6 weeks of zero spend during work days

[FIRE Artist]

I did some batch cooking yesterday, mostly stuff for dinners, but I added one new soup flavour for lunches.  Sounds like it shouldn't work, but it is surprisingly delicious.  Chinese pork chili.

https://www.nutmegnanny.com/ground-pork-chinese-chili/

[KBCB]

That's awesome. Thanks for the heating info.

When eating soft food so frequently do you do anything to satisfy the want for a crunch?

I usually take a handful of cherry tomatoes and baby cucumbers and some nuts for snacks.

It is kind of a weird question though, most of my meal entrees are soft foods when I think of it, what is crunchy but fried foods?

I agree this could come off as a weird question. I usually don't like super soft foods. If I don't have to chew it is almost like I didn't eat and am still hungry. So I might not have meant crunchy.. not sure what word I would use..? But i agree fresh veggies and nuts would work!

Pretty much but for one pureed soup recipe, all of my soups and stews have meat which require chewing.  I think it is all in what recipes you use and how you prepare it.  My pea soup has hearty cubes of ham for example.  I can't drink my soups or my chili.

That makes sense. I am so glad this is working for you. :)

[Mmm_Donuts]

I'm going to join in. I've been bringing lunch to work almost every day for the past couple of months.

I'm in a 'not buying anything new' phase so one thing I'm stuck on is the thermos. Usually I bring hot lunches in a mason jar and heat them up. I may try hand-crafting a thermos out of a mason jar and something to insulate it. Maybe a sock. Yes this sounds weird, but hey, pretty mustachian right?

I also like salads for lunch, so bringing soup and salad would be a good plan. Plus a protein bar for breakfast.

Whatever it is needs to be light to carry, as I also am trying to walk to work more often. I may look into those homemade ramen noodle type meals that you put *dry* into a mason jar and then just pour boiling water over them.

[Lluviata]

I'm in too. I've cooked the Thai Coconut Curry soup (DELICIOUS!) and the peas & ham soup so far. I'm slowly building up stock in the freezer so I'll be able to rotate flavors better, and I ordered some soup containers that should be coming in any day.

Our household's biggest opportunity is eating out, so getting a regular rotation of easy foods to eat will be great for us.

Mmm_Donuts - I wonder if a mason jar inside of a larger (closed) container would work for you? Air is a good insulator, but you must separate the bottom of the two containers to avoid heat transfer through contact and you'd need to nest the smaller container so it doesn't bang around -maybe by balling up paper and using it as a spacer, or using that sock as a spacer. I think it would probably stay warm longer than a sock. Just an idea - hope this isn't too crazy!

[FIRE Artist]

Checking in on this.  I am still going strong, but do have a couple of pre planned holiday lunches out with colleagues coming up, I don’t consider that a failure as I know they are coming, and accept them as a normal part of my workplace to go out around the holidays.

I am needing to restock, I will be making a batch of chilli this weekend, and maybe some mulligatawny soup and a batch of chicken taco soup. 

I am glad you liked the Thai soup Lluviata, I have since modified the recipe to have only half of the noodles called for, this makes for a soup that stays soup after reheating, with the added bonus of cutting quite a few carbs from the meal.  I don’t notice it to be any less filling. 

[EscapedApe]

I am down 15lbs since implementing this life change.  Probably giving up the coffee with cream and sugar was the most effective change, but eating pre portioned meals also helps.

You may have lost a lot of fat weight, but just imagine how much you gained in money weight. I'll bet your BMI is off the charts now.

Ehh, BMI was never an accurate measure of health anyways.

[EscapedApe]

Checking in on this one, the plan is still going strong with no falters at all.  I added a third soup thermos to my kit, I live alone and don’t usually run the dishwasher more than twice a week so the third container helps cut down on hand washing.

I will be making more soups over the holidays, I plan to drop the broccoli cheddar (too high calorie) and add Italian wedding. I also discovered I can double the mileage out of the Thai soup recipe by making both green and red curry versions.

Far and away the pea soup with chunks of ham is my favourite, I could eat it every day, but only allow myself the pleasure once a week to ensure I don’t get bored with it.

I have also been thinking I should add a Mexican flavour to the mix, tortilla soup is the obvious choice there I think.

Posoles is another good Mexican soup you can add to your rotation.

[hounton]

It recently occurred to me to buy a nice thermos for work and it's worked out great. It's really pleasant to just pour yourself a cup of hot tea or coffee at your desk, right when you want it. And it probably paid for itself in the first couple of weeks.  Amazing that more people don't do this.

I've been taking a Stanly Thermos of coffee to work for years.  It really stands out but I love it. 

[FIRE Artist]

Checking back in again. Another 2.5 months down of no spend work days.

I realized yesterday that I had slowly accumulated $30 of Starbucks gift cards that people had given me over the last couple of years.  I’m not a big coffee drinker so I took my best work friend (who has joined me on a no spend year) out for a fancy pants coffee break. There is enough money left for us to do this twice more in 2020. We sipped our free lattes and swapped money saving tips.