Day 1: Monday

Rise and Shine Everyone!

Its almost 8:00am and Carlie has snoozed her alarm twice already..its safe to say that we both have the Monday morning blues. Last night we talked to Dalyan and made plans to use my water heater to boil water and cook oatmeal before heading to our 9:00am classes. He should be coming over in about half an hour, so I'm going to hop in the shower and get ready so we can make breakfast and all eat together!

Breakfast of Champions

Who doesn't love eating oatmeal out of a solo cup right? Dalyan came over this morning at about 8:30 and Carlie and I were still rushing around trying to get ready and simultaneously make breakfast. Poor Dalyan was definitely overwhelmed by the girl world he stepped into first thing in the morning. The three of us ended up eating one packet each of single serve oatmeal, and it actually tasted pretty good. One thing we were surprised by was how small the portion was. As we ate, we talked about how we usually almost fill an entire cereal bowl with oatmeal in Dhall, then load on toppings like granola or fruit. I then began to realize that the amount of oatmeal in my solo cup was basically the amount of cold oatmeal that is usually left sitting at the bottom of my bowl in Dhall, completely untouched. I felt so guilty when I saw that my SNAP Challenge portions were almost equivalent to the amount of food that I waste, and from now on I am going to be so much more aware of not only what I'm eating in Dhall but how much I am putting onto my plate.

What is Opportunity Cost Again??

Right now its about 1:00 and I am sitting in my Macroeconomics class...Now I know I should really be focusing on learning how to calculate Robert's opportunity cost of producing pie and Jane's opportunity cost of producing cupcakes, but I honestly don't care who has the comparative advantage, because ALL I can think about is how good pie and cupcakes sound right now. I'm going to have to rethink my breakfast options because that tiny serving of oatmeal this morning definitely did not fill me up. My stomach has been making weird gurgling noises all morning and I think I'm starting to scare the freshmen that are sitting next to me....

The Lous Blues

As I sit here writing this, I am starting to realize how much I pay attention to my stomach in the last 10 minutes of class before lunch (but I mean come on we are also talking about pie and cupcakes right now so how could I not). But usually I let my mind wander my thoughts go something like this: 

Dhall or Lous?

Its raining and Dhall is too far..so probably Lous.

I wonder how long the line will be at Lous at 1:15?

Am I in the mood for a salad or a sandwich?

I think I'm in the mood for a salad.

Yes definitely a salad. 

Especially if there is avocado.

But what if their isn't avocado today?

Then I guess I'll get a sandwich.....

Today, instead of letting my food fantasies help get me through the last 10 minutes of Macro, I thought about the lunch that I had to run all the way back to North to make after my 9am class in the Bschool. Turns out that picturing a smushed peanut butter and jelly sandwich and baggie of carrot sticks isn't the most satisfying image.

After Macro I sat at a table next to Lous and watched the line grow and weave back towards the stairs. After pulling my baggie of lunch out of my backpack and tossing it on the table, I decided to go check out the prices in Lous and see what, if anything, could fit in my budget. I was standing by the cash register and the drink machine trying to calculate how much my average salad costs, when I became frustrated. I get this salad practically everyday, shouldn't I know exactly how much it costs? I should know..but I don't..because I've never actually looked at the price and thought about what it meant. Usually I don't think twice about the 5-8 dollars I spend because its just "dining dollars" and I pay with a "swipe" instead of actual cash. 

Reality check, Ali...

Buying a measly half salad from Lous is more than an entire days worth of food in the SNAP Challenge.

Dinner

Last year when my roommate and I were shopping at Bed Bath and Beyond for more dorm room necessities, I bought a small water heater so that I could make myself tea in the mornings and before bed. Although we liked the idea of avoiding the freshman 15 by eating healthy and drinking tea, we ended up using the water heater just to make mac and cheese! I knew owning a water heater would be a huge help this week and would allow me to cook pasta conveniently in my dorm room! Here are a few pictures of me attempting to make dinner on my floor!

When I purchased the pasta at the store yesterday, I purposefully bought a box that had 7 servings so that I would have enough to last me throughout the entire week. This meant that I had to carefully measure out how much I was going to cook so I didn't waste any food which was something that I had never really considered doing before. 

Here is a picture of my final creation, which actually was a pretty filling and tasty meal. I made whole wheat pasta with red sauce and parmesan cheese (of course), along with spinach topped with carrots and balsamic dressing!