Day 30: The Last Supper

Well the big finish is here at last. I just consumed my last meal on the challenge. I'm looking forward to getting back to some more abundant food selections, but I want to hold on to a lot of what I've learned on this journey. I'll reflect upon those lessons later in the post, but wanted to first document my last day with some photos. Breakfast was the usual oatmeal with raisins which was fine. For lunch I made some more refried beans and had those with brown rice, a fried egg and 3 corn tortillas. They made for some great tasting bargain tacos...

For dinner I used my last bonus egg for another rendition of egg fried rice. It's so simple to make and it's filling and pretty tasty. I still had quite a bit of cabbage and more than enough carrots remaining, so I made a little more than usual and sauteed those separately before scrambling the egg and mixing in the rice. But the crowning moment was something I've been saving up for. I love baked potatoes. So I managed my potato ration in such a way that I had a substantial portion of a whole potato remaining today. So I wrapped it in foil and threw it in the oven at 350 degrees for an hour and a half. Cracked it open and seasoned it with what else but Season-All. It was such a welcome variety change that I might as well have had a steak! 

One surprising fact to note as I finish up the last day is what was left. Some of the leftovers came as a result of the off-and-on aversions and from watching my appetite shrink over the 30 days. Here's what I've got on hand at the end of day 30, click to enlarge if you're curious...

Reflections on lessons learned... 

I can cook! The main lesson I've learned from all of this is just the simple fact that I hold in my power the ability to create food that is healthy, satisfying, creative and tasty. If I can do this on $1/day, how much more can I do this moving forward with a more liberal budget! Yesterday I mentioned receiving a used cookbook I ordered, and today I received two more used cookbooks (how timely!): Dakshin: Vegetarian Cuisine from South India, and Authentic Recipes from India. I'm eager to start experimenting. Cooking may come as second nature to some of you, but for me, it's a whole new world. So many times my knee-jerk reaction to satisfying a craving for food is to run out and spend money for someone else to make the food for me. I never really thought of it that way before, but essentially that's what I've been doing. Not that there's anything wrong with that necessarily, but it's just the liberation of knowing that I can do it myself if I want to, and in the process save money to be more generous toward the causes God has called me to support. 

Empathy for the poor. I've also arrived at a closer empathy of what the poor contend with on a daily basis. These thoughts are reality for millions every day: If only I could afford some cooking oil. If only I could afford some tomato sauce for my pasta tonight. If only I could afford a stick of real butter. If only I could afford some chicken. If only I could afford... fill in the blank with anything basic that you take for granted on a daily basis. For many, sadly, it's just... if only I could afford clean drinking water for my children.

New perspective on hunger. In 2006 I did a 1-year trial run on going vegetarian. But it was a completely different challenge than this one. Mainly because, as a vegetarian, you still have access to all the fatty and sweet foods, not to mention the fact that you can easily match the caloric intake of a non-vegetarian diet. One thing I've learned from this challenge is that the human body is highly adaptable, and quickly adaptable. If you've followed my blog you've read on a few occasions about me being surprised by my lack of hunger for the most part (it was definitely there, but just not as bad as you might suspect, on most days). I have a friend who fasts often as a spiritual discipline. He says one of the side benefits is that you're just not really bothered by missing a meal, or by eating a late lunch, while for most of us, we end up saying things like "man, I'm starving" or "I'm not going to be able to get anything done on an empty stomach" etc. I've done fasts like the Daniel Fast and other shorter fasts, but none that required this much discipline. I have gained a whole new perspective on hunger and what it is to go without for a long period of time. So much so that I imagine it would take a lot for me to be thrown off by missing a meal or two in the future, or doing without a staple ingredient for an extended period of time. 

How to lose weight and feel better. Another lesson learned is on weight loss. I lost 20 pounds during this 30 days. However I was not even setting out to do that. I guess the lesson learned is, if you want to lose weight, you don't have to follow some complicated plan. Just eat less and eat simply, and you will lose weight. And you'll feel better. Shedding all of the sugar and fats gave me more energy and healed my heartburn problems completely. Oddly enough, these two benefits I think aided greatly in helping me overcome the hunger. 

Practical advice for those wanting to give this a try. If I had to do it again, I would shuffle the deck a little on my list. Biggest mistake was overestimating my oatmeal needs. I really could have done with just one 42 oz. box instead of two. With that money ($2.29) I could have added plenty of 20-cent 8-oz. cans of tomato sauce, which I was really craving after I ran out. I also would have purchased at least one more 20-cent lemon. I think I would have done a little more research on what could be done with bread making or cornmeal for cornbread, etc. and bought the according flour, etc. Five pounds of pinto beans would have been plenty, vs. my 6 pounds. I would have been able to reallocate 59 cents right there. I would have tried to find a way to fit in cooking oil, but that is a challenge because it is not typically sold in small quantities. Also would have considered trying to find a small portion of soy sauce, but again, a challenge, and not a priority. 10 packs of Ramen probably would have been plenty. I think I wasted 30 cents by buying 12. The basics: drink tons of water. Buy the spicy Ramen packs if you even remotely like spicy foods, or just want to add a little kick to your soups. Even a small amount of their spicy seasoning packs go a long way. Corn tortillas, if you can find them as cheap as I did (90 for $1.99) are indispensable in their versatility, but keep them refrigerated. If you're looking for an adaptation of this challenge, one thought is to consider your existing spices and cooking oils as available for "purchase" in increments. Like find out what your bottle of canola oil cost you, and "purchase" x number of ounces from your existing supply, and count that into your $30 budget. Same could go with salt and spices. That would have made things a lot easier, cooking-wise, while still having to take on the challenge of living off of $30 of food.

Thanks for the links, visits, and comments. I wanted to say thanks to all of you who have followed my blog and left comments of encouragement or advice. I was pleasantly surprised to see that it's received over 1300 visits from over 600 unique visitors in 21 countries! Thanks for helping me spread the word. I think it has made an impact of awareness, and for that, it's made all of this worth it. If you have websites or blogs, please continue to link here even though the challenge is over. I think there's a lot to learn here for people searching for ways to simplify or challenge themselves on what they're spending on food.

Final prayer focus: Pray for all of those who don't have a day 31. Their challenge keeps going on perpetually. This is a humbling thought and one that will motivate me to pray for quite some time. 

Estimated Savings for Day 30 & Grand Total: We had a catered staff lunch today at our church, so I would not have spent any money on that. (I ate my little bean, rice and egg tacos as everyone else feasted, but it really didn't bother me). It was a really rainy day with a lot on my schedule, so I honestly don't think I would have spent anything else. For this final day, I'm just calculating for my minimum estimated savings of $6. This brings the grand total of my orphanage donation up to $440.60, which represents over 14 months' wages among the poor of South Asia. It's also about what it would cost us at Peace Gospel to sponsor an orphan's expenses at one of our orphanages for 17 months. It also represents what it would cost us to provide life-saving polio immunizations for about 1500 children. Puts a lot into perspective. 

