Day 7: Final Countdown

It's the final countdoowwwwwn. And in the spirit of having songs and images stuck in your head, here we go again:

On Sunday, eating the meals didn't feel like drudgery because I knew it was the last day! I was actually a little disappointed I didn't get to try out a few more recipes that friends had sent, but I'm sure I'll try those later.

• For breakfast, we ate the leftover chocolate rice dessert.
• For lunch, we had black beans and "cheated" a bit by adding some chopped onions and fresh avocado we had on hand. I seasoned the beans and onions in the pot with dried cilantro, dried parsley, and a dash of salt, all from our cupboard. 
• We then had the same thing for dinner. 

For those of you who like it spelled out, here is the recipe from memory:
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Simple Black Beans and Rice
2 cans seasoned black beans (see, some manufacturer did all the work for you!)
1/4 cup chopped onion
A couple dashes of dried cilantro, dried parsley, and salt
1 avocado (mash it into guacamole - add lemon or lime juice, and more onion if you have it)

Pour contents of canned beans into a pot. Fill one of the cans halfway with water and add water to the beans. Add onions and seasonings. Warm the beans and bring to a light boil, then lower the temperature to a simmer. Stir it up for a few minutes, and allow sauce to thicken to your desired consistency. Serve over cooked white rice (or eat by itself) and add a dollop of fresh avocado/guacamole. Makes about four large servings.

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I will need to mull over what I've learned and observed during the week, but for now, I will share a few quick thoughts.

In terms of the challenge of the diet, I have to say it wasn't as bad as I thought it would be. The variety and rice pudding/porridge certainly helped (I know some team members had rice and beans for breakfast. They are rockstars!). Some days were harder than others, and some things were unexpected - I didn't realize I would feel so tired and lethargic, for example. I wasn't eating at my normal protein levels, but the lethargy was also likely related to the fact that I wasn't getting enough sleep! So I can't for sure say if the diet was the cause.

Regarding cost savings, we didn't track exactly what we spent, but we probably should have. We ate leftovers often, so I think on average, it was definitely less than $2 per meal per person, and less than $1 for some meals. I will try to do some actual calculations, but suffice it say, we saved a lot of cash compared what we normally would spend. It didn't actually look like this, but I thought the stock photo was too awesome not to share:

We planned to donate our estimated savings to the ORPHANetwork's feeding center in Bluefields. We originally estimated cost savings of about $10/day per person for the week, so at least $140 total, for two people.

If you did this diet (or something similar), how much money do you think saved?