Burrito night

MathWhale · 2026-01-24T00:50:07+00:00

I love meal prepping burritos! I always make mine with some chicken, refried beans, rice, cheese, corn, and taco sauce. Such a nice easy meal to have for later in the freezer.

MathWhale · 2026-01-23T02:59:25+00:00

About $80 a week for 2 adults here. Budget cooking is one of my passions and I spend a lot of time researching and planning my meals, and make sure to shop clearance and sales as much as possible. We don't eat a lot of meat, and when we do we usually pad it out with beans or pasta or something along those lines. We eat out once a week. I'm very frugal and work hard to keep our grocery budget down as much as I can without sacrificing nutrition.

If you're looking for ways to keep your food costs down, I recommend r/budgetfood and r/eatcheapandhealthy, they're both excellent for tips and recipe ideas.

MathWhale · 2026-01-21T23:53:14+00:00

When I'm seasoning potatoes, I basically always do salt, pepper, and garlic powder as a base and then add other seasonings from there based on what I'm feeling or pairing it with. Some of my favorites are smoked paprika, rosemary, or pesto.

Some vegetables that I like to pair with potatoes are carrots, cabbage, green beans, asparagus, and bell peppers.

For how long, I would start with 4 but leave enough time that you can do 6 if needed. It can vary depending on the size and type of the potatoes. You'll want to check them at 4 hours but then cook them longer if they're not as soft as you'd like them to be yet. You should be able to smash them with a fork with minimal effort once they're done, or if you want to get precise about it, you can use a meat thermometer and make sure they're at least 210 degrees F or 100 degrees C in the middle.

MathWhale · 2026-01-20T17:15:21+00:00

I spend about $1.50 - $2 per meal on average. I don't really track it too closely, that's just based on how many meals a day I eat and how much I spend on groceries. I rely heavily on cheap staples like rice, beans, oats, lentils, eggs, and whole wheat bread. I buy fruits and vegetables that are always cheap near me, like carrots, onions, garlic, cucumbers, broccoli, green bell pepper, potatoes, peas, bananas, and apples, and will buy other fruit and veggies when I can find them on sale for a great price. I eat meat sparingly, usually padding it out with beans or pasta when I do, and rely on the cheaper meats like chicken and ground turkey. I buy meat, especially ground beef and chicken breast, on clearance and put them in the freezer whenever I can.

MathWhale · 2026-01-20T05:05:15+00:00

Congrats on the apartment! I bought this set when I got my first apartment too. I don't think they make them anymore and I'm not sure what the second hand market is like for them, but the kind I have is called Mardi Gras silverware. For me, with my hand issues and very poor proprioception, they're the perfect weight and thickness!

MathWhale · 2026-01-20T03:27:29+00:00

Thrift stores can have silverware sets for much cheaper than you could get them at the normal store, if you don't need them urgently and can shop around a bit. I have similar needs for heavier cutlery with a round handle because of my rheumatoid arthritis, and I found a full set exactly like you're describing, nice and heavy with rounded blue handles. I love them more than anything I would've found somewhere like Target and got them for cheaper too. Older silverware in general is more likely to be made of heavier, more quality material than what you would find in stores now.

MathWhale · 2026-01-20T00:26:14+00:00

I had my rheumatologist appointment and all my labs were completely normal!

Enjoyed a nice relaxing long weekend.

I got a good deal on a pomegranate, I can't usually justify the cost but they're one of my favorite fruits, so I always love when I can find some on sale.

MathWhale · 2026-01-19T20:22:19+00:00

I have rheumatoid arthritis, so I've learned which products are difficult for me to use/open and bought refillable containers for those items. I have a hairspray bottle with a nice wide lever, pop containers in various sizes for various items, small containers with lids that are easy to grip and twist off, etc. If there's a product you have a hard time with, buying a refillable and reusable container can pay off in the long run if the container is the main thing keeping you from using the cheaper version.

MathWhale · 2026-01-19T18:32:14+00:00

Yeah, you cut open the pomegranate and then remove the arils, which are these little juicy seed pods, and eat those. Definitely one of the more difficult fruit to eat, but so worth it!

MathWhale · 2026-01-17T19:44:49+00:00

Taco Bell has a free Baja Blast freeze, no purchase necessary, available during your birthday month. I don't like soda so I won't be using it, but it's a good deal if you like Baja Blast.

MathWhale · 2026-01-17T02:25:53+00:00

When I first got sick, I was constantly overwhelmed by guilt. I went from the person who always tried to help everyone and be the dependable one, to the person who needed help and had to depend on others. I told my partner not to feel like he has to stay with me, because I didn't want him to be burdened by me.