Day 29: Finish Line in Sight

Just knowing that I have less than 48 hours before this is over helped immensely today. I also tried to think back on which dishes I've enjoyed the most and tried those again today. I have been surprised by how good the refried beans taste, so I had those again for lunch along with a small amount of brown rice. But as I was still coming off of yesterday's aversion experience, I did not eat lunch until 2pm. My appetite grew as the taste of the beans motivated me to eat more, so I went ahead and made another batch of what you see pictured here for seconds! With two corn tortillas available, I made some small tacos with the beans and rice...

For dinner I went back to good old egg fried rice. But this time I sauteed the cabbage and carrots in a bit of the vegetable oil spread first to give them a little different texture. With one scrambled egg and a cup of brown rice with some Season-All mixed in, it was a great meal. I realized during this whole time I'd never had Ramen soup all by itself. So I did a half-portion of a pack of Ramen just as soup, as the instructions called for, and that was indeed a nice little variety change up. 

Everyone keeps asking what I'm going to eat on the day after. I'm really not sure yet. But I know from past experience in coming off of fasts that you can easily over do it and send your body into shock. So as best as I can control my urges, I'm going to try to take things slow. It might be really nice to just have a bowl of cereal that morning, as I have had no dairy for 30 days. But at some point soon I will definitely be eating at Sri Balaji Bhavan for some authentic South Indian vegetarian delights. Just being able to open up the fridge or pantry and eating whatever is available is what I'm looking forward to the most. Also looking forward to getting back into a normal routine of eating what my family is eating for mealtimes. It's been a challenge to share time with them as I am spending so much time in the kitchen preparing a separate meal for myself. You should see me trying to cook around my wife as she's preparing a meal for the 7 of them. Chaos! 

But my biggest desire is to learn more cooking skills. I've ordered several used cookbooks online. My first one arrived today: 400 Best-Ever Budget Recipes. The weirdest thing happened. My oldest son Noah said, "oh, cool, I wonder if they have a recipe for lemon pie" as he loves lemon pies. I said, "well, let's see." I opened up the book, and I kid you not, it opened straight to a recipe for a lemon pie. It's a sign, I tell you! Two other Indian cookbooks are on their way. I want to be able to cook the food I love so I don't have to pay a fortune to satisfy my cravings. 

Prayer focus: Pray for India's 70 million disabled. They represent about 6% of the population. Of these, only 2% are educated and 1% employed. We at Peace Gospel have made it part of our mission to distribute wheelchairs to disabled dalits ("untouchables" shunned by society) in India free of charge. It costs us only $50 to purchase a wheelchair. This is making a huge impact in areas where wheelchairs were before only an elusive luxury. People previously confined to literally crawling along on the ground are gaining mobility for the first time in their lives. It is our hope that by giving the disabled the gift of mobility, the statistics will not be so horribly stacked against them. If you'd like to sponsor a wheelchair or a portion thereof, you can click here for more details. 

Estimated Savings for Day 29: I might have taken my pre-schooler to Chick-fil-a for lunch today. I would have picked up my usual combo meal for about $5.99 or so. As I was really exhausted today, I would have likely stopped off for a hot black tea at Starbucks or Fioza for about $1.60. Add this to my normal estimated daily grocery cost of $7, subtract $1 for today's actual cost, and I'm at $13.59 saved for my orphanage donation today. This brings my running total up to $434.60.

Day 28: Aversions!

Today was a breaking point of sorts. That stew from yesterday sat with me through the night. I was fitful up past 2 am thinking about how I could possibly eat one more grain of brown rice, one more pinto bean, one more slice of carrot, or one more noodle. I started to question the health benefits of losing 20 pounds in 27 days, I started to get nervous about being able to make it through the last 3 days. And I was, for the first time in awhile, really hungry. Nonetheless, I awoke refreshed and whipped up another bowl of oatmeal and raisins. For some reason, that is the one thing I have not had an aversion toward, and bonus, it really sustains me for a good 4 hours or so. All of this being said, lunch was pretty good. I've enjoyed the refried beans, so I did a full cup of those. And it hit me, I had never enjoyed mashed potatoes without adding them to something else, so I thought that might help on the variety front, to just eat them straight, with a little Season-All, and that was nice. I threw in another rendition of my egg drop soup, this time with brown rice added, and it was enjoyable but still did not feel up to eating the whole thing. I'm also getting a bit of blog fatigue. Tonight, I just honestly don't feel like doing the math to tell you how much this meal cost me. But I know this one was probably around 40 cents or so...

For dinner, I just literally could not dream up anything. A friend had recommended adding a little more water to my rice on the next batch, to yield some rice milk, so I did that yesterday. She had said I might try adding some raisins to this to come up with a sweet tea of sorts. I tried this by blending some water-soaked raisins, and I felt it was a valiant try, but it was just not my cup of tea! Might have come in handy on the vegan shepherd's pie, but not straight up. For your amusement, here's the shot...

But, back to dinner, I did end up having a small rice burrito and a bit of pasta with some Season-All, but I just could not bring myself to eat anything else. Cabbage: no! Carrots: no more! I feel like my 2 year old! But I will say, isn't it amazing that my 3-lb. $0.75 head of cabbage is still going strong?!

Prayer focus: I'm heading up to Taylor University on Wednesday to present some thoughts at an evening event as part of their annual Social Justice Week. Pray for me, as really I have no idea what I'm going to say at this point. But I am looking forward to it. I'll be spending the night in their cardboard village; seems an appropriate book-end to my 30 days! This year they are focusing on India and the caste system. I feel honored and humbled that they would invite me to be a part of this. Thanks for praying!

Estimated Savings for Day 28: No clue. Maybe a real cup of tea at Starbucks? Buck-sixty? Add this to my normal estimated daily grocery cost of $7, subtract $1 for today's actual cost, and I'm at $7.60 for my orphanage donation today. This puts my running total up to $421.01. This is ridiculous and humbling to admit. Lord, may I be more mindful of my spending after this 30 days!

