Jesse leaves today for an unexpected business trip. We get up at 5:30 so I can drive him to the airport, and I fix some oatmeal.
I grew up eating mostly cold cereal. Sometimes we would have oatmeal or even eggs, but usually we just pulled down the box of our current favorite and that was breakfast. The best was the Variety Pack, which always included 9 good cereals and one Special K, which my mom got stuck eating. It was just fun to open up those little boxes every morning. As I recall, there were perforations on the box along the back that were designed for pulling back the edges, cutting the inner lining, and turning the box into a little bowl! Can I be remembering that right? I don't think we were ever allowed to try that, or maybe only once. It sounds like the kind of thing maybe Dad would have overseen on a Saturday morning, but I might just be imagining the whole thing.
At some point, Quaker introduced those little instant oatmeal packets, and we often ate those. But as an adult, I got out of the cereal habit and into the morning latte habit—two, and for a while, an apple fritter. Every day. Those were the days when I could eat like that and not turn into a giant balloon.
I recently went to the store to buy a box of cereal, thinking it would be sort of a fun thing to have but I came home empty-handed. I don't know why I thought it would be one of the cheaper foods. The prices were absolutely outrageous. I'm surprised that people are willing to pay so much, especially when oatmeal takes so little time.
When I make oatmeal, I don't even bother waiting for the water to boil before adding the oats, I just toss it all in together, bring to a boil, cover and turn off the heat. This method gives you a slightly creamier result and takes 5 minutes, and then you have a hot breakfast, at 7 cents per serving, not counting the milk and sugar.
Lunch is Barley Soup and an orange (plus a portion for my imaginary friend). I have a handful of peanuts in the afternoon for a snack. Dinner is a simple, ungarnished brown rice risotto with salad. I double my salad portion to replicate the amount the two of us would have eaten, and (for accounting purposes) leave the rest of the produce for a day when we both are here.
Thursday total: $5.95. Remaining weekly allowance: $35.19.
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