The Cost of Things

So far, it seems that this project is pretty cost effective. As I mentioned in an earlier post, I am between $30 and $40 a week or around $5 a day. This seems to be proving my point that eating organic and healthy is possible on a college student's diet. There are two factors I am neglecting so far; meat/protein and calories. I will tackle the calorie issue tomorrow, so tonight we will talk about meat.

Since the beginning of this project I do not think I have been getting enough protein. For someone my size, I need 40-60 grams of protein a day. (Just take your weight in pounds and multiply by 0.37). I had been incorporating eggs and milk into my diet, but with each egg having 6g and milk having 8g per cup, I would need to eat a lot of them to meet my requirements.

What about meat you ask? To follow the confines of my project (not processed, preferred GMO free, antibiotic free, hormone free, free range, grass fed), meat is expensive. Meaning about $7 a pound for most cuts of chicken or for ground beef. Knowing protein is a problem, I purchased 3 lbs of boneless skinless chicken breasts and 1.2 lbs of ground beef from Becker Farms at the farmers market yesterday. This cost about $33, about the same that I would spend on an entire week!!

Right now the meat is in my freezer as I devise how to incorporate it into well rounded dishes. That will make the meat/protein stretch longer then just making a hamburger out of it. What ideas do you have? I am considering something with a crockpot that can cook all day.