Day 27: Migas, Raisin Style

Started the day out with my usual oatmeal. It was still very enjoyable, however I am sad to say that I hit the end of my sunflower seeds a little earlier than projected. Just glad I still have plenty of raisins. Speaking of, I decided to try a new twist on Migas for lunch. Migas, for those of you who don't know, is a kind of breakfast dish consisting of torn corn tortilla pieces cooked together with scrambled eggs. It hit me that I obviously had the ingredients for this, but I wanted to make it a little more interesting. So I decided to see what raisins would taste like if I scrambled them into the mix. I first microwaved them in some water to loosen them up, and then threw them into the skillet with the beaten egg and torn corn tortilla pieces. I really did not know what to expect. But it was definitely a nice touch, sweetening it up and adding a variety of flavor I have not yet experienced during the challenge. I also whipped up a quick batch of refried beans again, and together it made for one of my better meals. Cost: 25 cents.

Then tonight, running out of ideas, I made a stew that was not one of my greatest inventions, but filling nonetheless. I combined water with a touch of bean broth, 1/2 serving of Ramen noodles and seasoning, 3/4 cup pinto beans, 1 cup brown rice, 2/3 cup shell pasta, 2.5 oz. cubed potato, 1 oz. carrot, and 1 oz. cabbage. It was definitely a little carb-heavy with the noodles and pasta, making for a heavy feeling, maybe even "hard to digest" kind of meal. But it did the job on the survival front. Cost: because of the number of ingredients, 46 cents. 

Just three more days to go! Not sure what it was about today, maybe the poor execution on the stew concept, but I'm definitely feeling ready for this to be over. But I've learned so much I'm going to take with me beyond the 30 days. The fact that I can cook amazing-tasting meals for under a dollar will definitely be a practice I will take with me past the finish line. For that matter, the fact that I can cook any amazing-tasting meals is the shocker, not being much of a cook at all to begin with!

Prayer focus: Pray for one of the villages in South India where we do a lot of ministry. I received an email from our pastor there today requesting prayer for a difficult situation. He writes: There is a school in the village among high caste people, some of our children (Dalits) are studying in that school 8th to 10th class [grade]. But recently there are some problems that took place in the school due to the caste system, between Dalit children and high caste children. This school is in a high caste section of the village. The high caste children are not happy to give these dalit children a place to sit along with them. They are saying bad words and insulting them by using horrible words toward them. Much worse, they have beaten these dalit children 5 times. These children complained to the teachers and to the administration, but there is no use. These high caste children warned the teachers. These dalit students' situation is not good in in [this village]. Please pray for peace in [this village] my brother, we are also praying for this. They need your prayers. So many upsetting things are going on there with this issue, please pray.

Estimated Savings for Day 27: It's interesting, I'm so far removed from what my usual routine would have been like before the challenge started, I really don't know how to estimate any longer. I will just say at this point, I would not be surprised if I had eaten out today, and might have spent about $7 on such an outing. Add this to my normal estimated daily grocery cost of $7, subtract $1 for today's actual cost, and I've saved $13 toward my orphanage donation today. My running total is now up to $413.41. 

Day 26: Soup & Stir Fry Improvisations

It was a long day so I don't have much energy left to blog. But I will talk about a couple of good meals I had today. I created a new soup for lunch which I thought was tasty and filling. For lack of a better title, I'll call it Spicy Corn Chowder Egg Drop Potato & Noodle Soup. I don't have any true corn, but I used a corn tortilla chopped into little squares to mimmic the flavor. I used 2.5 oz. mashed potatoes to give it the chowdery texture. And of course the spicy seasoning from half of a pack of the Hot Chili Ramen flavoring. Man that stuff goes a long way. I would recommend buying that pack of Ramen at $0.15 just for the little flavoring packet. I used my rules from previous Egg Drop recipe to add the eggs, and wha-la, it was pretty simple. My wife has some friends in town so she had the camera on an outing, so I had to use my camera phone to capture the moment. Not that great, but at least for documentary purposes... Cost: 27 cents. 

For dinner, I lacked the creativity of the last few days, but I was hungry and tired-- I just needed to make some survival food. So I threw together about 3/4 cup refried beans. I chopped some carrots and cabbage and "fried" that with about 1.5 cups of brown rice. I made my bean broth reduction sauce again and added that for additional flavor/texture. Seasoned both with Season-All and added a corn tortilla. Made a little refried bean taco from that. For as fast as it was, and as inexpensive as it cost, this was a very satisfying meal. Cost: 30 cents.

Prayer focus: Pray for Peace Gospel's work in the slums. Especially for further development of our clean water delivery projects. Over 22% of India's urban population consists of slum dwellers— those who live in make-shift homes and get by on less than $1 per day. This makes India home to the largest slum population on the planet, with over 60 million slum residents. According to the World Health Organization, nearly 1,600 children die every day in India due to diseases caused by contaminated water. Peace Gospel is laboring to deliver clean water to those living in the slums, where water contamination problems are rampant. Providing clean water for the poor creates economic opportunity because they can focus on getting back to work rather than spending so much time looking for water.

Estimated Savings for Day 26: I would not be surprised if today I would have been found at Sri Balaji Bhavan were I not on the challenge. I've already blogged about it a few times, but if you're newer to the blog, I'll bring you up to speed: if you live in Houston, you should hereby be informed that there is no better Indian restaurant in town in terms of authenticity to true South Indian vegetarian cuisine. Not to mention value. I usually spend about $8 there and have enough leftovers for dinner. Add this to my normal estimated daily grocery cost of $7, subtract $1 for today's actual cost, and I've saved $14 for my orphanage donation today. My running total has now broken the $400 mark at $400.41. 

Day 25: Vegan Shepherd's Pie, Oh My!

Started today off with another shocker at the scale... I've lost 18 pounds, from 226 to 208. And I'm not even feeling that hungry, it's really strange. I have to admit it's a nice bonus I was not expecting at all. Oddly, I'm not getting tired of my oatmeal with raisins and sunflower seeds for breakfast. I've had that the past several days now, usually in a rush and eating it on the way out so it comes in handy. When you have no other source of sugar, raisins become amazing little explosions of flavor. For lunch, I went back to egg fried rice and also made a few seasoned corn ships in the toaster oven. But for dinner, I needed something new to provide the variety I'm craving. I think I was reading on a blog somewhere on cheap meal ideas or something, and Shepherd's Pie came up. I looked up this recipe, and realized I was pretty close to an improvised, very basic rendition of the dish. Also, my friend Beth had mentioned simmering my pinto bean broth down to a sauce, and I thought I might be able to use that in my improv as well. And it did come in handy, thanks Beth! I used sauteed cabbage, shell pasta, mashed pinto beans, and brown rice for the undergirding of the pie (with "juiciness" aided by the bean sauce), and mashed potatoes (5 oz. worth) to spread on the top of the pie. Topped with my last two teaspoons of tomato sauce and seasoned with Season-All, it was delicious and very filling! But if it were not for the cabbage and sauce, it would have been a bit too starchy. For the curious, here's the recipe...

