Food Journal: How a 30-year-old nurse and mother of two in Yakima, Washington eats at $3,000/week

13:20 On the subject of self-neglect, I take five bites of my leftover EZ Tiger rice before I lose my appetite. It’s my own fault though, because I hate reheating leftovers.

5:45 pm My husband used to suggest that I make soup for dinner, which is unheard of. Not only does he not cook, he rarely gives me an idea of ​​what to make for dinner. Most of his meal planning posts come about while I’m preparing the meal. Remember he makes up for what he lacks in this department in other ways and at least he recommended something so I’ll take what I can get.

I had stumbled across a Half Baked Harvest (my lord and savior) recipe for chicken orzo soup that sounded good. To make it, I use the rotisserie chicken, organic kale, lemon, shallot, and yummy artisanal cheese mix I bought earlier. I also add my own heavy cream and chicken broth that I had on hand. Unfortunately, the soup is incredibly thick and more of a pasta dish. It’s still good, but I make way too much and I don’t want to eat it with every meal for the next five days. I can’t cook a decent meal for two in my entire life, especially when it comes to pasta! Either the whole pack of pasta or nothing at all!

Thursday Total: $94.00

Friday

Caring for my critical patients puts my own needs on the back burner, but my brain can shut down due to lack of glucose, so I shove the protein bar in my face.

6:46 am Another day, another dollar, another fuel before the shift. I’m back in the hospital today so you already know that my first pit stop is the coffee shop there, especially as I work on the ground unit today. It’s time to set the critical thinking boundary and turn on your brain for the ripe price of $4.50.

12:14 PM I packed a Quest bar ($2.25) for breakfast, but somehow it’s already lunchtime and I’ve barely had two sips of water today, let alone spoiled my coffee. Caring for my critical patients puts my own needs on the back burner, but my brain can shut down due to low glucose, so I shove the protein bar in my face while I try to catch up on the records or documentation of patient care.

3:32 pm After my first bathroom break of the day, whoops, I barely find time to eat my packaged yogurt and Perfect Bar. I brought my signature salad from the store, but I don’t have the time or effort to eat it. When your patients depend on you for survival, you can’t afford to be away from the nurses’ station for too long. And even if you can sneak away, you rarely feel like you’re getting your full 30 minutes. Back to the grind!

8:15pm Today was hell and my knees FEEL it. How throbbing and pulsating from constant power walking. I take a much-needed shower to relieve stress, flop down on the couch with my legs up on four pillows and eat a small bowl of leftover pasta/soup. Then I become one with the couch.

Friday Total: $4.50

Saturday

My kind husband sees my exhaustion and knows just the treat to ease my pain: a Dairy Queen Blizzard, my favorite nightcap.

7:46 am Saturday morning and the gang is all here all… day… long. I bought Annie’s Organic Cinnamon Buns ($8.89) on Thursday, so we got cinnamon buns with strawberries on the side ($19.98 for two large containers, previously purchased; organic, but my goodness). I’ll grab a bite or two from a cinnamon roll while I’m slicing the babies’ buns. I want to take her to the indoor play area later, so I’ll wait until we get there to fill up on Mommy Juice aka coffee.

9:17 am I get my Iced Semisweet White Chocolate Americano with Oatmilk from Play/Cafe, but I’m a little overwhelmed by the dark color and lack of creaminess ($5.00). Call me special, but the perfect Americano has just enough milk to create a nice tan — no cloudy, watered-down sludge. But caffeine is caffeine and I paid $5.00 for it so I drink it while watching my kids interact and frolic with the other toddlers, my little girl dragging around with the baby dolls and my little boy down the slide with a godless one Speed ​​face first flies down into the block tower he erected. It is healthy.