After Math…

Long time no blog on here. I have been so busy with the college classes and the full time work. I feel like I have just abandoned this blog and the readers as soon as I was done with the project. Sorry about that.

Many have asked me how this challenge has changed my life, especially the eating habit. I have cut down my grocery budget significantly, almost half. I now take time to compare the price and collect coupons as well. I know, this should be something I have to do regardless, but I learned it the harder way. As much as I want to save money by preparing my lunches and dinners at home, the busy schedule does not allow me to spend too much time on cooking. I guess I spend too much time when it comes to cooking.

So what has changed since then?
1. Cut down on the grocery budget for more than half.
2. Collecting coupons
3. No more Starbucks
4. I also have learned to think couple more times before making a purchase, evenif it’s only a dollar or two.
5. I dont throw away left over food as much as I used to. I have learned to store them properly for the maximum freshness.

The biggest lesson so far though…

It is really hard to make people care.
Why would they anyway to begin with, right?

$20.09 to Start a Garden

Pretty funny as well

$20.09 for 20 Months

This lady finds a way to live $20.09 for 20 months

Day 21. Korean Food

Sorry for the late post… I am sure many people were waiting to see what I was eating when it was done.
I have really missed eating some rice during the challenge. I had no idea how expensive rice was compare to other grains. It’s a shame that how much rice I’ve wasted down the drain in the past. It’s not only rice, I used to just dispose vegetables cause I was too lazy to find a way to store them. My small experience in the last 20 days not only taught me how to be creative with small budget, it also taught me how to conserve and store left over food.

So I actually didn’t eat anything at midnight last night… I was kinda tired and I had fallen asleep. But when I woke up today for lunch, I did not waste anytime and I started cooking up things I had bought for today. It sounds like many of you already know what I was going to eat by looking at the poll result. I got me some Korean dishes! If you had never tried Korean food, I def recommend you to try at the nearest local Korean restaurant.

First Meal

First Meal

Have you tried Korean food? If so, how did you like it? What is your favorite Korean dish?

Day 20 – Guess the First Dish and Win $20.09

Whoever guesses the exact food that I’m going to be eating at midnight tonight wins $20.09.
Ask me for a hint, I will answer either yes or no only.
Go Go Go Go Go

Twitter: http://www.twitter.com/djteknokid
Facebook : http://www.facebook.com/lee.david

Day 20 – We are almost here..

Today is the last day… It’s 1:55pm and I have just about 10 more hours to go.
I have just run out of everything. No egg.. no more spinach.. I have bunch of sausages, potatoes, and bread left so it’s no problem that I can stay way from starving for next 10 hours.

Be sure to check it out tomorrow for my first meal after the challenge.

Day 19 – What can YOU do with $20.09?

Day 18 Dinner

Many people were wondering what my intention was to take on a challenge like this. It is briefly mentioned in who & Why section on this blog. Here is the little more detail to what really happened and why I am doing this.

Which phrase give you more awareness to the amount of saturated fat presented in pop corns?

A medium-sized ‘butter’ popcorn at a typical neighborhood movie theater contains more artery-clogging fat than a bacon-and-eggs breakfast, a Big Mac and fries for lunch, and a steak dinner with all the trimmings — combined

The United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) recommends that a normal diet contain no more than 20 grams of saturated fat each day. According to the lab results, the typical bag of popcorn had 37 grams.

This idea actually came from a book call Made to Stick. Instead of advertising UFCU’s new marketing campaign using the number 20.09. I wanted to demonstrate and tell the story what someone can actually do with $20.09.

What other creatives way could you come up with to spend $20.09? Of course I am ineligible to win the contest, because I am basically working for the during this campaign. But here are some of the ideas that I had.

1. Go out on a nice date with $20.09 – Find a cheap movie ticket. Eat street hotdogs. Go to a park. Share ice cream.. etc. Remember the movie, Half Baked? : )
2. Buy 4 cases of bottle water and share with homeless people over time
3. We are actually turning one of our conference room into a creative incubator using $20.09 (videos to come)
4. or… I can always live another 20 days with… $20.09…… noooooooooooo

So my question is.. what can YOU do with $20.09?

Day 18 – Be Creative

There are actually many things I have learned through this campaign: value of money, cost of food, and notion of influencing others through this kind of campaign, which all sound philosophical and intangible. But there is one practical thing I have learned that I am going to be practicing even after the campaign.

BE CREATIVE!
Yes… I found a way to be creative with cooking. Potato pancake, gumbo, and gourmet ramen noodle were all created while I was going around the constraint I have, the budget. Heh.. this sounds like a quote I heard from somewhere. “Constraints are often advantages in disguise.”
Here is what I came up with last night while taking advantage of the constraint.

Korean Pancake Meets The Sausage

Day 17 – Asian Cooking Tacos Reviwed by A Mexican

The result is finally in. The video is up. Nelson Flore, the professional taco reviewer, has conducted the taste test on my “ghetto” tacos.
You can experience his taco saga at http://www.showmeyourtaco.com Here is what we did yesterday during lunch…

Here is the image of the tacos.

Day 17 - Lunch Taco

Day 17 – Thanks for the Yes Vote!

So last night before I left work I posted a poll. It was one of my coworkers’ birthday and we celebrated it with some chips and salsa. Because there wasn’t a clear rule around the food provided at work, I posted a poll if it is ok to bring home the left over chips and salsa. The result came out to be 149 ‘yes it is ok’ to 12 ‘no’. I brought home the left over chips and salsa and this is what I had last night. Thanks!

Nacho by Comitte

Current Weight: 168
Started from: 174
My avg weight is more like 170 though.. so I think I am doing ok.

3 more days to go!!!