Ingredients

• 5 oz. potatoes
  
• 1 cup cooked brown rice
  
• 3/4 cup cooked pinto beans
  
• 2/3 cup (before cooking) shell pasta
  
• 1.5 oz. cabbage
  
• 1 cup pinto bean broth
  
• 1 tablespoon vegetable oil spread
  
• 2 teaspoons tomato sauce
• 1 teaspoon water
• A few dashes of Season-All

Directions

1. Preheat the oven to 400 degrees.
   
2. Cube potatoes and boil them until cooked (about 8 minutes?)
   
3. Bring water to boil for pasta shells, cook accordingly.
   
4. Bring bean broth to a boil then reduce to medium heat until reduced to near-sauce-like status, but still a bit watery.
   
5. Chop the cabbage and saute in skillet with vegetable oil spread until browning occurs. 
   
6. Mash the pinto beans with a fork. 
   
7. In a small casserole dish, add the mashed beans, pasta, cabbage, rice and bean sauce together so that all ingredients are evenly distributed. Press the mix down with a fork or spoon so that it's even on the surface.
   
8. Once the potatoes are cooked, mash them with a fork until even consistency is achieved. 
   
9. Carefully spoon out the mashed potatoes onto the top of the mix, kind of painting the potatoes onto the surface with the spoon.
   
10. Place dish in preheated oven for 15 minutes.
    
11. Add 1 teaspoon water to the 2 teaspoons tomato sauce to increase its volume. Spread the sauce on top of the dish after baking is completed. Season with Season-All as desired and enjoy!

Cost: About 43 cents.

Maxing out the stovetop!

The finished product...

Prayer focus: Pray for Sonam and Karma, two of the children at our Nepal orphanage. They are suffering from unexplained nose bleeding. Pray for their healing and peace in their hearts. Praise update: Krupamma is much better today, checked out fine, and back to work serving the children. Thanks for praying!

Estimated savings for Day 25: I was craving BBQ today, so I would not be surprised if I had joined a friend for a chopped beef sandwich and cole slaw at one of the many incredible local BBQ shacks around here. That along with a drink would have likely been around, what, maybe $8.50? I might have had an appointment at Starbucks, where I would have had a hot tea for about $1.60. Add this to my normal estimated daily grocery cost of $7, subtract $1 for today's actual cost, and I've saved $16.10 toward my orphanage donation today. My running total is now up to $386.41. 

Day 24: Pomme Frites aux Oeufs

You're thinking that I translated my lunch dish into French to make it sound fancy, but honestly, that's the name of the recipe my friend Omar from Cameroon gave me. That's right, a genuine French-African dish right here on the 30 day challenge, baby! However I did add my own twist to it: oven-roasted carrots. This is seriously easy to make and tastes great. (Note: I saved up my rations of potatoes and carrots from yesterday to use for this dish, and also borrowed my bonus egg from tomorrow to use here) ... Recipe:

Ingredients: 

• 5 oz. potatoes
  
• 2 oz. carrots
  
• 2 eggs
  
• 2 tablespoons veg. oil spread (or butter)
  
• 1/2 teaspoon Season-All

Directions: 

1. Preheat oven to 475 degrees. 
   
2. Cut potatoes into strips like french fries. Chop carrots into sliced quarters or halves. 
   
3. In a medium sized bowl or large coffee mug, place 2 tablespoons vegetable oil spread (or butter), microwave for 20 seconds or until melted. Dip chopped potatoes and carrots into the vegetable oil or butter, making sure each piece is well coated. Place the potatoes and carrots in a single layer on a roasting pan or baking sheet.
   
4. Roast for 20 to 30 minutes in the preheated oven, turning every 5 or 6 minutes to brown on all sides. 
   
5. Beat the two eggs in a bowl. When potatoes and carrots are ready, place them in the bowl with the eggs. Let the potatoes soak up some of the eggs for about 3 or 4 minutes as you stir occasionally.  
   
6. Pour all of the ingredients into a skillet on medium high heat. Scramble as desired with spatula. Scramble an additional 3-4 minutes after eggs are solid to ensure all ingredients are well heated. 
   
7. Serve and season to taste with Season-All.
   

Alternate, more authentic method is to dump the eggs, carrots and potatoes into the skillet and NOT scramble them. Just let the eggs harden like an omelet. When the eggs harden, place a plate over the skillet and flip it to serve the omelet upside down! I meant to do this but misread my friend's instructions. Still turned out great using my improvised method.

Cost: About 37 cents. (One of my more expensive dishes!)

Soaking the ingredients in the eggs:

The finished product: 

Tonight for dinner I made refried beans again since they were so tasty last night. I used two of my tortillas to make corn chips, and one to make a taco of my beans and rice. Also had a spicy chicken-chili flavored ramen noodle soup (half-serving) with cabbage. Delicious! My kids love the homemade chips and beans. Cost of the meal pictured here, including the soup was about 30 cents. 

Health Ponderings: Today I did start to feel a little lethargic from the lack of fruits and fresh veggies. Had a few headaches, but kept downing the water and that helped. The remainder of my lemon essentially rotted a few days ago, so I'm missing the vitamin C there. The meals today were a bit heavy with the vegetable oil spread, which could be contributing to my "thick" lethargic feeling. So I think I'll cut back on that tomorrow and try to go a little lighter on everything while keeping the water flowing. My appetite has decreased and hunger pangs are less frequent. I have not weighed in lately but I think I continue to lose weight. Glad to be rounding the home stretch. Six days to go!

Prayer focus: Pray for one of our staff "mothers" at the orphanage in India. Her name is Krupamma, and she had to go to the hospital today complaining of chest pains. 

Estimated Savings for Day 24: I was thinking about Indian food a lot today, so I think I would have likely made my usual run to Sri Balaji Bhavan. I might have had some iddly with lemon rice, or maybe a Madras Thali, not sure, but definitely would have had a cup of their chai. Probably would have spent about $8 there. Add this to my normal estimated daily grocery cost of $7, subtract $1 for today's actual cost, and I'm looking at $14 saved for my orphanage donation today. My running total is now up to $369.31, equal to over one year's wages among the poor of South Asia. 

Day 23: Refried Bean Chimichangas

I stumbled upon another delicious improv recipe today. I followed a basic refried bean recipe to make about one cup of refried beans with my vegetable oil spread and Season-All. I then melted some vegetable oil spread and brushed that on the front and back of two corn tortillas while the oven was preheating to 500 degrees. I placed the refried beans down the middle of each tortilla, rolled the tortilla up and turned them over (seam-side down) on a baking sheet. I then baked them for 8 minutes. The tortillas cracked a bit, but the taste really blew me away. I was managing my expectations, but these refried bean chimichangas really were delicious. My son Noah can testify- it passed his "awesomeness" test. I added some reheated brown rice and it felt like a complete meal! Best part... this meal cost only 21 cents!

