randomeater's Profile

Perfect timing. One of the deals up on heartsy.me right now (a groupon-style site for Etsy) is for a shop called SewDarnChic which sells sandwich/snack bags.

I just ordered mine yesterday, and can't say anything about their quality, but I paid $9 total for three bags. (Normally $6 each, plus shipping, which seems to be comparable with what I've seen in stores.)

@Oneformybaby: Whole Foods is actually pretty good for coupons. They don't double, but they do stack their own coupons with manufacturer's coupons. Trader Joe's does take coupons as well, but the issue is that they don't really carry very many non-TJ specific items. But TJ's is ridiculously cheap anyway. Their produce selection leaves much to be desired, but I have yet to find any grocery store in the Boston area that doesn't fail in this regard. (At least the farmer's markets are starting up soon. Too bad they mostly run during hours useless to anyone with a job.)

Today I spent $20 just on fresh fruit and veggies (non-organic, some of that from the farmer's market) for the week for one person. And I obviously needed stuff other than produce, which more than doubled my bill.

That said, for living in a tiny dorm-sized room (I'm NOT a student) without my own kitchen, I think I do fairly well. I don't have a freezer or a full-sized fridge, or really, any place to store things. The farmer's market here costs MORE than the grocery store, we have a single Chinese market that I can't get to without a car, and I refuse to sacrifice taste and nutrition to save money. I use coupons when I can, but frankly, most coupons out there are useless unless you want to eat crap and you have time to play the "coupon games".

Also, I'd probably save quite a bit more if I actually owned a freezer, and I also dont have my own kitchen, so it's hard for me to make anything that requires a long time on the stove (i.e. cooking dried beans versus buying canned).

(I live in a dorm-style apartment building, with a single shared kitchen, and I have a mini fridge in my room with one of those really tiny freezers that don't actually work.)

Hm.. I haven't really sat down and calculated the cost for any particular meal, but over the past year, I've spent an average of $60 per week on groceries. Ignoring the fact that this includes non-edible items like toilet paper, as well as restocking things like sugar or olive oil, this means that I'm eating for about $9 per day. This includes three meals a day plus snacks, as well as occasionally cooking for a second person. So it's pretty easy to see that I'm saving money by cooking at home and bringing my lunch to work everyday, versus eating out or buying "convenience foods".

My favourite mug is bright yellow, with black eyes, "SMILE" in the shape of a smile, and the words "Java Loves You". It also has the Sun Microsystems logo on the back.

Why is it my favourite? Well, it's cute and geeky, and I actually only have one other mug at home that gets used with any frequency. The others have been reappropriated to hold pens and stuff.

Also my SO has a matching one, so when we finally move in together, we'll have a set :)

Wow..14 minutes is a long time?? I cook mine for 20-25 minutes, and they turn out perfect. Anything less than 20, and they're too soft and wet and gross.