6 April 2007
Healthy, Easy, Cheap - Eric’s Quest for Great Lunches under 3$
As I attempted to do before, I’m here today to share another successful lunch I eat regularly that is: 1. tasty, 2. healthy, and 3. under $3.
Last time (post linked above), I discussed a beef and vegetable stir fry with brown rice. mmm.
This week, we turn to another way of doing things:
Some of you may be thinking… “what?! Whole Foods isn’t cheap! How you gonna eat there for under three bucks!”
Calm down, calm down. I’m about to tell you!
You see, at the Whole Foods here in Georgia, they have this amazing hot bar/buffet that has a wondrous variety of foods on it. Like many to-go buffets, the price you pay for your meal is dictated by its weight. At Whole Foods, that price is $6.99/lb. This may seem abit steep. And perhaps it is. As such, our goal is as follows: locate the highest quality and most expensive per pound foods on the bar, and build a balanced meal around them.
This means certain foods, especially ones that are served soaked in water are unacceptable. The chief culprit being rice, here. I have spent a decent amount of time surveying the buffet here, and here’s what I’ve found.
The best food that I’ve found has been the Blackened Catfish, at least as far as nutritional value, taste, and cost per pound go. I also get one serving of broccoli and one serving of cauliflower. Since these all three are cooked in a liquid, I make sure to drain off all the water/sauce I can. Paying 6.99$/lb for water is painful.
If I get one fillet, and then the servings of the vegetables, the bill comes out to around $2.75. I wish I had a picture, will try to remember to update this post with one next time I go to Whole Foods.
becca and I ate dinner there one night … and it can get really expensive if you just take what you want like I did … not cheap at all … but Eric has seen me eat … the next time we go, I’m going to be more frugal … maybe I should take Eric with me!
peace.