For lunch I did a repeat on the Spicy Egg Drop Noodle Soup, but added cabbage. Still loving it. Did oatmeal for breakfast, and had one of my remaining oat raisin bars for a snack. Not feeling much hunger at all today! But drinking plenty of water is the trick. Tomorrow I will have a double portion of potatoes and carrots. I've got an African recipe involving oven roasted potatoes and eggs, I might try that mixed with roasted carrots tomorrow.

Prayer focus: Pray for our dairy farm and its staff in India. Pray for the productivity and health of our water buffalo cows and the health and safety of our native team there. Pray that more funds would become available to purchase more water buffaloes. We rely on the milk sales to provide for much of our orphanage budget. 

Estimated Savings for Day 23: I'm not sure where, but I likely would have eaten lunch out with friends. Might have spent about $8.50. Also would not be surprised if I had stopped by Fioza for a cup of hot tea and a cinnamon raisin scone for about $4. Add this to my normal estimated daily grocery cost of $7, subtract $1 for today's actual cost, and I saved $18.50 toward my orphanage donation today. My running total is now up to $355.31. 

Day 22: The 18-cent Egg Drop Masterpiece

Today was another huge breakthrough day of "recipe improvisation." I'm calling my latest invention Spicy Egg Drop Noodle Soup. The traditional egg drop soup recipe calls for cornstarch. So I thought to myself, well I have some corn bound up in those corn tortillas, and where there's corn, there's cornstarch, right? So wheels started turning in my head and I got to work. I double toasted a corn tortilla until it was nice and crispy. Then I put it in a zip lock bag and hammered it into a powder. I added the water to the powder as the recipe instructs, and I got a sort of cornmeal consistency that gave the soup some great texture...

I then beat one egg and started pouring that into the boiling noodles and cornmeal bit by bit. I was pretty thrilled to see the egg turning into that Chinese restaurant style egg drop soup consistency. I really never imagined myself making egg drop soup, but here I was. I then added half of the spice from the Ramen noodle pack pictured below (also just used half of the noodles). After that you can see the finished product. I really surprised myself on this one. Even without all of the proper ingredients, my improvisation was a home run in my little world. This one will definitely make my long term list of future recipes well past the 30 day challenge. You should give it a try. Best part, the cost of this delicious and filling soup is only 18 cents.

Dinner was great as well. I baked two corn tortillas cut into triangles yielding 16 tasty seasoned tortilla chips with an all-natural bean dip. I enjoyed the roasted potatoes and carrots so much last night that I decided to go with that again. On top of all of this, it was pasta day, so I enjoyed a cup of pasta with two teaspoons of tomato sauce. Running very low on tomato sauce- just about one more serving remains!

Prayer focus: Pray for our widow's seamstress business initiative in India. Many widows in this part of the world are socially shunned and often pulled into the darkness of prostitution. But Peace Gospel is offering widows a way out of their poverty and despair. As we receive sponsorship funds from donors like you, widows are taken through a 3 month training program and then equipped with a sewing machine and basic supplies. This allows widows to start a practical in-demand business that provides for their family. Through the incentive of a micro-credit program, the newly commissioned business owners will pay back their equipment costs in affordable monthly installments. These payments are placed into a fund which is then used to commission more widows into the program.

Estimated Savings for Day 22: It was one of those gorgeous Houston spring days, bright sunshine and 70 degrees with a light breeze. On days like these I love to go to Becks Prime and sit out on their deck under the huge oak trees while catching up on some reading. I would have dropped about $9 on a hickory cheeseburger with fries and drink. Add this to my normal estimated daily grocery cost of $7, subtract $1 for today's actual cost, and I've saved $15 toward my orphanage donation today. My running total is now up to $336.81 which is about 11 months' wages among the poor of South Asia. 

Day 21: Pinto Bean Rice Burgers!

Today was a lot of work but a fun day of trying new combinations from my ingredients. My crowning culinary moment came in the form of an improvised bean burger recipe, the original found here. I didn't have a lot of those ingredients, so I subbed soaked & blended raisins for the salsa, and cabbage for the onions. I did have an egg, plenty of brown rice and pinto beans, so no problem there. I tried one with a teaspoon of tomato sauce, and one with just Season-All, and although the "tomato sauced" one had good texture and some degree of flavor, I preferred the seasoned one. These were a lot of work to keep the patty from morphing into a blob at first, but after cooking a couple I got the hang of it. I went ahead and made an extra one for tomorrow, and still have the mix for two more. I can imagine a vegan-vegetarian type really digging these burgers, and to be fair, they are really good when seasoned and eaten fresh out of the skillet, but they probably will not make my long-term favorite list. Overall, a great eating-to-live meal, very filling, and a welcomed departure form the norm. Including the corn tortilla and seasoning, each burger costs about 10 cents. Take a look...

Something I've been wanting to experiment on for a while now is roasting potatoes and carrots. I melted some vegetable oil spread and coated that on my cubed/sliced potatoes and carrots along with some Season-All, and then baked them at 450 for 20 minutes, turning them every 5 minutes. It was delicious... I wish I had thought of it earlier. I wrapped half of them in a corn tortilla and and ate the other half straight. It made for a great dinner. Cost of the meal: 13 cents. And it looked great too...

Prayer focus: Please pray for Ma Kanghe, a new orphan we recently took in at our Myanmar orphanage. She lost both parents to Cyclone Nargis last year, and we found her working in the market gathering firewood for a vendor there a few months ago. She is happy at the orphanage but there are emotional scars to be healed from her loss and the dark experiences of living on the streets before we found her.

Estimated Savings for Day 21: We had some guests over for dinner this evening, and we ordered in some Indian food from a place called Shiva. I was enjoying my roasted potatoes and carrots, so that probably saved me about $10 right there, as Shiva is not exactly your budget Indian restaurant. Other than that, today was a little too busy for any other outings. So, add this to my normal estimated daily grocery cost of $7, subtract $1 for today's actual cost, and I saved a total of $16 for my orphanage donation today. My running total is now up to $321.81. 

