Picture of the main part of the fridge: some salsa (no more chips), sour cream, yeast, left over spaghetti sauce, enchiladas, a few peaches, some grated cheese, and some apples from neighbors. The outside fridge has 3 things of cream cheese left.

LAWKI Day 29

September 25, 2010

Breakfast: The last 5 eggs, scrambled (I did not have any because I ate the stuff yesterday)

Lunch: K-school, M-his crazy shopping tortillas with peanut butter and Nuttela, S-leftover rice casserole, crackers & tuna

Dinner: John & Ben on camp out, Ramen and Spaghettios, Angel Hair pasta and leftover sauce or butter

We went shopping for James’ birthday present at Smith’s Marketplace. I had done a bit of preview shopping the day before. Both times it was right before lunch that I left. As I was walking out the door yesterday, I had the thought that I would probably get hungry while I was out, and that I would want to stop and buy something to eat. My first counter thought was that I would not go to a fast food restaurant, but I could just grab something at the store. Then I realized I couldn’t do that either. So, I turned around and went back in and ate lunch.

I have heard plenty of times that you should never shop hungry because you will buy more, and I agreed with this before LAWKI month. However, being both very contented hunger wise, and being hyper-sensitive about shopping, it was remarkable how dispassionate I was when I went through the case-lot sale things again. There was no emotion tied to it, it was more of a likable chore than anything else. I did look fondly toward the produce section of the store, but it was easy to tell myself that it is only next week and I can go shop there.

True confessions here: I am a fan of Survivor. I have watched, off and on, for the last 20 seasons, and now have 2 kids watching with me. Ben is totally into it, hoping it will still be around when he is 18. I remember back in the first season or two, they spent a lot more air time talking about food, what they missed, craved and how hungry they were. The food reward challenges seemed even more important then. (I think now they spend more time back stabbing each other and showing how spoiled and arrogant the contestants are.) I have thought about that some during LAWKI. Do I spend all of my time obsessing about this? Do I talk about it too much with people? Are my friend and neighbors happy that we are in the final days?

Cream cheese bars and cookie bars, made with powdered eggs

We made 3 kinds of treats today: Michael and Katie made caramel covered puffy treats and I made chocolate chip cookie bars and cream cheese bars for the funeral dinner. Both of my desserts were made with powdered eggs. There was no discernible difference in them. I still had butter from the freezer. I am sure I could make both with shortening instead of the butter, but boy did the butter taste good in them. Once again, I think that dairy products such as butter, cheese, sour cream, cream cheese, whipping cream, etc, are the group of food that I would miss most. I dare you to name a food that cannot be improved by one of those things. I could live vegetarian if I had no other choice, but living vegan would not be worth it. (The author who came up with LAWKI Month, eats vegan most of the time. She wrote in her experiences about LAWKI that by the end, she was craving enough of the food they had run out of that she no longer cared if she was eating vegan, and that she was certain that eventually she would reach a point where Fluffy would look good.)

LAWKI Day 30

September 18, 2010

Breakfast: Boys-scout camp, others-?

Lunch: Fresh baked bread, everyone just ate what they wanted and could find before and after the funeral

Dinner: Hawaiian Haystacks with friends

Michael came up with the idea of Hawaiian Haystacks. It really is a good food storage meal, rice with chicken sauce and then cans of pineapple, mandarin oranges, olives, etc., with fresh tomatoes. Our friends brought the Chinese noodles, celery, almonds, coconut and some ice cream, bananas and toppings to go with the left over dessert bars. I kept the canned chicken separate until the last possible minute and then mixed them together gently. It stayed as chunks instead of mushing up in the sauce and that really helped it taste a bit better. I could eat that again for dinner today. It was nice to have an easier meal that was yummy, and nice to have a new meal to put on the food storage meal rotation.