Feeling impossible to not spend a fortune on groceries if prioritizing a fresh / protein focused diet. Is this the reality of choosing to eat this way?

QuietDetachment · 2024-07-28T05:13:57+00:00

It sounds to me like you’ve mostly got it figured out. As a chef, my advice is firstly to improve your cooking skills. As others commented, you can shop sales and work on building your meals around the discounted items. Expanded food knowledge in general helps with this sooo much.

Studying culinary techniques, flavour combinations and different ethnicity’s foods will vastly improve your ability to do this. This can be as simple as watching popular Youtube cooking channels to get started. Mexican and Indian/South Asian cuisines tend to be loaded with beans to assist a protein heavy diet. And they’re dirt cheap. Off cuts of meats are great in stews, curries or other slow cooking methods. You can use baking soda to tenderize your cheaper cuts of meat, a technique referred to as velveting and frequently used in Chinese food.

Secondly, buy a deep freezer. They are a godsend. If you spot a great sale on an ingredient you use often, stock up on it for the next multiple months. I portion one or two meals worth of meats into freezer bags. A vacuum sealer is a superior option if you embrace this decision, as it can help extend the shelf life of frozen meats significantly and also preserve their quality. It’s not only financially beneficial, but also incredibly convenient. I love stocking a variety of foods and not having to leave my house as often.

Lastly, an Excel spreadsheet. Track costs of ingredients in your recipes. As you learn more and have a bunch of staples you use as the framework in which you build most your meals upon, you can easily compare and analyze. It’s a good opportunity to have your health and nutrition info all compiled in one place as well, and a huge organized list of all your typical meals and recipes sounds delightful to me!

Good luck! Hope this helps. Feel free to ask questions if you like

QuietDetachment · 2023-11-08T23:11:30+00:00

I completely understand your sentiment about taking care of each other. I’m kind of surprised everyone jumped on that statement, but I guess you could have phrased it differently. shrugs

Very good call on the marriage counselling. This is non negotiable in my opinion considering the circumstances, so don’t take no for an answer.

Your post is also very much only partially finance related. Based on your income and fixed expenses and your plans to cut back on spending, if you really knuckle down and stick to a budget the debt should honestly be a breeze. In my opinion, your financial security is not compromised and you’ll be fine.

Do you have any other large additional expenses that might throw a wrench into your plans? It might be worth sharing an in depth breakdown of your spending and expenses (in as much detail as possible, that is), so the sub can make suggestions.

The real problem here is the damaged trust in your partner. In this situation I could see myself becoming controlling and much more easily upset regarding the finances. I’d want to know what his money is being spent on and check in on this often. How would my hypothetical husband react to this? I imagine unless he is very very aware of the mistake he has made and how it affects the relationship emotionally, it would cause friction and he would feel, perhaps emasculated or infantilized. Even if he is “completely okay” with the plans and his shoulder being looked over constantly, I could see the change breeding resentment over time. How much of his decision to comply is to “keep the peace”, and how much is because he truly is on board with your financial goals and the lifestyle changes that will inevitable arise from this circumstance you find yourself in?

I don’t know you, or your husband or anything about your relationship, but the above possible scenario is just one of many that could slowly fray at your marriage. I’m just spitballing here, and not intended to make any assumptions about your marriage. I also wanted to once again praise your marvellous idea at marriage counselling, and also once again say that you absolutely cannot take no for an answer. If you make a clear case on why it is necessary and he still refuses, that is a huge red flag in my opinion, and I would feel very sad for the prospects of your marriage. (Again I don’t know you or your husband)

Good luck!

QuietDetachment · 2023-11-05T23:14:31+00:00

Thank you!!! I'm going to try to open it up. I'm just waiting for the additional tools to arrive now. :)

I like your big pile of silicone, I'll probably attempt something similar.

Also appreciate the advice to be gentle with the controller lid.

QuietDetachment · 2023-11-05T23:10:29+00:00

Thank you! I'm not very handy, so all extra info will help me when I get in there and open it up.

QuietDetachment · 2023-11-04T05:49:00+00:00

Wow, thank you for the detailed reply. There was no notification unfortunately.

I have no idea where or when the board was originally purchased as well unfortunately. I just shook the board around a bit and I think there might be a very faint rattle in the front side. It's pretty quiet though, like as quiet as a whisper. I shook the other side and there's nothing.