Day 20: Rainy Day

Honestly I don't have much to report. With all of the rain today it was kind of a blah day. Just feeling kind of unmotivated. So I was not feeling very creative today. I had my usual oatmeal mix for breakfast, egg fried rice again for lunch, tortilla chips and bean dip again, and then used my bonus egg for an over easy fried egg on a corn tortilla, topped with boiled potatoes, rice and beans for dinner. The bonus egg day (every 5 days) always comes in as a nice boost. Then I had an oatmeal raisin bar for "dessert." Again, it's plenty of food for the most part, it's just finding the time to be creative (toward the goal of variety) and to do the prep work involved in getting there. I was going to try roasting some potatoes and carrots but today's schedule turned out to be a little too overwhelming to spend a lot of time in the kitchen. Hopefully tomorrow I'm going to have time to try that out along with an emerging idea on a rice & bean burger patty with make-shift ketchup and egg drop soup! I'm determined that tomorrow is going to be a better day!

Prayer focus: Just pray for Peace Gospel in general today if you would. We're having a bit of a rough month financially and could use some catch-up donations. Fortunately our orphanage budgets in India and Myanmar are supplemented by their farms, but they do not yet cover the entire budgets, and they do not yet cover other aspects of our outreach either. So we've got a short-term goal of raising $10,000 by the end of the month to get us caught up. Pray with us toward that end. 

Estimated Savings for Day 20: Likely would have taken one or more of the kids out for a meal or a treat of some kind, for a bill of around $7.50 for my share. Add this to my normal estimated daily grocery cost of $7, subtract $1 for today's actual cost, and I'm looking at $13.50 saved for my orphanage donation today. My running total is now at $305.81. That's over 10 months' wages among the poor of South Asia. 

Day 19: More Discoveries!

Today was another eureka! kind of a day. Breakthroughs:

1. Perfected my Egg Fried Rice
   
2. Made bean dip for my new tortilla chips
   
3. Baked some oatmeal raisin bars w/ sunflower seeds

I scrambled my egg before adding the rice and this just put the dish in another league. It was good before, but this tasted amazing. I know some of you are laughing at this point, but I've never made egg fried rice and I was just kind of winging it yesterday...

The bean dip was simply chilled pinto beans mashed into an even consistency. With the corn tortilla chips this tasted so fresh it was almost too good to be true that both the chips and dip cost only 5 cents. My wife had a few bites of each of these and she was pretty impressed, actually amazed, as was I. It's all in the presentation...

That's been the growing theme of this challenge for me: shocked at how much I can actually make from my list, and definitely beginning to think in terms of how I can sustain this (in terms of cooking with simple ingredients- maybe on $60 or $90 a month?) moving forward beyond the 30 days. Also gaining an inspiration for growing my own foods, maybe my next challenge? 30 days on 30 seeds?

The other discovery was a baked oatmeal raisin bar recipe a friend sent me. It was an improvised guess, but it worked. I soaked about 1/4 cup of raisins overnight in an equal amount of water. Put them through the blender to create a syrup. Poured the syrup into a mix of 1 cup of rolled oats, 1/4 cup of raisins and 1 teaspoon of sunflower seeds. Mixed it all thoroughly and baked at 225 for 1 hour. It yielded six 2-ounce bars that will make great snacks. I actually already enjoyed one of them tonight. It reminds me of a vegan oat cookie they sell at Whole Foods here in Houston. Not very rich without any butter, but definitely sweet, and certainly filling. Cost of each 2-ounce bar: 8 cents. 

Prayer focus: Pray for Myanmar (Burma). Four decades of repressive military rule have isolated the nation and brought it to utter destitution. Widespread despair followed the repression of democracy in 1990. The courage of the leader of the main opposition party, Aung San Suu Kyi, was recognized in her being awarded the 1991 Nobel Peace Prize. She has remained under house arrest since 1990. Pray that the international community and the other Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) members might speak out and act to bring democracy. Pray for an orderly transfer to a just and democratic government that will rebuild the country with both democratic and religious freedom.

Estimated Savings for Day 19: I met a friend during the lunch hour today. If I was not on the challenge I know we would have met over a meal. I'm not sure where we would have eaten, but let's just say it would have cost around $8.50. Add this to my normal estimated daily grocery cost of $7, subtract $1 for today's actual cost, and I've saved $14.50 for my donation to the orphanage today. My running total is now at $292.31. 

Day 18: Egg Fried Rice Revolution

If my little world had its own newspaper, today's headline would have been Egg Fried Rice Revolution Has Begun. It turns out that I have a pretty good portion of the ingredients needed for this classic dish: rice, eggs, cabbage, carrots, and seasoning! (Thank you Andrea for the aha! moment). My execution was not that great, but it tasted out of this world anyway. Again I've proven that anyone can stumble their way through cooking, especially if you're hungry. I also cut a corn tortilla into triangles, basted them with a touch of melted vegetable oil spread, seasoned them, and then baked them in the toaster oven. The kids were amazed that daddy can now make tortilla chips that taste better than the usual brand-name standards. I also thought of adding pasta shells to my soup at dinner, and that added a welcome new texture to the soup experience. I managed to capture a shot of the egg fried rice and the tortilla chips... Cost of Egg Fried Rice: 25 cents. 8 Tortilla chips with seasoning: 3 cents...

Prayer focus: Pray for the girls of Nepal, especially those in vulnerable situations such as those orphaned. They are widely trafficked for the Indian and Middle East sex industry which is a terrible evil. There are an estimated 250,000 in India (mainly Mumbai & Delhi) where they are terribly abused; 60-70% are HIV positive and few will reach 25 years. Pray that the Peace Gospel orphanage in Nepal would be fully funded with the ability to reach many of these girls before they are enslaved. 

Estimated Savings for Day 18: Just for fun, I'm going to say I would have been over to an old favorite spot for lunch today, Texadelphia on Westheimer. Their chicken cheesesteak sandwich with special mustard blend sauce is, well, something I'm craving at the moment. Not to mention they have the best queso in town. With a drink and tip I think this would have set me back about $9.00. I met a friend at Starbucks today, and I would have likely spent my usual $1.60 on a cup of hot tea there. Add this to my normal estimated daily grocery cost of $7, subtract $1 for today's actual cost, and I've got $16.60 saved for my donation to the orphanage today. My running total is now at $277.81. 

Day 17: The New Normal

Today I think my body kind of resigned and accepted this as the new "normal." I'm just not getting as hungry as I was in previous days. I'm also feeling a lot more energy in general. My wife says it's due to the weight loss. On that front, I continue to be shocked. As of this morning I've lost 13 pounds! However I will say that my cravings are still in place. At the same time I am feeling more acclimated and less hungry, I am starting to think about some of my favorite foods I've not had access to. I'm even starting to make plans in my mind about what I'll eat on April 29th. I think I'm also looking forward to not having to think about what I'm going to cook each day. That's been one of the more stressful parts of this challenge, but at the same time I am enjoying the puzzle of it all-- trying to figure out how to combine the few ingredients I have to keep the variety flowing. Assuming I have time, I am going to do a little more experimenting later this week or over the weekend. I've had a couple of friends email me some great ideas like seasoned roasted potatoes, and vegetable stir fry! Not sure why stir fry had not occurred to me, but definitely looking forward to trying that out!