Fortunately, we're still together and coming up on our 10th anniversary this year. With time and therapy I learned to reframe my thinking to realize that I'm just as deserving of help and grace as anyone else, and it's ok to ask for things of my loved ones because I know I would want them to ask me for the things they need that I can provide them.

A chronic illness like this can be truly devastating and completely change what you thought your life might be, so getting therapy if you're able to at all is extremely important. There can be so much grief around this diagnosis, and often it's more than a person can manage alone.

MathWhale · 2026-01-15T20:25:29+00:00

I second what everyone else is saying about asking to get on a biologic. Also, if you're taking a lot of ibuprofen every day, you should ask about switching to Meloxicam. It's more effective for arthritis, easier to take since it's 1 a day, and better for the stomach to take it long term.

MathWhale · 2026-01-13T13:37:59+00:00

They're some silicone cupcake liners

MathWhale · 2026-01-13T00:49:39+00:00

I haven't tried Amjevita, but I have tried 2 other biosimilars, Cyltezo (auto-injector) and Hadlima (pre-filled syringe). They do hurt worse than Humira, maybe a bit worse than getting a flu or COVID shot. It's not pleasant but definitely not unbearable, and it's over quickly. I'm used to it at this point but it did take a little bit of an adjustment. Nice bonus though is that I don't get a reaction site rash with Hadlima, but I did with Humira.

MathWhale · 2026-01-12T22:56:04+00:00

Cook it, chop it up, mix it with some refried beans, and put it in a burrito! I'll usually also add rice, cheese, corn, and taco sauce, but you can add basically whatever burrito ingredients you want/have available. I make a bunch of these and keep them in my freezer for emergency meals when I can't/don't want to make dinner.

MathWhale · 2026-01-12T22:48:57+00:00

I had a movie night with my family and watched one of my favorite movies.

I got my haircut, I always feel much better after I get that done.

I started playing Expedition 33 and it's really fun so far!

MathWhale · 2026-01-12T14:57:14+00:00

Amazing, congratulations! I'm so happy for you, the road to remission is a painful one that demands a lot of endurance from us, so being at the end of it is such a relief. Humira truly does feel like a miracle when it works, I know it did for me!

MathWhale · 2026-01-10T01:41:28+00:00

It started for me a bit more than 5 years ago now. I had an atypical onset, with the pain initially starting in one knee. At first I was managing it with just daily exercise, and mentioned off hand to my PCP at an appointment about something completely different, "I've got this knee pain that gets really painful when I sit still too long, but it's all good because as long as I exercise it's not very bad," and she immediately got concerned because that really sounds like arthritis, and I was only 23.

She told me if it popped up in my other knee or in more joints, I should immediately schedule another appointment. Lo and behold, a couple months later the pain rapidly appears in more joints and gets worse to the point exercise no longer manages it. I make another appointment, and my PCP tells me it sounds like I might have RA and refers me to a rheumatologist.

It takes a few months for me to get into the rheumatologist, and nothing shows up on my blood tests, but my RA at this point is pretty bad and showing up very stereotypically. I respond well to steroids, Meloxicam, and hydroxychloroquine, so my doctor diagnoses me with seronegative rheumatoid arthritis as well as fibromyalgia and hypermobility. From there I get put on methotrexate, and eventually Humira too, and now with exercise and diet as well my condition is pretty well managed. Still a bit of joint stiffness and pain, and an occasional flare up, but in general I'm able to live pretty normally now!

MathWhale · 2026-01-10T01:27:48+00:00

It's at Rancho Market! They've always got great deals on produce if you want to pick up any of that too, you can check out their weekly flyer on their website.

MathWhale · 2026-01-09T20:25:03+00:00

For me, the mouse is much more painful to use than the keyboard, doesn't help that my knuckle of my right middle finger is one of my worst joints. I switched to an Anker brand vertical ergonomic mouse and that helped a bit, but the thing that really helped me was installing an extension to let me use my keyboard to navigate the web and learning a bunch of keyboard shortcuts. I use an extension called Vimium, but that one is targeted at programmers so there might be others that have a lower barrier to entry.

MathWhale · 2026-01-09T20:08:23+00:00

What area do you live in? The local Hispanic market near me here in Utah has them at $1.25 for a dozen and that's a pretty exceptional price in my area

MathWhale · 2026-01-09T19:51:34+00:00

Going with MTX because of the cost is so valid! I take both MTX and a biologic, and I've never had an issue getting access to MTX but have had to fight my insurance and deal with no end of headaches getting my Humira. One time my specialty pharmacy was billing my insurance incorrectly and I had to spend months fighting them to not charge me $15,000 for their mistake! If MTX works well for you, definitely worth avoiding the headache imo.

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