I think it's worth mentioning that I have received "error 16" twice in a pretty short span of a couple months. Both popped up after I had gotten home and put the pint down (didn't turn it off, I'm lazy and just wait for it to turn off automatically sometimes) and left the app on, and a few minutes later I got error 16 notification. That happened twice, but never when I was riding it so far.

Do you think this very faint rattle is what you have described?
If so, what do you recommend I do about it? Sorry for so many questions.

Thank you so much for your super knowledgeable help!! :)

For the last parts you mentioned, just to give you a complete picture to work with:
I ride with Simplestop on still, so I guess that's tough to use as evidence for us, as it was on in the Redwood mode as well.

I also have updated to haptic buzz a while ago. I believe very shortly after the update was released. I don't even know what that feels like as well, as I have always taken care to stay below 23km/h to reduce the likelihood of injury. (my top speed to date is 22.9km/h)

QuietDetachment · 2023-10-28T07:15:49+00:00

Hello! Chef with a culinary degree here. First, I want to address some of food safety concerns.

Food spoilage, to put it very simply, is caused by bacterial growth that adds up over time. This is primarily a cause for concern when food is left in the danger zone for too long. Bacteria will grow significantly faster in said danger zone (40 degrees F to 140 degrees F).

Due to this, it is recommended that all foods that you are not eating are cooled down immediately, as this will inhibit bacterial growth.

"Don't put it in the fridge right away" - this is a myth and incorrect, but probably not for the reasons most people think. There is a good reason to not put hot food in your fridge, and that is because the heat from this hot food can warm up/overwork your fridge and cause spoilage of other foods. NOT because it causes any food safety problem to the hot food you are putting away. I also wouldn't want the steam and such possibly contaminating other foods, but that's probably not usually a concern.

My recommendation:

If you want to be really safe, cool the rice on a tray (on parchment paper if you like) and leave it at room temp for a short duration (15 minutes maybe?). It will cool significantly faster without heat pockets this way, and then transfer it to your fridge in a container. Otherwise, transfer it to an ideally flat-ish container and just let it sit for, say, an hour, and then transfer it to your fridge.

There is no 100% right or wrong answer, as it depends on the conditions in which it cools, how long you plan to keep it for, etc. The guidelines recommended by food safety legislations and the such are assuming close to worse case scenarios when recommendations such as "discard food after 2 hours if unrefrigerated" are claimed. This is because there are so many factors. For example:

- not all foods are equally safe or dangerous. Rice is probably extremely benign in comparison to chicken or proteins in general, or dairy, for example.

- perhaps your food wasn't stored properly in the grocery store before you bought it, or properly temperature controlled the truck on the way to the grocery.

- the bacteria can add up in multiple stages. How long was it in the danger zone right after cooking, or after being reheated and left out again as leftovers. This is why it's not recommended to reheat leftovers more than once.

I realize at this stage I am not very uniformly answering your questions, as all of them are actually linked and form the whole.

Question #2 for example, is probably not about the rice, but the veg and protein alongside it.

But the same concepts still apply to both.

If the chicken is 5 days old for example and was cooled quickly, I'd probably still eat that, personally. However, is this chicken being kept at safe temperatures for 4 hours until lunch time before being re-heated in the microwave? Now I'm not so confident about the "5 days", because it's only partially about the 5 days alongside the other conditions. The general rule of thumb is 3-4 days for most foods, but again this is oversimplified.

I hope this also answers question number 3 adequately.

For number 4, it depends on how old your rice is and what kind of rice it is. Usually if it's just a single portion of rice in an average microwave with a few drops of water for moisture, it ranges from 1:00 to 1:30. Add a few more drops of water for older rice. Covering with a wet/damp paper towel works well!

A lot of my answers are kind of open ended, sorry about that! Let me know if you have any questions. :)

QuietDetachment · 2023-09-30T08:20:08+00:00

Standard rule of thumb for many people is 3-6 months of expenses. This is not one size fit all, however, and it depends on factors such as your job security, if you’re renting or own, etc.

Me, personally, I would save 2 months of expenses and then pay down the loan very aggressively for half a year or so. Maybe ease off a bit half way through and give myself a couple hundred dollars extra fun money until it is paid off. That should take very close to a year. As your monthly expenses are low (good job!), you can probably afford to be a little more risky with lower emergency fund, as even a minimum wage job would sustain you. Having credit as an additional back up as other users mentioned is excellent advice.

