Budgeting My Nutrients

I have been keeping a very intricate budget spreadsheet, for my personal expenses and for project expenses.  I meticulously log everything I spend money on, from lunch to a boda ride to just one egg.  I can track how much I spend on food, or transport, and then compare how much I am over or under based on my given allowances. 

My first month was a little crazy, as I was still using my personal savings to purchase things…not cheap with all those ATM fees!  I had to fully furnish an empty house, which I was not reimbursed for.  So I logged all the things that I paid            myself back for from my first salary in my spreadsheet (transport, food, phone, accommodation), and all extra things I wrote down in my savings notebook, so I can track how much I’m spending out of my savings from home. 

I cheat a little on this two-dollars-a-day thing: I use my savings when I go to Kampala.  Otherwise, I wouldn’t make it through the month.  I was in Kampala last weekend and spent about 300,000/= (UGX) in four days.  That’s half my salary!  Sorry to disillusion you all, but Kampala is necessary for my sanity. 

That being said, looking at my budget breakdown, a few things are consistent: I am overspending on food, and under-spending on phone and transport.  Plus, I have my actual ‘salary’ bit, which I use as a miscellaneous fund.  So I’m using my leftover phone and transport to cover my food.  And technically, I’m overspending on my Internet, but I pay the balance of that from my savings. 

If I were to strictly follow my food allowance, I have 4800/= to spend each day.  I buy a bunch of small bananas for 1000/= and that lasts me three days of breakfast, so that’s about 300/= per breakfast.  I regularly spend 5000/= on lunch, and dinner is about 3000/=, which I cook myself.  I could cut down on my lunch by replacing juice with soda or water, but the yummy passion fruit juice is the only source of vitamin C in my diet.  I could also cut down on my dinner costs by making beans or lentils for dinner, but as I eat that for lunch, I like to make something different for dinner, something with more nutrients.  Something less mushy.  I have two go-to choices for dinner: Thai pad kee mao mama or drunken noodles (when I get fresh chilies and basil from Kampala—otherwise it’s just an Asian-inspired stir-fry), or guacamole and chapatti.  I never eat meat out here and have even told people I’m a vegetarian!  I reserve meat for Kampala, where there is refrigeration and cuisine. 

And I do miss having a fridge.  One of my favorite snacks is a crisp, crunchy, cold carrot.  Here, you buy all the produce from the market, which may sound wonderful if you are picturing your local farmers market in, let’s say, Boulder, Colorado.  However, the market out here in Hoima, Uganda, is a messy, hot, dirt or mud pit (depending on the season).  The vegetables, while fresh, are poorly transported, so they show up bruised and damaged.  They sit outside in the heat all day, so by the time I get there after work, most everything is wilted, mushy, and shriveled.  I can’t buy carrots or green peppers more than one day at a time.  And I’ve learned to buy green tomatoes, as the red ones are overripe. 

I don’t consider myself a picky person—I don’t eat seafood, insects, or organs.  I can eat just about anything else, but I definitely have my preferences.  For example, I would rather eat brightly colored vegetables than potatoes.  I would rather have rice over millet.  I would rather eat just about anything over cassava.  My food choices at the market, based on my preferences (and cooking ability), are quite limited.  Here are my choices at the market…now remember, there’s no supermarket with the ‘good’ stuff here, this is all I have for fresh produce: beans, lentils, rice, plantains, bananas, cassava, groundnuts, pineapple, mango (in season), passion fruit, bugora (very bitter leafy greens), carrots, green peppers, tomatoes, onions, garlic, avocado, eggs and sometimes eggplant. 

I brought back some pasta sauce from Kampala a while ago, but I’m hesitant to use them, as one jar of sauce is too much for one serving, and I can’t refrigerate after opening.  Maybe I’ll make a big batch on a Sunday and just eat lots of pasta all day long!  I also splurged recently; my birthday just passed, and as a gift to myself, I bought a box of wine.  I don’t normally have alcohol out here (another activity reserved for Kampala), but this box should last me a while and needs no refrigeration. 

Anyone have any suggestions on cheap, easy things to cook?  I have some spices, and I also have access to ramen and pasta.