As for today, I was not all that creative. I had my usual oatmeal in the morning, no tacos, a new soup, and my triple portion pasta (hard to believe it's already been 3 days since I had pasta). For the new soup, I hard-boiled an egg, chopped it up and added it to a soup chock-full of ingredients: Beans & Rice, Ramen Noodles, Potatoes, Carrots, Cabbage and bean broth. It was good, but it's always better when you're able to eat it right after cooking. I made it this morning and reheated it for lunch. Never quite hits the mark that way. I made corn tortilla chips again, but just enjoyed them as a snack separate from the soup. Anyhow, not sure how interesting this photo will be to anyone, but wanted to document it nonetheless: 

Prayer focus: Pray today for all of Peace Gospel's native pastors in India. It is not uncommon for an Indian pastor to shepherd 5 or 6 congregations, and for him to reach these locations in remote areas by foot or bicycle. These are some of the hardest working men I've ever met. Pray for their safety, health and strength, and that they will receive supernatural ability to yield fruit in their ministry by means not imaginable. 

Estimated Savings for Day 17: Today was kind of back to a normal schedule for me. So if I were not doing this challenge, I would have been back over to my usual once or twice weekly stop at Sri Balaji Bhavan. I would have probably spent about $8. Our internet and phones were down at the office, so I would have taken that as a great opportunity to get some free wifi signal down at Fioza or Starbucks, while enjoying a hot tea for about $1.60. Add this to my normal estimated daily grocery cost of $7, subtract $1 for today's actual cost, and I've got $15.60 saved for my orphanage donation today. This puts my running total at $261.21, which is almost equivalent to 9 months' wages among the poor of South Asia. 

Day 16: Souping it Up

Today was another day toward acclimation that overall went pretty well. I went with oatmeal in the morning again, without a breakfast taco. I enjoyed the pretend fish tacos again for lunch. But then I hit one out of my little ballpark with a new soup. I'm calling it Spicy Bean & Rice Potato Noodle Tortilla Soup. It's very filling and thanks to the chili flavoring from the Hot Chili Ramen, it's got a nice zing to it. I took a corn tortilla, sliced it into strips and baked it until crisp, and topped the soup with that and of course what else but Season-All. Just using my daily ration, it made a hearty portion, so much so that I had a little leftover. Best part, the cost was only 28 cents! Photographed for your unbelieving eyes:

Prayer focus: Pray for India's 10 million blind. They represent over a quarter of the world's total blind. Few have learned the Braille script, nor are there many materials in Braille in Indian languages. Pray for the completion of a Braille Bible and Braille education. At present there are some books of the Bible available in nine languages, but none have the whole Bible.

Estimated Savings for Day 16: Today was  a busy day on a "staff development" retreat with my church staff. So this morning I would have likely been in my usual busy routine of getting kids out the door and on my way to the day-long event. I probably would have grabbed breakfast at Chick-fil-a for about $2.99. Lunch was a part of the deal today (but of course I brought my own pretend fish tacos), so I would not have spent any money on lunch. Add that to my normal estimated daily grocery cost of $7, subtract $1 for today's actual cost, and I come up with $8.99 saved for my orphanage donation today. My running total is now at $245.61.

Day 15: Vegetarian Fish Tacos

Today was a little more slow-paced so I actually had some time to experiment with some ideas on rearranging my ingredients. Andrea posted a comment about hard boiling eggs for variety. For those of you following this blog, you know I'm a total novice cook, so I had to google how to prepare a hard-boiled egg. Evidently there are a lot of opinions on the matter. I chose one that seemed most logical (#5 on this page), and wound up with great results. Oh, and it was my "bonus egg" day, so I got to enjoy a hard-boiled egg at lunch, and a fried egg at dinner! I skipped oatmeal yesterday, so this morning I was blessed with a double portion of raisins and sunflower seeds. It was approaching muesli status - mouth-watering! 

But my big breakthrough is a new creation I'm calling vegetarian fish tacos! I know, it's a long shot, but if you were in my world, you would completely relate. Here's the deal... I was trying to think of a way to freshen up the taco experience. So I laid out all of my ingredients, and it hit me that fish tacos, which I love, include corn tortillas and fresh cabbage as two of their stand-out ingredients. I thought, yesss! I can do that! I boiled chopped potatoes to add to my beans and brown rice, placed the chopped cabbage on top, touched it up with a healthy dose of Season-All, and wha-la, I had vegetarian fish tacos (budget style) on my hands! I just imagined the potatoes as being the fish, and I think I actually tricked my mouth! I had skipped my breakfast taco in light of my oatmeal bliss, so I had an extra corn tortilla available and just went ahead and made two of these new little delicacies. I added the hard-boiled egg with a touch of Season-All, threw in some chilled carrot slices and I had an amazing new experience on my menu. Best part, what you see here cost only 27 cents (and each taco cost only 8 cents)!

Prayer focus: Let's pray today for India's continuing struggle with leprosy. Over 1.5 million Indians suffer from the disease. This represents 63% of the world's total cases of leprosy. I have had the opportunity to meet some of these individuals. It's disheartening to learn that the social effects of the disease are oftentimes more difficult than the physical impact. Pray that they could receive medical treatment and that education on the matter would lead their loved ones to stop the practice of disowning them. 

Estimated Savings for Day 15: On Mondays I typically take my 4 year old son out to lunch since he's not in school yet. He likes to come along to get some Indian food with me. I would have probably ordered my usual Madras Thali plate with a cup of chai for about $7.75. I also would have likely been by Fioza for some late afternoon tea at about $2. Add that to my normal estimated daily grocery cost of $7, subtract $1 for today's actual cost, and I'm looking at $15.75 saved for my orphanage donation today. My running total is now up to $236.62. 