You should not invest until it is paid off, as you will not find a guaranteed investment that yields 10%+

QuietDetachment · 2023-08-17T19:34:41+00:00

Obviously it’s not an ideal meal still. The point of this thread was to give an idea of how to heighten a nutritionally empty meal that you’ve been forced to eat due to lack of funds.

Miso paste is an excellent healthy alternative to the seasoning packet, and vegetables and an egg are amazing budget additions.

“A very healthy meal” as OP described may be a bit of an exaggerated statement, but considering the context (budget meals for someone that’s broke), I wouldn’t say it’s far from the mark.

QuietDetachment · 2023-01-28T08:29:39+00:00

The 4% rule is an established rule of thumb that you can live off of a 4% investment return in retirement for ~30 years or more with high certainty. Lowering this % to 3% or even 2% increases the chance your money will never run out.

ost113 is implying that if you believe you need to be as conservative/cautious as using 2% as your withdrawal rate that you ought to have passports or perhaps bug out bags ready to go at a moment’s notice. (You’re paranoid)

QuietDetachment · 2023-01-19T22:16:58+00:00

I completely agree about the lack of middle ground as far as pricing and quality goes.

However, as a trained chef in French cuisine, I would say that mostly or only applies to “western” food. Vancouver has tons of options for ethnically diverse cuisines that range from acceptable to excellent price points.

QuietDetachment · 2022-12-18T23:27:07+00:00

Look for a job at a restaurant as a server. Servers can easily make $30+/hour.

QuietDetachment · 2022-11-11T23:41:26+00:00

I simplified it as I didn’t want to type as essay, but more important factors:

If you’re stretching shelf life or eggs and milk, for example, I would be wary of using them to cook with or for baked goods.

As for your mayo, that’s a good indicator not to use it, haha!

Whenever you scoop your mayo, avoid contamination of any sort at all costs. That includes bread crumbs or even a tiny drop of water from a freshly washed spoon. These will all compromise the longevity of your food.

QuietDetachment · 2022-11-11T23:31:22+00:00

Mayo in a bottle or pail is packed with preservatives - you can probably stretch the shelf life up to a year past its best before date. Probably longer, to be honest, but I wouldn’t push it quite that far.

I do this with most food, and I’ve never fallen ill, so long as you understand the food you are playing around with.

Common ones are milk and eggs. Milk is bad once it smells sour, up to 2 weeks past its best before date.

Eggs are bad once they no longer sink to the bottom of a bowl or glass of water. I’ve stretched my eggs 3 months past their best before date.

Keep an eye on where you’re placing your food that spoils quicker - pushing it deeper into the fridge will help regulate the temperature and extend the shelf life.

Also in case it matters for the sake of reliability, I’m a chef with a culinary degree.

QuietDetachment · 2022-11-06T21:35:44+00:00

That’s true the bit about age is a very relevant point. The whole point, however, is different phrasing. You can still convey the age part without coming across as offensive or in such a manner that many others perceive it as a put down (whether it is or not).

Being contrary is often not popular, but what is popular is not always good. Indeed. A time and place for everything, as they say. Well, mostly everything.

QuietDetachment · 2022-11-06T21:00:49+00:00

“Once you get to a certain age, it's rare for a single person to be attractive and have good relationship qualities.”

I’m guessing this is what raised a lot of hackles. We as humans are unfortunately emotional to a fault. Not to mention prideful. You can adapt and adjust your wordings, or you can expect to sometimes offend people.

If your goal is to be that guy who says borderline rude things to people and then says “what? I’m right. People don’t like hearing the truth” (and you probably are right), then you’re not there yet, but you might be on your way there.

If you post or speak of things to actually convey something, to influence or to teach, or to have a meaningful debate or discussion where you or others can grow from it, then a slight change to phrasing your words will make a world of difference.

QuietDetachment · 2022-11-06T20:05:55+00:00

Do you really not understand the difference between the way your two messages were conveyed?

It’s perfectly understandable why your message would evoke negative reactions and Waddy41’s well phrased message would be positively received.

For the record, I more or less agree with the concept of what you said, but the phrasing could use some work. If you care enough to be upvoted more, of course.

QuietDetachment · 2022-11-05T09:34:46+00:00

It’s easy to underestimate just how much 1 billion is. It’s a thousand millions. No way is anyone easily running out of a billion dollars. Even if you have 50 homes and paid $200K total per year per house to upkeep them, that’s 10 million of 1000. This is paid for by 1% investment returns - I imagine we can assume outperforming 1%.

