it's not that impossible to eat pretty well off of $30. You're hopefully starting to think, I just might be able to do this, especially if it means saving up a lot of money for the orphans. Maybe you're also starting to think like me... eating this way for 30 days will not only enable me to give more generously, it will increase my burden for the poor and what they have to endure as a constant reality. 

For those of you following it, I've made a few adjustments to my Google Spreadsheet. You can check it out by clicking here.