Day 14: Cheating

If you recall, my specific challenge is to live off of whatever food I could buy for $30, for 30 days. Mind you this does not include any other foods, just the food I bought for $30. Well, today I found it really hard to avoid some cheating. It was Easter Sunday so we made the road trip up to my aunt's house and there was a serious feast going on. At first I did pretty well to stay under the radar and no one noticed I was not eating. Then it was discovered I was not partaking, and I had to go headlong into the 30 day challenge story for everyone, explaining what I've been doing. But my dear aunt would have none of that. She could not stand to have someone in her home not eating on such a day of feasting. So she convinced me to at least have a little sample of some of the foods, and assured me it was valued at less than $1 (apparently she did not get the part about eating only what I bought for the 30 bucks). So, reluctantly, I enjoyed a few bites of some quite delicious morsels. Needless to say my taste buds were on overload and my sensory cortex was doing a dance. Then, on top of that, I went on a date with my wife for our 13th anniversary tonight. She insisted that I at least enjoy the free bread, olive oil and seasonings that they put out on every table, that it would make her feel less guilty about eating in front of me. There again, I gave way and enjoyed a few bites and felt like I had just scored a four-course meal, especially with that olive oil. Although my perfectionist side does feel that I've tainted my 30 day experience, I am glad I got a little "taste" of what it's like to appreciate the smallest pleasures. Pleasures I would have wholeheartedly taken for granted in the past. 

More absent-mindedness... I totally forgot to eat my "double portion" of pasta last night, so tonight I had a "triple portion" and it felt like a very solid meal when coupled with the rice, beans and corn tortillas. I think I will actually do this the remainder of my time, as it will add variety, and will also extend the life of my tomato sauce. (I used only 2 teaspoons of sauce for 3 rations of pasta, instead of 1:1). Thought I would include a photo of tonight's meal:

Prayer focus: Pray for India's children. When it comes to children in crisis, no country can rival India's need in terms of sheer numbers. Of India's nearly 400 million under the age of 18, over 70 million are child labourers, 10 million are bonded laborers (a form of slavery to pay off family debts), 13 million are homeless, and 2 million are orphaned street children without any relatives they can turn to. There is widespread child abuse, and there is a deficit of 40 million girls because of female foeticide – over 20,000 ultrasound clinics thrive on this illegal practice. There are an estimated 575,000 child prostitutes and there is a massive trade in Bangladeshi and Nepali girls sold into prostitution. (Data source: Operation World)

Estimated Savings for Day 14: I would have spent at least $2.50 on a snack and a drink on the road trip. With the anniversary date at a nicer restaurant, I would have spent quite a bit on an appetizer, entree, dessert and coffee, probably to the tune of $30. Add that to my normal estimated daily grocery cost of $7, subtract $1 for today's actual cost, and I wind up with $38.50 saved for my donation to the orphanage today (well over one month's wages among the poor of South Asia). This puts my running total at $220.87.

Day 13: The Incredible, Edible Egg

I don't have much time to blog today as I've been busy with many family activities, but I wanted to spend a moment on the amazing bounty of the chicken egg. As you might have already noted, I bought my 3 dozen eggs for $0.99/dozen. This puts each egg at a cost of 8.25 cents. Now check out the photo below, and marvel at what just 8.25 cents produces (this is from breakfast, I scrambled the egg and cooked it omelet-style)...

Today went OK... The hardest part is being around feast-like foods... We went over to Brett's parents' home for an Easter egg hunt and tons of food... sitting it out was a challenge. But I just tried to keep focused on serving the kids and making a lot of conversation and that seemed to keep my mind off of the cornucopia. Day 13 is under my belt, 17 to go! I think my stomach is proverbially "shrinking" ... I took less rice and beans tonight. Or, might be burn-out setting in, just diminishing my craving for the same common denominators every night. 

Prayer focus: Pray today for the several widows currently enrolled in our widow's seamstress business school. Pray that they would grasp the concepts and feel empowered and equipped to begin their new businesses. Also pray that God would bring them the local respect and the customers they need to get their businesses off the ground successfully. 

Estimated Savings for Day 13: Today would not likely have included any eating out, but might have solicited a run to the local coffeehouse, where I would have had some chai for about $2. Add that to my normal estimated daily grocery cost of $7, subtract $1 for today's actual cost, and I've got $8.00 I saved for my donation to the orphanage today. This puts my running total at $182.37 in just 13 days. 

Day 12: Feeling Acclimated

Today was a good day. I feel like I'm really getting acclimated to the routine. Again, it's no cakewalk, but I think the initial shock to the system has worn off. A few rays of optimism hit me today...

One, my 3 lb. head of cabbage just keeps on giving and it still looks huge. Having those big steamed leafy chunks in my stew have been a blessing. 

Secondly, my breakfast taco refinements have continued to sustain me to where I don't feel a need to add a serving of oatmeal to the meal, so I'm saving that for snack time, with a full sunflower seed and raisin dosage. It hit me today this means unless I'm really hungry by the end of the day, I overbought on oatmeal and will probably have a few cups left over at the end of the 30 days. So now I'm actually thinking of more things I can do with the oatmeal. If you have any ideas of what I can do with the extra oatmeal, considering my ingredients, let me know. Speaking of what you can do with oatmeal... my 4 year old son is at that stage where he's asking where everything comes from. So I was making him some frito pie today, and he asks "Daddy, where does chili come from?" So I started to tell him about the ingredients, and low and behold, rolled oats are in Wolf-brand chili- who knew? Too bad I don't have anything other than beans and oatmeal to make chili with. 

Back to my list of optimistic perspectives... Thirdly, I can see that I've rationed a little too conservative on my raisins and I'm about to have a bonus portion or two in the coming days. 

Fourthly, I was at the end of my 4 day ration of brown rice and I had an entire cup left over, so I used that in my stew today, making for an extra-hearty serving. My wife tasted it and testified that it actually does taste good! Here's the photo:

Last but not least, I got to the end of my 6 day ration of pinto beans at dinner time tonight... and something about the consistency of the beans at the bottom of the tub (kind of smashed) creates a delicious buttery taste when put in a corn tortilla with brown rice. Might be just be my imagination, but it really did taste like butter. 

I cooked my next 6 days' worth of pinto beans tonight, and again I was amazed at how much those little things expand, check it out, before:

And after, it more than doubles:

Prayer focus: Pray for our dairy farm in India. The farm funds much of the budget of the orphanage there. Whenever we can, we direct our funds first into improving, maintaining or expanding the dairy farm so that our funds are then multiplied by the milk sales. Right now we're a bit behind on where we need to be in expanding the dairy farm, and even hitting some obstacles in some critical supply and equipment needs we have at the farm. Pray for successful fundraising and that those so inclined to give would do so generously and cheerfully. 

Estimated Savings for Day 12: Today was a day off around the house, so I don't imagine we would have eaten out. However again I don't know how much of this is because I'm doing so much cooking. So I will at least assume that we might have taken the kids out to lunch just to get them out of the house. In that case we probably would have hit up Chick-fil-a, and I would have enjoyed my usual combo meal for about $5.98. Add that to my normal estimated daily grocery cost of $7, subtract $1 for today's actual cost, and I'm looking at $11.98 saved for my orphanage donation today. That puts my running total at $174.37, which is equivalent to about six months' wages among the poor of South Asia.