Am I hopeless ?
It's been a bit since I wrote, so I'm glad I use the date for my blog titles now. I'm also glad I no longer "count" the days. So what's gone on since 9-7 ? Well, on Friday 9-12 I went to the Mets game with Barb & Rich. Weather was perfect, we won the game and there were fireworks. What else can you ask for ! Sunday 9-14 was eggplant day at Kim & Joe's house. We sliced and fried a boatload of it and ordered Mexican food dinner. It was expensive and just ok - not worth the $17 my enchilada entree cost ! I brought home 5 bags of fried eggplant, some hot peppers, some roasted red peppers and a single bag of butternut squash. I also brought home 2 whole eggplant, which I roasted and ate the next day ! I just sliced it, sprinkled with bread crumbs and then added some parmesan cheese at the egg. It was good but of course not as good as the fried stuff ! The only other item of note, of course, was rock & roll bingo on Wednesday 9-17. Our table didn't have any wins but I enjoyed the night out ! Saturday 9-20 I grocery shopped and that brings me to today, Monday 9-22.
I went out to get the mail and all I got was a notice that my COBRA medical insurance ends on 11-30 !! I didn't realize the 18 month timeframe started as soon as my job ended. Oh well. I'll find something through the NY healthcare exchange, which is what I planned to do when the COBRA benefits expired. I thought I had coverage until 6-30-26. I'll see what the exchange rates are vs the retiree rate through my former employer. Considering my income is technically zero, the exchange is likely going to be cheaper, at least for now. I don't have any doctors, so it won't matter to me which carrier I end up with.
Another thing I've done since I last wrote involves Nutrisystem. I've decided I'm done buying their food. I contacted them about canceling but agreed to just delay my next auto ship for 2 months. I'll cancel when that rolls around. I'm not sticking to the program and dropping the lemon zest cake and the chocolate cupcake were pretty much the last straw for me. I already buy frozen waffles and pancakes for breakfast, along with oatmeal packets. The waffles are $5.97 for 24, which is 12 meals. This equates to 50 cents per meal !! The pancakes are $4.72 for 24, which is also 12 meals. This equates to 39 cents per meal !! I also buy pudding and flan cups for evening snack. The pudding cups are $5.24 or 66 cents per serving IF you can get the 8 pack. If I have to buy the 4 packs it comes to $5.94 or 74 cents per serving. The flan cups are $3.87 or 65 cents per serving !! Dinner and lunch tend to vary but once all Nutrisystem entrees are gone I'll have to come up with some easy meals. I don't want to rely on processed foods but I will likely have some. My guilty pleasure is Chef Boyardee Ravioli in the can, which is only $1 !! I've also been buying frozen chinese food that is surprisingly affordable. I get 2 meals out of $10 worth of food, so that's a reasonable $5 per meal. If I added a salad or some veggies I could easily stretch it to 3 meals .. a mere $3.33 per meal ! So let's model a day from these items. For comparison, 96 Nutrisystem items (24 days, 4 meals) averages $3.17 per meal.
Breakfast: pancakes 39 cents
Lunch: ravioli $1
Dinner: chinese food $5
Evening snack: pudding cup 66 or 74 cents
That's a grand total of $7.05 or $7.11 as opposed to $12.68 for a Nutrisystem day. It's a savings of over $5 a day or $150 a month ! Of course, this is an extreme example, since I don't plan on living on canned ravioli and frozen chinese food. I didn't include morning and afternoon snack because I've always had to provide them for myself. For now I have Nutrisystem protein powder for morning snack. I have 1 or 2 unopened containers of each flavor, so it'll be a while before it's gone. Once it is, I plan to switch to Vital Protein. Kim has been using that for years and I can get it at Costco.
With winter coming I plan to make soups, chili, sloppy joe, meatloaf, spanish rice or goulash. These can be lunch or dinner but I do have to watch my portions if I want to lose weight. I also recently started using my electric quesadilla maker. It's super easy to use and I can use low carb tortillas with cheese, veggies and a bit of chicken. My biggest challenge is cooking .. because I hate it and the associated cleanup. The key for me will be cooking ahead and freezing some meals. Sometimes I wait too long to eat so I'm starving and need to eat asap. For now I'm working on eating all of the Nutrisystem food. Breakfast items are all gone. Lunch and snack items are just about gone. I still have a ton of dinner entrees, so I plan to start having them for lunch and dinner until they're gone.
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