Day 1

I've just gotten out from my Understanding Islam class, and am attempting to make dinner (i.e., boiling rice to mix with something else) at 9:43 p.m. The hunger pangs went away a few hours ago and I'm a bit light-headed, but I'm feeling strengthened nonetheless.

But first: I want to share the verse that the Lord pointed out to me today, so that you may mull it over with me:

"Did I not say to you that if you believe, you will see the glory of God?" john 11:40.  Meditate.


Now on to my food consumption for the day. I woke up quite late and was unable to make breakfast, so I grabbed a package of Indonesian "Energen," which is a powdered mix of milk and oatmeal fortified with vitamins and minerals. It comes in little sachets and looks like this:
You combine one packet with hot water, and voila! A cup of sweet runny oatmeal-like substance that was quite filling. I had requested that my mom send me these many months ago, but they've been sitting untouched in my pantry so I'm rediscovering the joy of  having something so convenient, cheap, and satisfying.
For lunch, I made a packet of Ramen noodles and added one egg and a handful of spinach. I brought that to work and ate it progressively throughout the afternoon since work was busy. When I went to the bathroom later that afternoon to wash out my Tupperware, I realized that there was a bit of noodles and egg leftover on the bottom. Now, I normally would've thrown it away under other circumstances without a second thought, but I realized in that moment that those noodles were precious to me and my body. As I was already starting to feel hungry, I knew that I needed those extra amounts of calories. So I proceeded to use my finger to scoop out the last little bit as I held the container over my head (ladylike, I know), then washed it out in the sink. Oh how satisfying.
I had a 5-9 pm class today, so I did not have the chance to make anything to take to class, so I again combined some hot water with Vanilla-flavored Energen (yes, it comes in four yummy flavors!) then headed to Islam.
I'm now thinking that I'm going to have some rice with something else...

Breakfast: Energen instant milk cereal. $0.13
Lunch: Ramen with egg and spinach. $0.45
Snack: Energen again. $0.13
Dinner: 1 cup brown rice with  1/3 c assorted veggies $0.24
Approx. total: $0.95


I'm going to post pictures hopefully this weekend, but I am working on thinking of a system of how to do this in the most efficient and creative way. I've not had enough time this week to sit down and pre-plan how each day's meals will go. I'm realizing now that my discipline and time management will be a key component to this endeavor, in terms of cooking and preparing the food, and managing work, classes, homework, ministry, hanging out with friends, etc.

Today I was offered free pizza and then one of my roommates made some delicious-looking, chocolate chip brownie rich gooeyness which beckons to me from the top of our stove. Oh yum.