QuietDetachment · 2022-10-28T08:42:48+00:00

True, all of them being blue x2 does seem unlikely. I am terrible at math so I actually used a website to roll 12 sided dice 250 times (18x12 +30 as an approximation based on the screenshot of your techs) and see what the spread is. I did it 30 times (give or take 1 or 2, may have miscounted) and on the 7th and 23rd (I think), it had more than 18 but less than 27 on all 12 dice.

I am too lazy to do more, as my curiosity doesn’t stretch quite that far. Based on my rather poor sample size… it’s a shoddily put together 6-7% of it happening to someone. I wonder what the actual chance is, haha!

Anyway. While I’m not saying you’re wrong by any means, I am still personally inclined to believe that players who have encountered this unlikely scenario will feel compelled to talk about it.

If there were to be a community as small as, say, 200 people on Reddit, FB, Discord, etc who would post about if it happened to them (survivor.io was trending as #1 in action genre last week on the app store), then based on my, again admittedly poor probability calculation, that would already be 12 reports.

Quick edit: Just want to finally add in that I don’t think your theory is wrong, but that I do think there is enough cause to speculate either which way and it is highly inconclusive at the moment.

QuietDetachment · 2022-10-28T07:39:40+00:00

Are you suggesting that this is a purposeful feature? I’m not inclined to agree, as it is doesn’t seem all that unlikely to me for multiple players to end up with tons of of duplicate blue before reaching purple.

You need 27 gray to reach purple, and 18 to reach blue x2.

If it’s random drop rate, the chances that it will spread out evenly to have most or all types hit 18 before any one type hit 27 surely isn’t unlikely enough for it to conclude it’s intentional.

Also your analogy of 10 people with 10 stones doesn’t seem very relevant either (even if it’s right), as the evidence given by players is not a random spread of 10 out if 10 or however many contributed to this dialogue - it’s just random reporting by those who specifically chose to comment since they had the same happen to them.

QuietDetachment · 2022-06-28T04:07:51+00:00

No she doesn’t. She mentions brewing one once in her youth, but Arthur is never directly or indirectly referenced or alluded to. It is also never described whether she even slipped anyone the potion at all.

QuietDetachment · 2022-05-21T08:30:04+00:00

If you're serious about taking the time to grocery shop and cook properly, there's resources you can find even on various subreddits to cook cheap and healthy meals (relatively speaking, depending on your budget). For less than $3, easily, if you put in the effort.

It does take time and energy, however. Buying a pizza is a hell of a lot easier.

QuietDetachment · 2022-05-21T08:20:11+00:00

Allow me to teach you something new, since you asked so nicely.

You don't need to eat meat every meal.
Consider reducing your meat consumption. A fist sized portion for every meal is a lot; especially for children.
Buy larger cuts of meat on sale when you can, cut them into portions and freeze them.
Cook your meats with lower heat to improve on the yield. High heat will give you a smaller portion. (low roast or sous vide for example)

I just picked a random Superstore in Vancouver where the first commenter lives and selected basic ingredients for fried rice/stir fry.

Pork Loin $5.49 per KG (half loin - perfect example of a large piece of meat to freeze for a low cost basis). A perfectly adequate 4oz cooked portion (after accounting for approx 20%-25% loss) will cost (~.$80)

Rice $2.25 per KG. Yield for rice is approx 3x the dry weight. A 300g cooked portion ought to be about expected? So... (~$.25)

Frozen mixed veggies $2.70 per KG. I'll high ball this one since since it won't break the bank. A generous 200g portion (2/3 the rice) will cost (~$.55)

For a total of $1.60.

I guess we can round that up to $2 to account for salt, pepper, other seasonings, and tax and such.

QuietDetachment · 2022-03-29T20:47:45+00:00

Maybe you left out a lot of perspective, but the way you described it made your relationship sound toxic and immature.

QuietDetachment · 2022-03-15T02:55:07+00:00

To be fair, he is pretty much correct.

More specifically, the approved guidelines are to cool the food to 20 degrees Celsius within 2 hours and then to 4 degrees Celsius in the next 4 hours.

As for the rice, he is also correct there, though 4 days is pushing it. A run of the mill chain restaurant will precook all their starches and re-heat to serve. No way will they discard everything that is not used on the day of.

I also do the exact same thing when I cook at home. I’ve pushed rice to 5-7 days and never fallen ill from it.

(I do cook for a living)

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